Search

CN-121986343-A - RFID coupling element and associated reading system for singulating reads of RFID tagged medical devices

CN121986343ACN 121986343 ACN121986343 ACN 121986343ACN-121986343-A

Abstract

An RFID reading system for performing a singulation read for each of a plurality of RFID tagged medical devices conveyed along a conveyance path by a conveyance system is provided. The RFID reading system includes an RFID coupling element positioned at a reading position along the conveyance path, the RFID coupling element including a housing, a housing mount, and a dipole coupling element positioned at least partially within the housing and including a pair of chamfered ends. An RFID reader is operatively connected to the RFID coupling element and is configured to provide power to the RFID coupling element to electromagnetically couple the dipole coupling element to the RFID tag of each RFID-tagged medical device as the medical device passes in front of and near the dipole coupling element at the read location. The RFID reader then performs a singulation read of the RFID tag in the RFID-tagged medical device.

Inventors

  • CEDRIC RIVIER
  • Emmanuel Vernois
  • Julian Tuliz

Assignees

  • 贝克顿·迪金森公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240918
Priority Date
20230919

Claims (17)

  1. 1. An Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reading system for performing a singulation read on each of a plurality of RFID-tagged medical devices conveyed along a conveyance path by a conveyance system, the RFID reading system comprising: An RFID coupling element positioned at a read location along the conveyance path, the RFID coupling element comprising: a housing including a front surface, a rear surface, and a plurality of mounting features; a dipole coupling element positioned at least partially within the housing, the dipole coupling element including a pair of chamfered ends, and A housing mount to which the housing is secured, wherein at least some of the plurality of mounting features are aligned with the housing mount to enable securing the housing to the housing mount, and An RFID reader operably connected to the RFID coupling element, the RFID reader configured to provide power to the RFID coupling element to electromagnetically couple the dipole coupling element to an RFID tag incorporated in a corresponding RFID-tagged medical device as the corresponding RFID-tagged medical device passes in front of and near the dipole coupling element at the reading location; wherein upon electromagnetically coupling the dipole coupling element to the corresponding RFID-tagged medical device, the RFID reader performs a singulation read of RFID tags in the RFID-tagged medical device.
  2. 2. The RFID reading system of claim 1, wherein the end of the dipole coupling element is wide in the x-dimension sufficient to obtain a reading of the RFID-tagged medical device as the RFID-tagged medical device passes the reading location.
  3. 3. The RFID reading system of claim 1 wherein the ends of the dipole coupling elements are separated in the y-dimension.
  4. 4. The RFID reading system of claim 3 wherein the distance separating the ends of the dipole coupling elements in the y-dimension is determined by the configuration of RFID tags of the RFID tagged medical device.
  5. 5. The RFID reading system of claim 3 wherein the distance separating the ends of the dipole coupling elements in the y-dimension is determined by the configuration of the carrier of the conveyor system holding the RFID tagged medical device.
  6. 6. The RFID reading system of claim 1, wherein the polarization axis or dipole axis of the dipole coupling element is substantially parallel to a polarization axis or dipole axis of an RFID tag included in each respective RFID-tagged medical device.
  7. 7. The RFID reading system of claim 6, wherein the polarization axis or dipole axis of the dipole coupling element is within +/-30 degrees of the polarization axis or dipole axis of the RFID tag.
  8. 8. The RFID reading system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of mounting features and the housing mount enable three-dimensional positional adjustment of the housing and the dipole coupling element, the positional adjustment comprising: position adjustment in the x-dimension parallel to the traveling direction of the conveyance path at the reading position; and, when in the reading position, in the z-dimension away from and towards the corresponding RFID-tagged medical device, and When in the read position, the position vertically up and down in the y-dimension relative to the corresponding RFID-tagged medical device is adjusted such that the dipole coupling element is vertically centered relative to the RFID tag in the corresponding RFID-tagged medical device.
  9. 9. The RFID reading system of claim 8 wherein the positional adjustment of the housing and the dipole coupling element in the z-dimension is adjustable up to 50 mm in increments of 0.1 mm or less.
  10. 10. The RFID reading system of claim 8 wherein the positional adjustment of the housing and the dipole coupling element in the y-dimension is adjustable up to 2 mm in increments of 0.1 mm or less.
  11. 11. The RFID reading system of claim 1, wherein the housing is formed of one or more cleanroom compatible materials.
  12. 12. The RFID reading system of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the front surface of the housing adjacent or proximate to the end of the dipole coupling element is formed of a non-metallic material compatible with radio frequency constraints and performance.
  13. 13. The RFID reading system of claim 1, further comprising a Radio Frequency (RF) cable connecting the RFID reader to the RFID coupling element, the RF cable enabling the RFID coupling element to be positioned at the reading location along the conveyance path.
  14. 14. The RFID reading system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of RFID tagged medical devices comprises an assembled RFID tagged syringe, an RFID tagged syringe tip cap, an RFID tagged auto-injector, or an RFID tagged security device.
  15. 15. An Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) coupling element for use with an RFID reader for performing a singulation read of each of a plurality of RFID-tagged medical devices conveyed by a conveying system along a conveying path, the RFID coupling element comprising: a housing including a front surface, a rear surface, and a plurality of mounting features; A housing mount to which the housing is secured, wherein at least some of the plurality of mounting features are aligned with the housing mount to enable securing the housing to the housing mount, and A dipole coupling element positioned at least partially within the housing, the dipole coupling element having a pair of chamfered ends; Wherein upon providing power to the dipole coupling element, the dipole coupling element electromagnetically couples to a respective RFID tag incorporated in a respective RFID-tagged medical device as the respective RFID-tagged medical device is conveyed along the conveyance path to a reading position where the respective RFID-tagged medical device passes in front of and in proximity to the dipole coupling element, thereby enabling singulated reading of the RFID-tagged medical device.
  16. 16. The RFID coupling element of claim 15, wherein the width of the end of the dipole coupling element in the x-dimension is sufficient to obtain a reading of the RFID-tagged medical device as the RFID-tagged medical device passes the reading location.
  17. 17. The RFID coupling element of claim 15, wherein the distance separating the ends of the dipole coupling element in the y-dimension is determined by a configuration of the RFID tag of the RFID tagged medical device and/or a configuration of a carrier of the conveyor system that holds the RFID tagged medical device.

Description

RFID coupling element and associated reading system for singulating reads of RFID tagged medical devices Cross Reference to Related Applications The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional application No. 63/583,736 filed on 9/2023, entitled "RFID Coupling Element and Associated Reading System for Singulated Reading of RFID-Tagged Medical Devices（RFID coupling element and associated reading system for singulating RFID tagged medical devices), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Background Technical Field The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly to RFID coupling elements and associated RFID reading systems for singulating RFID-tagged medical devices. Description of the Related Art In the field of medical device design, manufacture, assembly, and use, there is an increasing need for individual traceability of such devices from the manufacturing process through to the final labeling, end use, or disposal of the medical device. As an example, traceability and connectivity of injection devices, as well as data recording and retrieval, are becoming commonplace for injection devices such as syringes or auto-injectors. Some previous attempts to address this need for traceability during manufacturing and/or along the supply chain have implemented RFID tags (including RFID chips and RFID antennas) on medical devices for remote identification of these medical devices. However, when integrating an RFID tag into a medical device, it is necessary to perform quality control processes on the RFID-tagged product during manufacturing, including ensuring operability of the RFID tag and/or ensuring proper alignment/positioning of the RFID tag in/on the medical device. Existing solutions for quality control processing of RFID-tagged products during manufacture have drawbacks that can affect the ability to provide reliable manufacturing standards for RFID-tagged products. For example, most "off the shelf" RFID readers and antenna solutions support batch reading of inventory (i.e., reading several RFID-tagged items simultaneously), but such batch reading is unsuitable when it is desired to singulate each of a plurality of RFID-tagged products (which may be desirable, for example, when quality control processing of the RFID-tagged products is performed during manufacturing). Although near field antennas coupled to RFID readers may be used for singulated readings of RFID-tagged products, the characteristics of these RFID near field antennas (due to their beam pattern, coupling type, etc.) may not meet the manufacturing requirements of medical devices (e.g., RFID-tagged injection devices), including requirements regarding the spacing (e.g., 60 millimeters, 30 millimeters, or less) and the conveyance speed (e.g., >1 meter/second (m/s)) of these RFID-tagged injection devices when processing multiple RFID-tagged injection devices along a conveyance system or system. Thus, attempts to read multiple RFID-tagged injection devices in a singulated manner during manufacture using existing RFID reading systems typically result in cross-read defects, where a cross-read defect refers to a condition where multiple RFID-tagged injection devices are not read in the correct transfer run order (i.e., the second location device is read before the first location device). Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the above-described shortcomings by providing an effective and reliable means for performing singulation readings on RFID-tagged medical devices during the manufacture of such devices, wherein the system and method are capable of providing accurate singulation readings of such devices according to a desired spacing and conveyance speed associated with a manufacturing environment. Disclosure of Invention An Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reading system for performing a singulation read on each of a plurality of RFID-tagged medical devices conveyed along a conveyance path by a conveyance system is provided. The RFID reading system includes an RFID coupling element positioned at a reading position along the conveyance path, wherein the RFID coupling element includes a housing including a front surface, a rear surface, and a plurality of mounting features, a dipole coupling element positioned at least partially within the housing and including a pair of chamfered ends, and a housing mount to which the housing is secured, wherein at least some of the plurality of mounting features are aligned with the housing mount to enable securing the housing to the housing mount. The RFID coupling element also includes an RFID reader operatively connected to the RFID coupling element, the RFID reader configured to provide power to the RFID coupling element to electromagnetically couple the dipole coupling element to an RFID tag incorporated in a corresponding RFID-tagged medical device as the corresponding RFID-tagged