Tokyo Metropolitan University, Faculty of System Design, 6-6 Asahigaoka, Hino, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan.
Appl Ergon. 2012 Jan;43(1):157-65. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2011.04.008. Epub 2011 May 11.
In recent years, aluminum beverage bottles having screw tops with opening diameters of 28 and 38 mm have been launched in the Japanese market in keeping with the modern-day drinking habits of consumers. Although Japanese consumers are familiar with such bottles, a majority of them feel that the 28 mm opening is too small and the 38 mm opening is too large. Therefore, we felt the need to develop a method for evaluating consumer feelings when they drink a beverage directly from the bottle opening. For this purpose, we propose an evaluation function of drinking ease that calculates the optimum opening diameter of the bottle. From results of our previous study, we know that there exists an ideal volume of beverage flowing into the mouth, at which consumers feel most comfortable while drinking directly from bottles. Therefore, we define the evaluation function of drinking ease in terms of the difference between the actual volume of fluid in the mouth and the expected ideal volume. If this difference is small, consumers probably feel comfortable while drinking the beverage. We consider a design variable, i.e., the opening diameter, and two state variables, i.e., the volume of beverage remaining in the bottle and the height of consumers, and construct the response surface of the evaluation function by using radial basis function networks. In addition, for investigating the influence of beverage type on the evaluation function, we select green tea and a carbonated beverage (Coke) as test beverages. Results of optimization of the proposed function show that when the opening diameters are 35.4 mm and 34.4 mm in the case of green tea and Coke, respectively, the actual volume of fluid in the mouth is closest to the ideal volume and the participants feel most comfortable. These results are in agreement with results of our previous study that an opening diameter of 33 mm is optimum for young Japanese adults. Thus, we confirm that the proposed function is accurate; it can be used to design bottle openings to suit consumers of various age groups and types of beverages.
近年来，为了迎合消费者的现代饮酒习惯，日本市场推出了带有 28 毫米和 38 毫米开口直径的螺旋盖铝制饮料瓶。尽管日本消费者对这些瓶子很熟悉，但大多数人认为 28 毫米的开口太小，38 毫米的开口太大。因此，我们觉得有必要开发一种方法来评估消费者从瓶口直接饮用饮料时的感受。为此，我们提出了一种评估饮用舒适度的评价函数，用于计算瓶子的最佳开口直径。根据我们之前的研究结果，我们知道存在一个理想的饮料流入口中的体积，消费者在直接从瓶子中饮用时会感到最舒适。因此，我们将饮用舒适度的评价函数定义为口中实际液体量与期望理想量之间的差异。如果这个差异很小，消费者在饮用饮料时可能会感到舒适。我们考虑一个设计变量，即开口直径，以及两个状态变量，即瓶中剩余饮料的体积和消费者的高度，并使用径向基函数网络构建评价函数的响应曲面。此外，为了研究饮料类型对评价函数的影响，我们选择绿茶和碳酸饮料（可乐）作为测试饮料。优化提出的函数的结果表明，当绿茶和可乐的开口直径分别为 35.4 毫米和 34.4 毫米时，口中的实际液体量最接近理想量，参与者感到最舒适。这些结果与我们之前的研究结果一致，即对于年轻的日本成年人，33 毫米的开口直径是最佳的。因此，我们确认所提出的函数是准确的；它可以用于设计适合各种年龄组和饮料类型的消费者的瓶口。
