Biological Specimen Stack Tape Dispensing Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing packaging for biological specimen support articles, such as tissue cassettes and microscope slides, often becomes misshapen due to tensional and compressive forces, making it difficult to load them into automated dispensing apparatus, and requires manual handling, which increases costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A unitary assembly using a looped tape with a detachable adhesive strip that secures the articles in a stack, allowing for easy removal and dispensing, eliminating the need for complex packaging and reducing manual handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional packaging is used for biological specimen support articles, then the articles can be protected during storage and transport, but the packaging becomes misshapen due to tensional and compressive forces, making it difficult to load into automated dispensing apparatus
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is divided into a rigid container portion and a separate closure portion that can be independently removed. This segmentation allows the container to maintain its shape for reliable article protection while the removable closure enables easy loading into automated dispensing apparatus without the entire packaging becoming misshapen.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure portion is extracted as a separate removable element from the main container. This extraction allows the closure to be removed without affecting the rigid container's shape, enabling easy loading of articles into automated dispensing apparatus while maintaining the container's structural integrity for protection during storage and transport.
2Reliability
If traditional packaging is used, then articles can be protected, but manual handling is required which increases costs and complexity
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the packaging into a rigid container and removable closure, the design enables automated dispensing apparatus to load articles without manual handling. The rigid container maintains protection reliability while the removable closure allows automated systems to access and dispense articles, reducing device complexity and costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging design allows automated dispensing apparatus to perform the loading operation independently without requiring manual intervention. The removable closure portion enables the automated system to access articles directly, making the packaging self-sufficient for both protection and automated dispensing functions.
3Ease of operation
If packaging is made rigid to maintain shape, then loading into dispensing apparatus is easier, but packaging costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into a rigid container portion that maintains shape for easy loading into dispensing apparatus, and a separate closure portion. This segmentation allows only the necessary rigid portions to be manufactured with higher precision, reducing overall packaging costs while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Rigidity is applied locally only to the container portions that need to maintain shape for loading, while the closure portion can be made from less expensive materials. This local quality approach reduces overall packaging costs while ensuring the critical loading function is supported by sufficiently rigid structures.
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 solution simplifies the loading process, reduces packaging costs, and enhances the efficiency of dispensing biological specimen support articles by allowing them to be easily aligned and released from the packaging, improving the overall handling and deployment of the specimens.
Implementation Method 1
a looped tape including a detachable adhesive strip
Data Source
AI summary
A unitary assembly of biological specimen support articles, arranged in a stack in which successive articles are secured in positional sequence by a tape. The tape in one embodiment is of loop form, e.g., folded back on itself with a first portion detachably adhesively secured to the stack and with the second portion back-folded over the first portion and extending beyond the stack in a free end that may be manually grasped to peel away the tape from the stack, when the stack is placed in a dispensing hopper with the free end accessed for manual grasping thereof. By stripping the tape from the stack after the stack is positioned in the dispensing hopper, the component support articles, e.g., tissue cassettes or microscope slides, are freed for subsequent dispensing and use.