IUD Packaging Tray for Folding and Retaining Insertion Arms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Healthcare providers face difficulty in folding and maintaining the arms of intrauterine devices (IUDs) in a folded configuration for insertion due to their small size and surface area, making it challenging to pass an insertion tube over the arms.
Innovation Solution
A packaging system with a loading device featuring pivotable channels that secure and collapse the IUD arms against the shaft, facilitated by an elongate body and channels that pivot towards it, allowing for easier handling and insertion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If healthcare providers use their fingers to fold the arms of the IUD against the shaft, then the arms can be positioned in a folded configuration, but it is difficult to maintain the folded configuration long enough to pass the insertion tube over the arms due to the small size and surface area of the arms
Solution Approach 1:
The loading device is pre-configured with channels and retention structures that automatically guide and maintain the IUD arms in a folded configuration against the shaft. The carrier member is designed with features that preliminarily position the arms before the insertion tube is passed, eliminating the need for manual finger manipulation during the critical insertion phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The loading device serves as an intermediary tool between the healthcare provider and the IUD arms. Instead of directly manipulating the small IUD arms with fingers, the provider uses the loading device's channels and retention structures to fold and maintain the arms, providing mechanical assistance that overcomes the limitation of finger dexterity and control.
2Ease of operation
If the arms of the IUD are kept in an extended configuration, then they are easier to handle initially, but they cannot be inserted through the carrier member which requires a collapsed state
Solution Approach 1:
The loading device incorporates movable channels that can pivot between an extended position (for easy loading of the IUD) and a collapsed position (for insertion through the carrier member). This dynamic structure allows the device to adapt its configuration based on the operational phase, providing both ease of handling during loading and adaptability for insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The IUD arms are nested within the channels of the loading device, which themselves are nested within or alongside the carrier member. This nested arrangement allows the extended arms to be contained and then collapsed along with the loading device structure, enabling the transition from an extended handleable state to a collapsed insertable state.
3Device complexity
If a manual finger-based method is used to fold IUD arms, then no additional device complexity is introduced, but the procedure becomes difficult and time-consuming for healthcare providers
Solution Approach 1:
The loading device is designed to perform the folding and maintaining functions automatically once the IUD is loaded. The channels and retention structures self-engage with the IUD arms, and the pivoting mechanism automatically collapses the arms when the device is actuated. This self-service capability reduces the need for complex manual manipulation while maintaining operational simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A tray for securing an implantable device to a carrier member includes a slot configured to retain the carrier member and a receptacle adjacent the slot. The carrier member surrounds a shaft of the implantable device. The receptacle has a first width at a proximal end of the receptacle to receive first and second arms of the implantable device in an initial state in which the first and second arms extend substantially perpendicularly from the shaft. The receptacle has a second width at a distal end of the receptacle for receiving the first and second arms of the implantable device in a collapsed state in which the first and second arms are folded against the shaft such that the carrier member can be slid over the first and second arms to retain the first and second arms. The second width is less than the first width.