Liquid Dispenser with Sloped Cap and Depth-Limiting Interface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dispensers for aerosolizing devices often waste medicament due to inefficiencies in delivering the entire supply of liquid medicament and providing accurate doses, especially as the liquid volume decreases, leading to potential air mixing and incorrect dosages.
Innovation Solution
A dispenser with a container and dispensing mechanism that includes a sloped housing cap for efficient drainage, an interface to limit tip insertion depth, and an indicator line to signal when the liquid is insufficient, ensuring accurate metered volumes are delivered and preventing air from mixing with the medicament.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If the dispenser is designed to deliver the entire supply of liquid medicament, then the amount of medicament wasted is reduced, but it becomes difficult to maintain accurate dosing as liquid volume decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing an indicator line on the container that预先 indicates when the liquid volume becomes insufficient. This allows users to stop using the container before air mixing occurs, thereby preventing dosing inaccuracies while still maximizing medicament utilization from the container.
Solution Approach 2:
The indicator line serves as a visual feedback mechanism that informs users about the remaining liquid volume in the container. This feedback enables users to adjust their usage behavior to maintain dosing accuracy while minimizing waste by using the medicament down to the indicated level.
2Quantity of substance
If the tip is allowed to insert deeply into the inhaler opening, then more liquid medicament can be delivered, but air may mix with the medicament causing incorrect dosages
Solution Approach 1:
The interface feature (shoulder or seat) is designed in advance to limit the insertion depth of the tip into the inhaler opening. This preliminary structural constraint ensures that the tip delivers liquid medicament without inserting so deeply that air mixing occurs, thereby maintaining dosing reliability while still delivering adequate medicament quantity.
3Productivity
If the container is designed without drainage assistance, then the structure is simpler, but liquid medicament does not drain efficiently into the dispensing mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by designing the bottom surface of the container with a slope that directs liquid medicament toward the aperture. This curved/sloped surface geometry facilitates efficient drainage of liquid into the dispensing mechanism without requiring additional complex drainage components, thus improving productivity while maintaining relatively simple device structure.
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 dispenser effectively delivers the entire supply of liquid medicament while ensuring accurate dosages by preventing air mixing and indicating when the medicament is low, thus minimizing waste and ensuring reliable dosing.
Implementation Method 1
a housing cap having a bottom surface that is sloped toward an aperture to aid in the draining of liquid medicament from the container into the dispensing mechanism
Implementation Method 2
a vibratable mesh spaced a distance from the opening that is configured to aerosolize the metered volume of liquid medicament
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser for supplying a metered volume of a liquid medicament to an aerosolizing device. The dispenser may include a container having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the container is configured to store a volume of liquid medicament. The dispenser may also include a dispensing mechanism coupled to the distal end of the container. The dispensing mechanism may have a distal end terminating in a tip through which the liquid medicament is dispensed. The dispensing mechanism operates to dispense a metered volume of the liquid medicament from the tip each time the dispensing mechanism is operated. The distal end of the dispensing mechanism includes an interface that interacts with a housing of an inhaler to limit an insertion depth of the tip into an opening the housing.