Penetrable Fluid Housing for Medical Skin Applicator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical skin applicators face issues such as glass shard risks, gas permeation, irregular seals, and fluid control problems, leading to potential patient safety risks and inefficiencies in applying sterilizing fluids.
Innovation Solution
A medical skin applicator with a penetrable fluid housing and a penetrating member that allows for controlled dispensing of medical agents, enabling uniform application without the need for compression, and accommodating various sterilizing agents and applicator designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If glass ampoules are used to store sterilizing fluid, then the fluid can be stored in a compact form, but glass shards are generated during fracture that pose risks to the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the glass ampoule component entirely and replaces it with a plastic container that does not generate sharp shards. The liquid storage function is extracted from the glass ampoule and transferred to a safer plastic container that maintains fluid storage capacity without the harmful shard generation issue.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a disposable plastic container instead of reusable glass ampoules. The plastic container is designed to be single-use, eliminating the need for complex sealing mechanisms and reducing the risk of shard generation. This disposable approach resolves the contradiction by sacrificing long-term reusability for patient safety.
2Ease of manufacture
If thin-walled blow-molded plastic containers are used, then the container can be manufactured easily, but gas permeation occurs during sterilization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite structure combining plastic container walls with an integrated foil seal layer. This composite design maintains the manufacturing advantages of thin-walled plastic while adding the gas barrier properties of foil, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and gas permeation resistance during sterilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a thin foil seal layer integrated with the plastic container. This thin film approach provides effective gas barrier properties while maintaining the overall thin-walled design for easy manufacturing. The foil layer prevents gas permeation during sterilization without requiring thick container walls.
3Device complexity
If conventional caps with single weld innerseals are used, then the sealing structure is simple, but the seal becomes irregular and leaks due to pressure during sterilization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional cap with a flexible foil seal that conforms to the container opening. This flexible film approach creates a uniform seal that maintains integrity under sterilization pressure, eliminating the irregular sealing and leakage problems of rigid conventional caps while keeping the overall structure simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The foil seal is pre-formed and integrated into the container during manufacturing, creating a pre-sealed structure that is ready for sterilization. This preliminary sealing action ensures uniform seal formation before the container is put into service, preventing leakage during subsequent pressure application.
4Weight of moving object
If minimal wall thickness containers are used, then the container can be made lightweight, but considerable EO permeation occurs through the wall during sterilization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines thin-walled plastic construction with an integrated foil seal layer to create a composite container. This composite structure maintains lightweight characteristics while the foil layer provides effective EO barrier properties, resolving the contradiction between minimal weight and EO permeation resistance during sterilization.
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 solution ensures safe, efficient, and controlled dispensing of medical agents, reducing the risk of glass shards and gas permeation, while improving fluid control and applicator design for enhanced patient safety and procedural efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a penetrating member adapted to penetrate the penetrable wall of the fluid housing upon achieving a predetermined coupled relation of the fluid housing and the applicator
Implementation Method 2
The fluid housing is adapted to move relative to the applicator from a first transit position to a second actuated position to cause penetration of the penetrating member with the penetrable wall
Data Source
AI summary
A medical skin applicator apparatus includes a fluid housing having a fluid chamber for storing a medical agent and an applicator coupled to the housing. The fluid housing has a penetrable wall to permit access to the fluid chamber and release of the medical agent therefrom. The applicator includes an applicator surface for applying the medical agent to a patient. The applicator has a penetrating member adapted to penetrate the penetrable wall of the fluid housing upon achieving a predetermined coupled relation of the fluid housing and the applicator, to thereby permit the medical agent to be dispensed from the fluid chamber and applied to the patient with the applicator surface.