Pipette Tip Refill Pack Sterility and Waste Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current refill packs for pipette tips are not adequately protected from contamination and result in significant packaging waste, as they often require opening to insert new tips, leading to exposure and potential contamination during handling and use.
Innovation Solution
A refill pack design featuring a perforated plate with pipette tips, a container with low stiffness to prevent deformation, and a cover that protects the tips from both the top and bottom, supported by a holder that diverts forces away from the container to ensure secure tip reception and minimize contamination risk, allowing for easy refilling and reduced waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If refill packs are opened to insert new pipette tips, then refilling is enabled, but contamination risk increases and sterility is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The refill pack employs a nested structure where the perforated plate with pipette tips is inserted into a holder, and the entire assembly is covered by a sterile barrier. This nested design allows refilling without opening the sterile barrier, as new tips are inserted through the existing structure, maintaining sterility while enabling refilling operations.
Solution Approach 2:
A sterile barrier acts as an intermediary between the external environment and the pipette tips. This barrier allows force transmission for tip insertion while preventing contamination. The barrier can be punctured or deformed by insertion forces but maintains its protective function, enabling refilling without direct exposure of tips to contaminants.
2Quantity of substance
If conventional refill packs are used, then pipette tips can be stored, but packaging waste is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The design enables recovery and reuse of the holder component. After pipette tips are removed from the perforated plate, the holder can be retained and refilled with new tips, reducing the need to discard entire packaging assemblies. This separates the reusable holder from the consumable tips, minimizing waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The refill pack is segmented into distinct functional components: a reusable holder, a perforated plate for tip organization, and individual pipette tips. This segmentation allows different components to have different lifecycles - the holder and plate can be reused while only the tips are consumable, reducing overall packaging waste.
3Ease of operation
If pressing forces are applied to remove pipette tips, then tip ejection is achieved, but the holder and tray must be of stable configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The ejection mechanism extracts the force application point from the holder structure and transfers it to the pipette tips themselves. By designing the holder to support tips individually rather than requiring the entire tray to withstand ejection forces, the structural stability requirement is reduced while maintaining effective tip removal capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Device for providing pipette tips including a refill pack which includes a perforated plate with a plurality of holes, pipette tips inserted into the holes, a container covering the pipette tips at the bottom with a stiffness of up to 300 N/mm and a removable cover, covering the pipette tips from the top and a holder with a receiver for inserting the refill pack, a laterally protruding upper bearing edge being present between the refill pack and holder for supporting the refill pack when said refill pack is inserted into the receiver.