Safety Needle Device with Automatic Shield Locking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing safety needle devices are complex, costly, and prone to damage, offering inadequate protection against accidental needlestick injuries, especially after use, and fail to ensure correct needle alignment and patency before use, leading to potential air injection and ineffective medication delivery.

Innovation Solution

A safety needle device with a simple structure featuring a hub, needle, and a movable protecting shield that automatically locks after use, ensuring the needle is shielded without user intervention, allowing for easy observation of needle state and adjustment of insertion depth without rotational movements, using resilient means for locking and adjustment.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a complex structure with many component parts is used in known safety needle devices, then the device can provide protection against needlestick injuries, but the device becomes costly and susceptible to damages and faulty operation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprotection against needlestick injuriesVSAvoidstructure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The safety needle device is divided into distinct functional segments: a needle assembly, a protecting shield, and a locking mechanism. Each segment performs a specific function independently, allowing the device to provide comprehensive protection while maintaining structural simplicity. The protecting shield can move independently to cover the needle, and the locking mechanism operates separately to prevent reuse.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The invention extracts the essential protective function from complex multi-component systems and implements it through a simplified structure. By removing unnecessary components and retaining only the critical elements (needle, shield, and basic locking mechanism), the device achieves reliable protection against needlestick injuries without the complexity and cost associated with known devices.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Reliability

If the needle is shielded before primary use in known safety needle devices, then user protection is improved, but observing the needle end for checking appearance, alignment, and patency becomes difficult or impossible

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser protectionVSAvoidneedle inspection difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The protecting shield is designed as a dynamic component that can move between different positions. Before use, the shield is positioned to allow full observation of the needle end for inspection of appearance, alignment, and patency. During use and after use, the shield moves to cover the needle end, providing protection. This dynamic positioning resolves the contradiction between protection and inspectability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The device allows preliminary inspection of the needle end before the protecting shield is engaged in its protective position. Users can check the needle's appearance, alignment, and patency while the shield is in its open position, then close the shield before use to ensure both inspection capability and user protection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Ease of operation

If injection is performed at a sharp angle using known safety needle devices, then ergonomic convenience is improved, but the needle bends during insertion leading to improper application and potential danger

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinjection convenienceVSAvoidinjection accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The protecting shield provides localized support to the needle along its insertion path. This local support prevents needle bending at critical points during insertion, even when injected at ergonomic angles. The shield acts as a guide and support structure that maintains needle straightness where needed while allowing flexible injection angles for user convenience.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

4Reliability

If a disposable safety needle device is used, then protection against re-use and contamination is improved, but the device requires precise cooperation of many component parts increasing cost and susceptibility to damage

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprotection against re-useVSAvoidmanufacturing cost
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The invention merges multiple functions into fewer integrated components. The protecting shield combines the functions of needle coverage, insertion guidance, and reuse prevention in a single component. The locking mechanism is integrated into the shield assembly, reducing the total number of parts. This merging maintains disposable safety functionality while simplifying the overall structure and reducing manufacturing complexity and cost.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

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 device provides reliable protection against accidental needlestick injuries, ensures correct needle alignment and patency, and allows for easy depth adjustment, enhancing user safety and comfort by preventing re-use and minimizing manufacturing costs.

Implementation Method 1

longitudinal resilient means disposed between said hub and said protecting shield and acting longitudinally to said axis of said needle

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectElasticity: Elasticity

Data Source

PatentEP3052163B1Safety needle device
Publication Date: 2021.12.01 HTL STREFA SPOLKA Z O O
  • EP3052163B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3052163B1 patent drawingFigure 1A~2A
  • EP3052163B1 patent drawingFigure 3~5

AI summary

The invention relates to a safety needle device, for a medical instrument, to insert a needle into a patient's body to a determined insertion depth for injection of a cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical composition or for taking tissue sample, especially bodily fluid sample. The safety needle device, in two variants with a fixed insertion depth and with an insertion depth adjustment, comprises a hub (2), a needle (11), a protecting shield (4), longitudinal resilient means (6), transverse resilient means (12), a housing (3), and is provided with different technical means configured to cooperate with each other in order to perform different functions of the device. The safety needle device enables to control a state of use of the device, wherein the device is a disposable one and it ensures its user a protection against an accidental or intentional prick of the needle before and after the due use of the device for the purpose for which it is intended.