Plastics Innovations in Construction, Food Processing Win Top IAPD Awards

New inventions for the construction and food processing industries were among the top winners at an annual contest sponsored by the International Association of Plastics Distribution (IAPD) for innovations using contemporary plastics.

An article by Clare Goldsberry on our sister site Plastics Today outlined the winning inventions of the IAPD Plastics Application Design Competition, which were selected during the association's recent 59th Annual Convention and Plastics Showcase in San Diego.

First place in the contest's Corporate Division went to Ridout Plastics Co. for its "Louvers by Design" project, which was installed on a custom home in Point Loma, Calif.

Designers used LuciteLux Frost plastic to develop a solution to the facade of the house that would diffuse sunlight coming into the main living area while also offering second-floor residents a view of the Pacific Ocean, Goldsberry wrote. They selected the material because of its opacity level and color, which blends in with the ocean, she wrote.

Second place in the division went to Curbell Plastics Inc. for its solution to a bridge construction project, according to the Plastics Today article. The application used ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene slide rails as an element of accelerated bridge construction methodology for the Cottonwood Creek bridge replacement in Yale, Okla. The original structure was built in 1961 and was being replaced due to deterioration.

The solution by Curbell Plastics drastically reduced the normal amount of time it would take complete the replacement - from 180 days to seven days -- because the new bridge was built on UHMW-PE slide rails adjacent to the old bridge and then slid into place, Goldsberry wrote.

Third place in the corporate contest went to Cope Plastics Inc. for a cover for a large barrel used to clean root vegetables in a food-processing application. The cover - made from Tivar H.O.T. plastic from Quadrant Engineering Plastic Projects - was designed to replace an aluminum cover, which was difficult to wrap around the large barrels and would cut workers on its sharp edges, Goldsberry wrote.

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The contest also had a Collegiate Division, in which first place went to Art of Mass Production and iNova for their iDive application, a waterproof housing for the iPad. The iDive device - made from Makrolon polycarbonate from Covestro -- provides functionality for most standard iPad applications, including photography and video, according to the article.

You can read more about the contest winners in the article on Plastics Today's website, "Innovations in iPad housings, louvers and bridge construction earn awards in IAPD plastics design contest."

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Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer who has written about technology and culture for more than 15 years. She has lived and worked as a professional journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco and New York City. In her free time she enjoys surfing, traveling, music, yoga and cooking. She currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal.