Semen Storage Container With Tapered Pool And Inclined Guide
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional semen storage containers face issues with semen evaporation due to a large surface area in contact with air, making it difficult to store and retrieve small volumes of semen efficiently, as the semen spreads and evaporates, and tilting is required for complete removal.
Innovation Solution
A semen storage container with an inner case featuring a semen guide with an inclined surface and a tapered semen pool, which reduces the air-semen interface, allowing easy semen introduction and retrieval without tilting, and includes a hermetically sealed space for temperature regulation and contamination prevention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If the area of bottom surface is made smaller to reduce the area of liquid surface in contact with air, then evaporation is reduced and semen quality is maintained, but the opening of the container becomes smaller and it becomes difficult to put semen into the container
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into two functional parts: a wide opening portion for easy filling and a narrow pool portion for minimizing evaporation. The bottom surface includes both a flat bottom and a pool portion with curved bottom, creating distinct zones that serve different purposes - the wide opening allows easy semen introduction while the narrow pool area reduces the liquid surface area in contact with air.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the bottom surface are given different geometric qualities - the flat bottom provides a broad base while the pool portion has a curved bottom that creates a localized narrow region. This local variation in geometry allows the container to have both easy filling (wide opening) and reduced evaporation (narrow pool area) simultaneously.
2Volume of stationary object
If the container stands vertically for storage, then space utilization is improved, but semen spreads over the bottom surface and cannot be completely taken out with a pipet without tilting
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having semen spread out on a flat bottom, the design inverts the approach by creating a pool portion that concentrates semen into a localized area. The curved bottom of the pool portion causes semen to gather at the lowest point, making it easily retrievable with a pipet while maintaining vertical storage orientation.
Solution Approach 2:
The flat bottom and pool portion are combined into a single integrated bottom structure. The pool portion merges the functions of containing semen and facilitating its retrieval, eliminating the need to tilt the container for complete semen extraction while maintaining vertical storage position.
3Ease of operation
If a large opening is provided for easy semen introduction, then ease of filling is improved, but the area of liquid surface in contact with air increases and evaporation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The container interior is segmented into the opening portion and the pool portion, allowing the opening to be wide for easy filling while the pool area remains narrow to minimize evaporation. This segmentation decouples the conflicting requirements of opening size and liquid surface area.
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 design effectively minimizes semen evaporation, facilitates easy filling and emptying, and maintains semen quality by reducing the air-semen interface and providing temperature stability, ensuring semen is stored in a favorable state for fertility treatments.
Implementation Method 1
a tapered bottom portion... semen can be stored at the bottom portion and readily taken out of the container without tilting the container
Implementation Method 2
semen is introduced from the opening portion at the upper end of the inner case, guided by the inclined surface on an inner circumference of the semen guide, and stored in the semen pool
Implementation Method 3
an inner case with bottom, the inner case having an open upper end and being provided on an inner side of the outer case to close an opening portion at the upper end of the outer case
Data Source
AI summary
A semen storage container which can store semen in a favorable state, into which semen is easily put and out of which semen is easily taken, is provided. A semen storage container includes an outer case having an open upper end, an inner case, the inner case having an opening portion at an upper end and being provided on an inner side of the outer case to close an opening of the outer case, and a removable lid laid over an upper end portion of the outer case to close the opening portion. The inner case includes a semen guide which communicates with the opening portion at the upper end and has an inner circumferential surface provided as an inclined surface which spreads upward and a cylindrical semen pool which communicates with an opening portion at a lower end of the semen guide and includes a tapered bottom portion.