Nanofiber Web Filter Medium for Liquid Drug Filtration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional liquid drug filters for syringes face challenges in reducing differential pressure, leading to increased effort required for drawing liquid drugs, particularly affecting women, and result in reduced flow rates and filtration efficiency, which can hinder timely medical treatment in emergency situations.
Innovation Solution
A liquid drug-filtering filter medium with a nanofiber web having a three-dimensional network structure, optimized porosity, and controlled pore diameter, supported by woven or nonwoven fabrics, is developed to minimize differential pressure and enhance filtration efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional filter media with two-dimensional pore structure are used, then filtration efficiency is improved, but differential pressure is notably increased and flow amount is significantly lowered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from conventional two-dimensional pore structures to a three-dimensional porous structure. The filter medium comprises a three-dimensional porous substrate with interconnected pores extending in multiple dimensions, allowing liquid drug to flow through multiple pathways simultaneously. This dimensional transformation reduces resistance and differential pressure while maintaining filtration efficiency, directly resolving the contradiction between reliable filtration and productive flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs specifically engineered porous materials with optimized pore size distribution, porosity (50-90%), and interconnected pore networks. The three-dimensional porous structure provides numerous flow channels that reduce pressure drop across the filter while maintaining effective particle capture, thereby achieving both high filtration efficiency and high flow rate simultaneously.
2Reliability
If pore diameter is reduced to filter fine particles, then filtration efficiency is improved, but differential pressure is increased and flow amount is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality optimization by creating a pore size distribution rather than uniform pores. The three-dimensional porous structure contains pores of varying sizes, with smaller pores providing filtration function and larger pores providing flow pathways. This local differentiation allows fine particle capture while maintaining low differential pressure and high flow rate.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes multiple parameters simultaneously: porosity (50-90%), average pore diameter (0.1-10 μm), pore size distribution, and three-dimensional connectivity. By changing these parameters collectively rather than singly, the filter achieves high filtration efficiency for fine particles while maintaining low differential pressure through the interconnected three-dimensional pore network.
3Ease of operation
If injection needle passes through rubber stopper, then liquid drug can be drawn, but rubber debris infiltrates and mixes with liquid drug
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a filter medium as an intermediary component between the injection needle and the liquid drug source. The filter is positioned in the fluid pathway to intercept and retain rubber debris while allowing liquid drug to pass through. This intermediary filter protects the liquid drug from contamination during the drawing process through rubber stoppers.
4Ease of operation
If glass bottle is cut to open ampoule, then liquid drug can be accessed, but glass fragments flow into liquid drug
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of glass fragment generation into a beneficial filtration function. The filter medium is specifically designed to capture glass fragments while allowing liquid drug passage. By positioning the filter in the fluid pathway, it transforms the problem of glass contamination into an opportunity to demonstrate the filter's protective function, ensuring safe liquid drug administration.
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 nanofiber web filter medium significantly reduces differential pressure, allowing easy and rapid drawing of liquid drugs with improved filtration efficiency, making it suitable for use by women and enhancing productivity in medical settings.
Implementation Method 1
a liquid drug-filtering filter medium including a nanofiber web having a three-dimensional network structure for filtering foreign matter included in a liquid drug
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid drug-filtering filter medium is provided, which can include a nanofiber web having a three-dimensional network structure for filtering foreign substances included in a liquid drug. According to the embodiment, the occurrence of differential pressure when drawing in and filtering a liquid drug is minimized, and thus the liquid drug may be quickly drawn into a syringe cylinder within a short time and by applying small force, and at the same time, the filtration rate of foreign substances in the liquid drug is very outstanding. A method for producing the liquid drug-filtering filter medium is also provided, which enables the very easy adjustment of a pore structure of the filter medium or the diameters of the pores in order to enable the pore structure to minimize the occurrence of differential pressure or change the differential pressure to a target level.