Fluid Dispenser Locking Ring for Timed Dose Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fluid product dispensing devices lack safety features to prevent overdose, unauthorized use, and ensure secure, reliable operation, particularly for potent drugs in therapeutic settings.
Innovation Solution
A fluid product dispenser with a locking mechanism that allows actuation only by authorized personnel, featuring a locking ring that blocks and releases axial movement based on a motor-actuated flexible element, ensuring secure and timed operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a prior-art dispensing device is used, then the device structure is simple, but the device lacks safety features to prevent overdose and unauthorized use
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional modules: a dispenser unit with tank and dispensing head, a control module with motor and electronic board, and a locking mechanism with locking ring and thrust member. This segmentation allows the safety features to be added as distinct functional blocks without completely redesigning the entire device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
A locking ring acts as an intermediary mechanism between the control module and the dispenser unit. The locking ring rotates between locked and unlocked positions, mediating the interaction between the motor-driven control system and the mechanical dispenser components, thereby enabling controlled access without direct coupling.
2Reliability
If a locking mechanism with motor and flexible element is added, then the device becomes secure with time-out function, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The traditional purely mechanical locking system is replaced with a electromechanical system. The motor converts electrical signals from the electronic board into rotational motion of the locking ring, while the flexible element (wire or blade) provides elastic coupling between the motor wheel and locking ring, reducing the need for complex mechanical linkages.
Solution Approach 2:
The electronic board introduces temporal parameters to the locking mechanism through time-out functions. The system can lock the device for predetermined periods after actuation, changing the state parameters (locked/unlocked) based on time-based control rather than purely mechanical positioning.
3Reliability
If the device is blocked for predetermined time between actuations, then overdose risk is reduced, but the ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic board provides feedback control by monitoring the actuation state and automatically enforcing time-out periods. The system tracks when the dispenser is actuated and prevents further actuations during the predetermined lockout period, providing automatic feedback-based overdose prevention without requiring user judgment or manual timing.
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 device ensures safe and secure dispensing by preventing unauthorized use and overdose, with a robust and reliable mechanism that automatically locks after use, enhancing user safety and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible element attached on one side to said inner body and on the other side to said locking ring, said motor wheel co-operating with said flexible element to deform it and thus move said locking ring between its locking and releasing positions
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser having a tank, a dispensing head having an axially moveable dispensing port, a dispensing member actuated when the tank is moved upwards, an inner body having a hollow cylinder receiving the dispenser and an axial extension extending downwards, a control module having an electronic board, a motor and a motor wheel, an outer body receiving the inner body and control module, a thrust member in contact with the tank and axially movable on the inner body between rest and actuation positions, a control member attached to the thrust member and axially moving therewith, and a locking ring mounted on the axial extension rotatable between locking and releasing positions. The locking ring is moved by the control module into the locking position with the thrust member to prevent axial movement of latter and into the releasing position with the thrust member to enable axial movement towards the actuation position.