Multi-Route Sampling Entrance for Disposable Electrochemical Test Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing glucose test sensors have small fluid chambers, making it difficult to fill with blood samples, especially for users with poor vision or trembling hands, leading to incomplete filling, smeared samples, and inaccurate readings, which can result in incorrect insulin dosages and life-threatening errors.
Innovation Solution
A disposable electrochemical test sensor with a novel extra wide sampling entrance that allows blood to be drawn into the chamber through multiple routes, including the front, top, bottom, and sides, using multiple layers with notches and cutouts to create additional sampling points and a hydrophilic surface for capillary action, eliminating the need for a separate air escape vent.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the fluid chamber volume is reduced to minimize blood sampling volume, then the pain from finger piercing is reduced, but it becomes increasingly difficult to fill the fluid chamber with the sample
Solution Approach 1:
The sampling entrance is extended from a traditional single-point opening to a multi-dimensional structure with openings at the front end, side ends, and bottom of the fluid chamber. This spatial expansion allows blood to enter from multiple directions simultaneously, making it easier to fill the small-volume chamber even when the overall chamber size is reduced.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling entrance is divided into multiple separate openings distributed at different locations (front, sides, bottom) of the fluid chamber. This segmentation allows blood to enter through multiple independent pathways, ensuring complete filling of the small chamber volume while maintaining ease of operation.
2Quantity of substance
If the sampling entrance is made small to reduce blood volume, then less blood is required for testing, but users may abuse the test sensor by jamming the tip into the finger resulting in incomplete blood filling
Solution Approach 1:
The sampling entrance extends to the bottom of the fluid chamber in addition to the front and side openings. This vertical extension ensures that even when users jam the sensor tip into their finger, blood can still enter through the bottom opening, guaranteeing complete filling and reliable test results.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple segmented openings at different locations (front, sides, bottom) provide redundant filling pathways. If one pathway is blocked or insufficient due to user abuse, other pathways remain open to ensure complete chamber filling, thereby maintaining reliability.
3Quantity of substance
If the sampling entrance is small, then blood sample volume is reduced, but it becomes difficult to position the fluid sample within the channel entrance opening for users with poor vision and trembling hands
Solution Approach 1:
The sampling entrance is expanded into a multi-dimensional structure with openings at the front end, side ends, and bottom of the fluid chamber. This creates a large effective target area that is easy to position even for users with poor vision or trembling hands, while the internal chamber volume remains small to minimize blood requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling entrance structure has different local characteristics: multiple openings at strategic locations provide easy access and large target area for positioning, while the internal chamber maintains small volume. This local differentiation allows the system to simultaneously achieve ease of operation and minimal blood volume requirement.
4Quantity of substance
If the fluid chamber is small, then blood volume is minimized, but blood samples turn to smear around the tip of fingers making it difficult to draw such smeared blood into the sensor chamber
Solution Approach 1:
The sampling entrance includes openings at the front end, side ends, and bottom of the fluid chamber. This multi-directional configuration allows the sensor to effectively collect smeared blood from various directions, making it easy to draw smeared samples into the chamber while maintaining minimal blood volume requirement.
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
The design improves the ease of sampling, reduces jamming and incomplete filling, and enhances the accuracy of analyte concentration measurements by allowing easy targeting and collection of small volume samples, even smeared ones, thereby minimizing erroneous readings.
Implementation Method 1
The fluid chamber provides a reservoir from which sample fluid can be drawn into the sample receiving chamber through capillary action
Implementation Method 2
a hydrophilic surface facing to the chamber and vent openings at the distal end of the chamber
Data Source
AI summary
An improved disposable electrochemical test sensor designed to facilitate sampling of fluid samples. It has a fluid chamber having a novel extra wide sampling entrance. The chamber provides a reservoir from which a sample fluid can be drawn into the chamber through capillary action. The novel extra wide sampling entrance of the test sensor provided by the present invention can draw blood into the chamber not only from the front of the sampling entrance as usual in convenient sensors, but also from the top, bottom, left corner and right corner of the sampling entrance. Thus it allows easy targeting the samples with small volume, picking up smeared samples and it is more tolerant to users who jam the tip of the sensor into users' finger.