Flexible Container with Collapsible Extraction Tube
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drug delivery devices for administering liquid medicaments face challenges with glass cartridges, which are prone to mechanical impact, difficult to empty completely due to collapsing sidewalls, and pose handling risks, especially with highly concentrated medicaments and low volume applications.
Innovation Solution
A flexible container with a collapsible extraction tube design, featuring varying radial collapsing resistivity along its length, allowing for controlled emptying and complete withdrawal of medicament, and an interface for reliable connection to a piercing assembly, facilitating mass manufacturing and safe handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a glass cartridge is used to contain liquid medicament, then optical transparency and chemical inertness are improved, but mechanical impact resistance and handling safety deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a disposable flexible container system that eliminates the need for durable, reusable glass cartridges. The container is designed for single-use, combining adequate chemical inertness during the usage period with superior mechanical flexibility and impact resistance. This approach trades long-term durability for immediate safety and handling ease, while the disposable nature avoids the need for expensive, fragile reusable components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes a flexible container made from elastomeric materials or plastic films that provide both chemical compatibility with medicaments and mechanical flexibility. These flexible structures resist mechanical impact far better than glass while maintaining the necessary barrier properties. The flexibility also allows the container to deform during medicament withdrawal without catastrophic failure, improving safety and reliability.
2Strength
If a rigid glass cartridge is used, then structural stability is improved, but ease of complete emptying deteriorates due to collapsing sidewalls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic container structure that transitions from a rigid, fixed shape to a flexible, deformable structure during operation. The flexible container adapts its shape as medicament is withdrawn, allowing the walls to collapse gradually and maintain contact with the extraction tube. This dynamic behavior ensures complete emptying by preventing the formation of residual pockets that would occur with rigid containers.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible container made from elastomeric or plastic materials allows the sidewalls to deform and collapse in a controlled manner during medicament withdrawal. This flexibility enables the container to conform to the extraction tube and maintain fluid communication throughout the emptying process, ensuring complete extraction without the blockage problems associated with rigid containers.
3Ease of operation
If a flexible container is used to facilitate complete emptying, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision and interface reliability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the container system into distinct functional segments: a flexible reservoir portion for medicament storage and a rigid or semi-rigid interface portion for connection to the extraction device. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized independently - the flexible portion for complete emptying and the interface portion for precise, reliable connections. The modular design simplifies manufacturing while maintaining both operational effectiveness and connection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible container incorporates a specifically designed interface region that transitions from the flexible reservoir to a more rigid connection structure. This interface portion maintains the flexibility needed for complete emptying while providing sufficient structural stability for reliable mechanical and fluid connections to the extraction tube and piercing assembly, thus resolving the contradiction between flexibility and connection precision.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a container for a liquid medicament that includes a wall structure with at least one flexible portion and confining an inner volume filled with the liquid medicament and an elongated extraction tube having at least a first portion and a second portion that are separated from each other along the tube and which are located inside the inner volume. The extraction tube is radially collapsible when exposed to a compressive force above a predefined threshold, and the first portion, which is located at a distal end of the extraction tube, is less resistive against radial collapsing than the second portion.