Flask Tray Rail Structure for Precise Positioning and Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In laboratory medicine, existing tray systems fail to ensure precise positioning and secure holding of flasks during filling or sampling operations, particularly when using flasks with pierceable caps and remote identification means, as they lack effective mechanisms to prevent movement and ensure correct orientation for accurate processing.
Innovation Solution
A tray with parallel rails and indentations that immobilize flasks in longitudinal, transverse, and elevation directions, combined with a flask design featuring resilient projections and a cap orientation mechanism to maintain precise positioning and orientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If flasks are placed on a tray without specialized positioning structures, then the tray structure remains simple, but the flask positioning precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is divided into multiple functional components: parallel rails for longitudinal positioning, transverse rails for lateral positioning, and shoulders for elevation support. Each component handles a specific dimension of positioning, achieving precise flask placement through segmented structural elements rather than a single complex mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary positioning elements between the tray and flask: the rails serve as intermediaries that engage with the flask's geometric features, and the shoulders act as intermediaries providing elevation support. These intermediaries transmit and maintain positioning forces without requiring direct complex mechanisms.
2Stability of the object's composition
If flasks are held firmly to prevent movement, then positioning stability improves, but the risk of lifting or damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray provides different types of support at different locations: longitudinal and transverse rails provide lateral constraints, while shoulders provide elevation support. Each location on the tray has optimized local properties for its specific function, allowing firm holding without creating lifting points.
Solution Approach 2:
The shoulders are designed to support the flask at a consistent elevation level, creating an equipotential surface that prevents the flask from tilting or lifting. The parallel rails maintain constant spacing, ensuring uniform lateral constraints throughout the flask's contact area.
3Measurement precision
If identification means on flasks must be oriented in the same direction for remote reading, then reading accuracy improves, but positioning complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray employs asymmetric positioning features: the parallel rails are positioned at specific distances from each other, and the shoulders are located at predetermined positions along the rails. This asymmetric arrangement creates a unique positioning configuration that automatically orients the flask's identification means in the correct direction for remote reading.
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 ensures precise positioning and secure holding of flasks, allowing for accurate filling or sampling and remote identification, enhancing operational efficiency and analysis rates by maintaining flasks within a tenth of a millimeter of required alignment.
Implementation Method 1
said tab being substantially resilient so as to obtain a spring effect which allows the projection to engage in an indentation when they are facing one another
Data Source
AI summary
A tray for carrying at least one bottle that has to be positioned and held precisely on the tray, includes a support on which the bottle is intended to be placed, at least two rails running substantially parallel to one another along the support, the rails including at least one shoulder extending above the support toward the other rail so that a lower edge of the bottle can fit between and be immobilized in the rails in a longitudinal or transverse direction and in an upwards direction, each rail having at least one imprint, the imprints being positioned facing one another, each imprint being designed to accommodate an immobilizing element provided on the bottle so that the bottle can be immobilized in the rails in a longitudinal or transverse direction. A bottle used with a tray such as this is also described.