Surgical Clip Applier Jaw Alignment Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical clip appliers often experience jaw misalignment during use, leading to incomplete closure and surgical errors due to applied forces, which can result in malformed clips and prolonged procedures.
Innovation Solution
The surgical clip applier features a housing with a shaft and jaws that include complementary non-parallel surfaces, such as chamfer and angled portions, along with a former member that engages these surfaces to ensure vertical alignment and proper closure of the jaws, preventing scissoring and ensuring accurate clip formation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional jaws are used in surgical clip appliers, then the device structure is simple, but the jaws become misaligned during use leading to incomplete closure and surgical errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an alignment feature as an intermediary element between the first and second jaws. This alignment feature includes a first alignment surface on the first jaw and a second alignment surface on the second jaw that mate with each other, serving as a mediator to maintain proper alignment during the closing operation and prevent scissoring while ensuring complete closure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs asymmetric alignment surfaces where the first alignment surface and second alignment surface are configured with specific non-symmetric geometries. The first alignment surface has a first orientation and the second alignment surface has a second orientation that complements it, creating an asymmetric interlocking mechanism that prevents jaw misalignment and scissoring during closure.
2Manufacturing precision
If jaws are designed to close completely, then clip formation is accurate, but jaws may scissor or misalign due to applied forces during use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by designing the alignment surfaces to counteract the scissoring force that tends to occur during jaw closure. The first and second alignment surfaces are configured to engage before the jaws fully close, creating a preliminary restraining action that prevents scissoring and maintains stable jaw configuration throughout the closing operation, ensuring precise clip formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment surfaces are designed to engage and establish proper jaw alignment before the main closing action occurs. The first alignment surface and second alignment surface mate together in a preliminary engagement that sets up the correct geometric relationship between the jaws, ensuring that when the jaws close completely, they do so in a stable, non-scissoring configuration for accurate clip formation.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical clip applier and methods for applying surgical clips to a vessel, duct, shunt, etc., during a surgical procedure are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a surgical clip applier is provided having a housing with a shaft extending therefrom with opposed jaws formed on a distal end thereof. A formed tube can extend along the shaft and it can be configured to advance over the jaws to move the jaws from an open position to a closed position to crimp the clip positioned therebetween. The surgical clip applier can include a variety of features to facilitate use of the device, including engagement features formed between the former tube and the jaws to prevent scissoring and misalignment of the jaws to ensure proper closure of the jaws.