Needle Shield Remover with Tooth-Groove Closure and Barbs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drug delivery devices face challenges in incorporating automated features without increasing mechanical complexity, size, and manufacturing costs, which can hinder user convenience and safety.
Innovation Solution
A needle shield remover with a tubular configuration featuring a closure with teeth and grooves, and barbs at either end, designed to simplify the removal of needle shields while reducing mechanical complexity and enhancing user safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple automated features are incorporated into the drug delivery device, then ease of operation and safety are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple automated features (needle shield removal, cap removal, needle exposure) into a single integrated mechanism that operates through one user action (capsule insertion). This merging approach allows the device to provide multiple automated functions without proportionally increasing mechanical complexity, as the features share common structural elements and actuation pathways.
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule serving mechanism is designed to perform multiple functions: it acts as both the drug delivery vehicle and the actuation mechanism for shield removal and cap removal. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each automated feature, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while maintaining ease of operation.
2Ease of operation
If multiple automated features are incorporated into the drug delivery device, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple automated features into a single integrated mechanism, the patent reduces the total number of separate components that would need to be manufactured and assembled. This approach lowers manufacturing costs compared to implementing each automated feature with its own dedicated mechanism, while still providing the desired ease of operation through automated shield and cap removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-functional capsule mechanism serves multiple purposes (drug delivery, shield removal actuation, cap removal actuation), eliminating the need for separate dedicated components for each function. This reduces part count and assembly complexity, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining the automated features that improve ease of operation.
3Reliability
If multiple automated features are incorporated into the drug delivery device, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges safety-critical automated features (needle shield removal, cap removal) into a single integrated mechanism activated by capsule insertion. This approach ensures that safety features are reliably executed through automated means while limiting the increase in mechanical complexity by sharing common structural and actuation elements across multiple functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule mechanism is designed as a multi-functional element that simultaneously provides drug delivery and activates safety features (shield removal, cap removal). This universality ensures that safety functions are integrated into the core operation rather than being separate add-on mechanisms, thereby improving reliability while controlling the increase in overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Needle shield removers, drug delivery devices, and associated methods are provided that include a tubular body formed from a sheet with a closure having from a plurality of teeth extending laterally outwardly from one longitudinal edge of the sheet and a plurality of grooves extending laterally inwardly into the sheet of material from a second longitudinal edge of the sheet. The plurality of teeth are frictionally received within the plurality of grooves to thereby hold the body in a tubular configuration. The needle shield removers can further include a first plurality of barbs arrayed around a circumference of the body adjacent to a first end thereof and a second plurality of barbs arrayed around a circumference of the body adjacent to a second end thereof.