Urinary Catheter Package with Balanced WVTR for Hydration and Dry Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of intermittent urinary catheters often face challenges due to incontinence caused by spinal cord injuries or other conditions, which result in poor hand dexterity and difficulty handling multiple items during catheter use.
Innovation Solution
A urinary catheter assembly comprising a first outer package with a specific water vapour transmission rate and a second inner package with a hydrophilic coating and a swelling medium, where the permeability of both packages is balanced to maintain relative humidity below 90% in the intermediate cavity, allowing for easy handling and hydration of the catheter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the catheter is stored in a sealed package to maintain hydration, then the catheter remains hydrated during storage, but the package becomes difficult to handle due to condensation and moisture buildup
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging system is divided into two distinct packages: an inner package that maintains high humidity to keep the catheter hydrated, and an outer package that allows moisture escape to remain dry and easy to handle. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by creating separate functional zones for hydration maintenance and ease of handling.
Solution Approach 2:
A desiccant packet is introduced as an intermediary element in the outer package to absorb excess moisture and prevent condensation. This intermediary component allows the inner package to maintain high humidity while the outer package remains dry and easy to handle, resolving the contradiction between hydration maintenance and ease of handling.
2Ease of operation
If a hydrophilic coating is applied to the catheter surface to reduce friction, then the catheter slides easily through the urethra, but the coating requires swelling medium to activate which complicates storage and handling
Solution Approach 1:
The hydrophilic coating and swelling medium are merged into a single integrated system where the coating is pre-applied to the catheter and the swelling medium is included in the package. This merging simplifies storage by eliminating the need for separate activation steps while ensuring the coating is ready for immediate use, resolving the contradiction between insertion ease and storage complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The hydrophilic coating is applied to the catheter in advance during manufacturing, and the swelling medium is pre-positioned in the package. This preliminary action ensures the coating is ready for immediate activation upon first use, eliminating the need for complex storage procedures and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining ease of insertion.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If the outer package is made completely impermeable to prevent moisture loss, then the catheter remains hydrated longer, but condensation builds up inside making the package difficult to handle
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging system is segmented into an inner impermeable package that maintains catheter hydration and an outer permeable package that prevents condensation buildup. This segmentation allows the inner package to extend hydration duration while the outer package maintains ease of handling by preventing moisture accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
Different permeability properties are assigned to different parts of the packaging system: the inner package has low permeability to maintain hydration, while the outer package has high permeability to prevent condensation. This local differentiation of material properties resolves the contradiction between extending hydration duration and maintaining ease of handling.
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
The balanced water vapour transmission rates ensure that the catheter remains hydrated during storage while allowing the outer package to dry quickly, making it easier to handle, and the assembly is designed to be user-friendly even for those with poor hand dexterity.
Implementation Method 1
a hydrophilic coating and a swelling medium... the permeability of the outer package and the inner package is balanced in such a way that the RH value is below 90% in the intermediate cavity
Implementation Method 2
the first water vapour transmission rate and the second water vapour transmission rate are balanced in such a way that the RH value is below 90% in the intermediate cavity
Data Source
AI summary
A catheter product suitable for storage until use includes a user package sealed inside a product package. The user package has a film forming an enclosure containing a urinary catheter having a hydrophilic coating and a water-based liquid in direct contact with the hydrophilic coating on the urinary catheter. The product package has a first water vapour transmission rate (first WVTR) that configures the product package to be porous to water vapor to allow water vapor from the water-based liquid that exits the user package during storage to pass through the product package to adapt the user package to be dry to touch when a user opens the product package.