Medical Packaging Tear-Away Seal for Quiet Catheter Opening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical device packaging is not designed for personal use outside a medical environment, lacking consideration for user experience, discreetness, and practicality, especially for long devices like male urinary catheters, and generates noise upon opening.
Innovation Solution
A packaging design with a tear-away region, tapered edges, and interior sealing members that allows for easy opening, reduces noise, and can be reused for disposal, featuring a triangular tear-away region, interior sealing arrangement, and textured surfaces to dampen sound.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If packaging is designed for quick opening in medical environment, then opening speed is improved, but noise level increases and discreetness is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is divided into a main body and a separate tear-away region. The tear-away region contains the sealed edge and can be completely removed, allowing the main body to remain for discreet disposal. This segmentation enables quiet opening by tearing away a small portion rather than opening the entire package loudly.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealed edge is extracted into a separate tear-away region that can be removed from the main packaging body. This allows the user to tear away only the necessary portion for access, minimizing noise and maintaining discreetness while still enabling quick opening.
2Quantity of substance
If packaging is designed to house long medical devices, then device capacity is improved, but packaging size and portability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into a compact main body and a removable tear-away region. The main body houses the long medical device in a space-efficient manner, while the tear-away region is separated and can be disposed of, leaving only the essential compact packaging with the device for portable use.
3Ease of operation
If packaging uses multiple separable components, then ease of opening is improved, but number of components for disposal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into exactly two components: the main body and the tear-away region. This minimal segmentation provides ease of opening through the tear line while keeping the total number of components low, making disposal simpler compared to packaging with multiple separate elements.
4Reliability
If packaging is designed for medical environment use, then sterility maintenance is improved, but user experience for personal use deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into a main body and a tear-away region with sealed edges. The sealed edges maintain sterility by preventing contamination, while the tear-away region provides a controlled opening mechanism that enhances user experience for personal use by enabling quiet, discreet access.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealed edge is extracted into a separate tear-away region that can be removed. This extraction maintains the sterile barrier through the sealed edge while improving user experience by allowing controlled, quiet opening and leaving a compact main body for discreet disposal.
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
Enhances user experience by allowing discreet and practical use and disposal of medical devices, reducing noise and the number of packaging components, and maintaining sterility.
Implementation Method 1
At least a portion of the first and/or second sides of the packaging may comprise a material having a textured surface profile on an interior and/or exterior surface thereof
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to packaging (10) for housing a medical device (100). The packaging (10) includes first and second sides (12, 14) sealed or otherwise secured around the periphery thereof to define a plurality of edges. An interaction region (24) is provided and defines a first point of contact for a user of the packaging (100). The packaging (10) also includes a tear-away region (28) which may be at least partially separated from the remainder of the packaging to form an open upper end of the packaging (10), in use. The tear-away region (28) includes an interaction point defining a second point of contact for a user of the packaging (10). A sealing arrangement including first and second sealing members (42, 44) provides a user-sealable seal between the first and second sides (12, 14) of the packaging (10).