Sliding Clip Dialyser Connector for Secure High-Pressure Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing disposable push fit connectors for dialysis machines are difficult to attach and remove, prone to being pushed off by high pressures, and are expensive due to their robust design, making them unreliable and inconvenient for users.
Innovation Solution
A dialyser connector design featuring a main body with a cavity and a sliding clip with flexible wings and arms, which provides a locked and unlocked condition, ensuring secure attachment and easy detachment through a snap-fit mechanism and resilient abutment, allowing for reliable and convenient use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If disposable push fit connectors are made robust to withstand high pressures, then reliability improves, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into two separate components: a reusable main body and a disposable sliding clip. The main body contains the robust structural elements (cavity, ramps, seal) that withstand high pressures, while the sliding clip provides the disposable locking mechanism. This segmentation allows the expensive robust parts to be reused while only the simpler locking mechanism is disposed of, resolving the contradiction between reliability and manufacturing cost.
2Ease of manufacture
If disposable push fit connectors are made simple to reduce cost, then manufacturing cost decreases, but attachment and removal difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sliding clip is designed to be dynamically movable along the main body, transitioning between locked and unlocked positions. The resilient flexible wings automatically engage with the ramps to lock the connector, and can be manually slid to unlock it. This dynamic mechanism provides easy attachment and removal without requiring complex operations, while keeping the disposable clip structurally simple for cost-effective manufacturing.
3Ease of manufacture
If disposable push fit connectors are made simple for cost-effectiveness, then manufacturing cost decreases, but resistance to high pressure detachment worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The connector separates pressure-bearing functions from locking functions. The main body contains the seal and structural elements that resist high pressure, while the sliding clip provides the locking mechanism. The resilient flexible wings on the sliding clip engage with the ramps on the main body to create a locked condition that prevents pressure-induced detachment, while keeping the disposable clip itself structurally simple and cost-effective to manufacture.
4Device complexity
If a single-component disposable connector is used, then device complexity decreases, but attachment and removal difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sliding clip is designed as a movable component that slides along the main body between locked and unlocked positions. The resilient flexible wings automatically engage with the ramps to lock the connector securely, and can be manually slid to unlock it for easy removal. This dynamic two-component design improves ease of operation compared to single-component connectors, while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
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 dialyser connector is inexpensive, reliable, and easy to use, providing a secure and fluid-tight connection to dialyser filter connector ports, addressing the issues of attachment difficulty and high-pressure detachment with a cost-effective solution.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one projection is biased to the locked condition by resilient abutment of pair of flexible wings on the pair of ramps
Implementation Method 2
The dialyser connector may further comprise a seal, preferably wherein the seal comprises an O-ring seal
Data Source
AI summary
A dialyser connector comprising a main body and a sliding clip. The main body defines a cavity. The main body has a tube end and a dialyser end, with at least one aperture and a pair of ramps provided in a central portion between the tube end and the dialyser end. The sliding clip has a tube end and a dialyser end connected by a spine running along the top of the sliding clip. The sliding clip has a pair of flexible wings extending in an arc from the spine and a pair of arms extending in an arc from the spine, the pair of arms having at least one projection extending radially inward. The dialyser connector has a locked condition in which the at least one projection extends into the cavity of the main body and an unlocked conditions in which the at least one projection is withdrawn from the cavity of the main body, and wherein the at least one projection is biased to locked condition by action of pair of flexible wings on the pair of ramps.