Bone Cement Mixing Device with Spacer in Ampoule Receptacle
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bone cement mixing devices face challenges such as air bubble inclusion, incorrect mixing order leading to surgical disruptions, and inconsistent bone cement paste quality due to rapid swelling cement powders and poor wetting by monomer liquids, requiring complex manual mixing and expensive training.
Innovation Solution
A device with a cylindrical cartridge, a pumping plunger, and a dispensing plunger, where the monomer liquid is pressed into the cement powder without manual mixing, using a spacer to control the ampoule breakage and ensure consistent mixing, allowing for a simple, automated, and cost-effective production of a homogeneous bone cement paste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual mixing is used to combine cement powder and monomer liquid, then the mixing process can be controlled, but air bubbles are included in the bone cement paste which negatively impacts mechanical properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical mixing with an automated mixing device that uses a mixing element to combine cement powder and monomer liquid. This automated system eliminates the air bubble inclusion problem associated with manual mixing while ensuring consistent mixing quality and reliability of the bone cement paste.
2Manufacturing precision
If complex manual mixing procedures are implemented to ensure proper mixing order, then mixing quality can be improved, but device complexity and training requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing device is designed to automatically control the mixing process, including the sequence of adding cement powder and monomer liquid. The device performs self-regulation of mixing parameters and order, eliminating the need for complex manual procedures and extensive training while maintaining high mixing quality consistency.
3Speed
If rapid swelling cement powder is used to achieve quick setting, then setting speed is improved, but mixing consistency deteriorates due to poor wetting by monomer liquid
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing device implements a controlled periodic mixing action that ensures thorough wetting of rapid swelling cement powder by monomer liquid before setting begins. This controlled mixing sequence maintains mixing consistency while preserving the quick setting advantage of rapid swelling cement powder.
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 device ensures a reproducible, homogeneous bone cement paste with reduced air bubbles and simplified operation, eliminating the need for complex manual mixing and expensive training, while maintaining consistency and quality.
Implementation Method 1
When the powder component is mixed with the monomer component, the swelling of the polymers of the powder components in the methyl methacrylate creates a plastically workable paste
Implementation Method 2
the N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine activator reacts with dibenzoyl peroxide forming radicals in the process. The radicals formed initiate the radical polymerisation of the methyl methacrylate
Implementation Method 3
a spacer arranged in the receptacle between the dispensing plunger and the ampoule body or between the pumping plunger and the ampoule body
Data Source
AI summary
One aspect relates to a device to produce a bone cement paste from a monomer liquid and a cement powder as starting components of the bone cement paste, and to dispense the mixed bone cement paste. The device includes a cartridge with a cylindrical interior, a dispensing plunger movable towards the front of the cartridge; a receptacle extending along a longitudinal direction, a front of the receptacle connected with the rear of the cartridge; a pumping plunger arranged and in the receptacle movable towards the front of the receptacle; a breakable ampoule containing the monomer liquid, the ampoule with ampoule body arranged in the receptacle between the pumping plunger and the dispensing plunger with at least some sections of the ampoule body in contact with the receptacle; and a spacer arranged in the receptacle between the dispensing plunger and the ampoule body, the spacer extending in the longitudinal direction of the receptacle and the spacer being separated from the inner wall of the receptacle by a distance at least as large as the wall thickness of the ampoule body.