Eye Docking Resilient Connector Vibration Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laser eye surgery systems face challenges in maintaining precise eye positioning and minimizing vibrations during procedures, particularly when using beam delivery systems that move lens assemblies, which can transfer weight to the patient's eye and cause unbalanced vibrations, especially in case of power loss.
Innovation Solution
The system employs an eye stabilization device with a resiliently connected docking receptacle and a gantry, using sensors and a controller to dynamically adjust the position and maintain minimal loading on the eye, incorporating a camera for precise alignment and resilient connectors like springs and voice coils to manage vibrations, ensuring stable eye positioning during surgery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a beam delivery system moves a lens assembly near the eye during surgery, then system cost is reduced and flexibility is improved, but vibrations are increased and motion control precision becomes more difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
A resilient connector acts as an intermediary element between the docking receptacle and the gantry, isolating the eye stabilization device from vibrations generated by the beam delivery system. This mediator absorbs and dampens mechanical disturbances, allowing the beam delivery system to move freely while protecting the eye from unwanted vibrations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into separate functional modules: the eye stabilization device with docking receptacle is decoupled from the beam delivery system. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each subsystem - the beam delivery system can be lightweight and movable for cost-effectiveness, while the stabilization device maintains eye position independently using the resilient connector for vibration isolation.
2Productivity
If the beam delivery system is made lightweight for high-speed movement, then productivity is improved, but the system becomes more susceptible to vibrations and positional instability
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient connector serves as a vibration-isolating intermediary that protects the eye from positional instability caused by the lightweight, high-speed beam delivery system. It allows rapid movement while filtering out high-frequency vibrations that would otherwise compromise positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a rigid, fixed connection to a dynamic, resilient connection. The resilient connector can adapt its mechanical properties to accommodate high-speed movements while maintaining stability, allowing the beam delivery system to operate at high speeds without transmitting destabilizing vibrations to the eye.
3Reliability
If electrical power is lost during surgery, then system safety is compromised, but the weight of the beam delivery system may be transferred to the patient's eye causing damage
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient connector is pre-installed as a mechanical cushioning element that provides passive protection against weight transfer. In the event of power loss, this pre-positioned resilient element absorbs the shock and prevents the beam delivery system's weight from being transferred to the patient's eye, ensuring safety without requiring active control.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient connector acts as a protective intermediary between the beam delivery system and the eye, providing mechanical isolation that prevents harmful weight transfer during power failures. This passive safety mechanism operates independently of electrical systems, ensuring protection even when active control is unavailable.
4Measurement precision
If an eye docking assembly is used to fix the eye position, then positioning precision is improved, but vibrations from the system are transmitted to the eye
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient connector is positioned between the docking receptacle and the gantry to act as a vibration-filtering intermediary. It allows the docking assembly to maintain precise eye positioning while blocking the transmission of system vibrations to the eye, thus protecting the patient from harmful mechanical disturbances.
Solution Approach 2:
The vibration-generating elements (beam delivery system motors and moving parts) are effectively extracted from the eye stabilization pathway. The resilient connector decouples the vibration source from the eye, allowing the docking assembly to maintain positioning precision without transmitting the extracted vibrations to the patient.
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
This solution effectively stabilizes the patient's eye relative to the laser beam, reducing vibrations and ensuring precise control, even in case of power loss, by transferring the weight of the system to the structural frame rather than the patient's eye, thus enhancing the accuracy and safety of laser eye surgery.
Implementation Method 1
a docking receptacle (2030) resiliently connected to said gantry (2010)
Implementation Method 2
resilient connectors like springs and voice coils to manage vibrations
Data Source
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AI summary
A laser surgery system includes: a gantry configured to be attached to a structural frame; a docking receptacle configured to be removably attached to an eye docking assembly which is attached to an eye; an adjustable table attached to the gantry; a lens assembly attached to the adjustable table, wherein the adjustable table is configured to move the lens assembly relative to the eye; one or more connectors configured to attach the docking receptacle to the gantry, at least one of the connectors being configured to dynamically adjust the distance between a surface of the gantry and a surface of the docking receptacle; and a controller configured to maintain a target distance between the lens assembly and a reference area of the eye docking assembly.