One-Handed Medical Device Package with Tear Feature
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional blister packaging for medical devices like syringes requires a two-handed knuckle-roll-peel technique to open, which is cumbersome, time-consuming, and can compromise sterility, while also generating excess waste and increasing costs due to the need for additional packaging material.
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 a user to open the package with one hand using a finger, thumb, or a 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 with peel tab is used, then sterility is maintained, but opening requires two hands and is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The package is divided into a front seal and a back seal, with the back seal being breakable. This segmentation allows the package to be opened by breaking the back seal with one hand, eliminating the need for two-handed peeling operations while maintaining sterility through the intact front seal until opening.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of peeling the package open from the front as in conventional designs, the invention inverts the opening mechanism by making the back seal breakable. The user breaks the back seal to access the syringe, reversing the traditional opening direction and enabling one-handed operation.
2Reliability
If conventional blister packaging with peel tab is used, then packaging is sealed, but additional material is consumed and waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the peel tab component from the packaging design. By making the back seal itself breakable, the separate peel tab is removed, reducing packaging material consumption and waste while maintaining sealing integrity through the breakable seal design.
Solution Approach 2:
The breakable back seal is designed to be discarded after use, breaking away to allow access to the syringe. This eliminates the need for separate peel tabs that must also be discarded, reducing overall packaging waste while maintaining the necessary sealing function.
3Productivity
If conventional blister packaging is opened quickly, then access is faster, but sterility may be compromised due to tearing
Solution Approach 1:
The back seal is pre-designed with a breakable structure that anticipates the opening action. This preliminary design ensures that when force is applied, the seal breaks cleanly along the intended path rather than tearing unpredictably, maintaining sterility even during rapid one-handed opening.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the mechanical properties of the back seal to make it breakable, creating a controlled weakness that allows rapid opening without unpredictable tearing. This parameter change enables quick access while maintaining sterility by directing the break along a predetermined path.
Data Source
AI summary
Packages comprising a film surrounding the sterile 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 sterile medical device to be accessed for use. Also described are methods of packaging a sterile medical device.