Jet Injector Refill Valve for Precise Dosing and Low Backflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing needleless fluid injection devices using the jet expulsion principle face challenges such as the need for cumbersome adapters to aspirate fluid, risk of contamination, and difficulties in achieving low backflow rates and precise fluid dosing, leading to high production costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A fluid injection device with a housing, coupler, piston head, and piston rod, utilizing an elastically deformable valve that ensures zero or near-zero backflow and allows incremental dosing, eliminating the need for separate adapters and simplifying the assembly process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an adapter is used to couple the fluid container with the fluid injection device, then fluid can be aspired into the device, but the operation becomes cumbersome and contamination risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the fluid container coupling function directly into the fluid injection device by incorporating a coupler with a flow channel that penetrates the piston rod. This merging of the container coupling and fluid delivery functions eliminates the need for separate adapters, simplifying operation and reducing contamination risk through a seamless, integrated fluid path.
Solution Approach 2:
The piston rod is designed with dual functionality: it serves both as the pressurizing element for jet expulsion and as the fluid conduit through its internal flow channel. This multi-functional design allows the same component to perform both pressurization and fluid transport, eliminating the need for separate adapter components and reducing potential contamination points.
2Reliability
If a flow resistance is added to the conduit to prevent backflow, then backflow is reduced, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding flow resistance to prevent backflow, the patent inverts the approach by using a one-way valve mechanism that actively opens to allow forward flow and closes to prevent backward flow. The valve is positioned at the inlet of the fluid collection chamber and uses the pressure differential between aspiration and injection phases to automatically control flow direction, achieving backflow prevention without resistance-based complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The one-way valve system operates autonomously based on pressure differential without requiring external control mechanisms. During fluid aspiration, the valve opens automatically due to negative pressure; during injection, it closes automatically due to positive pressure. This self-regulating mechanism prevents backflow without adding complex controlled systems or flow resistance elements.
3Measurement precision
If the fluid collection chamber volume is increased to allow incremental dosing, then dosing precision improves, but the device size and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a movable piston head that dynamically adjusts the volume of the fluid collection chamber. The piston can be positioned at different locations along its travel path, allowing the chamber volume to be varied incrementally. This dynamic volume adjustment enables precise dosing control without requiring multiple fixed-volume chambers or complex selection mechanisms, maintaining device simplicity while achieving dosing precision.
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 provides secure, reliable, and user-friendly fluid injection with precise dosing capabilities, reducing production costs and complexity while ensuring no contamination, and allowing multiple uses.
Implementation Method 1
the valve being made of an elastically deformable material and comprising a radial flow channel that provides a flow path from the piston head to the fluid collection chamber, the radial flow channel of the valve being open when the piston head and piston rod are moved in a direction that increases the volume of the fluid collection chamber and the radial flow channel of the valve being closed by an elastic deformation of the elastically deformable valve material when the piston head and the piston rod are moved in a direction that decreases the volume of the fluid collection chamber
Implementation Method 2
Such devices inject a fluid in the skin of a patient by expelling the fluid from a tiny nozzle with a relatively high pressure, such that a jet stream expels from the nozzle. The jet stream is capable of penetrating the skin of the patient
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid injection device of the jet stream type, comprising: —a housing defining a fluid collection chamber and having a nozzle; —a coupler for coupling the fluid injection device with a fluid container; —a piston head configured to be received and movable in the housing, to increase and decrease a volume thereof; —a piston rod, coupled to the piston head and having an internal flow channel, which extends from the piston rod for penetration of the fluid container, the piston head including a valve made of an elastically deformable material and comprising a radial flow channel, the radial flow channel being open when the piston head is moved in a fluid collection chamber volume increasing direction and the radial flow channel being closed by an elastic deformation of the valve material when the piston head is moved in a fluid collection chamber volume decreasing direction.