Eye Drop Dispenser With Integrated Cup For Accurate Delivery
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing eye drop dispensers are inefficient in delivering drops accurately and consistently, especially for children and the elderly, leading to waste and potential contamination, and exacerbate issues for users with hand tremors, reducing medication compliance.
Innovation Solution
An eye drop dispenser assembly featuring a bottle with an integrated eye cup that fits over the eye socket, a nipple aligned with the eye cup, and a cap that seals the nipple to prevent leakage, facilitating precise delivery and reducing contamination risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a conventional eye drop dispenser is used, then the device is simple and easy to manufacture, but it fails to deliver drops accurately into the eye, causing waste and contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the dispenser bottle, eye cup, and cap into an integrated assembly where the eye cup is fixedly coupled to the dispenser bottle and the cap seals over both components. This merging of functions into a single unified device ensures that the dispenser, positioning cup, and seal work together as one system, improving delivery accuracy without requiring multiple separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The eye cup acts as an intermediary component between the dispenser nozzle and the user's eye. It provides a positioning structure that guides the dispenser tip to the correct location above the eye socket, ensuring accurate drop delivery while preventing direct contact between the dispenser and the eye, thus reducing contamination risk.
2Measurement precision
If the dispenser tip is positioned close to the eye for accurate delivery, then delivery precision improves, but the risk of contamination increases
Solution Approach 1:
The eye cup serves as a protective intermediary that positions the dispenser tip at the optimal distance from the eye. The cup's rim rests on the user's face to stabilize the dispenser, while the dispenser nozzle extends through the cup to deliver drops precisely into the eye socket without the tip contacting the eye surface, thus maintaining both precision and hygiene.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is segmented into distinct functional zones: the eye cup creates a designated delivery zone above the eye socket, the dispenser nozzle operates within this zone without contacting the eye, and the cap provides external sealing. This spatial segmentation allows precise delivery while maintaining a contamination barrier.
3Reliability
If multiple attempts are made to deliver eye drops accurately, then the chance of successful delivery increases, but waste of medication and increased time consumption occur
Solution Approach 1:
The eye cup is pre-positioned on the user's face before drop delivery, establishing the correct geometric relationship between the dispenser and eye socket in advance. This preliminary positioning ensures that subsequent drop delivery is accurate on the first attempt, eliminating the need for multiple attempts and preventing medication waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The eye cup provides tactile feedback to the user when properly positioned on the face, ensuring correct alignment before delivery. This feedback mechanism confirms that the dispenser is in the optimal position for accurate drop delivery, reducing the need for repeated attempts and minimizing medication waste.
4Ease of operation
If the user touches their eye or face with the dispenser, then adjustment or repositioning may be attempted, but bacteria grow on the dispenser tip causing eye infections
Solution Approach 1:
The eye cup acts as a hygienic intermediary that allows the user to stabilize and reposition the dispenser by touching the cup's exterior surface rather than the dispenser tip directly. The cap seals over the dispenser nozzle to prevent bacterial contamination, while the cup's rim provides a safe contact point for user handling and repositioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The functions of user contact and dispenser sealing are extracted from the dispenser tip itself. The user interacts with the eye cup exterior and cap, not the dispenser nozzle, separating the contamination-prone contact function from the sterile drop delivery function. This extraction protects the dispenser tip from bacterial contamination while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser assembly includes a dispenser bottle having a nipple for dispensing a solution (e.g., eye drop solution, eye wash solution, eye lid cleaner and/or wash solution), and a cap removably couplable to the dispenser bottle over the nipple. The dispenser bottle has a chamber that removably receives a single-use vial cartridge. An eye cup is fixedly coupled to the dispenser bottle around the nipple, or the eye cup is detachable and invertible relative to the dispenser bottle. The eye cup can be supported on or rest on the periphery of the eye socket to facilitate delivery of the solution onto or over a user's eye.