Disposable Fiber-Optic Light Guide Connector with Destructible Thread
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for connecting and disconnecting fiber-optic light guides from light sources in medical applications, such as sclerotherapy, often fail to ensure sterility and prevent reuse, leading to potential infection risks due to inadequate sterilization methods and the high cost of autoclavable materials.
Innovation Solution
A connecting element with a housing and a movable connecting piece that can be used once to connect and disconnect the fiber-optic light guide from the light source, featuring mechanisms like pre-stressing elements and retaining elements to prevent repeated use by inducing physical or chemical changes that render the connection non-functional.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the light guide is designed for one-time use to ensure sterility, then infection risk is reduced, but the cost increases due to disposable components
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two segments: a disposable light guide and a reusable light source with connecting segment. This segmentation allows the sterile component (light guide) to be discarded while the expensive component (light source) is reused, resolving the contradiction between sterility assurance and cost reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide is designed as a cheap, disposable component that is discarded after one use to ensure sterility. This eliminates the need for expensive sterilization processes and autoclavable materials, while the connecting segment remains reusable.
2Reliability
If screw connections are used to prevent reuse, then sterility is maintained, but the connecting segment cannot be reused
Solution Approach 1:
The destruction mechanism is extracted from the connecting segment and placed in the light guide's connecting piece. The connecting piece contains a destructible thread that breaks upon first detachment, while the connecting segment retains its thread for repeated use. This extracts the single-use function from the reusable component.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting piece acts as an intermediary component that mediates between the disposable light guide and the reusable connecting segment. It contains the destructible thread mechanism that prevents reuse of the light guide while allowing the connecting segment to be reused with new light guides.
3Reliability
If clips are destroyed upon detachment to prevent reuse, then sterility is ensured, but the connection mechanism becomes overly complex
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting piece with the destructible thread is designed as a cheap, disposable component integrated into the light guide. This simple thread-based mechanism is less complex than the clip system while achieving the same single-use prevention function.
Data Source
AI summary
A connecting element for connecting a fiber-optic light guide to a light source one time and detaching the fiber-optic light guide from a light source one time is provided. The connecting element includes a housing having a wall, where the housing encloses a cavity, a fiber-optic light guide that passes through the housing and the cavity, a connecting piece corresponding to a connecting section of the light source for establishing the connection to the light source, where the connecting section can be reused after the detachment, and prevention device configured to prevent repeated use of the connecting element and/or the light guide.