Depth-Adjustable Syringe With Detent-Guided Injection Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical syringes lack precision in adjusting penetration depth for different types of injections, leading to potential patient discomfort, delayed absorption, or vein rupture, and require safety features to prevent needle sticks.
Innovation Solution
A syringe design with a barrel, depth guides, detents, and a depth adjuster that allows for precise depth adjustment and a needle guard to ensure safe use after injection, featuring a plunger assembly and a depth adjuster with channels engaging the barrel's rails for sliding engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a traditional syringe design is used, then the syringe structure is simple, but the penetration depth cannot be precisely controlled
Solution Approach 1:
The syringe is divided into functional segments: a depth adjuster assembly that can be independently positioned along the barrel, detents that provide discrete depth positions, and a needle guard that separates from the barrel. This segmentation allows precise depth control through the depth adjuster while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The depth adjuster assembly is made movable along the barrel with sliding engagement, allowing dynamic adjustment of injection depth. The detents provide stable positioning at predetermined depths, combining dynamic adjustability with static precision during injection.
2Reliability
If needle safety features are added, then patient and user safety is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The needle guard is positioned to automatically cover the needle tip when the depth adjuster is retracted, providing preliminary protection before the injection is complete. This preliminary safety action prevents accidental needle sticks without requiring additional complex mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety features are merged with the depth adjustment mechanism - the depth adjuster assembly integrates both depth control function and needle protection function, eliminating the need for separate safety devices and reducing overall complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple injection depths are provided, then versatility for different injection types is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The depth adjuster assembly serves multiple functions: it controls injection depth, provides safety coverage for the needle, and enables different injection types (intradermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular) through its multi-position detent mechanism, making the syringe universal for various medical applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The detent mechanism provides multiple discrete depth positions that can be selectively engaged, giving the syringe adaptability for different injection depths while maintaining a simple mechanical structure without requiring electronic controls or complex mechanisms.
4Measurement precision
If precision depth control is implemented, then injection accuracy is improved, but ease of operation may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The detent mechanism provides self-aligning positioning features that automatically guide the depth adjuster to precise depth positions without requiring complex measurement or calculation by the user. The mechanical feedback from detent engagement provides intuitive confirmation of depth setting.
Solution Approach 2:
The sliding engagement mechanism allows smooth, continuous adjustment of the depth position, while the detents provide automatic snapping to precise positions. This combination makes the device both easy to operate and highly accurate.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed that include providing a depth adjustable syringe having a barrel with a cylindrical body portion that defines a fluid chamber and a pair of opposing substantially flat depth guides that extend laterally from the cylindrical body portion. The depth guides include longitudinally extending rails, a plurality of detents, and safety stops disposed along an inner surface. A depth adjuster includes opposing channels that slidably engage the rails of the depth guides to position the depth adjuster along the barrel based on a desired depth of an injection. The depth adjuster engages the detents in a plurality of depth injection positions and engages the safety stops in a needle safety position, in which the needle guard at least partially surrounds a tip of a needle, and the syringe is disabled for subsequent use.