Flexible Medicament Container with Stabilizing Filaments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drug delivery devices for liquid medicaments face challenges with dosing accuracy and cost due to the fragility of vitreous cartridges and limitations of flexible bags, which are either prone to breakage or difficult to control for precise dosing.
Innovation Solution
A flexible container with a casing stabilized by multiple filaments that allows for pressure-based dispensing, providing geometric stability and high dosing accuracy without the need for a rigid housing, and can be easily adapted for different drive mechanisms and manufactured at lower costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a vitreous cartridge is used, then the container is rigid and dimensionally stable, but it is prone to breaking and fracture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the rigid vitreous cartridge with a flexible bag made of elastomeric or flexible thermoplastic material. This flexible bag can be compressed by a drive mechanism to dispense medicament while being less prone to breakage. The flexible nature allows it to withstand compression forces without fracturing, solving the reliability issue while maintaining functionality through the flexibility of the material.
2Reliability
If a flexible bag is used, then the container is less prone to breakage, but dosing accuracy is compromised due to excessive flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the physical parameters of the flexible bag by incorporating filaments made of tension-stable material that extend between opposite wall portions. These filaments limit the flexibility in specific directions while maintaining overall flexibility for compression. This parameter change allows the bag to be compressed for dosing while preventing excessive deformation that would compromise dosing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible bag is constructed as a composite structure combining flexible elastomeric or thermoplastic material with tension-stable filaments. This composite construction provides both the flexibility needed for compression-based dispensing and the structural stability required for accurate dosing, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and precision.
3Ease of manufacture
If a flexible bag is used, then the container is easier to manufacture and less expensive, but it requires additional housing to maintain geometric stability
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible bag with integrated filaments is designed to be self-supporting and self-stabilizing. The filaments provide internal geometric stability without requiring an external rigid housing. This self-service approach allows the flexible bag to maintain its shape and provide precise dosing while remaining easy to manufacture and cost-effective, eliminating the need for additional housing components.
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 flexible container ensures precise and reliable dispensing of liquid medicaments while being cost-effective and less prone to breakage, maintaining structural integrity under pressure and allowing for various geometric configurations.
Implementation Method 1
the filaments are tensed or strained. By having multiple filaments punctually and locally interconnecting first and second wall portions of the flexible casing, the overall geometric shape of the flexible casing can be stabilized
Implementation Method 2
Use of a flexible bag in a drug delivery device, wherein the medicament is expelled from the bag through a compression of the bag
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a container for a liquid medicament, comprising at least one flexible casing forming at least one cavity configured to receive the medicament, wherein the casing comprises a first wall portion and a second wall portion, wherein the second wall portion is located opposite to the first wall portion, at least a first outlet in fluid connection with the cavity and extending through the casing and multiple filaments extending through the cavity wherein each of the multiple filaments comprises a first end and a second end, wherein the second end is opposite to the first end, and wherein each of the first ends of the filaments are connected to the first wall portion and each of the second ends of the filaments are connected to the second wall portion.