CN117339067A

CN117339067A - Container assembly for sprayer

Info

Publication number: CN117339067A
Application number: CN202311454312.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张青; 杨清敏; 郑晓清; 谭永利; 张敏; 纪鸿蕊
Original assignee: Qilu Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Current assignee: QILU ANTIBIOTICS PHARMACEUTICAL CO Ltd; Qilu Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-11-02
Filing date: 2023-11-02
Publication date: 2024-01-05
Anticipated expiration: 2043-11-02
Also published as: CN117339067B

Abstract

The invention relates to a container assembly for a sprayer, and belongs to the technical field of medical appliances. The container assembly comprises a container and a counting mechanism, wherein the counting mechanism comprises an upper shell, a transmission gear, a counting gear, a rotating assembly and a lower shell. The upper shell of the counter is connected with the bottom of the container, and the rotating assembly is connected with the lower shell of the counter in an up-down sliding way. The rotary component is provided with a local rotary gear which is meshed with the transmission gear, and the transmission gear is meshed with the counting gear. The sprayer lower shell bottom is equipped with first arch, and the rotating assembly can be when container takes counter mechanism to move a relative position downwards, by first arch jack-up and impel local rotation gear to rotate certain angle. The container assembly provided by the invention has the advantages of simple structure and low manufacturing cost, and can be accurately locked after the preset actuation times are finished, so that the safe use of the sprayer is ensured.

Description

Container assembly for sprayer

Technical Field

The invention relates to a container assembly with counting and locking functions, which is mainly used in a sprayer for inhalation administration. Belongs to the technical field of medical appliances.

Background

A hand-held inhalation nebulizer is a device that is used by a patient for a long period of time without supervision. In some cases, such as asthmatics, it is important for the user to ensure that there is an adequate supply of medicament in the nebulizer. Therefore, it is increasingly common in commercial products to provide inhalation nebulizers with counting devices. In addition, the sprayer with the self-locking function is increasingly common in the market, namely, after the use times of the sprayer and the container are used up, the sprayer can be locked by itself and cannot be reused, and the sprayer and the container are all disposable.

CN111821546a discloses a sprayer, an indicator device and a container. The indicator has the advantages that the locking function is integrated on the container, and the container enters the locking state after the sprayer is used for spraying 60 times, so that the sprayer cannot be reused. The sprayer can be used continuously after being replaced by a new container, namely, the sprayer can be reused, and the container is disposable. Compared with the prior all-disposable mode, the sprayer has higher utilization rate, less burden on the environment and can save the use cost for patients. However, the structure of this mode is more complicated, and the part manufacturing difficulty is higher.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a container assembly for a sprayer, which is simple in structure and low in manufacturing cost. The container assembly of the present invention has a counting and locking function. The invention keeps the sprayer shell component on the basis of the existing sprayer (rotating the sprayer shell once, spraying once, namely rotating the sprayer shell once, enabling the container to move downwards, pressing the sprayer once, and enabling the container to return upwards), heightens the height of the lower sprayer shell to accommodate the container component formed by combining the counting locking device and the container, and simultaneously realizes the counting and locking functions. When the container assembly with counting and locking functions reaches a predetermined number of uses, the corresponding sprayer and/or container can no longer be used in the locked state. When the container assembly is replaced, the sprayer can still play the function, so that the sprayer can be reused, the cost is saved, the influence on the environment is reduced, and meanwhile, the container assembly is simple in structure, convenient to assemble, low in production cost, accurate in counting and easy to observe.

The invention provides a container assembly for a sprayer, which is arranged in an upper shell and a lower shell of the sprayer and comprises a container and a counting mechanism, wherein the container can move downwards by one relative position when the upper shell and the lower shell of the sprayer rotate relatively,

the counting mechanism comprises an upper counter shell, a lower counter shell provided with a central hole and a lower counter shell arranged in the upper counter shell and the lower counter shell: a transmission gear, a counting gear and a rotating component,

the upper shell of the counter is connected with the bottom of the container,

the rotary component is connected with the lower shell of the counter in an up-down sliding way, the rotary component is provided with a local rotary gear which is meshed with the transmission gear which is meshed with the counting gear,

the sprayer is characterized in that a first bulge is arranged at the bottom of the lower shell of the sprayer, and the rotating assembly can be jacked up by the first bulge and promote the local rotating gear to rotate for a certain angle when the container moves downwards to a relative position with the counting mechanism.

The counter lower shell is provided with a central hole, so that the counter lower shell can be jacked up by the first bulge at the central hole when the rotating assembly moves downwards to the first bulge position.

In some preferred embodiments, the lower end of the counting gear is provided with a cylindrical ring, the cylindrical ring is arranged on the lower counter shell, the lower end of the cylindrical ring is marked with numerals along the outer circumferential direction, and the lower counter shell is provided with a viewing window. This structural design facilitates the user's observation of the remaining number of uses of the medicament or fluid in the nebulizer container.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention, the counter lower housing lower port is formed inwardly and upwardly with an inner tray, and the cylindrical ring is disposed on an annular floor of the inner tray between the counter lower housing and the inner tray. By adopting the connection mode, the counter has the advantages of simple integral structure, small and compact volume, contact of the circular ring type supporting plates, convenience in rotation of spraying each time and small friction.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer of the invention, the rotating assembly comprises a rotating device, a spring and a sliding base,

the spring is fixed on the sliding base,

the special-shaped sliding rail is arranged on the outer wall of the rotating device, a plurality of sliding protrusions are arranged on the inner wall of the sliding base, and the sliding protrusions are arranged on the special-shaped sliding rail.

The rotating assembly designed by the invention is stopped by rotating a certain angle when spraying once in cooperation with the local rotating gear, and is stopped by rotating a certain angle again when spraying once again, and is circulated and reciprocated. Meanwhile, the first bulge is arranged at the bottom of the lower shell of the sprayer and is matched with the bottom of the sliding base, when the container assembly moves downwards, the up-and-down reciprocating motion between the sliding base and the rotating device is converted into the rotating motion in the horizontal direction by means of the special design of the rotating device, and the potential energy is stored by the compression spring. In a preferred embodiment, 4 sliding protrusions are arranged on the inner wall of the sliding base and are matched with the special-shaped sliding rail on the outer wall of the rotating device.

In some preferred embodiments, the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention, the profiled sliding rail has a limit peak and a limit valley, the bottom of the limit valley is provided with a mounting groove, and the sliding protrusion is mounted on the bottom of the limit valley through the mounting groove. Namely: when the sprayer device is not used, the sliding protrusions on the sliding base are located at the bottoms of the limiting valleys of the special-shaped sliding rails, and the mounting grooves mainly play a role in mounting and guiding when the sliding protrusions are initially mounted.

The height of the first bulge can raise the sliding bulge on the sliding base from the top of the limiting valley to the limiting peak.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a sprayer of the present invention, the outer wall of the sliding base is provided with a plurality of vertical tangential planes, the inner wall of the inner supporting plate is provided with corresponding vertical tangential planes, and the sliding base is connected with the inner supporting plate in an up-and-down sliding manner through the vertical tangential planes. This kind of structural design can make the sliding base slide upwards along vertical tangent plane when being jacked by first arch, can guarantee simultaneously that the sliding base can not rotate at the circumferencial direction when upwards sliding or falling back down, ensures the stability of sliding base at the circumferencial direction. The design of the anti-rotation feature also ensures unidirectional circulation of the rotary device during braking of the sprayer.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention, the bottom of the inner tray extends inwardly from an inner strip, and the slide mount is positioned on the inner strip. The inner supporting strip is designed to support the sliding base: the sliding base is guaranteed to fall back onto the inner supporting strip when the spring release elasticity is pushed downwards to return to the original position, and cannot fall from the central hole of the lower shell of the counter. The function is not limited to the inner supporting strip structure, and other structures capable of supporting the sliding base so that the sliding base does not fall from the center hole can be adopted.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention, the counting gear teeth are terminated with a locking block. After the counting gears rotate to the locking block/locking mechanism, the gears are blocked, namely: the transmission gear can not drive the counting gear to rotate any more, so that further counting can not be performed. When the number of teeth is designed, the inventor designs that the medicine or other fluid in the container is just basically used up when the gears are locked, a new container assembly can be replaced at the moment, the counting device restarts counting, and the sprayer is continuously used.

In some preferred embodiments, the container assembly for the sprayer is characterized in that the number of teeth of the partial rotation gear is 10-16 when the partial rotation gear is full, the partial rotation gear is provided with more than or equal to 2 teeth, and the number of teeth of the counting gear is 40-60.

The local rotating gear can be provided with 2 teeth, 3 teeth and the like, when the sliding base is jacked up to a limit peak by the first bulge and then slides to a limit valley, the local rotating gear rotates by a certain angle, meanwhile, the counting gear is driven to rotate by a certain number of teeth through the teeth arranged on the local rotating gear, and when the sliding base rotates to a toothless position on the local rotating gear, the local rotating gear rotates by a certain angle without driving the counting gear to rotate, so that the counting gear can count 60-80 times or more only by setting the size of 40-60 teeth. The structural design mode can realize the counting function, can control the counting gear to be not excessively large, and can properly realize related functions in the counter shell.

In some preferred embodiments, the partial rotation gear is 12 teeth when full, and the partial rotation gear is designed to be 3 teeth, i.e. three teeth are provided within a quarter of a circumference. With this design, the partial rotation gear rotates 90 ° every 1 use of the sprayer device. The local rotating gear rotates for 360 degrees, and only drives the counting gear to rotate for 3 teeth, so that the counting of 60 teeth of the counting gear can be realized for 80 times.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer of the invention, the drive gear is provided with 24 teeth, and when the nebulizer device is used 4 times, the rotation means rotates 360 ° at which time the partial rotation gear on the rotation means engages with the drive gear, pushing the drive gear to rotate 45 ° (i.e. 3 teeth).

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention, the counting gear is provided with a positioning shaft on an upper end face thereof, and the transmission gear is mounted on the positioning shaft. The design saves space and is simple to install.

The container assembly for a sprayer of the invention preferably has a bottom of the container housing connected to the housing of the counter in a manner that facilitates assembly, such as a snap fit connection, a rotational threaded connection, a nested injection molding, and the like. In some preferred embodiments, a clamping groove is formed in the bottom of the shell of the container, a second protrusion is formed at the upper end of the upper shell of the counter, and the clamping groove is connected with the second protrusion. In other preferred embodiments, the second protrusion is an annular protrusion. By adopting the structural design, the container shell and the counting mechanism are convenient to install and can be tightly combined.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer of the invention, the counter lower housing and counter upper housing are assembled by means selected from ultrasonic welding, adhesive bonding, or snap-fit connection.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer of the invention, the numerals at the lower end of the cylindrical ring are marked on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical ring by pad printing or laser engraving.

In some preferred embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer of the invention, the outer shell of the container is made of aluminum alloy.

The container assembly for the sprayer has the following beneficial effects:

1. the container assembly of the invention can adjust the number of teeth of the corresponding matched gear set according to the specific requirement of medicine on spraying times by preset actuation times, and can adapt to the requirement of various medicine using times under the condition of not changing the whole appearance and structure.

2. Compared with the complex mechanical design structure in the prior art, the container assembly has the advantages that the manufacturing precision requirement of each part is lower, the assembly yield is higher, and the cost is saved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a nebulizer.

Fig. 2 is a front view and A-A cross-sectional view of the container assembly.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the rotating assembly.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a rotating device.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the counting mechanism (without the counter upper housing).

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the components of the counting mechanism.

Reference numerals illustrate:

1 sprayer upper shell 2 sprayer lower shell 3 first bulge 4 container

5 container shell 6 draw-in groove 7 counter mechanism 8 counter upper shell

9 second bump 10 rotating component 11 rotating device 12 spring

13 sliding base 14 special-shaped sliding rail 15 sliding bulge 16 limiting peak

17 limit valley 18 partial rotation gear 19 drive gear 20 drive gear teeth

21. Counting gear 22 counts gear teeth 23 locking piece 24 locating shaft

25 under shell 26 column ring 27 observation window inner supporting plate of counter

29 vertical tangent plane 30 spring holder 31 mounting groove 32 inner support strip

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the following description of the specific embodiments of the container assembly for a nebulizer according to the present invention will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that: the embodiments of the present invention are only given for illustrating the present invention, and not for limiting the present invention, and the simple improvements of the present invention on the premise of the technical scheme of the present invention are all within the protection scope of the present invention. In addition, in the following description, descriptions of well-known structures and techniques are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

A schematic of the structure of some embodiments of the invention is shown in the drawings. The figures are not drawn to scale, wherein certain details may be exaggerated or omitted for clarity. The various regions, shapes and relative sizes and positional relationships thereof illustrated in the figures are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the size or positional relationships of particular parameters of the invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the container assembly for a sprayer of the invention is arranged in an upper shell 1 and a lower shell 2 of the sprayer, and a first protrusion 3 is arranged at the bottom of the lower shell of the sprayer and is matched with the bottom of a sliding base 13.

As shown in fig. 2, the container assembly includes a container 4 and a counting mechanism 7, and the counting mechanism 7 includes a counter upper case 8 and a counter lower case 25 provided with a center hole. Wherein, the bottom of the container shell 5 is provided with a clamping groove 6 which is connected with a circular second bulge 9 at the upper end of a counter upper shell 8 in the counting mechanism 7, so that the container 4 and the counting mechanism 7 are tightly combined. The counter lower case 25 is provided with a viewing window 27.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the container 4 can be moved downward by a relative position when the upper and lower housings 1 and 2 of the sprayer are relatively rotated.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4, the rotary assembly 10 includes a rotary device 11, a spring 12 and a sliding base 13, the spring 12 is fixed on a spring seat 30 at the bottom of the sliding base 13, a special-shaped sliding rail 14 is arranged on the outer wall of the rotary device 11, and a limiting peak 16 and a limiting valley 17 are arranged in the special-shaped sliding rail 14. The inner wall of the sliding base 13 is provided with 4 sliding bulges 15 which are matched with the special-shaped sliding rail 14 of the rotating device 11. The sliding protrusion 15 of the sliding base 13 is mounted at the bottom of the limit valley 17 when the atomizer device is not in use.

As shown in fig. 4, the top of the rotating device 11 is provided with a partial rotating gear 18, in this embodiment, the rotating gear 18 is 12 teeth when full teeth, and 3 teeth are provided. Namely: the partial rotation gear 18 will rotate 90 ° every 1 use of the sprayer device.

After the counter mechanism opens the upper casing of the counter, as shown in fig. 5, the transmission gear 19, the counter gear 21 and the rotating device 11 which are arranged in the upper casing and the lower casing of the counter can be seen, the partial rotating gear 18 at the upper end of the rotating device 11 is meshed with the transmission gear 19, the transmission gear 19 is meshed with the counter gear 21, the upper end surface of the counter gear 21 is provided with a positioning shaft 24, and the transmission gear 19 is arranged on the positioning shaft 24.

As shown in fig. 5, the transmission gear 19 is provided with 24 teeth 20, the partial rotation gear 18 on the rotation device 11 is provided with 3 teeth, the counting gear 21 is provided with 60 teeth 22, and the end of the counting gear teeth 21 is provided with a locking block 23.

Every 4 uses of the sprayer device, the rotating device 11 rotates 360 degrees, the partial rotation gear 18 pushes the transmission gear 19 to rotate 45 degrees (3 teeth), and the transmission gear 19 drives the counting gear 21 to rotate 18 degrees (3 teeth).

As shown in fig. 6, the counter mechanism 7 comprises an upper counter housing 8, a transmission gear 19, a counter gear 21, a rotating device 11, a spring 12, a sliding base 13 and a lower counter housing 25 from top to bottom. The lower end of the counting gear 21 is provided with a columnar ring 26, the lower end of the columnar ring 26 is marked with numbers/counting display along the outer circumferential direction, and a square observation window 27 is formed in the lower counter shell 25, so that the remaining usable times of the device can be observed conveniently.

As shown in fig. 6 (in conjunction with fig. 2), the lower port of the counter lower case 25 is formed with an inner support plate 28 inwardly and upwardly, and a cylindrical ring 26 is placed on an annular bottom plate of the inner support plate 28 between the counter lower case 25 and the inner support plate 28.

As shown in fig. 6, 2 vertical tangential planes 29 are provided on the outer wall of the sliding base 13, 2 corresponding vertical tangential planes are provided on the inner wall of the inner supporting plate 28, and the sliding base 13 and the inner supporting plate 28 are connected in a vertically sliding manner through the corresponding vertical tangential planes.

As shown in fig. 6, the bottom of the inner pallet 28 extends inwardly to form an inner pallet strip 32, and the slide base 13 is placed on the inner pallet strip 32.

The container assembly for a sprayer device of the invention is operated with the sliding base 13 (with the spring 12) reciprocating up and down between the counter gear 21 and the counter lower housing 25 (along the vertical tangential plane 29). The rotating device 11 performs a circular rotation movement in the cylindrical ring 26 of the counter gear 21. There is no axial relative movement between the rotary device 11 and the counter gear 21, and only up and down movement occurs when the container 4 drives the counter mechanism 7 up and down.

The counting gear 21 of the container assembly for a sprayer device of the invention requires only 60 teeth to ensure that the counting mechanism counts 80 sprays. In the specific embodiment of the present invention, the spray is not fully used 80 times, but only 60 spraying, i.e. locking, embodiments are shown by way of example. In addition, the count display at the lower end of the counter gear cylindrical ring 26 is designed to count down, and when the sprayer device completes 60 actuations, the count display is 0, and at this time, the transmission gear 19 cannot continue to rotate due to contact with the counter gear locking block 23, and accordingly, the partial rotation gear 18 meshed with the transmission gear 19, and the rotation device 11 cannot continue to rotate, so that the locking of the container assembly is realized. The rotation device 11 is locked, so that the container 4 and the counting mechanism 7 cannot move downwards to the normal height of one relative position, and the sprayer device cannot rotate normally, and the sprayer device is locked accordingly, so that the sprayer device cannot be used continuously.

When the device is used, a user rotates the upper and lower shells 1 and 2 of the sprayer, the container assemblies 4 and 7 move downwards along with the upper and lower shells, and in the process of moving a relative position, the sliding base 13 of the counting mechanism 7 is contacted with the first bulge 3 at the bottom of the lower shell 2 of the sprayer, and the first bulge 3 jacks up the sliding base 13. Because the anti-rotation feature (i.e. the vertical tangential plane 29) is disposed between the sliding base 13 and the counter lower case 25, the sliding base 13 can only move upwards along the vertical tangential plane 29 after being stressed, at this time, the rotating device 11 moves from the limit valley 17 to the limit peak 16 in the special-shaped sliding rail 14 by means of the sliding protrusion 15 on the sliding base 13, thereby realizing counterclockwise rotation, and compresses the spring 12 to store potential energy.

When the sprayer device is released, the container assemblies 4, 7 move upwards, and accordingly the springs 12 release potential energy, causing the sliding projections 15 on the sliding base 13 to move from the limit peaks 16 to the limit valleys 17 of the profiled sliding rail 14, and the rotating device 11 rotates counterclockwise again. Namely: each time the atomizer device is actuated, the rotation means 11 will complete a 90 ° counter-clockwise rotation therewith.

For every 4 actuations of the sprayer device, the rotating device 11 rotates 360 degrees, the partial rotating gear 18 pushes the transmission gear 19 to rotate 45 degrees, the transmission gear 19 synchronously pushes the counting gear 21 to rotate 18 degrees, and the counter realizes one counting. When the sprayer device is actuated for 60 times, the transmission gear 19 is in contact with the counting gear locking block 23, the counting mechanism cannot rotate continuously, the sprayer device cannot be used continuously, and self-locking of the sprayer device is achieved.

Claims

1. A container assembly for a sprayer, which is arranged in an upper shell and a lower shell (1, 2) of the sprayer and comprises a container (4) and a counting mechanism (7), wherein the container (4) can move downwards by a relative position when the upper shell and the lower shell (1, 2) of the sprayer rotate relatively, and the container assembly is characterized in that:

the counting mechanism (7) comprises an upper counter shell (8), a lower counter shell (25) with a central hole, and a counter body arranged in the upper counter shell and the lower counter shell: a transmission gear (19), a counting gear (21) and a rotating assembly (10),

the upper shell (8) of the counter is connected with the bottom of the container (4),

the rotary component (10) is connected with the counter lower shell (25) in an up-down sliding way, the rotary component (10) is provided with a local rotary gear (18), the local rotary gear (18) is meshed with the transmission gear (19), the transmission gear (19) is meshed with the counting gear (21),

the sprayer is characterized in that a first bulge (3) is arranged at the bottom of the lower shell (2) of the sprayer, and the rotating assembly (10) can be jacked up by the first bulge (3) and promote the local rotating gear (18) to rotate for a certain angle when the container (4) moves downwards to a relative position with the counting mechanism (7).

2. Container assembly for a sprayer according to claim 1, characterized in that the counter gear (21) is provided with a cylindrical ring (26) at its lower end, the cylindrical ring (26) being arranged on the counter lower housing (25), the lower end of the cylindrical ring (26) being marked with numerals in the outer circumferential direction, the counter lower housing (25) being provided with a viewing window (27).

3. A container assembly for a nebulizer according to claim 2, characterized in that the counter lower housing (25) lower port forms an inner tray (28) inwardly and upwardly, the cylindrical ring (26) being placed on an annular floor of the inner tray (28) between the counter lower housing (25) and the inner tray (28).

4. A container assembly for a nebulizer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the rotation assembly (10) comprises a rotation device (11), a spring (12) and a sliding base (13),

the spring (12) is fixed on the sliding base (13),

the special-shaped sliding rail (14) is arranged on the outer wall of the rotating device (11), a plurality of sliding protrusions (15) are arranged on the inner wall of the sliding base (13), and the sliding protrusions (15) are arranged on the special-shaped sliding rail (14).

5. Container assembly for a sprayer according to claim 4, characterized in that the profiled sliding rail (14) has a limit peak (16) and a limit valley (17), the bottom of the limit valley (17) is provided with a mounting groove (31), and the sliding protrusion (15) is mounted at the bottom of the limit valley (17) through the mounting groove (31).

6. The container assembly for a sprayer according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of vertical tangential planes (29) are arranged on the outer wall of the sliding base (13), corresponding vertical tangential planes are arranged on the inner wall of the inner supporting plate (28), and the sliding base (13) and the inner supporting plate (28) are connected in an up-and-down sliding manner through the vertical tangential planes (29).

7. A container assembly for a nebulizer according to claim 4, characterized in that the bottom of the inner carrier (28) extends inwardly out of an inner carrier strip (32), the sliding base (13) being placed on the inner carrier strip (32).

8. A container assembly for a nebulizer according to claim 1, characterized in that the counting gear (21) is provided with a locking block (23) at the tooth end.

9. The container assembly for a sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the number of teeth of the partial rotation gear (18) is 10-16 when full, the number of teeth of the partial rotation gear (18) is not less than 2, and the number of teeth of the counting gear (21) is 40-60.

10. A container assembly for a nebulizer according to claim 1, characterized in that the counter gear (21) is provided with a positioning shaft (24) on its upper end face, and the transmission gear (19) is mounted on the positioning shaft (24).

11. A container assembly for a sprayer according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottom of the housing (5) of the container (4) is provided with a clamping groove (6), the upper end of the counter upper housing (8) is provided with a second protrusion (9), and the clamping groove (6) is connected with the second protrusion (9); preferably, the second protrusion is an annular protrusion (9).

12. Container assembly for a nebulizer according to claim 1, characterized in that the counter lower housing (25) and counter upper housing (8) are assembled in a manner selected from ultrasonic welding, adhesive bonding, or snap-fit connection.