Removable Medication Case With Sensor-Enabled Main Body
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medication management apparatuses have integral drug storage and management functions, requiring users to carry bulky and heavy devices to hospitals for prescription refills, which is cumbersome and prone to vibration or shock, affecting stability.
Innovation Solution
A medication managing apparatus with a removably attached medicine package case that includes a main body unit for managing medication-related information and providing medication instructions, featuring sensors for tracking medicine packages and case attachment/removal, allowing users to bring only the medicine package case to the hospital for refills.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the drug storage portion and management function portion are integral, then the apparatus can manage medication information and provide instructions, but the user must carry the entire bulky and heavy apparatus to the hospital for prescription refills
Solution Approach 1:
The apparatus is divided into two separate parts: a drug storage portion (case) and a management function portion (main body unit with display and control). The drug storage portion can be removed and carried separately to the hospital for refills, while the management function portion remains stationary. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by allowing the heavy management portion to stay behind while the lighter storage portion is portable.
Solution Approach 2:
The drug storage portion is extracted as a removable component from the integral apparatus. Users can take out just the drug storage case to the hospital without carrying the entire apparatus including the heavy main body unit. This extraction principle directly addresses the weight burden while preserving the management functions at the hospital end.
2Ease of operation
If the user carries the entire apparatus including the main body unit, then medication management functions are available, but the apparatus may receive vibration or shock during transport affecting stable operation
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the apparatus into a portable drug storage case and a stationary main body unit, the vulnerable electronic components and sensors in the main body remain protected at the hospital, while only the simpler drug storage case is transported. This segmentation protects the sensitive operational components from vibration and shock during user transport.
3Weight of moving object
If the drug storage portion is separate and removable, then users can bring only the medicine package case to the hospital, but the apparatus requires a removable attachment mechanism between case and main body unit
Solution Approach 1:
The drug storage case is extracted as a standalone removable component with a simplified attachment/detachment mechanism. The case includes attachment protrusions that fit into corresponding recesses in the main body unit, allowing easy connection and separation. This extraction with simple mechanical coupling achieves portability while keeping the attachment mechanism relatively simple.
Data Source
AI summary
A medication managing apparatus includes a medicine package case and a main body unit removably storing the medicine package case. The medicine package case includes blocks each storing a medicine package, openings provided at walls of each block and formed at positions facing each other such that the medicine package stored in the block is sandwiched therebetween, and an openable/closable cover. The main body unit includes a sensor portion (a medicine package sensor) disposed corresponding to each opening at the opposing walls of each block, to sense a medicine package based on that the medicine package stored in the block blocks a gap between a pair of openings, and a switch lever and a micro-switch (a medicine package case sensor) sensing attachment/removal of the medicine package case to/from the main body unit.