Segmented Plunger Barrel Formations for Audible Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dosage devices for administering fluid, such as hypodermic syringes, often lack precision and can be wasteful, as users may struggle to accurately dispense predetermined dosages due to difficulty in measuring and the lack of clear feedback on dosage completion, especially for individuals with diminished hearing, eyesight, or dexterity, which can lead to life-threatening errors.
Innovation Solution
The development of dosage devices with barrel and plunger formations that produce distinct audible and tactile signals upon reaching a predetermined dosage, ensuring accurate fluid displacement through segmented and flexible components that engage to provide clear sound signals and increased resistance, enhancing user feedback during fluid administration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a graduated scale is disposed on the syringe body for measurement, then measurement capability is provided, but the measurement procedure becomes difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates tactile feedback mechanisms (protrusions and recesses) that provide physical sensation to the user during plunger displacement. This feedback system replaces the need for visual measurement scales, allowing users to determine dosage completion through tactile sensation rather than visual reading, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the visual-mechanical measurement system (graduated scales requiring visual interpretation) with a tactile-mechanical system (protrusions and recesses providing physical feedback). This substitution eliminates the complexity of reading and interpreting scales, making the measurement procedure simpler and more intuitive for users with various abilities.
2Measurement precision
If visual measurement scales are used, then dosage quantification is possible, but users with diminished eyesight or dexterity cannot accurately determine dosage completion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides tactile feedback through protrusions on the plunger and corresponding recesses on the barrel that create noticeable resistance and positional cues. This tactile feedback system enables users with diminished eyesight or dexterity to accurately determine dosage completion through physical sensation, significantly improving adaptability while maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the measurement parameter from visual (scale readings) to tactile (physical resistance and position sensing). By transforming the measurement modality, the device becomes accessible to users with various sensory and motor impairments while preserving accurate dosage quantification capabilities.
3Device complexity
If no tactile feedback is provided, then device structure remains simple, but users cannot reliably sense when predetermined dosage is achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the plunger into segmented sections with protrusions at specific intervals, and corresponds these with recesses on the barrel. This segmentation creates discrete tactile feedback points that indicate dosage milestones, providing reliable sensing capability while adding minimal structural complexity compared to a completely continuous design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces protrusions and recesses as intermediary elements between the plunger and barrel that mediate the transmission of positional information to the user. These intermediaries convert internal plunger position into external tactile sensations, enabling reliable dosage sensing without requiring complex electronic or optical systems.
4Ease of operation
If segmented formations are used to produce tactile signals, then clear feedback is generated, but device manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the plunger and barrel into modular components with repeating protrusion-recess patterns. This segmentation allows for standardized manufacturing of individual sections that can be assembled together, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining clear tactile feedback functionality.
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
These devices enable reliable and precise administration of fluid dosages by providing clear auditory and tactile cues, reducing the risk of errors and improving user confidence, especially for individuals with sensory or dexterity impairments, thereby ensuring safer and more accurate fluid delivery.
Implementation Method 1
The flange member includes a plurality of inwardly extending flexible tabs formed at a proximalmost location of the flange member
Implementation Method 2
produce clear sound signals and a pointed impulse sensed by the user
Data Source
AI summary
A dosage device has a hollow barrel and a plunger slidable within the barrel, and a plurality of formations provided on the barrel and plunger and cooperating with one another to produce a sound signal and a pointed impulse, which corresponds to a predetermined dosage of fluid drawn into or displaced from the barrel. At least one of the barrel and plunger formations which are made of flexible material is configured to have a plurality of spaced-apart segments shaped and dimensioned to improve the quality of the sound signal.