Reusable Injection Needle Cover with Sterilizing and Lubricating Agents
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and infrastructure challenges associated with disposable syringes and needles for home use, particularly the cost burden on healthcare systems and the risk of improper disposal of sharp medical waste, which poses risks to individuals and waste workers.
Innovation Solution
A needle cover with a built-in needle storage medium (NSM) that includes disinfecting, sanitizing, and lubricating agents, allowing for the reuse of single-use injection needles by sanitizing, disinfecting, and lubricating the needle between uses, thereby reducing the need for frequent disposal and lowering costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If disposable syringes and needles are used for each injection, then infection risk is minimized, but cost and waste disposal infrastructure burden increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The needle is nested within a needle cover that contains sterilizing and lubricating agents. The needle cover acts as a container housing the needle, allowing the needle to be reused multiple times while maintaining sterility through the embedded sterilizing agents in the cover structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The needle cover is pre-loaded with sterilizing and lubricating agents before the needle is inserted. This preliminary preparation allows the needle to be rapidly re-sterilized and re-lubricated between uses without requiring external processing, enabling safe reuse while reducing waste.
2Quantity of substance
If needles are reused with sterilizing agents in the needle cover, then cost and waste reduction are achieved, but proper sterilization and lubrication must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The needle cover serves as an intermediary between the sterilizing/lubricating agents and the needle. It contains and delivers these agents to the needle surface, ensuring proper sterilization and lubrication are maintained during reuse while protecting the needle from contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The needle cover incorporates porous materials that can absorb and release sterilizing and lubricating agents. These porous structures allow controlled interaction between the agents and the needle surface, ensuring effective sterilization and lubrication during each reuse cycle.
3Reliability
If guide mechanisms are added for needle cover connection, then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide mechanism employs asymmetric geometric features on the needle hub and corresponding recesses in the drug delivery device. This asymmetric design provides automatic alignment and secure connection during assembly, improving connection reliability through shape complementarity rather than complex fastening mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide mechanism enables the needle cover to self-align and self-connect to the drug delivery device during assembly. The geometric guide features automatically position the components correctly without requiring external alignment tools or complex adjustment mechanisms, achieving reliable connection with minimal structural complexity.
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 reuse of needles significantly reduces the number of disposable needles required, lowering costs and the volume of sharp medical waste, while ensuring safety through proper sanitization and lubrication, thus addressing both economic and environmental concerns.
Implementation Method 1
a needle cover with a built-in needle storage medium (NSM) that includes disinfecting, sanitizing, and lubricating agents
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
A needle cover (4a) for an injection needle that enables reuse of on injection needle (4C) for multiple injection uses for a same user is described. The needle cover contains a disinfecting agent (12E), a sanitizing agent (12D) and a lubricating agent (12B). The needle cover sanitizes, disinfects and lubricates a single-use injection needle for reuse when the needle is moved inside the needle cover and positioned therein for temporary storage. The agents are held in a medium that enable the agents to be positioned inside the needle cover. The agents in the medium are stacked on top of each other in heights for different needle lengths. The first stack is a wick medium that absorbs excess fluid droplets from a needle head, the second stack is a medium that disinfects the needle, and the third stack is a medium that lubricates the needle.