Multi-piece closure assembly
A closure assembly for a medical or other type container including one or more closures each including a housing having a hollow interior and a communicating access opening. A tip cap is removably disposed within the hollow interior of each of the one or more closures, in an accessible disposition by the medical container, via access opening. A flag structure is connected to each of the one or more housings and extends at least partially outwardly from the respective closure. A tamper evident structure is disposed on each housing of the one or more closures adjacent to the access opening and in removable restricting relation to respective ones of the tip cap, from said hollow interior, via said access opening. Each of the one or more closures may also include one or more RFID tags, having predetermined tracking capabilities, disposed on the flag structure and/or tamper evident structure.
1 . A closure assembly for a medical container comprising:
at least one closure including a housing, said housing having a hollow interior and an access opening communicating with said hollow interior,
a tip cap removably disposed within said hollow interior in an accessible disposition, via said access opening,
a flag structure connected to said housing and at least partially extending outwardly therefrom,
an RFID tag including predetermined tracking capabilities disposed on said flag structure,
a tamper evident structure disposed on said housing in removable restricting relation to said tip cap, from said hollow interior via said access opening and
said tamper evident structure comprising an aperture disposed in communicating alignment with said access opening concurrent to said removal restricting relation to said tip cap; said aperture having a diametrical dimension less than a corresponding diametrical dimension of said access opening.
2 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the said RFID tag is removably disposed on said flag structure.
3 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein said RFID tag is structured for attachment to the medical container subsequent to removal from said flag structure.
4 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tamper evident structure is integrated in said flag structure and concurrently connected to said housing with said tamper evident structure.
5 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tamper evident structure is disposed on said housing and dimensioned and configured to extend inwardly from a periphery of said access opening, towards a center thereof and into overlying relation to said hollow interior, concurrent to disposition of said tamper evident structure in said removable restricting relation to said tip cap.
6 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein a diametrical dimension of said tip cap is less than said diametrical dimension of said access opening and greater than said diametrical dimension of said aperture; a diametrical dimension of a connecting portion of the medical container being less than said diametrical dimension of said aperture.
7 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 6 wherein said diametrical dimensions of said tip cap, said access opening and said aperture define an unrestricted passage of said tip cap through said access opening concurrent to a rupturing of said tamper evident structure, upon passage of said tip cap through said aperture.
8 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 7 wherein said tamper evident structure is at least partially formed of a material capable of being torn.
9 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said flag structure comprises a base, said tamper evident structure connected to said base and including a substantially annular configuration disposed in substantially surrounding relation to said aperture.
10 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 9 wherein said base and said tamper evident structure are disposed in overlying at least partially covering relation to said access opening, said tamper evident structure concurrently disposed in interruptive engaging relation to said tip cap, upon passage of said tip cap through said access opening.
11 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 10 wherein said tamper evident structure is formed of a foil material disposed contiguous to an inner periphery of said aperture.
12 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tamper evident structure is mounted on said housing in covering relation to said access opening and in enclosing relation to said hollow interior, said tamper evident structure including a secondary RFID tag mounted thereon in spaced relation to said RFID tag disposed on said flag structure.
13 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 12 wherein said tamper evident structure is formed of a material, penetrable by passage of the medical container therethrough into accessible relation with said tip cap, via said access opening; said secondary RFID tag, including predetermined tracking capabilities and being disposed and structured for deactivation substantially concurrent to penetration of said tamper evident structure by the medical container.
14 . A closure assembly for a medical container comprising:
a plurality of closures each including a housing having a hollow interior and an access opening communicating with said hollow interior,
a tip cap removably disposed within said hollow interior of each of said plurality of closures, in an accessible disposition by the medical container, via said access opening,
a plurality of flag structures each connected to a different one of said housings and extending outwardly therefrom,
each of said plurality of closures including a tamper evident structure disposed on said housing in removable restricting relation to said tip cap, from said hollow interior, via said access opening and
said tamper evident structure comprising an aperture disposed in communicating alignment with said access opening concurrent to said removal restricting relation to said tip cap; said aperture having a diametrical dimension less than a corresponding diametrical dimension of said access opening.
15 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 14 comprising said plurality of closures disposed in a capping orientation, said capping orientation facilitating volume capping of said tip caps with the medical containers.
16 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 15 wherein said capping orientation comprises an aligned strip of said plurality of closures disposed in interconnected relation to one another.
17 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 16 wherein said interconnected relation of said plurality of closures comprises removable attachment of said flag structures of adjacent ones of said plurality of closures along a length of said strip.
18 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 17 wherein each of said flag structures comprises a base connected to said housing and an arm connected to said base and extending outwardly from said base and a respective one of said plurality of closures, into said removable attachment with said arms of adjacent ones of said flag structures.
19 . The closure assembly as recited in claim 14 further comprising an RFID tag including predetermined tracking capabilities disposed on said flag structure.