An analysis of the effect of syringe barrel volume on performance and user perception

Abstract

In the market, there are many types and shapes of syringes. One of the groupings of syringe types is based on barrel volume. The shape of the product design affects performance and user perception. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of barrel volume on its performance and user perception. We performed analysis following international organization for standardization 7886 procedures on syringe with 1 mL, 3 mL, 5 mL, and 10 mL volume. In addition, a user perception test was conducted on 29 respondents using a questionnaire with the Likert chart method. This study indicates that the bigger the syringe volume, the larger the dead space and the force to operate the piston are. A larger syringe volume also raises the volume that changes due to the plunger position increase. Meanwhile, the barrel volume does not affect water and water leakage, as we did not observe any leak during the syringe tests in our experiment. In addition, the user perception test shows that the barrel’s length influences the ease of device control during the injection. The volume of the barrel negatively correlated with its effect to the environment. The safety features of all syringes are similar except for the 3 mL syringe, which has a value of 0.1 points difference to other syringes.