Tamper-Resistant Pill Dispenser with Helical Groove Mechanism
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current pill containers do not effectively prevent tampering or ensure adherence to prescribed dosages, allowing for potential overdoses, underdoses, or misuse of medicinal or nutritional pills, especially when used by patients at home, as they provide easy access to the entire quantity of pills.
Innovation Solution
A tamper-resistant pill dispenser using mechanisms like chain-sprocket and Geneva-drive, spiral-grooved disk, or helically grooved cylinder designs, coupled with computer-controlled motors and solenoid actuators, to incrementally dispense pills, track dosage, and alert healthcare professionals of any tampering or non-adherence, while maintaining a digital record of pill usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional pill containers (bottles, boxes, strips, pouches) are used to store pills, then easy access and retrieval of pills is achieved, but tampering resistance and dosage control are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The pill container is divided into multiple sealed compartments, each designed to dispense only a specific number of pills (e.g., 1, 2, or 3 pills per compartment). This segmentation prevents users from accessing all pills at once and ensures controlled dispensing of predetermined dosages.
Solution Approach 2:
A controlled dispensing mechanism acts as an intermediary between the pill storage and the user. This mechanism includes a dispensing channel with a movable barrier that releases pills one compartment at a time, preventing direct access to the entire pill supply and ensuring dosage control.
2Ease of operation
If traditional pill containers with open access are used, then ease of pill retrieval is improved, but tampering resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The container is designed with predetermined sealed compartments that resist tampering before use. Each compartment maintains its seal integrity until the dispensing mechanism is activated, preventing malicious persons from removing or replacing pills without detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The controlled dispensing mechanism serves as an intermediary that mediates between the sealed pill compartments and the user. It allows legitimate access through controlled dispensing while preventing unauthorized tampering with the pill supply.
3Adaptability or versatility
If all pills are accessible in traditional containers, then patient autonomy in pill management is improved, but risk of overdose or misuse increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pill supply is segmented into multiple compartments with predetermined dosages (1, 2, or 3 pills each). This segmentation maintains patient autonomy in choosing when to dispense pills while preventing overdose by limiting the maximum accessible dosage at any one time.
Solution Approach 2:
The container includes visual indicators (such as color-coded compartments or transparent sections) that provide feedback on how many compartments remain and how many pills are in each compartment. This feedback helps patients maintain autonomy while preventing misuse by making the dosage limits visible and clear.
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 pill dispenser effectively prevents tampering, ensures accurate dosing, and provides a digital record of pill usage, helping to prevent misuse and allowing healthcare professionals to intervene in case of potential overdoses, thereby improving patient safety and adherence to treatment plans.
Implementation Method 1
A closed-loop pill ring chain formed by linked pill rings each containing a pill or pills or a packaged pill or a packaged set of pills are engaged to the idler disks and the sprocket with a Geneva drive linked with a Geneva driver
Implementation Method 2
A spiral-grooved disk with an integral spindle and with a toggle containing a pill pin that engages with the spiral groove
Implementation Method 3
a helically grooved cylinder, a sleeve, and a pill pin that engages with the helical groove
Implementation Method 4
coupled with computer-controlled motors and solenoid actuators
Data Source
AI summary
A tamper-resistant pill and/or capsule dispenser for attachment to an electronic control and communication unit including inter alia, an electric actuator mechanism, a microprocessor, a graphical user interface and a communications unit, the dispenser including sensors operative under control of said electronic control and communication unit to monitor and dispense prescribed dosages of medications or vitamin supplements in pill and/or capsule form and help control, track and maintain a record of pills and/or capsules dispensed to a patient to ensure that the dispensed product is not improperly removed from or replaced in the dispenser, said dispenser comprising:a generally cylindrical housing having an open top, and a generally closed bottom, except for a pill dispensing opening formed in a lower side portion of the cylindrical housing; a cylindrical sleeve open at its top end and closed at its bottom end, said sleeve being eccentrically disposed within said cylindrical housing and away from the side of said cylindrical housing having said pill dispensing opening, said sleeve being affixed at its bottom end to the bottom end of said cylindrical housing and having an open, longitudinally extending slot formed in the side thereof opposite said pill dispensing opening; an axially rotatable cylinder disposed within said housing, said cylinder having a helical indented groove formed in the outer cylindrical surface thereof, said groove extending from a point proximate an upper end of said cylinder to a point proximate a lower end of said cylinder, said groove being adapted to slidably carry pills and/or capsules to be sequentially passed through said first pill exiting aperture, said axially rotatable cylinder having a coupling socket formed in its upper end for driving engagement with said electric actuator mechanism: and a tubular slide slidably disposed about said sleeve and carrying a pill pin for slidably engaging pills and/or capsules disposed in said helical indented groove as said electric actuator mechanism causes said axially rotatable cylinder to rotate and dispense pills and/or capsules out of said pill dispensing opening.