Medical Device Package with One-Handed Tear Feature
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional blister packaging for medical devices like syringes requires a two-handed knuckle-roll-peel technique to open, which is cumbersome and time-consuming, often compromising sterility and generating excess waste, especially in fast-paced medical settings.
Innovation Solution
A package design featuring a film sealed at both ends with a tear-enabling feature, such as a notch or perforation, and a gripping feature that allows one-handed opening using a finger, thumb, or tool, eliminating the need for a peel tab and reducing material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional blister packaging is used with a peel tab, then the package can be opened, but it requires two hands and the knuckle-roll-peel technique which is cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the peel tab from the packaging system entirely. Instead of requiring a separate peel tab element, the sealing barrier itself is designed with a tear-enabling feature that allows direct tearing without extraction of an additional component.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing barrier is segmented into different regions with different tear strengths. The tear-enabling feature creates a localized weak point that allows the seal to tear cleanly without requiring complex manual manipulation techniques.
2Ease of operation
If conventional blister packaging is opened using the knuckle-roll-peel technique, then the package opens, but sterility is often compromised due to tearing or fracturing
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing barrier has non-uniform tear strength distributed along its length. The tear-enabling feature creates a localized region of reduced tear strength that guides the tear to occur at a specific clean location, preventing random tearing that could compromise sterility.
Solution Approach 2:
The tear-enabling feature is pre-formed in the sealing barrier during manufacturing. This preliminary structural modification ensures that when opening force is applied, the tear will occur at the predetermined safe location rather than propagating unpredictably through the seal.
3Ease of operation
If conventional blister packaging with a peel tab is used, then the package can be opened, but a significant amount of material is consumed and waste is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The peel tab, which is an additional material component required for opening conventional packages, is completely removed from the design. The sealing barrier itself serves the dual function of both sealing and providing the opening mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing barrier is designed to perform multiple functions: it provides the hermetic seal to maintain sterility, and simultaneously serves as the opening mechanism through its integrated tear-enabling feature. This eliminates the need for a separate peel tab component.
Data Source
AI summary
Packages comprising a film surrounding the medical device are described and including a tear-enabling feature and a gripping feature enabling a user to use a finger, a thumb or an end of a tool to apply a sufficient tearing force to cause the tear-enabling feature to tear and move the first end of the package away from the second end of the package using only one hand and to expose the medical device to be accessed for use. Also described are methods of packaging a medical device.