Sterile Glove Cuff Tab for Touchless Donning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for donning sterile gloves often increase cost and complexity, failing to minimize contamination risks effectively.
Innovation Solution
A sterile glove design featuring a detachable tab that allows for touchless donning by enabling the glove to be grasped and inserted without touching the wearable portion, using a fold in the cuff and a detachable tab that can be securely attached and detached to facilitate easy donning while maintaining sterility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing packaging and dispenser improvements are used, then contamination risk is reduced, but cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the donning assistance function from complex packaging systems and implements it through a simple detachable tab attached directly to the glove cuff. This tab can be grasped to facilitate glove insertion without requiring sophisticated dispensing mechanisms, thereby reducing both cost and complexity while maintaining contamination protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The detachable tab serves as an intermediary element between the user's hand and the sterile glove. It provides a non-sterile grasping surface that allows users to handle and don the glove without directly touching the sterile portions, thus reducing contamination risk without requiring complex packaging infrastructure.
2Reliability
If existing packaging and dispenser improvements are used, then contamination risk is reduced, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for expensive specialized dispensing mechanisms by extracting the essential function of assisted donning and implementing it through a simple, low-cost detachable tab that can be easily manufactured and attached to the glove during the existing manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The detachable tab is designed as a simple, disposable component that is easily manufactured and attached to each glove. Its temporary nature and simplicity dramatically reduce manufacturing costs compared to permanent or reusable dispensing systems, while still providing effective contamination protection during the donning process.
3Ease of operation
If a detachable tab is added to facilitate touchless donning, then ease of operation improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the glove structure by adding a separate, detachable tab component to the cuff. This segmentation allows the tab to be independently optimized for grasping while the main glove structure remains unchanged, providing enhanced ease of operation with minimal increase in overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The detachable tab is designed to be discarded after serving its donning function. It is attached temporarily to facilitate glove insertion and then removed or left behind, meaning the complexity it introduces is temporary and does not persist in the final glove structure, thus maintaining simplicity while improving ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A sterile glove includes a cuff that has an inside surface and an outside surface. The cuff is folded over at a fold when the glove is packaged and when it is initially removed from the package. The glove further includes a hand and finger portion. The glove further includes a detachable tab that is coupled to the cuff and includes a free end. The detachable tab is adapted to facilitate a donning of the glove before being detached.