Pipette Tip Package With Rotated Rows
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging methods for pipette tips, such as tip matrices and bulk plastic bags, are costly, environmentally unfriendly, and prone to mechanical damage and contamination due to inefficient organization and lack of support, especially for small or fragile tips.
Innovation Solution
A package design featuring a rectangular bottom with protrusions or indentations that support pipette tips in ordered rows, with each subsequent row rotated 180 degrees to optimize space and prevent movement, allowing for efficient stacking and reduced material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If tips are packed in plastic bags in random order, then packaging simplicity is maintained, but tips are prone to mechanical damage and contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The package divides tips into ordered rows with each row containing tips arranged in a specific orientation. This segmentation prevents random positioning and ensures each tip is properly supported and oriented, eliminating the damage and contamination issues while maintaining packaging efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The package introduces an intermediate support structure (the ordered row arrangement with protrusions/indentations) that mediates between the tips and the plastic bag. This intermediary structure provides the necessary support and orientation that the flexible bag alone cannot provide, preventing mechanical damage
2Reliability
If tips are arranged vertically in tip matrices, then tips are well-supported and organized, but packaging material usage increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from vertical stacking to horizontal row arrangement within a flexible bag. By changing the dimensional orientation from vertical layers requiring intermediate supports to horizontal rows that can be directly contained, the package eliminates the need for additional support layers while maintaining tip organization and support
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the support function and containment function into a single structure. The ordered row arrangement within the plastic bag combines the organizational benefits of matrices with the material efficiency of bulk packaging, eliminating the need for separate intermediate support layers
3Loss of substance
If tips are picked from bulk packages in plastic bags, then packaging material usage is reduced, but handling becomes cumbersome and non-ergonomic
Solution Approach 1:
The tips are pre-arranged in ordered rows with consistent orientation before packaging. This preliminary organization allows users to easily grasp tips by their wider ends without having to search through random piles or contort their hands, making the picking process ergonomic while maintaining bulk package efficiency
4Reliability
If intermediate support layers are used to separate tip layers, then tip organization is improved, but package size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the intermediate support layers from the packaging system. By using horizontal row arrangements within a flexible bag instead of vertical stacked layers, the package eliminates the need for intermediate supports entirely, reducing both weight and material usage while maintaining organization
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
The present invention relates to a package for disposable pipette tips. The package comprises an essentially rectangular bottom face and four essentially rectangular side faces, and the bottom face contains one or more protrusions and/or indentations. The bottom face is adapted to receive one or more rows of disposable pipette tips stacked above each other so that each row is turned 180 degrees with respect to the row lying immediately below it.