Blinking-Driven Tear Collection Device for Undiluted Sample Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for collecting tears, which involve artificial stimulation, result in diluted tear components, making it difficult to accurately analyze health indicators like glucose concentrations.
Innovation Solution
A device worn on the eye that uses the natural blinking motion to create a pressure difference, allowing tears to flow into a storage chamber through a micro-channel with one-way valves, preventing reverse flow and enabling natural tear collection without artificial stimulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If artificial stimulation is applied to extract tear, then tear can be collected, but tear components become diluted or fluctuated
Solution Approach 1:
The device utilizes the eye's own blinking motion to drive the pump mechanism, eliminating the need for external artificial stimulation. The eyelid's natural movement compresses the chamber during blinking, creating pressure differential that drives tear flow through the microtubule, while the system self-regulates to collect undiluted tear components accurately.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the pressure parameter dynamically through blinking-induced chamber compression, enabling controlled tear extraction without artificial stimulation. The pressure differential created during blinking facilitates tear flow while maintaining the natural concentration of tear components, resolving the contradiction between collection efficiency and measurement precision.
2Productivity
If forced extraction through microtubule is used, then tear can be obtained, but components are diluted
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces traditional mechanical pumping systems with a biomimetic mechanism that harnesses the eye's own physiological motion (blinking). The chamber and microtubule system uses elastic deformation and pressure differential generated by natural blinking, eliminating the need for external mechanical pumps that would require artificial stimulation and cause tear dilution.
3Ease of operation
If pump is driven by eye blinking movement, then natural tear collection is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the pump driving mechanism with the natural blinking function of the eye. The chamber is positioned such that eyelid closure during blinking directly compresses it, converting a physiological action into mechanical work. This integration eliminates separate power sources or control mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity while achieving natural tear collection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the collection of undiluted tears for accurate analysis of health indicators, with a simple structure driven by eye movement, ensuring precise measurement of tear components without additional actions or electronic pumps.
Implementation Method 1
a pump configured to form a pressure difference inside the body such that the tear flows into the body through the tear inlet, wherein the pump is driven by using an eye blinking movement of a wearer so as to form the pressure difference inside the body
Implementation Method 2
a net one-way valve may be formed at the micro-channel to prevent net reverse flow of the tear
Data Source
AI summary
A tear collection device comprises: a body attached to an eyeball; a tear inlet for allowing tear to flow into the body; a storing space formed inside the body and capable of storing the tears having flowed into the body; and a pump forming a pressure difference inside the body such that tears flow into the body through the tear inlet, wherein the pump is driven by using, as power, eye blinking movements of a wearer so as to form the pressure difference inside the body, thereby allowing the tears to flow into the body.