Rectangular Child-Resistant Medication Container Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional child-resistant medicate containers are difficult to ship, package, and transport due to their cylindrical shape, leading to increased costs and wasted space, and pose challenges in labeling and component separation.
Innovation Solution
A child-resistant medicate container with a flat, rectangular shape that includes a housing with fixed top and bottom segments and a movably attached cover, featuring a locking mechanism and elastomeric seal for secure dispensing, allowing for efficient shipping and labeling while preventing accidental separation of components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cylindrical medicate containers are used, then child-resistant functionality is achieved, but shipping and packaging efficiency deteriorates due to increased space requirements and costs
Solution Approach 1:
The container shape is changed from cylindrical to rectangular prism geometry, fundamentally altering the spatial parameters to improve packaging efficiency while maintaining child-resistant functionality through the locking mechanism between lid and base segments
Solution Approach 2:
The container is divided into separate base segment and lid segment that can be independently manufactured and assembled, allowing optimized packaging of multiple containers while maintaining the child-resistant locking interface
2Reliability
If conventional cylindrical medicate containers are used, then child-resistant functionality is achieved, but labeling efficiency deteriorates due to curved surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The surface geometry is changed from curved cylindrical to flat rectangular planes, enabling efficient application of flat labels and barcodes on the base and lid segments without requiring conformal labeling on curved surfaces
3Reliability
If conventional two-part medicate containers are used, then child-resistant functionality is achieved, but component loss increases when parts are inadvertently separated
Solution Approach 1:
The base segment and lid segment are designed to snap together through complementary engagement features, creating a unified container assembly that reduces the likelihood of parts being separated and lost while maintaining child-resistant access control
4Reliability
If conventional cylindrical medicate containers are used, then child-resistant functionality is achieved, but shipping costs increase due to inefficient space utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The container geometry is optimized from cylindrical to rectangular prism shape, allowing more efficient stacking and arrangement in shipping containers and flat-rate boxes, thereby reducing the number of packages required and associated shipping costs
Data Source
AI summary
A child-resistant medicate container includes a housing having a top segment fixedly attached to and extending from a bottom segment. Each of the bottom segment and the top segment include a generally flat first sidewall and an opposing generally flat second sidewall that define the storage cavity. Each sidewall defines a plane and each plane extends generally parallel with respect to the remaining planes. The planes defined by the first and second sidewalls of the bottom segment are spaced-apart a greater distance than a distance between the planes defined by the first and second sidewalls of the top segment. A cover is movably attached to the housing and surrounds at least a portion of the first and second sidewalls of the top segment of the housing. One of the cover and the top segment of the housing include an aperture formed in a sidewall thereof.