Prefilled Suppository Applicator for Hygienic One-Step Administration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current suppository administration is inconvenient, with challenges in maintaining the medication in the intended location within the anal canal or rectum due to leakage and interaction with bowel contents, and requires multiple handling steps that can lead to hygienic issues and waste due to improper filling or shaping.
Innovation Solution
Manufacturing suppositories within a suppository applicator or insertion device, using elements like barrels and plungers to define the shape and ensure a sealing engagement, allowing for a prefilled combination that reduces handling and improves hygiene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If suppositories are packaged separately from applicators, then packaging and storage are simplified, but patient convenience deteriorates due to multiple handling steps and assembly requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the applicator and suppository into a single integrated unit. The applicator is designed with a reservoir that contains the suppository, eliminating the need for separate packaging and manual assembly. This merging resolves the contradiction by maintaining packaging simplicity while dramatically improving patient convenience through a ready-to-use design.
Solution Approach 2:
The suppository is pre-loaded into the applicator during manufacturing, performing the assembly action in advance. This preliminary action eliminates the need for patient assembly steps, resolving the contradiction between simple packaging and ease of operation by having the device prepared beforehand in a convenient integrated form.
2Adaptability or versatility
If suppositories are manually handled and assembled, then flexibility in administration is maintained, but hygiene deteriorates due to contact with bowel contents and leakage risks
Solution Approach 1:
The suppository is nested within the applicator's sealed reservoir, creating a protective barrier that prevents contact with external contaminants including bowel contents. This nested structure maintains administration flexibility while eliminating hygiene issues associated with manual handling and assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The applicator acts as an intermediary device between the suppository and the patient's rectum. By maintaining a sealed connection throughout the administration process, the applicator mediates the delivery while preventing leakage and contamination, thus resolving the hygiene concerns while preserving administration flexibility.
3Device complexity
If multiple handling steps are required for assembly, then device complexity is reduced, but time consumption increases due to preparation steps
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the applicator and suppository into a single pre-assembled unit, the patent eliminates multiple handling and assembly steps. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining simple device structure while reducing preparation time to essentially zero, as the device is ready for immediate use.
Solution Approach 2:
The assembly operation is performed preliminarily during manufacturing rather than at the point of use. This transfers the time consumption from the patient experience to the production process, resolving the contradiction by maintaining simple device design while eliminating preparation time for the patient.
4Manufacturing precision
If suppositories are filled separately before packaging, then manufacturing precision can be controlled, but waste increases due to improper filling or shaping
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the filling and packaging operations into a single integrated process. The suppository is filled directly into the applicator's reservoir in one continuous operation, eliminating the need for separate filling and packaging steps. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining manufacturing precision through direct filling while preventing waste from improper handling or multiple transfer operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling operation is performed preliminarily as part of the integrated manufacturing process, with the suppository being filled directly into the final applicator container. This preliminary integrated filling eliminates subsequent handling steps that could cause improper filling or shaping, thus reducing material waste while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
Today's suppositories are typically packaged individually for digital administration into the anal canal of a patient. A suppository applicator described herein, which works with individually packaged suppositories, can alternatively be shipped in a prepackaged operational arrangement with a suppository to enable the patient to administer the suppository through use of the applicator in a single operation after opening a hygienic wrapper containing the applicator-suppository combination. A method for manufacturing a suppository includes manufacturing the suppository in the presence of and in contact with an element configured to be used to insert the suppository into a body cavity. The method may include using the element to define a shape of the suppository during the manufacturing. The resulting applicator-suppository combination is more hygienic and easier to handle than the separate applicator and suppository and provides more efficiency from time of opening the packaging to time of commencing administration of the suppository