Monday, April 04, 2016

[rcbusrbc] Packing bottles in a cardboard box

For a rectangular cardboard box of given dimensions, pack it as densely as possible with (say) 1 L bottles of a shape or shapes of your choosing, minimizing the amount of material constructing the bottles.  Unlike the Kelvin cell or Weaire-Phelan cell, this is a finite packing, so there are edge effects.

Optimization problem to maximize profit: revenue per bottle, cost of material to create the bottle, set up cost per bottle mold -- the fewer the different shapes, say, around the edges, the better.  Empty unused space might still be economical.

Inspired by, square bottles pack better than cylindrical.

No comments :