Side-Loading Pill Organizer with Adjustable Compartments

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing pillboxes with hinged lids tend to break after extensive use and are not adaptable to storing disproportionate quantities of medicine, as they have fixed compartment sizes.

Innovation Solution

A pillbox design that allows side-loading and unloading without lids, featuring drawers that can be opened and closed by pushing them into the box, and adjustable compartment sizes using vertical guiding structures and dividers, enabling customizable compartment configurations.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If hinged lids are used to access medicine compartments, then the pillbox structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the lids tend to break after extensive use reducing reliability

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepillbox durabilityVSAvoidstructure complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent removes the hinged lid component entirely from the pillbox structure. Instead of having a lid that hinges open, the invention uses a push-button mechanism that directly ejects the medicine compartment from the top, eliminating the problematic hinged lid that caused breakage and reliability issues.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of opening a lid to access compartments, the invention inverts the access mechanism by pushing a button that causes compartments to be ejected outward. This reverses the conventional opening motion and eliminates the need for hinged lids, solving the durability problem.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Adaptability or versatility

If fixed-size medicine compartments are used, then the pillbox structure is simple, but the user cannot adapt to storing disproportionate quantities of medicine

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompartment size adaptabilityVSAvoidcompartment configuration complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The medicine storage is divided into multiple removable compartments that can be independently configured. Each compartment can be separated and repositioned, allowing users to create different size configurations based on their specific medication storage needs, thereby achieving adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The compartment configuration is made dynamic and adjustable rather than fixed. Users can modify the arrangement and size of compartments as needed, transforming the static structure into an adaptable system that responds to varying storage requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS9889068B1Pill organizer

Publication Date: 2018.02.13 UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

AI summary

The invention is a novel pillbox for storing medicines that overcomes the deficiencies in existing commercial products. Unlike existing products, in which medicine is loaded into the pillbox by opening a top lid, the present invention is a pillbox that allows side-loading and unloading, thereby eliminating the lids. Because the lids tend to break after extensive use, the elimination of the lids extends the lifetime of the pillbox. Another objective of the invention is to offer the user medicine compartments with sizes that can be easily modified, unlike existing products that only offer medicine compartments with fixed sizes.