Rigid Intraocular Lens Injector Packaging with Internal Shoulders
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging solutions for intraocular lens injectors, such as flexible pouches, face issues with water vapor permeability, mechanical protection, sterilization challenges, and practicality, leading to potential damage, evaporation, and integrity concerns during storage and use.
Innovation Solution
A packaging device made of waterproof, rigid materials like glass or high-performance plastics, filled with a storage solution that keeps the injector and lens fully immersed, featuring internal shoulders for centering and protection, and a leakproof design suitable for sterilization by steam pressure autoclave, ensuring the injector's integrity and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If flexible pouches are used for packaging the injector, then the packaging is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, but the packaging is permeable to water vapor and liquid, leading to evaporation and degradation of the injector properties
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging uses a composite structure consisting of a rigid container made from materials with high barrier properties against water vapor and liquid (such as glass or high-performance plastics). This composite approach combines the protective qualities of rigid materials with the sterile liquid environment to achieve both manufacturing feasibility and superior waterproof/vapor-proof integrity, eliminating evaporation and degradation issues.
2Ease of manufacture
If flexible pouches are used for packaging, then the packaging is easy to manufacture, but mechanical protection during transport is insufficient, risking damage to the fragile injector
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging employs a rigid container structure made from materials such as glass or high-performance plastics that provide superior mechanical strength and impact resistance during transport. The rigidity of the container protects the fragile injector from mechanical damage while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standardized production processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is filled with a sterile liquid that completely immerses the injector, providing cushioning and shock absorption before any impact occurs during transport. This prior cushioning protects the fragile injector from mechanical damage by distributing impact forces throughout the liquid medium.
3Ease of manufacture
If flexible pouches are used, then the packaging is simple to manufacture, but sterilization is complex requiring pressure and counterpressure equipment or superheated water spray
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid container is designed with materials and structural features that facilitate straightforward sterilization by steam pressure autoclave. The container can withstand the temperature and pressure conditions of standard autoclaving without requiring complex pressure and counterpressure equipment or superheated water spray systems, thereby simplifying the sterilization process while maintaining manufacturing feasibility.
4Ease of manufacture
If flexible pouches are used, then the packaging is simple to manufacture, but double sterile packaging is difficult to implement
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid container structure is designed to accommodate and integrate with outer sterile packaging, enabling double sterile packaging. The container's rigid nature and standardized design allow it to be properly sealed and protected within an outer sterile barrier, ensuring both the inner container and outer packaging can maintain sterility independently.
5Reliability
If the injector is stored in a flexible pouch filled with liquid, then the injector is protected from air contact, but liquid leaks when the pouch is opened by the user
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid container is designed with a controlled opening mechanism that allows the user to access the injector while minimizing liquid spillage. The container's structural integrity and opening design enable safe removal of the injector with minimal risk of liquid leakage, improving user handling compared to flexible pouches.
6Ease of manufacture
If polypropylene material is used for the injector body, then the injector is inexpensive to manufacture, but it is not a perfect barrier to water vapor, leading to long-term emptying
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging system changes the environmental parameters by completely immersing the polypropylene injector in a sterile liquid within a sealed rigid container. This eliminates the need for the polypropylene material itself to be a perfect water vapor barrier, as the liquid immersion environment prevents vapor transmission issues while maintaining manufacturing cost-effectiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a robust, reliable, and easy-to-sterilize packaging system that maintains the injector's properties over long durations, withstands impacts, and ensures the injector's integrity, eliminating concerns of water vapor ingress, mechanical damage, and evaporation, while simplifying user handling and sterilization processes.
Implementation Method 1
Loss of liquid, e.g. by evaporation of the storage liquid through said flexible pouch, can lead to degradation in the properties of the injector itself
Implementation Method 2
the material generally used for making injectors, is far from constituting a perfect barrier to water vapor
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly comprising a packaging device (20) and an intraocular lens injector (10) comprising a body (11) that contains an intraocular lens, said packaging device (20) being for receiving and storing said injector (10) prior to use, said packaging device (20) being made of a material that is waterproof, and being filled with a storage solution for maintaining at least the body (11) of said injector (10) and the intraocular lens in total immersion throughout the duration of storage, said packaging device (20) comprising a substantially rigid container (21, 22) and an opening (25) for enabling said injector (10) to be installed and removed, said container (21, 22) including at least one internal shoulder (26, 27) co-operating with a portion of the injector (10) to center and maintain its lens ejector end (14) away from the walls of said container (21, 22).