Knee Spacer Mold Valve for Leak-Free Bone Cement Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing knee spacer components in medical settings are costly and complex, requiring high injection pressures for high-viscosity bone cement pastes and lack a simple, inexpensive device for medical personnel to fabricate tibial and femoral components intraoperatively using polymethyl methacrylate bone cement.
Innovation Solution
A device with a casting mold and a valve system that allows for the injection and curing of bone cement paste, featuring a rotatable valve body and seat to prevent leakage and facilitate easy filling and removal of the paste, enabling the production of knee spacer components with a simple, manual operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If high injection pressure is used to inject high-viscosity bone cement paste, then the casting mold can be filled, but the device complexity and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the injection system into separate functional components: a valve seat with feed-throughs in the casting mold wall and a valve body with corresponding openings. This segmentation allows each component to be simple in structure while collectively achieving the injection function, resolving the contradiction between filling capability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex high-pressure injection system to force cement into the mold, the invention inverts the approach by using a simple valve mechanism that allows the cement to flow naturally when the valve is open, then seals when closed. This reverses the conventional high-pressure injection method and achieves filling without complex equipment.
2Reliability
If a valve system is added to prevent leakage, then sealing performance improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The valve function is merged directly into the casting mold structure through the valve seat that is integrated into the mold wall. The valve body with its sealing face combines the sealing function with the injection control function, eliminating the need for separate sealing components and reducing overall device complexity while maintaining reliable leakage prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve body's sealing face automatically seals against the valve seat's feed-throughs when the valve is closed, providing self-sealing functionality. The rotation of the valve body itself creates the sealing action without requiring additional sealing mechanisms, simplifying the device while ensuring reliable leakage prevention.
3Ease of operation
If a rotatable valve body is used to control flow, then ease of operation improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The valve body serves multiple functions simultaneously: it controls the injection flow through its rotational position, provides sealing against the valve seat, and can be manually operated through simple rotation. This multi-functionality is achieved with a single simple component design that is easy to manufacture while providing comprehensive control capabilities.
4Productivity
If the casting mold is designed for easy filling and removal, then productivity improves, but manufacturing precision may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The valve system is extracted as a separate, removable component from the casting mold structure. The valve body can be removed after injection, allowing the casting mold to be easily prepared for the next cycle while maintaining precise dimensional control during the injection process. This separation enables both high productivity and manufacturing precision.
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
The device allows for efficient and cost-effective production of knee spacer components by preventing leakage and allowing for the use of both normal and high-viscosity bone cement pastes, enabling medical personnel to produce tibial and femoral components intraoperatively with reduced operational complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a valve body (6) which is mounted so as to be rotatable relative to the valve seat and which has a sealing face, wherein the sealing face is oriented in the direction of the regionally closed head side of the valve seat
Implementation Method 2
in the closed position of the valve, the at least one first feed-through of the valve seat is covered by the sealing face of the valve body, wherein in the closed position of the valve, the casting mold is closed in liquid-tight manner for bone cement paste
Implementation Method 3
a bone cement paste is then produced by admixing monomer liquid and knee spacer components are cast from this bone cement paste which then cure by polymerization with the assistance of the monomer liquid added to the cement powder
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for producing a knee spacer component by curing bone cement paste. The invention also relates to methods for producing knee spacer components using such a device.