Rotatable Platform Dosing Mechanism for Transdermal Applicators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current devices for dispensing cream-base medicaments, such as hormone replacement therapy, lack accuracy and consistency, with existing metered transdermal applicators often failing to deliver precise dosages due to poor design and manufacturing defects, leading to user uncertainty and reliance on non-standard dosing methods.
Innovation Solution
A unidirectional rotatable platform with integrated ticker tabs and side ticks that provide bi-audible and bi-tactile feedback, allowing for precise angular displacement and delivery of calibrated volumetric amounts, ensuring consistent and accurate dosing through a combination of visual, audible, and tactile cues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a unidirectional rotatable platform with ticker tabs and side ticks is used to provide bi-audible and bi-tactile feedback, then dosing accuracy and user feedback are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing mechanism is segmented into multiple functional components: a rotatable platform with equispaced digit tabs, a house with fixed line markings, ticker tabs on the platform, and corresponding side ticks on the house. Each component serves a specific function in providing visual, audible, and tactile feedback, allowing the system to achieve high measurement precision through distributed functional elements rather than a single complex mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates multiple feedback mechanisms: visual feedback through alignment of digit tabs with line markings, audible feedback through clicking sounds when ticker tabs engage side ticks, and tactile feedback through the physical sensation of the clicks and platform rotation resistance. This multi-sensory feedback system ensures users can accurately determine dosing without requiring complex electronic or mechanical indicators.
2Ease of operation
If metered-only transdermal applicators with fixed volumetric delivery are used, then ease of operation is improved, but dosing accuracy and flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The device transitions from static fixed-volume delivery to dynamic adjustable-volume delivery. The rotatable platform allows users to dynamically select different dosing amounts by rotating to align specific digit tabs with line markings. The mechanism maintains ease of operation through simple rotational movement while enabling precise control over the volumetric amount dispensed, accommodating both simple and complex dosing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The device enables parameter changes in the volumetric amount dispensed by allowing rotation of the platform to different angular positions. Each position corresponds to a specific dose volume, with the relationship between rotation angle and dispensed volume being precisely controlled by the mechanical geometry of the ticker tabs and side ticks. This allows continuous adjustment of the dosing parameter while maintaining a simple operational interface.
3Productivity
If existing metered devices deliver larger volumetric amounts per pump or click, then productivity is improved, but dosing precision and flexibility worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing mechanism is segmented into multiple discrete units of rotation, with each 18-degree increment corresponding to a specific volumetric amount. This segmentation allows users to deliver doses in precise increments rather than large fixed amounts, enabling both rapid dosing (by rotating multiple increments) and precise dosing (by selecting specific increment combinations). The segmented approach maintains productivity while improving dosing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The device allows users to deliver partial doses by rotating the platform less than a full cycle, or to deliver multiple partial doses sequentially to achieve the total required amount. This partial action capability enables precise dosing for small volume requirements while maintaining the ability to deliver larger volumes quickly by rotating through multiple increments, thus balancing dosing precision with productivity.
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 enables precise and consistent delivery of cream-base medicaments, addressing the limitations of existing devices by providing clear dosing reassurance and flexibility, aligning with the 0.5 gram standard dosing requirement and allowing for smaller volume delivery with enhanced user feedback.
Implementation Method 1
a unidirectional rotatable platform attached to a screw that is slipped into a barrel where it is secured in place and it joins the said components that house an elevator. Upon clockwise rotation of the rotatable platform against the barrel, the elevator rises and a fixed amount of flowable composition discharges from an output orifice
Data Source
AI summary
A bi-audible, bi-tactile, and visual transdermal delivery apparatus for delivering specific desired quantities of cream-base medicament or any flowable composition; comprising: a revolving platform with equispaced side tabs stemming from an outer and inner base rim responsible for yielding said bi-audible and bi-tactile sensations upon interaction with ticker tabs projecting form the bottom exterior wall of the house; a threaded screw-complex that interacts with an elevator to transport the medicament upwards; a house that confines an inner chamber to store the medicament; an applicator pad with a center outlet where the composition exits the chamber; and a safety cap. Equispaced digit tabs on the outer side wall of the rotatable platform indicate the amount to be delivered. The platform rotates 18° clockwise per actuation against equispaced line demarcations on the house delivering roughly a 1/20th of a milliliter of composition.