Flexible Dental Valve Tubing With Integrated Backflow Check
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current dental valve devices for removing saliva and fluids during procedures often experience backflow issues, leading to potential contamination and require separate, complex, and expensive devices to prevent this, as well as inadequate sterilization practices.
Innovation Solution
A dental valve device with a flexible, disposable tubing and integrated check valve that is easy to install and operate, preventing backflow and eliminating the need for separate devices, with an antimicrobial coating to reduce bacterial growth and simplify sterilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate backflow prevention devices are used, then backflow prevention is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the backflow prevention function into the existing dental valve device by integrating a check valve mechanism within the valve body. This merging eliminates the need for separate backflow prevention devices while maintaining the prevention function, thereby reducing overall device complexity while preserving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The dental valve device is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as both a regular valve for fluid control and a check valve for backflow prevention. The rotatable valve sealing body can be positioned to either allow normal flow or prevent backflow, making the device universal and eliminating the need for separate specialized devices.
2Ease of manufacture
If disposable tubing is used, then sterilization is simplified, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable tubing that can be discarded after a single use, eliminating the need for complex sterilization processes. The tubing is designed to be inexpensive enough that disposal is more economical than sterilization, particularly for single-use applications in dental procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an antimicrobial coating on the tubing that reduces bacterial growth and contamination risk. This parameter change in the tubing's surface properties allows for simplified cleaning and reduces the stringency of sterilization requirements, bridging the gap between disposable and reusable options.
3Device complexity
If integrated check valve is used, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated check valve is designed as a modular component within the valve body, with distinct segments for the rotatable valve sealing body, the check valve mechanism, and the flow path. This segmentation allows for standardized manufacturing of individual components that can be assembled with controlled precision, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining necessary precision.
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 effectively prevents backflow and cross-contamination, simplifies the sterilization process, and reduces costs by using a disposable, recyclable, or biodegradable design, ensuring reliable and safe dental procedures.
Implementation Method 1
the check valve positioned in the bore preventing a backflow condition
Implementation Method 2
a rotatable valve sealing body adapted to be inserted into the partial opening, the rotatable valve sealing body having a bore for alignment with the lumen
Data Source
AI summary
A dental valve device has a valve body having a tip receiving end having a flexible tubing extending outwardly from the tip receiving end with the flexible tubing having a flexible tubing opening, a hose receiving end, a lumen formed between the flexible tubing opening and the hose receiving end, and a partial opening formed in the valve body, and a rotatable valve sealing body adapted to be inserted into the partial opening, the rotatable valve sealing body having a bore for alignment with the lumen formed between the flexible tubing opening and the hose receiving end, the bore having a tip receiving opening and a hose receiving opening.