Modular Surgical Forceps with Selective Disassembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reusable and partially-reusable surgical instruments face challenges in maintaining functionality, resisting degradation, allowing for adequate sterilization, and efficient replacement of disposable components, while also requiring complex design to match the performance of disposable counterparts.
Innovation Solution
A surgical forceps design featuring a modular structure with interchangeable components, allowing for selective disassembly to facilitate the replacement of disposable parts and sterilization of reusable parts, with a mechanism that couples and decouples housing components, handle assemblies, and drive mechanisms to enable efficient operation and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If reusable and partially-reusable surgical instruments are designed to match disposable counterparts, then functional performance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is divided into multiple reusable components (housing, drive assembly, end effector assembly, handle assembly) that can be independently assembled and disassembled. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall system performance, reducing the complexity of designing a fully reusable instrument to match disposable counterparts.
Solution Approach 2:
The reusable housing and drive assembly can accommodate different end effector assemblies and handle assemblies, creating a universal platform. This multi-functionality allows a single base design to support multiple surgical functions, reducing the need for completely separate reusable instruments for each function and thereby reducing design complexity.
2Productivity
If reusable components are designed for sterilization, then cost-effectiveness is improved, but ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the instrument into modular components, only the reusable parts (housing, drive assembly, handle assembly) need to be manufactured with sterilization capabilities, while disposable end effector assemblies can be manufactured using simpler, less expensive processes. This reduces the overall manufacturing complexity compared to manufacturing entire reusable instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The end effector assemblies are designed as disposable components that can be manufactured using cost-effective, simpler manufacturing processes. This allows the expensive, complex reusable components to be manufactured once and reused, while the simpler disposable components are continuously manufactured at lower cost, improving overall cost-effectiveness.
3Productivity
If disposable components are replaced efficiently, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument is segmented into a reusable housing and disposable end effector assembly that can be quickly detached and replaced. This modular segmentation enables efficient replacement of worn end effectors without affecting the reusable components, improving productivity while keeping the replacement process simple through standardized interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling mechanism between the housing and end effector assembly is designed to be dynamically changeable, allowing for quick attachment and detachment during surgical procedures. This dynamic design enables efficient replacement of disposable components while maintaining a relatively simple assembly structure through standardized coupling interfaces.
4Ease of repair
If modular design is implemented for selective disassembly, then ease of repair is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is divided into modular segments (housing, drive assembly, end effector assembly, handle assembly) with standardized coupling interfaces. This segmentation enables easy repair and maintenance by allowing individual components to be independently serviced or replaced, while the standardized interfaces keep the overall structural complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The reusable housing and drive assembly serve as universal components that can support multiple different end effector and handle assemblies. This universality simplifies maintenance by reducing the number of unique component types that need to be serviced, as the same reusable components can be used across different surgical functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A forceps includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion includes a shaft, an end effector assembly disposed at a distal end of the shaft, and a drive assembly including a drive bar. The end effector assembly includes jaw members movable between spaced-apart and approximated positions. The drive bar is slidably disposed within the shaft and coupled to the end effector assembly such that translation of the drive bar relative to the shaft moves the jaw members between the spaced-apart and approximated positions. The second portion includes a housing (or portion thereof) and a handle assembly including a movable handle that is coupled to the housing and movable relative thereto between first and second positions. The first and second portions are releasably couplable with one another to operably couple the movable handle with the drive bar such that moving the movable handle actuates the jaw members.