Modular RF-Shielded Containers With Tortuous Seam Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current RFID tracking systems face challenges in accurately inventorying medications stored in containers with RF shields, as RF energy can leak out, activating remote RFID tags and leading to inaccurate readings.
Innovation Solution
The development of modular RF-shielded plastic components that form a Faraday cage with a tortuous path seal, preventing RF energy leakage and ensuring accurate tracking of RFID-tagged medications within the container.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional metal enclosures are used for RF shielding, then RF energy attenuation is effective, but weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials consisting of non-conductive plastic substrates combined with conductive elements (metal mesh, conductive foam, or conductive adhesive) to create RF-shielded containers. This composite approach provides effective RF attenuation while significantly reducing weight compared to solid metal enclosures, directly resolving the contradiction between shielding effectiveness and weight.
2Weight of moving object
If modular plastic components with conductive elements are used, then weight and cost are reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates conductive elements (such as conductive foam or adhesive) into the modular components during the molding process in advance. This preliminary action ensures that when modules are assembled, the conductive elements are already positioned to bridge joint seams, reducing the need for high-precision field alignment and simplifying the assembly process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses flexible conductive foam or thin conductive adhesive layers at joint seams to accommodate minor misalignments between modular components. These flexible conductive elements can deform to ensure continuous electrical contact across joints, thereby reducing the stringency of manufacturing precision requirements while maintaining RF shielding effectiveness.
3Measurement precision
If RF shielding is implemented to contain RF energy, then inventory accuracy improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the RF-shielded container into multiple modular sections, each with its own integrated conductive shielding elements. This segmentation allows the shielding function to be distributed across simple, standardized modules rather than requiring a single complex shielding structure, thereby improving inventory accuracy through effective RF containment while reducing overall device complexity through modularity and standardization.
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
This solution provides a lightweight, cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing alternative to traditional metal enclosures, ensuring reliable RF shielding and accurate inventory management of medications.
Implementation Method 1
The container has an RF shield to attenuate RF energy in the container from leaking out of the container
Implementation Method 2
providing a tortuous path seal to attenuate RF energy leaking out of and into the storage space
Data Source
AI summary
A modular system of medical article containers is used to form enclosures of selectable storage space. The containers are each RF shielded and include an interconnect wall for connecting to another container to form the enclosure. The interconnect walls have a complementary design. The interconnect seam of two containers includes an electrically conductive component that also interconnects the RF shields of the two containers together. The interconnect seam also includes a tortuous path seal for greater RF shielding of the enclosure. The walls of the containers include a substrate of non-electrically conductive material for weight reduction and an electrically conductive element that is coextensive with the substrate. One embodiment is a plastic substrate with a metallic mesh. The enclosure provides a Faraday cage about the interconnected containers. Enclosures of differing heights and sizes can be made, and they may be stacked or otherwise assembled.