Segmented Puncture Needle for Blood Sampling

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conically-shaped puncture needles often fail to adequately penetrate the fingertip for blood sampling, leading to insufficient blood flow and increased pain due to deep penetration.

Innovation Solution

A puncture needle with cutting parts arranged at equiangular intervals around the central axis, featuring a distally decreasing thickness and plate-like side surfaces, which form a sharp cutting edge to facilitate incision and reduce penetration depth, allowing for efficient blood flow while minimizing pain.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a conically-shaped needlepoint is used, then the needle can penetrate the skin, but blood flow is insufficient and pain increases due to deep penetration required

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveblood flow reliabilityVSAvoidpain
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The needlepoint is segmented into multiple cutting parts (first, second, and third cutting parts) arranged around the central axis. These cutting parts create multiple incisions simultaneously, forming a star-shaped wound pattern that increases blood flow reliability without requiring deep penetration, thereby reducing pain.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The invention transitions from a conventional single-point conical needle to a multi-dimensional cutting structure with cutting parts extending radially from the central axis. This dimensional change allows the needle to create multiple incisions at the same depth level, improving blood flow without increasing penetration depth, thus reducing pain.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Reliability

If the needle penetrates deeply to ensure blood flow, then blood flows reliably, but pain is increased

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveblood flowVSAvoidpain level
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The cutting edge is divided into multiple cutting parts that create several shallow incisions instead of one deep puncture. This segmentation allows blood to flow reliably through multiple channels without requiring deep penetration into the tissue, thereby reducing pain.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Multiple cutting parts are arranged symmetrically around the central axis, creating duplicate incision patterns. This copying approach ensures that if one incision does not provide sufficient blood flow, other incisions compensate, maintaining reliable blood flow while keeping each individual incision shallow and less painful.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

3Device complexity

If a conical needlepoint is used, then the structure is simple, but it creates only pinhole wounds that are insufficient for blood sampling

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveneedle structureVSAvoidblood flow adequacy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The needlepoint is segmented into multiple cutting parts (first, second, and third cutting parts) arranged around the central axis at specific intervals. This segmentation transforms the simple conical structure into a multi-blade configuration that creates star-shaped wounds, significantly improving blood flow adequacy while maintaining reasonable structural complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The invention adds radial dimensionality to the needlepoint by extending cutting parts perpendicular to the central axis. This dimensional transformation allows the needle to create multiple incisions simultaneously, converting a simple puncture into an effective multi-incision wound pattern that ensures adequate blood flow.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentEP2554117B1Puncture needle and puncture tool
Publication Date: 2015.01.07 TERUMO KK
  • EP2554117B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2554117B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2554117B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A puncture needle is constituted of a resin material. The puncture needle comprises: an elongated main body having a sharp needlepoint at a distal end thereof; and at least three cutting parts provided so as to project from the elongated main body to a direction perpendicular to a central axis of the elongated main body, extending along the central axis, and arranged around the central axis. Adjacent cutting parts in the three cutting parts are arranged so as to shift to each other in a direction of the central axis, so that the adjacent cutting parts make an incision on a biological surface in a time difference. Further, a height of a distal portion of each cutting part from the central axis is gradually decreased toward a distal direction.