Rotating Hub Safety Pen Needle Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety pen needle devices are complex and costly due to numerous interacting components, and they often fail to effectively lock the needle shield in place without causing friction issues during subcutaneous injections, which can lead to ineffective protection against accidental needle sticks.
Innovation Solution
A safety pen needle device with a tubular rotatable sleeve and needle shield, where guide protrusions interact with flexible guide tracks and inclined sections to rotate the sleeve, locking the shield in place with resilient means, ensuring secure needle protection using fewer components and minimizing friction with the skin.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple telescopic sleeves and locking mechanisms are used to protect the needle, then needle protection reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective device is divided into two functional segments: a telescopic sleeve for needle coverage and a rotatable hub with locking mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while maintaining overall system reliability without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using multiple telescopic sleeves that slide into each other, the invention uses a single telescopic sleeve combined with a rotatable hub that locks at different positions. This inverts the traditional approach by using rotation rather than multiple nested sliding components, reducing complexity while maintaining protection reliability.
2Reliability
If a needle cover is added to protect against accidental needle sticks, then safety is improved, but the cover interferes with needle replacement in multi-dose injectors
Solution Approach 1:
The hub is designed to be rotatable rather than fixed, allowing it to dynamically change position. The telescopic sleeve can be retracted and the hub rotated to different locked positions, enabling easy needle replacement in multi-dose injectors while maintaining safety protection when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism changes the operational parameter of the hub from fixed to rotatable, with multiple locked positions available. This parameter change allows the device to adapt between protected and accessible states, facilitating needle replacement without compromising safety.
3Reliability
If the shield is moved by translation movement during injection, then needle protection is maintained, but friction with the injection site causes ineffective function
Solution Approach 1:
The hub is designed to rotate during injection rather than translating linearly. This dynamic rotational movement eliminates friction with the injection site while maintaining needle protection, as the hub rotates on its axis rather than sliding against the skin.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement is changed from one-dimensional translation to two-dimensional rotation. By moving the hub in a rotational dimension rather than linear translation, the device maintains protection while eliminating friction-induced operational failures during injection.
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
This design provides a reliable and cost-effective solution with a small number of components, ensuring safe and effective needle shielding without rotation issues during use, offering a pleasant user experience and low production costs.
Implementation Method 1
resilient means co-acting with said needle shield for urging said needle towards the distal end of the device
Implementation Method 2
wherein the at least one guide track comprises at least one inclined section, such that when the needle shield in linearly displaced on the rotatable sleeve and said at least one guide protrusion passes through the at least one inclined section, the rotatable sleeve is forced to rotate on the hub
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a safety pen needle device comprising a generally tubular hub having a proximal and a distal end, said hub comprising attachment means arranged at its distal end for attaching the safety pen needle device to a medicament container assembly, and a coaxially arranged needle attachment member; an injection needle having an injection end and a non injection end, said injection needle being attached inside said hub and extending through the needle attachment member;wherein said device further comprises a generally tubular rotatable sleeve rotatable arranged on said hub, said rotatable sleeve comprising on its outer circumferential surface at least one guide track comprising flexible means; a generally tubular needle shield slidably arranged on said rotatable sleeve, said needle shield comprising at least one guide protrusion on its inner circumferential surface, wherein said at least one protrusion is arranged to interact with said at least one guide track and with said flexible means; and resilient means co-acting with said needle shield for urging said needle towards the distal end of the device.