Reusable Pest Trap with Patterned Adhesive and Segregated Disposal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pest traps for crawling arthropods pose health risks to users when emptying and have limited access, making them less effective due to directional entrapment requirements.
Innovation Solution
A trap design featuring opposed wall portions with inwardly-facing adhesive panels and elastic biasing elements, allowing near-360-degree access and safe enclosure of pests, with separable adhesive panels and flexible plates for easy disposal without direct contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If adhesive panels are used to capture crawling pests, then pest capture effectiveness is improved, but user safety deteriorates when emptying the trap
Solution Approach 1:
The trap is divided into separable components: adhesive panels that can be detached from the wall portions. This allows the adhesive panels containing trapped pests to be removed and disposed of separately, eliminating the need for users to handle the entire trap structure and reducing exposure risk to trapped pests.
Solution Approach 2:
Flexible plates are introduced as intermediary elements that extend through apertures in the wall portions to dislodge and remove adhesive panels. These flexible plates allow users to manipulate and remove the adhesive panels containing pests without direct hand contact, serving as a protective intermediary between the user and the trapped pests.
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional trap design with limited access is used, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but trap effectiveness deteriorates due to directional entrapment requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The trap design incorporates asymmetric features including ramp portions of varying heights and positions on different sides of the wall portions. These asymmetric ramp configurations create multiple access pathways into the entrapment region from different directions, allowing pests approaching from any direction to be effectively captured while maintaining structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The trap design adds dimensional complexity by incorporating ramp portions that create three-dimensional access pathways. The ramps extend at different heights and angles from the wall portions, transforming a simple two-dimensional opening into a multi-dimensional entry system that accepts pests from various approach vectors while maintaining manufacturing feasibility.
3Area of stationary object
If adhesive panels cover entire wall surfaces, then pest capture area is improved, but pest access to entrapment region deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Adhesive panels are applied selectively to specific zones on the wall portions rather than covering entire surfaces. The adhesive is concentrated in strategic locations where pests are most likely to encounter it after navigating the ramp portions, creating localized high-capture zones that maintain overall trap effectiveness while leaving pathways open for pest access.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive panels are designed to cover only the necessary portions of the wall surfaces required for effective pest capture, rather than complete coverage. This partial application of adhesive maintains sufficient capture capability while preserving adequate access routes for pests to reach the entrapment region through the ramp portions.
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 trap provides enhanced user safety by allowing full enclosure and easy disposal of pests, increasing effectiveness in capturing crawling arthropods from various directions without exposing users to potential threats.
Implementation Method 1
first and second opposed disposable wall portions disposed generally in spaced-apart orientation by biasing elements
Implementation Method 2
Each of the wall portions includes inwardly-facing disposable adhesive panels
Data Source
AI summary
A reusable trap (100) and a fully disposable trap (200) include two opposing panels or walls (102, 202), each with a patterned adhesive portion (132, 232) on an inner surface. The trap is configured to provide easy access to crawling pests from all sides, and the patterned adhesive portion provides non-adhesive paths deep into the trap, such that crawling pests may venture further into the trap before encountering adhesive, thereby increasing the trapping capacity. The opposed panels or walls are configured to be urged together by the user, for example by stepping on the trap, to encase trapped pests therebetween, avoiding potential harmful exposure to the user during disposal.