Contact Lens Package With Draining Port for Sanitary Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional contact lens packaging requires users to touch the lens multiple times, leading to potential contamination and mechanical stress, and lacks efficient solution drainage, making the process unsanitary and cumbersome.
Innovation Solution
A contact lens package design with a base and removable lid that allows packaging solution to drain away from the lens upon opening, featuring a fluid exit via and a removable cover to control solution flow, enabling sanitary and convenient handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the contact lens is stored in a sealed package with solution, then the lens remains sterile and protected, but the user must touch the lens multiple times to remove it, causing contamination risk and mechanical stress
Solution Approach 1:
The package is designed with a drain port that allows solution to be drained away from the lens before the user handles the lens. This preliminary draining action reduces the risk of contamination and mechanical stress during lens removal, as the lens is already in a drier, more manageable state when the user touches it
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful element (excess packaging solution) is extracted from the system through the drain port. By providing a dedicated exit path for the solution, the design separates the solution removal function from the lens handling process, allowing users to minimize direct contact with the lens while still achieving complete solution drainage
2Ease of operation
If the package is opened to access the lens, then the user can remove the lens, but packaging solution adheres to the lens and package, making the process messy and cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The drain port provides a dedicated extraction path for packaging solution, separating the solution removal function from lens handling. This allows excess solution to be drained away before the user touches the lens, reducing mess and adherence issues during the transfer process
Solution Approach 2:
The solution drainage occurs preliminarily before the user handles the lens. By draining the solution first through the port, the lens is left in a cleaner state with minimal solution adherence, making the subsequent handling process less messy and more convenient
3Productivity
If the package includes a drain port for solution drainage, then solution can be efficiently drained from the lens, but the package structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The package structure is segmented into distinct functional zones: a storage cavity for the lens and solution, and a drain port feature integrated into the base. This segmentation allows the drainage function to be added as a discrete element rather than requiring complete structural redesign, thereby limiting the increase in overall complexity while maintaining high drainage efficiency
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
Facilitates sanitary and efficient lens handling by allowing solution drainage without direct contact, reducing contamination risk and mechanical stress on the lens.
Implementation Method 1
the package is configured such that upon opening the package by a wearer the packaging solution drains away from the contact lens
Data Source
AI summary
A contact lens package includes a base having a proximal end and a distal end, a solution well between the proximal end and the distal end, a contact lens support in the solution well, a top opening between the proximal end and the distal end and over the contact lens support, and a via through a wall of the base adjacent the well, the via providing a fluid exit for solution within well. A removable lid overlying the top opening may be removably affixed over the top opening such that a user may remove the lid to access the contact lens. Using this package, fluid can be drained away from the contact lens in the package before removal from the package by a user, thus providing good adhesion between a user's finger or applicator and the lens over prior packaging.