Nested Luer Connector Reducing Dead Space in Medical Devices
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical devices, such as syringes and connectors, fail to effectively remove air bubbles from the fluid path before administration, leading to potential adverse events like cerebral ischemia or stroke, due to deadspace and aerodynamic issues in luer connectors, which are not universally compatible and inefficient in fluid delivery.
Innovation Solution
The development of small-bore medical devices with a volume-displacing member that reduces deadspace and incorporates a vent to remove air bubbles, ensuring a liquid-tight and air-tight connection, and a streamlined flowpath for improved fluid delivery, compatible with ISO 80369 standards for intravascular, neuraxial, and enteral applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional luer connectors are used, then compatibility with existing devices is maintained, but deadspace volume increases causing medicine waste and air bubble retention
Solution Approach 1:
The male connector is inserted within the female hub, with the male connector's interior cavity nested inside the female hub's interior cavity. This nesting arrangement creates a streamlined flow path that eliminates deadspace while maintaining compatibility with existing luer connector designs through standardized external dimensions and mating interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a dimensional solution by creating a nested cavity structure where the male connector's interior cavity is positioned within the female hub's interior cavity. This three-dimensional arrangement transforms the traditional side-by-side connector configuration into a nested arrangement that eliminates deadspace without compromising external compatibility.
2Reliability
If conventional luer connectors are used, then standard compatibility is maintained, but air bubbles are trapped in deadspace causing safety risks
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the deadspace cavity that previously trapped air bubbles. By redesigning the connector geometry to nest the male connector's interior cavity within the female hub's interior cavity and creating a streamlined flow path, the harmful deadspace where air bubbles could be trapped is completely removed, ensuring safe fluid administration.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector design preliminarily prevents air bubble formation and retention by establishing a streamlined flow path from the outset. The nested cavity structure and continuous flow path eliminate the conditions that would allow air bubbles to be trapped, ensuring safety before fluid administration begins.
3Loss of substance
If deadspace is reduced through design changes, then medicine waste decreases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The male connector and female hub are designed to perform multiple functions: they provide the standard luer mating interface for compatibility, create a nested cavity structure to eliminate deadspace, and establish a streamlined flow path for efficient fluid delivery. This multi-functionality reduces medicine waste without requiring entirely new device designs.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus to reduce deadspace in syringes and other devices with the use of volume displacing members that occupy space within one or more interior spaces of such devices. The volume displacing members are also equipped with one or more internal flow passages that facilitate a flow of a fluid through it. The volume displacing members are also adapted to cooperate with features of the devices that house them to form air-tight and liquid-tight seals that at least partially determine a fluid pathway through the devices.