Drainable Collection Bag Pivoting Closure Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drainable collecting bags are difficult for patients, especially elderly patients, to open, empty, clean, and reseal due to direct exposure to waste material and require greater dexterity, with residual waste often blocking the discharge opening and making cleaning challenging.
Innovation Solution
A drainable collecting bag with two plates that pivot 180 degrees around the edge of the neck portion, allowing for easy emptying and resealing while protecting the user's fingers from contamination, and featuring angled fastening strips and a two-part fastener system for secure closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional wire ties or wraps are used for closure, then the discharge opening can be sealed, but the device is difficult to open, empty, clean, and reseal due to direct exposure to waste material and requires greater dexterity
Solution Approach 1:
The closure device is divided into two separate plate members instead of a single integrated closure mechanism. Each plate can be independently manipulated and positioned, allowing the user to open the discharge opening by separating the plates without having to contort fingers around a tight wrap. The segmentation enables easier operation while maintaining the sealing function when plates are brought together.
Solution Approach 2:
The two plate members act as intermediary elements between the user and the waste material. By providing flat, extended surfaces, the plates allow users to grip and manipulate the closure mechanism without their fingers directly contacting the discharge opening or waste material, thereby improving ease of operation and hygiene.
2Ease of operation
If the closure device is made easy to open and re-close, then ease of operation improves, but the reliability of the seal may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the closure into two plates, the device achieves both ease of operation (plates can be easily separated and repositioned) and sealing reliability (plates can be brought into firm contact to create a tight seal). The segmented design allows incremental manipulation rather than requiring complete disassembly or complex finger movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure mechanism transitions from a one-dimensional wrap-around motion to a two-dimensional plate separation and repositioning action. The plates extend laterally from the discharge opening, allowing users to manipulate them in multiple directions (pulling apart, rotating, repositioning) before closing, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining sealing capability when plates are brought together.
3Reliability
If residual waste blocks the discharge opening, then the bag can be sealed, but cleaning of the inside surfaces adjacent the discharge opening becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The plate members are designed to extend beyond the discharge opening, creating a ledge or overhang that prevents residual waste from blocking the entire opening. This extraction of the closure mechanism from the exact plane of the discharge opening allows waste to be contained while maintaining access to the surrounding inside surfaces for cleaning purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
By extending the plates laterally beyond the discharge opening, the closure mechanism operates in an extended dimensional space. This creates accessible surfaces that can be wiped and cleaned from the outside, and maintains open access to the interior surfaces adjacent to the discharge opening, facilitating cleaning even when waste is present.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A drainable collecting bag for human body wastes, comprising a front wall and a rear wall of flexible sheet material defining a cavity there between and which define a downwardly extending neck portion terminating in a discharge opening. The discharge opening is bordered with two plates that are configured to pivot 180 degrees to switch between an open configuration for emptying of the cavity and a closed configuration for liquid tight closure of the bag.