Deformable Multi-Dose Container for Sterile Vial Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies lack a device capable of transferring medical liquids from a glass vial to a deformable multi-dose container while maintaining sterility and ensuring the solution's properties over time, particularly for nasal sprays, oral drops, or eye drops, without using needles and ensuring safe, quick, and sterile transfer.
Innovation Solution
A deformable container with an elastically deformable wall and a connecting accessory that allows for fluid communication with a vial, enabling the transfer of medical solutions by compressing the container to change its volume, ensuring sterility and maintaining solution properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a deformable container is used to transfer liquid from a glass vial, then the transfer can be performed without needles and simplified, but maintaining sterility and ensuring long-term solution stability becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a connecting accessory as an intermediary component between the glass vial and the deformable container. This accessory includes a coupling portion that connects to the vial and another that connects to the container, creating a controlled fluid communication pathway. The intermediary structure allows sterile transfer by maintaining sealed connections throughout the transfer process, eliminating the need for needles while preserving sterility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the filling operation from the deformable container itself and separates it into a distinct phase using the connecting accessory. The accessory enables the container to be filled in a controlled manner directly from the vial, then allows the accessory to be disconnected. This separation takes out the potential contamination risk during filling while maintaining the simplicity of deformable container operation for subsequent dispensing.
2Ease of operation
If the deformable container material (polyethylene or polypropylene) is used to house the medical liquid, then the container is flexible and dispensable, but the material is not suitable to maintain solution stability throughout the required shelf life
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into two distinct components with different material properties: a glass vial for long-term storage that maintains solution stability, and a deformable container made of polyethylene or polypropylene for flexible dispensing. The connecting accessory bridges these two segments, enabling transfer of the solution from the stable storage medium to the dispensable container. This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function without compromise.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a connecting accessory is introduced to enable fluid communication between the vial and container, then transfer is enabled, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into the single connecting accessory component: it provides mechanical coupling between the vial and container, creates fluid communication pathways, maintains sterile barriers, and enables controlled transfer. By combining these functions into one integrated accessory rather than multiple separate components, the patent reduces overall system complexity while achieving the required adaptability for fluid communication.
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 solution facilitates safe, sterile, and efficient transfer of medical solutions from a vial to a deformable container, maintaining solution integrity and reducing contamination risks, suitable for multi-dose delivery.
Implementation Method 1
a body (2) defining an internal volume (3) configured to receive a fluid substance (4)... wherein the body (2) comprises at least one elastically deformable wall delimiting the internal volume (3)
Data Source
AI summary
A deformable container for dispensing a medical substance comprising a body defining an internal volume configured to receive a fluid substance, said body comprising a filling access configured to receive the fluid substance, a dispensing outlet configured to dispense the fluid substance, a valve arranged at the filling access movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration. The body comprises an elastically deformable wall delimiting the internal volume. The disclosure further relates to a connecting accessory comprising a first coupling portion, configured to fluidly connect to the filling access of the deformable container, and a second coupling portion configured to fluidly connect to an internal compartment of a vial. The container and the connecting accessory are configurable in a coupled configuration wherein the connecting accessory is coupled to the filling access of the container, and the valve of the container is in the open configuration.