Expandable Locking Drill Guide for Bone Plate Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current bone plating systems for long bone fractures face challenges in accurately locating and drilling pilot holes for screw placement, which can lead to bone damage and instability during the fixation process.
Innovation Solution
A drill guide system featuring a guide block with alignable drill guide bores and expandable locking elements that securely engage with the bone plate, allowing for precise alignment and drilling of pilot holes, reducing the risk of bone damage and enhancing stabilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a drill guide system is used to accurately locate and drill pilot holes, then manufacturing precision and reliability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drill guide system is divided into separate modular components: a bone plate with specific hole patterns, a drill guide device with positioning elements, and drilling tools. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while maintaining overall precision, reducing the complexity of any single component while achieving high manufacturing precision through their coordinated interaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The drill guide device acts as an intermediary between the bone plate and the drilling tool. It includes positioning elements that engage with the bone plate's hole pattern and guide the drilling tool to the correct location and angle. This intermediary mechanism ensures accurate drill hole placement without requiring the bone plate itself to be overly complex, thus improving manufacturing precision while managing device complexity.
2Reliability
If expandable locking elements are used to secure the drill guide to the bone plate, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism uses expandable elements that can dynamically adjust their size and shape. These elements are inserted in a compressed state through the bone plate's holes and then expanded to lock the drill guide in place. This dynamic expansion capability provides reliable, adaptable securing without requiring complex multiple-component locking systems, thereby improving reliability while keeping the device relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism operates by changing the physical parameters of the locking elements - specifically their diameter and shape - from a compressed insertion state to an expanded locked state. This parameter change allows the same element to perform multiple functions (insertion and locking) without requiring separate components for each function, improving reliability while minimizing device complexity.
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 drill guide system facilitates accurate and reliable drilling of pilot holes, improving the stability of bone plates on fractured bones, thereby enhancing the healing process by minimizing bone damage and ensuring proper alignment.
Implementation Method 1
The tip is selectively expandable to engage and disengage from the bone plate hole
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
Figure 5~7
AI summary
A drill guide (10) for a bone plate (16) which has holes (18) therethrough for receiving bone screws (120). The drill guide includes a guide block (14) having drill guide bores (22) alignable with at least two bone screw receiving holes in the bone plate. A first locking element (12) in inserted through a guide block drill guide bore. The locking element has a tip (38) for engaging a bone screw receiving holes in the bone plate, the tip being selectively expandable to engage and disengage from the bone plate hole. A second locking element (24) is mounted on the guide block and is engageable with a bone plate hole. The second locking element also has a tip (30) for resiliently engaging walls of the bone plate hole wherein the tip of the first and second locking elements has a split portion. The first and second locking elements include an axially moveable rod (36) for expanding the split tip portion to engage the plate.