Infusion Needle Hub Stabilizer for Safe Shield Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional infusion devices face challenges in balancing the force required to disconnect tubing without pulling the catheter from the skin, ensuring adequate retention, designing a rotational lock, and preventing needle-stick injuries due to unpredictable needle guard removal forces and potential contact with the needle during removal.
Innovation Solution
The infusion device features a needle hub assembly with a stabilizing member, including a needle hub and a sliding needle shield, which has outwardly extending legs or stabilizing members to stabilize the assembly, prevent separation, and cover the insertion needle after use, minimizing the risk of needle-stick injuries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a conventional needle guard is used that is held in place by friction alone, then the device structure is simple, but the removal force is unpredictable and may cause needle-stick injury
Solution Approach 1:
The needle guard incorporates a resilient member that transitions from a compressed state during insertion to an expanded state during removal, dynamically changing the removal mechanism from friction-based to spring-assisted. This provides predictable, controlled removal force while maintaining simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The needle guard is divided into a body portion and a separate resilient member (such as a spring or elastic element). This segmentation allows the resilient member to provide independent mechanical assistance for removal, decoupling the retention and removal functions while keeping each component relatively simple.
2Ease of operation
If the needle guard is removed easily, then user operation is simple, but the risk of accidental needle exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient member provides a controlled mechanical advantage that requires a specific removal action (pulling in a designated direction) to activate. This makes intentional removal easy while preventing accidental removal, as the resilient member remains compressed during normal use and only expands when properly activated.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient member is pre-compressed during insertion to store elastic potential energy. This preliminary action creates a mechanical barrier that prevents accidental removal while allowing intentional removal when the user applies the correct force in the correct direction, effectively countering potential harmful actions before they occur.
3Ease of operation
If the needle guard contacts the needle during removal, then the guard can be removed completely, but the needle may become dull
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient member acts as an intermediary between the user's removal action and the needle guard body. It provides a controlled expansion motion that guides the guard away from the needle in a predetermined path, ensuring complete removal while preventing contact between the guard and needle during the removal process.
Data Source
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AI summary
An infusion device system includes a base (12) for removably coupling to a delivery device, a needle hub (22) supporting an insertion needle (20) and a catheter (18) for delivering a substance to a patient. The infusion device includes a needle shield (24) for covering the insertion needle (20) after inserting the catheter (18) into the patient. The needle hub (22) includes a least one leg (70) extending from the needle shield (24) to stabilize the needle shield (24) and needle hub (12) relative to the base. In one embodiment, the legs (70) can include a latching tab (74) to couple to the needle hub (22) to resist separation of the needle hub from the base (12) until the legs are deflected outward to release the needle hub (22).