Skin Lancing Device Interval Control Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing skin lancing devices lack advanced operating modes for efficient and hygienic local skin piercing, particularly in applications involving tattooing, permanent makeup, and medical or cosmetic ingredient delivery, with limited automation and user input options.
Innovation Solution
A method and device for automatically controlling a skin lancing device that enables intermittent operation with user-defined intervals, allowing the lancing tool to alternate between work and non-work periods, with control signals generated by a separate control device and transmitted to the drive device, enabling precise control and reduced user intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If continuous operation mode is used, then productivity is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to lack of unattended operation capability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action by introducing interruptible operation modes where the lancing device can automatically pause between work intervals. The control unit receives interrupt signals and generates control signals to stop the drive device, allowing unattended operation between application points while maintaining productivity through automated resumption capability.
2Ease of operation
If automated control is increased, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into modular components: a control unit with control signals, a drive device with drive force, and an interrupt signal interface. This segmentation allows automated functionality to be added through the control unit without fundamentally redesigning the entire device, managing complexity through modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary between the user input (interrupt signals) and the drive device. It receives interrupt signals, processes them according to programmed logic, and generates appropriate control signals to the drive device, thereby automating operation without requiring direct user manipulation of the drive mechanism.
3Reliability
If disposable modules are used, then reliability is improved through hygiene, but device complexity worsens due to modular structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies disposable modules for the lancing tool that can be discarded after use, ensuring hygiene by replacing components that contact skin. This modular disposable approach maintains reliability through consistent hygiene standards while the control unit and drive device remain reusable, balancing the complexity trade-off.
Data Source
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AI summary
The application relates to a method for automatically controlling a skin-lancing device, wherein the skin-lancing device comprises a hand-held lancing device with a drive unit and a lancing device functionally coupled to the drive unit, as well as a control unit, and wherein the method comprises the following steps: providing a drive force through the drive unit and coupling the drive force to a lancing tool of the lancing device such that the lancing tool is extended and retracted when a work movement is performed; acquiring a user input for interval operation of the hand-held lancing device, in which work intervals, in which the lancing tool performs several work movements at a repetition frequency due to the operation of the drive unit, and non-work intervals, in which the operation of the drive unit is interrupted, are repeated alternately at a predetermined time interval.The application relates to the generation of control signals for the drive unit according to interval operation by the control unit, the transmission of the control signals to the drive unit, and the operation of the drive unit according to the control signals. Furthermore, the application relates to a skin piercing device 1 and a control unit.