Acetabular Cup Porous Structure Partition Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional acetabular cup prostheses with porous surfaces face issues such as low forming accuracy and detachment of isolated rods during SLM manufacturing, leading to mechanical property concerns and potential inflammation in patients.
Innovation Solution
A partition design and molding method for an acetabular cup prosthesis with a porous surface, involving modeling a spherical shell, cutting it into equal parts, integrating a porous layer, reorganizing the acetabular cup, and 3D printing, which ensures a fully interconnected porous structure without isolated rods, enhancing mechanical properties and bone ingrowth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a disordered porous structure is applied to the surface of the acetabular cup, then the surface roughness is improved, but the forming accuracy in SLM manufacturing deteriorates and isolated rods cannot be formed
Solution Approach 1:
The acetabular cup surface is divided into multiple zones with different porous structure characteristics. The partition design segments the surface into a first area with first porous structures and a second area with second porous structures, allowing different manufacturing parameters and structural configurations in different regions to optimize both bone ingrowth and manufacturing accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the acetabular cup surface are assigned different porous structure properties. The first area has porous structures with specific tilt angles and connectivity suitable for bone ingrowth, while the second area has porous structures optimized for manufacturing accuracy and structural stability, eliminating the need for uniform disordered structures throughout
2Ease of manufacture
If a regular array of porous structural unit cells is provided on the entire hemispherical surface, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but many adjacent unit cells are not completely connected resulting in isolated rods
Solution Approach 1:
The surface is partitioned into distinct areas where each area can have different porous structure configurations. This segmentation allows the first area to use regular arrays for ease of manufacture while the second area uses different configurations to ensure complete connectivity and eliminate isolated rods
Solution Approach 2:
The porous structure parameters such as tilt angle, pore size, and connectivity are varied between different areas. By changing these parameters in the second area compared to the first area, the patent achieves both manufacturability and complete structural connectivity without isolated rods
3Device complexity
If isolated rods are present in the porous structure, then the manufacturing complexity is reduced, but the risk of detachment and inflammation increases during long-term activities
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the porous structure are designed with different qualities - the first area has structures optimized for bone ingrowth while the second area has structures specifically designed to prevent isolation and detachment, reducing inflammation risk without significantly increasing overall device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The partitioned design acts as an intermediary approach between completely disordered structures and fully regular arrays. By introducing controlled variations in different areas, it eliminates isolated rods while maintaining manageable manufacturing complexity through systematic design
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method improves the precision of 3D printing, prevents inflammation from rod detachment, and extends the service life of the acetabular cup prosthesis by ensuring a strong bone-implant interface and eliminating isolated rods, thus addressing the limitations of existing designs.
Implementation Method 1
3D printing, which ensures a fully interconnected porous structure without isolated rods
Data Source
AI summary
A partition design and molding method for an acetabular cup prosthesis with a porous surface includes the following: modeling of a spherical shell of an acetabular cup; cutting of the spherical shell of the acetabular cup into equal parts; integrated design on a porous layer of a surface of the partitioned acetabular cup prosthesis; reorganization of the partitioned acetabular cup prosthesis; construction of a hemispherical acetabular cup prosthesis; and 3D printing and manufacturing of the acetabular cup prosthesis. Through the disclosure, the formed porous layer is perpendicular to the surface of the acetabular cup, so favorable mechanical properties are provided. A fully interconnected branch-rod structure is provided, and there is no isolated rod, so that inflammation or even re-revision led by the detachment of isolated rods during long-term postoperative activities is prevented.