Ostomy Pouch Filter With Pleated Center Panel
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current ostomy filters face issues with clogging, leakage, and reduced wear time due to inadequate design, leading to ballooning and insufficient deodorization, with most using radial flow that increases air resistance and is difficult to scale down for smaller profiles.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a pleated center panel design with an axial flow filter and optional open cell foam to shield the filter from stool, allowing gas passage while preventing fouling, and a strip filter design with an odor barrier film to enhance deodorization without increasing air flow resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If radial flow filter design is used to increase reaction time between gases and activated carbon, then deodorization efficiency is improved, but air flow resistance increases and filter profile becomes larger
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional radial flow design by implementing axial flow through the filter thickness. Instead of gases flowing along the plane of a flat filter (radial), the gases now flow directly through the thickness (axial), which reduces the reaction path length and air flow resistance while maintaining deodorization efficiency through optimized activated carbon layer thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the flow direction parameter from radial to axial, and optimizes the activated carbon layer thickness parameter to achieve equivalent or better deodorization performance with reduced air flow resistance. This parameter change allows the filter to be more efficient with lower pressure drop across the filter media.
2Volume of moving object
If filter size is reduced to decrease profile and position closer to stoma seam, then clogging tendency is reduced, but deodorization performance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the activated carbon layer thickness parameter in the axial flow design to achieve equivalent or superior deodorization performance in a smaller filter volume. By changing the flow direction to axial and optimizing the carbon layer thickness, the filter achieves high performance in a compact form factor that can be positioned closer to the stoma seam.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a simplified axial flow filter design that copies the essential deodorization function of larger radial flow filters but achieves it in a smaller volume through optimized flow path and activated carbon layer configuration, maintaining performance while reducing size.
3Reliability
If center panel is added to shield filter from stool, then clogging resistance is improved, but gas flow to filter may be blocked causing ballooning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the center panel pleated only in the regions where stool protection is needed, while maintaining open pathways for gas flow. The pleats are strategically formed to create a shield against stool while preserving gas permeability, achieving localized protection without compromising overall gas flow to the filter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a pleated center panel made of flexible film material that can conform to the pouch structure while maintaining gas permeability. The pleated thin film structure provides stool shielding through its geometric configuration while allowing gas molecules to pass through the pleat structures to reach the filter.
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 pleated center panel design doubles or triples the filter life, and the axial flow filter achieves equivalent or better deodorization performance with a thinner activated carbon layer and smaller surface area, while the strip filter design extends deodorization time due to increased effective flow distance.
Implementation Method 1
a filter assembly comprising a filter having an activated carbon layer
Implementation Method 2
The center panel has at least one pleat, and preferably two pleats, that are intentionally formed into the center panel. These pleats allow the gas to travel from the stoma area into the filter area while preventing a majority of the stool from get to and fouling the filter.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
An ostomy appliance including an ostomy pouch with a filter and a center pleated panel to protect the filter, facilitate deodorization and deter ballooning. One aspect of the invention in the filter design to improve the clogging resistance by using the newly developed pleated center panel design. This design includes a filter in the front panel of the pouch and a center panel of film that is intended to shield the filter from direct exposure to stool that is expelled from the stoma. The center panel has at least one pleat, and preferably two pleats, that are intentionally formed into the center panel. These pleats allow the gas to travel from the stoma area into the filter area while preventing a majority of the stool from get to and fouling the filter.