Dissolvable Tip Glucose Sensor for Low-Trauma Continuous Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for monitoring blood glucose levels in diabetes patients are invasive, uncomfortable, and infrequent, leading to delayed detection of hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic conditions, which can result in dangerous side effects due to the need for finger pricks and the limitations of continuous analyte sensors.
Innovation Solution
A sensor device with a blunt tip and a dissolvable piercing element that rapidly inserts into the skin, minimizing tissue trauma and promoting wound healing, along with a hardening agent to enhance column strength and adhesion of the membrane, allowing for more frequent and accurate glucose monitoring without the need for separate applicators or needles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a sharpened tip sensor is implanted in tissue throughout its usable life, then the sensor can continuously monitor analyte concentration, but it causes trauma to surrounding tissue leading to scarring and inhibition of wound healing
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor is divided into two distinct parts: a dissolvable piercing element and a blunt-tipped sensor body. The piercing element performs the insertion function and then dissolves, while the sensor body remains for continuous monitoring. This segmentation allows the harmful piercing function to be separated from the beneficial monitoring function, eliminating ongoing tissue trauma from a permanent sharp tip.
Solution Approach 2:
The piercing element is made from a material that changes its physical state over time through dissolution. It starts as a solid sharp structure capable of piercing skin, then gradually dissolves in the physiological environment, transforming from a harmful sharp object to a non-existent material, thereby eliminating tissue trauma while maintaining initial insertion capability.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a dissolvable piercing element is used to minimize tissue trauma, then wound healing is promoted, but the sensor requires a separate mounting unit to support it on the skin surface
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting unit and sensor body are designed as an integrated assembly where the mounting unit serves dual purposes: it provides structural support for the sensor on the skin surface and houses the electronics needed for analyte detection. This merging reduces the number of separate components needed while maintaining the benefits of the dissolvable piercing element.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the sensor body has a blunt tip, then tissue trauma is minimized after piercing, but the piercing element must be separately attached to the blunt sensor body
Solution Approach 1:
The piercing element is designed as a disposable, dissolvable component that is inexpensive to manufacture. It performs its piercing function once and then dissolves, eliminating the need for complex attachment mechanisms to secure it permanently. The sensor body with its blunt tip is the permanent, valuable component that requires protection, while the cheap piercing element can be简单地 attached and then discarded through dissolution.
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 enables more comfortable and frequent glucose monitoring, reducing tissue trauma and wound healing issues while maintaining the integrity of the sensor membrane, thereby improving the timeliness and accuracy of glucose level detection.
Implementation Method 1
a piercing element comprising a material that rapidly dissolves upon insertion into the host
Implementation Method 2
a hardening agent to enhance column strength and adhesion of the membrane
Data Source
AI summary
Sensor devices including dissolvable tissue-piercing tips are provided. The sensor devices can be used in conjunction with dissolvable needles configured for inserting the sensor devices into a host. Hardening agents for strengthening membranes on sensor devices are also provided. Methods of using and fabricating sensor devices are also provided.