Disposable Flexible Drive Shaft Assembly for Orthopedic Drills
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible drive shaft assemblies for orthopedic tools are expensive to manufacture and difficult to clean and sterilize, leading to challenges in reusing them across patients and increasing the risk of infection due to cross-contamination.
Innovation Solution
The development of cost-effective flexible drive shaft assemblies with a modular design and overmolding process, allowing for the assembly to be disposable and reducing the complexity of cleaning and sterilization, while maintaining the ability to transmit torque in both unbent and bent states without additional guiding structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flexible drive shaft assemblies are manufactured with complex design to transmit torque in bent states, then torque transmission capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases and cleaning/sterilization difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible drive shaft assembly is divided into modular components including a coupling member, flexible shaft, and work member that can be separately manufactured and assembled. This segmentation simplifies the manufacturing process for each component while maintaining the overall torque transmission capability through modular reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes overmolding technology to change the physical parameters of the flexible shaft, creating a solid polymeric shaft with specific flexibility and torque transmission properties. This parameter optimization allows the shaft to transmit torque effectively in both unbent and bent states without requiring complex mechanical structures.
2Productivity
If flexible drive shaft assemblies are designed for reuse across patients, then manufacturing cost per procedure decreases, but cleaning and sterilization difficulty increases and infection risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent promotes a disposable approach where flexible drive shaft assemblies are manufactured at lower cost through simplified design and overmolding processes. Each assembly is intended for single-use on one patient, eliminating the need for complex cleaning and sterilization procedures while preventing cross-contamination and infection risks.
3Manufacturing precision
If additional guiding structures are added to control bending angle, then torque transmission precision is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible shaft is designed with inherent properties that allow it to self-guide and maintain stable bending angles without additional guiding structures. The solid polymeric construction provides natural flexibility and torque transmission capability, enabling the shaft to bend and orient itself appropriately during surgical procedures without requiring complex external control mechanisms.
Data Source
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Figure 1C
AI summary
Illustrative methods of manufacturing flexible drive shaft assemblies for preparing bone can include steps such as providing, receiving or manufacturing a mold. Injecting a first polymeric material into the mold to form a coupling member, the coupling member adapted for attachment to a torque-providing driving tool. Injecting a second polymeric material into the mold to form a work member, the work member adapted to interface with the bone to prepare the bone. The method can further include injecting a third polymeric material into the mold in an overmolding process to form a flexible shaft extending from the coupling member to the work member. The assemblies resulting from such methods can include a flexible shaft that is adapted to transmit a majority of a torque received from a torque-providing driving tool through the flexible shaft. In some examples, the flexible shaft can include a solid polymeric shaft.