Needle Tip Protector With Slip-Stop Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional needle tip protectors increase sliding resistance and require more force to retract needles safely, making it difficult to protect the needle tip immediately after removal and maintain secure protection.
Innovation Solution
A needle tip protector design that avoids elastic deformation contact with the needle's outer surface, incorporating a slip-stop mechanism and anti-retraction tab to ensure secure and immediate protection without significant sliding resistance, using a protector main body with parallel side plates and a protruded engaging part to prevent slipping and maintain the protection position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If elastic fingers or extension plate contact the needle outer surface in elastically deformed state, then needle tip can be covered and protected, but sliding resistance increases and more force is needed for retraction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the elastic deformation contact mechanism between the protector and needle. Instead of using elastic fingers or extension plates that contact the needle surface in a deformed state, the invention uses a rigid protector body that slides along the needle without elastic contact, thereby eliminating the sliding resistance caused by elastic deformation while maintaining needle tip coverage through a different mechanical mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by making the protector rigid rather than elastic. Instead of the protector deforming to contact the needle, the needle slides through a rigid protector structure. This inversion eliminates the harmful elastic contact while preserving the protective function through the reversed mechanical interaction
2Reliability
If elastic deformation contact is used between protector and needle, then needle tip can be protected automatically during retraction, but it becomes difficult to perform protection procedure by one hand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the elastic deformation mechanism from the protector-needle interface. By removing the elastic fingers or extension plates that required complex one-handed manipulation, the invention simplifies the operation to a straightforward sliding motion that can be easily performed with one hand while maintaining automatic protection through the rigid protector's sliding action
3Reliability
If elastic fingers contact needle outer surface, then needle tip can be covered during retraction, but sliding resistance increases making it hard to move needle relative to protector
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the elastic finger contact mechanism entirely. Instead of elastic fingers contacting the needle outer surface, the invention uses a rigid protector body that slides along the needle with minimal friction, eliminating the resistance caused by elastic deformation while maintaining needle tip coverage through the rigid structure's sliding action
Data Source
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AI summary
A needle tip protector (78) is configured in such a manner that a flexible plate (100, 102) is provided to a protector main body (92) over which an action ring (94) is mounted and that the flexible plate (100, 102) undergoes flexural deformation when the action ring (94) is moved to a predetermined position relative to the protector main body (92). When the flexible plate (100, 102) undergoes flexural deformation, a needle tip (18) of an inner needle (10) to which the protector main body (92) is mounted is protected by a protection part (130, 131) placed at a distal end of the flexible plate (100, 102). The needle tip protector (78) is also provided with a slip-stop mechanism (128, 142, 148) for preventing the action ring (94) from slipping out of the protector main body (92) in an axial direction of the needle (10).