Getting to Grips: Enhancing the User Experience of Lab Bottles - Part 1

The DURAN? YOUTILITY? bottle has been designed to improve the handling characteristics of borosilicate 3.3 glass laboratory bottles, which are commonly used for a wide range of applications.

Laboratory bottles are predominantly handled manually, which involves grasping and lifting them with one hand while the other hand opens the container or performs related tasks. The maximum grip diameter or span is crucial for the usage of containers. Ergonomic research has indicated that the optimum grip span is 71 mm, and any product that is intended to be grasped with one hand must not exceed this size [1]. However, the most popular size of DURAN? Original? GL 45 bottle, which is 1000 ml, has a diameter of 101 mm, which is 30% larger than the recommended grip span.

The new bottle had to have a total volume of 1150 ml (1000 ml nominal volume plus 15% head-space for mixing etc. as specified in ISO 4796-1:2000) and a maximum height of 260 mm, which is a manufacturing limitation for glass bottles. Due to this limitation, the diameter of a cylindrical bottle had to have a pre-determined related value. Moreover, a tall, narrow bottle could be less stable when placed on a laboratory bench, which has health and safety implications if the bottle is used to store hazardous chemicals.

An external industrial product designer was tasked with developing a bottle with symmetrically placed grip zones to reduce the grip span required to hold the bottle [2]. Nine design concepts were developed, of which two (#1 and #9) were selected for further development.

Prototype #1 had two symmetrically placed grip zones that produced a narrower diameter of 86 mm, while prototype #9 had a single grip zone that went around most of the bottle body. The prototypes were prepared using stereolithography for product evaluation and user testing.

User tests were carried out on the rapid prototype models. The bottle models were tested by both lab users and non-lab personnel for ease of handling with liquid contents. This was the first time that the organization had used rapid prototyping during the development of a new glass bottle. Rapid prototyping significantly sped up the design optimization process and allowed modifications to be done in a much shorter time and at a significantly lower cost. The three smaller sized bottles were developed after the second successful test production run of the 1000 mL bottle.?The initial designs of the smaller bottles had to be optimised for the automated glass moulding process.?The YOUTILITY? shape improves the handling of the 500 mL bottle (grip span is 73 mm), but in reality the “ergonomic benefit” of the bottle shape with gripping zones is reduced for the smaller sized 250 and 125 mL bottles.

In conclusion, the DURAN? YOUTILITY? bottle has been designed with the needs of its customers in mind. The bottle’s design features, such as symmetrically placed grip zones, address the issue of the large grip diameter associated with most laboratory bottles. This innovation represents a significant improvement in the handling of laboratory bottles and highlights the importance of user-centered design in developing products that meet customer needs.

• Comparing the handling of a 1L DURAN? Original? GL 45 bottle with the same sized DURAN? YOUTILITY? bottle
• This was not a set up - the demonstrator in the video really did loose her grip on the bottle on the left!

References:

[1] Steinfeld, E., & Mullick, A. (1990). Universal Design: The Case of the Hand. Innovation, Fall, 27-29.

[2] Georgia Tech Research Institute Ease of Use Monograph Series #1 Ease of Use of Bottles and Jars for Users with Arthritis: A study of ease of use issues and potential design solutions for designers and consumers. W. Bradley Fain, Ph.D. Keith A. Kline, M.S. May 2009.