Surgical Forceps Parallel Jaw Drive Bar Cam Slot
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical forceps face challenges in maintaining uniform tissue sealing and precise energy control during surgical procedures, as they struggle to consistently achieve the required clamping pressure and gap distance between jaw members, which are crucial for effective tissue sealing and subsequent accurate tissue cutting.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an end effector assembly with jaw members that maintain a parallel orientation through a unique mechanism involving a drive bar and cam slots, allowing for precise movement between spaced-apart and approximated positions, ensuring uniform closure pressure and gap distance for effective tissue sealing, and includes a knife assembly for precise tissue cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional surgical forceps are used for tissue sealing, then the procedure can be performed, but the clamping pressure and gap distance cannot be consistently maintained, leading to non-uniform sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic linkage mechanism between the drive bar and jaw members that automatically adjusts and maintains uniform gap distance and clamping pressure throughout the sealing process. The cam slot geometry transforms the linear motion of the drive bar into coordinated jaw closure, ensuring consistent sealing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The drive bar serves as an intermediary component that translates the surgeon's input motion into controlled jaw member movement. Through the cam slot mechanism, the drive bar mediates the relationship between the operator's action and the jaw closure, ensuring uniform pressure distribution and gap control.
2Ease of operation
If the jaw members are moved between spaced-apart and approximated positions, then tissue can be grasped and sealed, but maintaining parallel orientation and uniform gap distance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cam slot mechanism provides dynamic control of jaw member movement, automatically maintaining parallel orientation and uniform gap distance throughout the approximation process. The geometry of the cam slot ensures that as the drive bar moves linearly, the jaw members close uniformly while maintaining proper alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The cam slot is designed with asymmetric geometry that compensates for the movement dynamics of the jaw members. By carefully shaping the cam slot, the patent achieves symmetric closure behavior, ensuring uniform gap distance and parallel orientation despite the asymmetric motion paths of individual jaw members.
3Reliability
If energy is applied to treat tissue, then hemostasis is achieved, but precise energy control requires accurate gap distance which is hard to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The linkage mechanism dynamically maintains consistent gap distance throughout the jaw closure process, providing reliable conditions for energy application. The cam slot geometry ensures that the gap remains uniform, allowing for precise and consistent energy delivery for tissue sealing.
Data Source
AI summary
A forceps includes an end effector assembly having first and second jaw members disposed in parallel orientation relative to one another. One or both of the jaw members is movable along a first axis relative to the other jaw member between a spaced-apart position and an approximated position for grasping tissue therebetween. The first and second jaw members are configured to maintain the parallel orientation therebetween upon movement of the jaw members between the spaced-apart and approximated positions. A drive bar is coupled to one or both of the jaw members. The drive bar is selectively movable along a second axis that is different from the first axis between first and second positions for moving the jaw members between the spaced-apart and approximated positions.