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Products like Caulk and Silicone are traditionally sold and dispensed in either small aluminum tubes and larger caulk tubes. Both options utilize tapered plastic nozzles to dispense the material. The issue we are facing is that once these tubes opened and used, air and moisture begin to cure the products in the nozzles making them difficult to dispense in subsequent uses.
We are looking for novel new nozzle designs or solutions to prevent the curing of silicone in nozzles and ensure that the caulk and silicone inside are kept fresh. This would involve preventing air and moisture from entering the nozzle and affecting the product.
Propose a new nozzle design for small aluminum tubes and/or larger caulk tubes that does not allow air and moisture in and keeps the product fresh between uses.
1. What is your new design for a nozzle that prevents air from curing caulk or silicone?
2. How does this design prevent spoilage?
3. (Optional) Sketches, drawings, CAD renderings, mock-ups, charts, videos, graphs or any other visuals that support your argument
Things to consider:
- Your solution must work for either or both small aluminum tubes and larger caulk tubes as they are entrenched as the dispensing systems for most consumers
- It is preferred that a submission is cost effective and scalable enough to replace all nozzles on all tubes, but more expensive versions that are sold as standalone attachments are also acceptable
- Solutions should prevent curing for at least 6-12 months
- Creating an actual mock up and including video or providing CAD renderings is strongly encouraged for this project
- Please do not consider post-use capping solutions such as: Caulking Tube Cap 1 & Caulking Tube Cap 2
Added note: If you have an idea that is creative and outside the box, but not all the way there technically- send it in! We're interested in any new concepts that can open up new lines of thinking for our engineers!
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Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:
- Meets Deliverables
- Creativity
- Clarity
will receive $150 each
will receive $50 each
$150.00 |
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Allen Doan University of Texas at Austin | |
$150.00 |
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S J College for Creative Studies | |
$150.00 |
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Michael Halloran University of Illinois | |
$150.00 |
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Sheryl Peters University of Waterloo | |
$150.00 |
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Gabriel Perez Putnam Swarthmore College | |
$50.00 |
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Oscar Wong University of Illinois | |
$50.00 |
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Pablo Enrique University of Waterloo | |
$50.00 |
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Stephen Frey Oregon State University | |
$50.00 |
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Devin Gustus Pasco-Hernando State College | |
$50.00 |
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Shravan Poloju Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay |