Body-Conforming Urinary Funnel for Leak-Free Standing Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing female urinary devices are large, awkward, prone to leakage, and difficult to carry inconspicuously, making them impractical for personal use and sharing.
Innovation Solution
A compact, hand-held device with a small collector and a body-conforming shield that allows for easy orientation and use, featuring a bent tube with a cup for the urethra and a positioning rib to prevent leakage, enabling discreet and comfortable urination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large funnel-like collector is used to catch urine, then urine collection is effective, but the device becomes large, awkward, and difficult to stow
Solution Approach 1:
The collector is designed with non-uniform geometry: a large opening at the distal end for effective urine collection, transitioning to a narrow proximal end for compact storage. This local variation in dimensions allows the collector to fulfill its function while minimizing overall device volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The collector is configured with a curved, elongated shape that extends along the longitudinal axis of the catheter. This dimensional arrangement allows the large collection area to be distributed along the length of the device rather than requiring a large cross-sectional area, enabling compact storage.
2Reliability
If sealing devices are added to prevent urine leakage, then reliability improves, but the device becomes more complex and difficult to personalize
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding complex sealing mechanisms to prevent leakage, the design inverts the approach by using a rigid, anatomically-conformed catheter structure that passively directs urine flow. The catheter's geometry itself provides the sealing function, eliminating the need for separate sealing components.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is designed to be self-positioning and self-sealing through its rigid, anatomically-conformed structure. The body-conforming geometry automatically adapts to the user's anatomy, providing leakage prevention without requiring additional active sealing mechanisms or complex adjustment systems.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sizes are manufactured to suit varying body sizes, then adaptability improves, but manufacturing complexity and inventory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter incorporates a telescopic mechanism with movable segments that can extend or retract based on the user's anatomical requirements. This dynamic adjustment allows a single device design to accommodate varying body sizes, eliminating the need to manufacture multiple fixed-size variants.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is designed with universal dimensions and adjustable features that allow it to serve multiple users with different body types. The body-conforming geometry and telescopic adjustment mechanisms enable one device design to fulfill the function of multiple size variants, simplifying manufacturing and inventory management.
4Volume of moving object
If the collector end is made small to cover only the urethra, then stow ability improves, but orientation difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter incorporates visual indicators such as colored bands, contrasting material sections, or illuminated markers that change or become visible when the catheter is properly positioned. These visual cues guide users in achieving correct orientation despite the compact size of the collector end.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter includes intermediate positioning features such as a body-conforming shield or positioning rib that acts as a mediator between the user and the collector end. These intermediate elements provide tactile and visual guidance during insertion and positioning, making orientation easier even when the distal end is compact.
Data Source
AI summary
A urinary device for use by a person has an elongate tube having an outside wall, an inside wall and a length, a cup for collecting urine, the cup of greater diameter than the tube, formed at a free end of the tube, substantially concentric with the tube, for placing over the person's urethra, and a shield formed about the outside wall of the tube, near the cup, substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the tube, the shield having a concave surface facing the cup shaped to conform to a user's pubic area.