Vial Adapter for Needle-Free Syringe Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Needle-free injection syringes face challenges in filling from conventional vials due to the absence of a needle to pierce the septum, particularly with multi-dose vials, leading to difficulties in maintaining sterility and minimizing waste.
Innovation Solution
A vial adapter with a housing, compliant valve, and filling needle that creates a fluid path between the vial and the needle-free syringe, ensuring a fluid-tight seal and allowing multiple doses to be drawn without compromising the vial's integrity, using a center post and compliant valve to manage the flow and sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a needle-free syringe is used for injection, then patient safety and comfort are improved, but the ability to pierce and fill from a conventional vial is lost
Solution Approach 1:
A separate filling needle is introduced as an intermediary tool that temporarily pierces the vial septum to transfer fluid into the needle-free syringe. This mediator enables the filling operation without requiring the injection syringe itself to have a needle, thus resolving the contradiction between needle-free injection safety and vial filling capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into separate functional components: a needle-free injection syringe for patient safety and a separate filling needle for vial access. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function - the syringe remains needle-free for injection while the separate filling needle handles the piercing task
2Loss of substance
If a multi-dose vial is used, then vaccine waste is reduced, but maintaining sterility between doses becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The filling needle is extracted as a separate, disposable component that is discarded after a single use. This extraction ensures that the vial septum is not repeatedly penetrated by the same needle, which could compromise sterility, while still allowing multiple doses to be withdrawn using fresh filling needles for each dose
Solution Approach 2:
The filling needle is designed as a disposable, low-cost component that is used once and then discarded. This disposable nature ensures sterility is maintained between doses while enabling multi-dose vial utilization, as each dose can be filled with a new sterile filling needle
3Productivity
If the septum is pierced repeatedly for multiple doses, then multi-dose vial utilization is enabled, but the structural integrity of the septum may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The filling needle is designed as a disposable component that is discarded after single use. This approach enables multiple dose withdrawals by using a fresh filling needle for each dose, thereby maintaining septum integrity while achieving multi-dose utilization
Solution Approach 2:
A new sterile filling needle acts as an intermediary for each dose withdrawal. This mediator approach allows repeated access to the vial contents without repeatedly stressig the same needle-septum interface, thus preserving septum structural integrity while enabling multiple doses
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
Enables efficient and sterile filling of needle-free syringes from vials, reducing waste and maintaining vial sterility between doses, suitable for both single and multi-dose vials, while preventing contamination and oxidation.
Implementation Method 1
a compliant valve element operatively associated with the needle-free syringe opening
Implementation Method 2
Piercing the septum places the lumen of the needle into fluid communication with the injectable content of the vial
Implementation Method 3
Together, the filling needle and center post define an inner lumen through the central divider which provides for fluid communication between the vial opening and the needle-free syringe opening
Data Source
AI summary
A vial adapter for a needle-free injection syringe and methods of filling a needle-free syringe from a vial of injectable fluid. One vial adapter embodiment includes a housing and a compliant valve. The housing includes a central divider located between a vial opening and a needle-free syringe opening. The housing also includes a hollow center post extending from the central divider toward the needle-free syringe opening and a hollow filling needle extending from the central divider toward the vial opening. Together, the filling needle and center post provide for fluid communication between the vial opening and the needle-free syringe opening. The compliant valve includes a surface forming a fluid tight seal with the central divider and an inner passageway. In addition, a syringe sealing surface provides for a fluid tight seal with a needle-free syringe placed into contact with the compliant valve. The compliant valve includes an opening in the syringe sealing surface which is biased closed when no needle-free syringe is engaged with the vial adapter and which is opened when a needle-free syringe is fully engaged with the opening.