Sharps Container Guide Mechanism for Parallel Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sharps containers face limited storage capacity due to random and disorganized accumulation of elongated sharps, leading to significant void spaces that reduce the container's efficiency and require frequent emptying or replacement.
Innovation Solution
The development of sharps collection containers with guide mechanisms, such as carriers, ramps, and deflectors, that reorient sharps from a vertical to a horizontal position upon insertion, allowing them to accumulate in a consolidated parallel arrangement, thereby minimizing void spaces and increasing storage capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of stationary object
If sharps are dropped into a container without reorientation, then the container is simple in structure, but the storage capacity is reduced due to void spaces
Solution Approach 1:
A guide element acts as an intermediary component between the container opening and the interior region. This guide element reorients sharps from a substantially vertical orientation to a substantially horizontal orientation, causing them to accumulate in a consolidated parallel arrangement that minimizes void spaces and maximizes storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide element changes the dimensional orientation of sharps within the container. By transitioning sharps from a vertical arrangement (when dropped) to a horizontal arrangement (upon contact with the guide element), the system utilizes spatial reorientation to reduce void spaces and increase effective storage volume.
2Productivity
If sharps accumulate in a random arrangement, then the container is easy to manufacture, but the frequency of emptying increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide element serves as a passive mechanical intermediary that automatically reorients sharps upon insertion. This simple structural feature requires no complex manufacturing processes, yet effectively consolidates sharps into a space-efficient arrangement, thereby increasing disposal efficiency without significantly complicating the container design.
3Volume of stationary object
If sharps are stored in a vertical orientation, then the container has simple geometry, but significant void spaces are created
Solution Approach 1:
The guide element introduces a dimensional transition within the container geometry. By providing a surface that redirects sharps from vertical to horizontal orientation, the system effectively utilizes the third dimension (depth) to consolidate sharps, thereby maximizing the usable storage volume without significantly altering the external container geometry.
Data Source
AI summary
A container for collecting sharps includes an opening adapted to receive sharps in a substantially vertical orientation, and an interior region for storing sharps received through the opening. The container includes a means for reorienting the sharps into an arrangement in which the sharps lie substantially parallel to one another within the interior region of the container. A method for configuring a sharps collection container includes the step of positioning a contoured surface of a guide element beneath an opening of the container to reorient sharps that are deposited through the opening into an arrangement in which the sharps are stored substantially parallel to one another in the container.