Drill Guide for Implant Bearing Removal

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing technologies face challenges in efficiently separating and removing bearings from trays in reverse shoulder humeral implant assemblies, particularly due to variations in bearing size and shape, and the difficulty in designing removal tooling to accommodate these differences.

Innovation Solution

A drill guide is designed to mate with bearings of various sizes and shapes, providing a drill trajectory that creates a hole in the bearing to facilitate its removal from the tray without engaging or damaging the tray. The drill guide includes multiple projections that engage the bearing's articulation surface and radially outer surface, allowing for precise alignment and drilling.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If traditional removal methods are used, then bearings can be removed, but the tray may be damaged and removal efficiency is low

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveremoval efficiencyVSAvoidtray damage

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The drill guide serves as an intermediary tool between the drill bit and the bearing-tray assembly. It provides a controlled interface that directs the drill bit through the bearing without allowing direct contact with the tray, thus enabling efficient removal while preventing tray damage.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The drill guide is designed as a disposable tool that is used once to remove a bearing and then discarded. This eliminates the need for expensive, complex reusable removal systems while ensuring that the tray is not damaged by repeated use of the same tool.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

2Adaptability or versatility

If removal tooling is designed to accommodate various bearing sizes, then all bearings can be removed, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebearing size accommodationVSAvoidtooling design complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The drill guide is designed with a universal interface that can accommodate bearings of various sizes and shapes. The guide bore and engagement features are configured to work with different bearing dimensions without requiring multiple specialized tools, thus maintaining simplicity while achieving versatility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The drill guide incorporates flexible or adjustable engagement features that can adapt to different bearing geometries. This dynamic capability allows the same tool to effectively engage and guide drilling for various bearing sizes without requiring complex reconfiguration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS20250127632A1Implant bearing removal guide

Publication Date: 2025.04.24 ZIMMER INC

AI summary

A drill guide for separation a bearing from a tray of an implant assembly can include a body, a collar, a first projection, a second projection, and a third projection. The body can be engageable with the bearing. The collar can be connected to the body and can define a guide bore configured to guide a drill bit into the bearing when the drill guide is engaged with the bearing. The first projection and the second projection can be engageable with a radially outer surface of the bearing. The third projection can be configured to engage an articulation surface of the bearing to, together with the first projection and the second projection, position the guide bore along a trajectory to guide the drill bit to form a hole in the bearing between the articulation surface and the tray when the bearing is connected to the tray.