Folded Surgical Drape Structure for Compact Sterile Device Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical drapes are inefficient in minimizing storage space and maintaining sterility during surgical procedures, particularly when covering devices with extensions, as they often require large volumes and may not effectively isolate sterile from non-sterile components.
Innovation Solution
A surgical drape designed with an axially collected tubular sheath that forms valley folds and concertina folds, allowing for compact storage and easy application, featuring distal and proximal fasteners to secure the drape around the device, with markings for orientation and handling, ensuring minimal contamination and efficient coverage of surgical devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the surgical drape is stored in an extended state to maintain readiness for use, then sterility and accessibility are improved, but storage space requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The distal opening is axially collected into the lumen of the tubular sheath, with the opening nested within the body of the drape itself. This nesting allows the drape to be stored in a compact form while maintaining sterility, as the collected state keeps the opening protected within the sterile barrier of the sheath.
Solution Approach 2:
The drape transitions from a two-dimensional extended flat state to a three-dimensional collected tubular state. By folding the distal opening axially into the lumen, the design utilizes spatial dimensionality change to reduce storage volume from an extended configuration to a compact nested configuration that fits within standard surgical supply constraints.
2Ease of operation
If the distal opening is made larger to facilitate insertion of surgical device extensions, then ease of operation is improved, but sterility isolation is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The drape is segmented into functional zones: the distal opening portion for insertion and the proximal sealed portion for sterility maintenance. The axial collection creates distinct segments where the opening can be accessed for device insertion while the remainder of the drape maintains the sterile barrier, allowing both ease of operation and sterility protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The distal opening is pre-positioned and pre-sized to accommodate surgical device extensions before the drape is applied. The axial collection design prepares the opening in advance for easy alignment and insertion, while the fastening mechanism is pre-configured to seal the opening after insertion, thereby maintaining sterility without compromising initial ease of operation.
3Volume of stationary object
If the surgical drape is designed with complex folding mechanisms to reduce storage volume, then storage efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex folding mechanism is extracted and simplified to a single axial collection feature. Instead of multiple lateral folds and complex three-dimensional arrangements, the design extracts the essential function into a straightforward axial folding of the distal opening into the lumen, reducing structural complexity while achieving the same storage volume reduction goal.
4Reliability
If fasteners are added to secure the drape around the device, then reliability of coverage is improved, but ease of operation is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The fastening mechanism is designed to be self-aligning and self-securing. The proximal fastener automatically engages with the tubular sheath structure, and the distal fastener secures the collected opening without requiring complex manual manipulation. This self-service design maintains ease of operation by allowing quick fastening while ensuring reliable coverage security.
Data Source
AI summary
A folded surgical drape, including:a tubular axially collected sheath having a distal end and a proximal end and a lumen between said distal end and said proximal end, wherein the axially collected sheath comprising at least one distal opening axially collected into said lumen and, wherein the axially collected sheath is axially folded to form at least one valley fold surrounding the distal opening sized and shaped for insertion of the user's hands on both sides of the distal opening.