Blister with Tilting Side-Walls for Complete Medication Ejection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blister sheets may trap medication doses between collapsing side walls and the front face, making it difficult for elderly patients to fully administer prescribed doses due to the geometry of the blisters.
Innovation Solution
The blister sheet features elongated blisters with longer side walls that yield progressively under pressure and shorter side walls that tilt, allowing trapped doses to be displaced and ejected, along with bleed openings that relieve pressure and reduce the force required for ejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the side walls are designed to yield gently while progressively collapsing from the front face, then the force required to eject medication is reduced, making it easier for elderly patients to operate, but medication doses may be inadvertently trapped between the collapsing side wall and the front face
Solution Approach 1:
The side walls are segmented into multiple horizontal steps or ridges that create discrete collapse zones. This segmentation prevents continuous collapse that would trap medication, while still allowing progressive yielding to reduce ejection force. Each step acts as a barrier that guides medication away from trapped positions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the side walls have different structural properties - the upper portions have steps or ridges while the lower portions may have different configurations. This local differentiation ensures that medication is guided away from trapped positions in specific zones while maintaining overall collapse functionality.
2Reliability
If the side walls are made longer and more rigid to prevent trapping, then medication doses are less likely to be trapped, but the force required to collapse the blister increases, making it harder for elderly patients to operate
Solution Approach 1:
The side walls are designed with dynamic collapse characteristics - they yield gently under progressive pressure rather than collapsing rigidly. The horizontal steps provide a progressive collapse mechanism that adapts to applied force, allowing elderly patients to operate the blister with reduced effort while still preventing medication trapping.
Solution Approach 2:
The side wall structure incorporates changes in geometric parameters - horizontal steps, ridges, or corrugations that modify the collapse behavior. These parameter changes create a progressive yielding effect that reduces the peak force required for ejection while maintaining reliability in preventing medication trapping.
3Ease of manufacture
If the blister is designed with a simple flat structure, then manufacturing is easier and cost is lower, but medication doses of various shapes and sizes may be trapped between collapsing side walls and the front face
Solution Approach 1:
The side walls incorporate horizontal steps or ridges that segment the collapse zone. This segmentation is achieved through standard molding techniques and does not significantly increase manufacturing complexity, while it effectively prevents medication of various shapes and sizes from being trapped during collapse.
Solution Approach 2:
The steps or ridges are placed at specific locations on the side walls where medication trapping is most likely to occur. This localized modification maintains overall manufacturing simplicity while addressing the specific problem of medication trapping for various dose geometries.
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
This design ensures that medication doses are effectively ejected with reduced finger pressure, minimizing the risk of doses being trapped and ensuring complete administration of prescribed medication.
Implementation Method 1
the first pair of opposed sidewalls being so formed that they yield gently while progressively collapsing from the front face in response to increasing finger pressure being applied to the front face
Implementation Method 2
the second pair of sidewalls responding to the finger pressure by tilting towards one another so that any medication doses which may be located against a tilting side wall is displaced towards a position lying beneath the front face
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A blister sheet (1) has a generally rectangular blister (2) formed with one pair of longer side walls (7) having parallel steps (8) and a second pair of shorter side wall (9) devoid of steps. The side walls serve to space a front face (5) of the blister from the plane of a rupturable foil backing sheet (4) which retains medication doses (nor shown) inside the blister until they are to be taken. The medication doses are ejected from the cavity of the blister (2) by depressing its front face with finger pressure so that they are forced against the backing sheet (4) with sufficient force to rupture it. During the application of finger pressure to the front face (5) it bows downwardly in its central region as indicated by the broken outline. Simultaneously the end walls (9) tilt inwardly towards one another so that any medication doses lying against them are forced into the central region of the blister from which they can be ejected more easily by the descending front face (5).