Medical Tool Coupling Device with Guide Ring Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coupling devices for medical tools, particularly dental tools, often experience faulty connections with vibration-transferring handpieces due to insecure attachment mechanisms, leading to inefficient energy transfer and potential tool breakage during operation.
Innovation Solution
A coupling device with a first coupling element on the handpiece and a second on the tool, featuring a thread-based releasable connection and a guide ring or flange for enhanced guidance and support, allowing for precise alignment and displacement before secure attachment via a screw connection, thereby preventing faulty connections and improving stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a thread-based releasable connection is used to attach the tool to the handpiece, then the connection can be easily assembled and disassembled, but the connection may be insecure and lead to faulty attachments
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling device is divided into two distinct coupling elements: a first coupling element on the handpiece and a second coupling element on the tool. This segmentation allows each element to have specialized features (threaded connection for ease of assembly, friction connection for security) that together resolve the contradiction between easy assembly and secure attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges two different connection mechanisms (threaded connection and friction connection with ball raceway) into a single coupling device. The threaded connection provides easy assembly while the friction connection with conical surfaces and ball raceway ensures secure attachment, thereby resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
2Reliability
If a fixed connection is used to ensure secure attachment of the tool to the handpiece, then energy transfer is efficient, but the handling and assembly become complex
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the coupling device into two elements with different connection types, the invention achieves secure attachment without requiring a single complex fixed connection mechanism. The first coupling element handles the threaded connection while the second handles the friction connection, simplifying the overall design while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling elements act as intermediaries between the handpiece and tool, providing a standardized interface that ensures secure attachment while simplifying the connection process. The ball raceway and conical friction surfaces serve as intermediary mechanisms that guarantee reliable energy transfer without complex assembly procedures.
3Device complexity
If the coupling elements are directly connected without guidance features, then the device structure is simple, but misalignment and faulty connections occur
Solution Approach 1:
The guidance features (guide groove and guide element) perform preliminary alignment action before the final threaded connection is made. This preliminary guidance ensures that the coupling elements are properly aligned during assembly, preventing misalignment and faulty connections while maintaining relatively simple device structure.
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 solution ensures a stable and secure attachment of the tool to the handpiece, preventing breakage and facilitating easy handling by ensuring proper alignment and support, thus enhancing the efficiency of vibration transfer and reducing the risk of faulty connections.
Implementation Method 1
The two coupling elements are connected to one another by means of a ball raceway connection and a contact surface for friction connection to ensure a secure seating. The ball raceway connection therefore has a guide groove running in an essentially helical pattern around the longitudinal axis of the coupling device with a guide element of the other coupling element engaging in the guide groove.
Implementation Method 2
The vibration source is preferably designed as a piezoelectric drive, as a magnetostrictive device or a pneumatic drive and activates the tool by means of sound or ultrasound.
Implementation Method 3
The vibration source is preferably designed as a piezoelectric drive, as a magnetostrictive device or a pneumatic drive and activates the tool by means of sound or ultrasound.
Data Source
AI summary
A vibration-transmitting medical tool-coupling device includes a first coupling element and a second coupling element, wherein one of the two coupling elements is designed as a coupling protrusion insertible into a coupling recess on the other coupling element, wherein the coupling protrusion and the coupling recess each have a first section having a thread with at least one thread flight for releasable connection of the two coupling elements and one second section which is designed so that the two coupling elements can be positioned relative to one another and are displaceable along the shared longitudinal axis before the two coupling elements can be connected releasably to one another by the thread. A guide ring which extends around the coupling protrusion is provided on one end of the thread which is arranged on the coupling protrusion and the at least one thread flight of the thread ends at this guide ring.