Test Strip Container with Retaining Insert
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing test strip containers face difficulties in dispensing a single strip while maintaining a compact profile, leading to accidental dumping or spilling, particularly challenging for individuals with impaired circulation, and are cumbersome for carrying multiple blister packs.
Innovation Solution
A test strip container with a housing and hinged lid featuring an expandable insert with retaining members that securely hold test strips perpendicular to the base, allowing for easy access and retrieval of a single strip while preventing accidental dispensing, and incorporating a biasing member to compressibly retain the strips.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If test strips are stored in a disposable vial, then the container remains compact and portable, but the user experiences difficulty in dispensing a single strip without accidentally dumping multiple strips
Solution Approach 1:
The vial is segmented into multiple functional zones: a dispensing aperture for single strip extraction, a retaining structure with angled surfaces to guide strips, and a reservoir for storing multiple strips. This segmentation allows controlled single-strip dispensing while maintaining compact storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediate retaining structure with angled surfaces is introduced between the strip reservoir and the dispensing aperture. This intermediary component guides and controls the dispensing process, preventing accidental dumping while maintaining ease of single-strip retrieval.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If test strips are packaged individually in tear-away blister packages, then each strip is protected from contamination, but the user experiences difficulty in accessing a single strip and must carry multiple packages
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individually packaged strips are merged into a single integrated vial container with a common dispensing aperture. This combining approach maintains the protective barrier of individual packaging while enabling easy access to any single strip through the unified dispensing mechanism, eliminating the need to carry multiple separate packages.
3Weight of moving object
If the vial is designed to be compact and portable, then it is easy to carry, but the user experiences difficulty in handling and retrieving a single strip
Solution Approach 1:
The vial employs local quality variations in its retaining structure, with angled surfaces and specific geometric features positioned at critical locations. These localized structural modifications facilitate easy strip retrieval while maintaining the overall compact and portable design of the vial.
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 container provides easy and controlled access to individual test strips, preventing contamination and spillage, and allows for convenient re-loading, enhancing user experience and convenience.
Implementation Method 1
The retaining member further comprises a biasing member connected adjacent to the front housing portion and which presses against and compressibly retains the plurality of test strips towards the front of the cavity
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
A test strip container (10) with an insert (38) comprising a channel (40) and a retaining member (44) and methods of manufacturing and utilization thereof are disclosed. The container (10) includes a housing (20), an insert (38), a lid (22), and at least one retaining member (44) in at least one channel (40). The at least one retaining member (44) releasably retains a plurality of test strips (12) in the at least one channel (40).