Medication Storage Box Alignment for Verified Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
In medical and pharmaceutical settings, there is a challenge in ensuring that medications and medical devices are delivered to the correct location due to their similarity in appearance, leading to potential mistakes by professionals and the need for secure storage to prevent theft and incorrect administration.
Innovation Solution
A medication delivery verification system comprising a mounting body, a matching plate, and a storage box with aperture and protrusion elements for secure alignment, a locking mechanism, and a spring clip for secure engagement, ensuring that the storage box can only be removed after unlocking and depressing the retaining device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If medications are stored in locked containers for security, then theft and unauthorized access are prevented, but it becomes difficult to verify contents and ensure correct delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle through the transparent door panel made of clear material that allows visual inspection of medication contents while maintaining the locked container structure for security. This resolves the contradiction by providing both security (locked container) and ease of verification (transparent panel for visual inspection without unlocking).
2Productivity
If similar medications are stored together for efficiency, then storage space is optimized, but the risk of mistaken identity and administration errors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by providing unique identifier labels on each storage container and corresponding mounting locations. These local identifiers (codes, barcodes, or visual markers) enable quick verification of the correct medication-container-location match, allowing similar medications to be stored together while preventing identification errors through localized distinguishing features.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes visual markers and color-coded identification systems on containers and mounting locations. Different colors or visual patterns indicate different medication types or destinations, enabling rapid visual verification and preventing mistaking one medication for another even when stored in close proximity.
3Reliability
If a verification system with multiple components is implemented, then delivery accuracy is improved, but the system complexity and installation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle through the asymmetric shape-matching mechanism between storage containers and mounting locations. The container has a specific geometric configuration (protrusions, recesses, or overall shape) that only fits into its designated mounting location, providing foolproof verification without requiring complex electronic systems or multiple components. This simple geometric coding achieves high delivery accuracy with minimal system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for providing correct delivery of pharmaceuticals or the like to a patient location has a mounting body, a matching plate, a storage box and elements for associating a particular matching plate, affixed to a surface of the mounting body, with a particular storage box. The mounting body should be adapted to be fixed in place at the patient location, thereby fixing in place a storage body engaged in it. The storage box has a unitarily-formed storage body, with an open face hingedly fitted with a door for closing the open face. Proper association of the matching plate with the particular occurs when the associating elements of the storage box and the matching plate register with each other, allowing an element of the mounting body to engage the storage box. Disengagement of the element can be effected only through access to the interior of the storage body.