Medical Connector With Elastic Valve Disk and Axial Pin
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical connectors for fluid circuits face issues with contamination prevention, stagnation, and fluid flow inefficiencies due to exposed female-side connecting ports and the lack of comprehensive valve mechanisms, leading to potential bacterial propagation and fluid backflow during connection and disconnection.
Innovation Solution
A connector design featuring a housing with two female-side connecting ports, each equipped with an elastic valve disk and a pin system that ensures the passage is opened and closed reliably, preventing contamination and stagnation by using a pin and urging section arrangement that maintains a liquid-tight seal and allows for efficient fluid flow through a shared liquid circulation space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a valve disk is provided for the female-side connecting port to prevent exposure to outside air, then contamination resistance is improved, but stagnation areas are created in the female-side connecting port leading to bacterial propagation
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into separate functional zones: the valve disk controls the fluid passage while the female-side connecting port maintains an open, flush structure without stagnation areas. This segmentation allows the valve to prevent contamination without creating dead zones for bacterial growth.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a traditional valve that closes over the connecting port (which creates stagnation), the invention inverts the approach by using a valve disk that seals against the male connector itself, leaving the female port open and flush when disconnected, eliminating stagnation areas while maintaining contamination prevention.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the female-side connecting port is equipped with a valve disk to prevent exposure to outside air, then contamination resistance is improved, but the capacity of the connector changes when attaching or detaching connectors causing blood flow backward
Solution Approach 1:
The valve disk is designed to be dynamically actuated by the male connector during attachment. As the male connector is inserted, it automatically pushes the valve disk open to establish fluid communication. Upon detachment, the valve disk automatically returns to its closed position, maintaining constant capacity and preventing blood flow backward.
Solution Approach 2:
The male connector itself serves as the actuating mechanism for the valve disk. The insertion motion of the male connector automatically opens the valve, and its removal automatically closes it, eliminating the need for separate control mechanisms and ensuring consistent capacity maintenance.
3Ease of operation
If a traditional valve mechanism is used with a slitted valve disk, then the passage can be opened and closed, but it is difficult to deaerate the connector interior and achieve good flow of the whole amount of liquid medicine
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the valve disk from the female-side connecting port structure and positions it to seal against the male connector. This removes the valve disk from the path of liquid flow in the female port, eliminating stagnation areas and air pockets, thereby improving deaeration and liquid flow efficiency while maintaining passage control capability.
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 connector effectively prevents contamination and stagnation, ensures reliable passage opening and closing, and enhances fluid flow efficiency by maintaining a liquid-tight seal and minimizing bacterial propagation risks during connection and disconnection.
Implementation Method 1
a valve disk made of elastic material and having a hollow section and a top slit formed in the top
Implementation Method 2
the tube presses the head of the valve disk to contract the valve disk, causing the top slit to spread
Implementation Method 3
an urging section for urging the pin axially, wherein the top slit is closed when the tube is not connected to the female-side connecting port
Data Source
AI summary
A connector includes a housing having a first female-side connecting port, a liquid circulation space, and a male-side connecting section communicating with the liquid circulation space, a first valve disk made of elastic material and having a hollow section and a top slit formed in the top and received in the housing, a pin movably installed in the housing, and an urging section for urging the pin axially. In this connector, the top slit spreads and communication is established between a tube interior and the hollow section, and at the same time the top of the pin is pressed to cause the pin to move axially, enlarging the clearance between the hollow section and the pin, thereby establishing communication between the tube interior and the male-side connecting section interior successively through the top slit, the hollow section and the liquid circulation space.