Pipette Holder with Segmented Compartments and End Cap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing micro-size pipette holders fail to prevent breakage, static electricity buildup, and contamination, particularly when handling delicate pipettes used in medical procedures like IVF and ICSI, as they often allow multiple pipettes to be removed simultaneously, leading to breakage and contamination issues.
Innovation Solution
A pipette holder design featuring an elongated main body with a reducing insert and end cap, where the main body is sized to match the pipette length, minimizing axial movement and static contact, and the end cap is designed for selective exposure to prevent multiple pipettes from being removed at once, ensuring sterility and reducing static electricity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a common size holder is used for all pipette lengths, then device complexity is reduced, but pipette breakage increases due to unnecessary movement
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is divided into multiple compartments, each sized for specific pipette lengths. This segmentation allows different pipette sizes to be housed separately, minimizing movement and preventing breakage while maintaining an organized structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Each compartment within the holder is designed with specific dimensional characteristics matched to particular pipette lengths. This local customization ensures that each pipette type receives appropriate containment without requiring the entire holder to be complex.
2Ease of operation
If pipettes are allowed to contact and rest against side walls of the container, then ease of operation is improved, but static electricity buildup increases
Solution Approach 1:
An intermediate layer or coating is applied to the holder interior surfaces to reduce static electricity generation. This intermediary layer allows pipettes to be handled easily while minimizing the harmful static charge buildup that would otherwise occur from direct contact with the container walls.
3Ease of operation
If a screw-cap structure is used for container closure, then ease of operation is improved, but contamination risk increases due to inadvertent removal of multiple pipettes
Solution Approach 1:
The holder uses individual compartment closures or partition structures that allow access to one pipette at a time. This segmentation prevents inadvertent removal of multiple pipettes while maintaining easy access to the intended pipette, thereby reducing contamination risk.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a single screw-cap that requires careful manipulation to open, the design inverts the approach by providing multiple smaller access points or individual compartment lids that are easier to operate and inherently limit the number of pipettes that can be accessed simultaneously.
4Reliability
If the holder is designed to minimize axial movement of pipettes, then pipette breakage is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is divided into multiple compartments, each sized for specific pipette lengths. This segmentation allows different pipette sizes to be housed separately, minimizing movement and preventing breakage while maintaining an organized structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The holder employs a nested structure where compartments are arranged within a larger container framework. This nesting approach provides stable containment for pipettes of various sizes while maintaining overall structural simplicity and compactness.
Data Source
AI summary
A holder for a micro-sized medical device, such as a pipette, includes a main body portion having an interior space sized for housing at least one pipette. A reducing insert comprising a sleeve has an open end and a substantially closed end. The sleeve is sized such that the open end is receivable in the main body portion through an open axial end of the main body, and the substantially closed end has an aperture extending therethrough having a diameter sufficient for passage of a pipette therethrough. An end cap is engageable with the open axial end of the main body portion, and is selectively movable between an open position wherein the interior space of the main body communicates via the aperture with an environment exterior of the holder, and a closed position wherein the seal covers the aperture. The components of the holder may be formed integrally or separately.