Motor-Driven Orthopedic Impactor With Stored-Energy Drive
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical impacting tools for orthopedic procedures lack precision, accuracy, and control, leading to unnecessary mechanical stress on bones, unpredictable results, and potential damage to healthy tissue.
Innovation Solution
A hand-held, motor-driven orthopedic impacting tool that utilizes a stored-energy drive system, including a mechanical or gas spring, to deliver controlled, repeatable impacts to a broach or other end effector, enabling bidirectional impacting and adjustable impact settings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual hammering is used to impel the broach into the implant area, then the physician can directly control the impacting process, but the approach is crude and imprecise, leading to unnecessary mechanical stress on the bone and unpredictable results
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical hammering system with a motor-driven impacting tool that uses a linear actuator to deliver controlled impacts. The motor-driven system provides precise control over impact force and frequency through electronic control, eliminating the crudeness and imprecision of manual hammering while maintaining operational simplicity through a handheld device design
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements adjustable impact parameters including impact force, frequency, and stroke length through motor control. The linear actuator can be programmed to deliver specific impact parameters tailored to different bone types and surgical requirements, transforming the fixed, unpredictable manual hammering into a controllable, adjustable system
2Weight of moving object
If pneumatic driving is used to drive the broach, then portability is reduced due to tethering air-line and air exhaustion into sterile field, but impacting can be delivered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the pneumatic system with an electric motor-driven system. The motor is contained within the handheld tool, eliminating the need for external air supply lines and air exhaust systems. This substitution removes the tethering constraint and eliminates air exhaustion into the sterile field, achieving both portability and sterility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and eliminates the pneumatic supply system (air lines, compressors, exhaust) from the surgical tool. By removing these external pneumatic components and replacing them with an integrated electric motor, the tool achieves independence from external air supply while maintaining impacting functionality
3Measurement precision
If computer-controlled robotic arms are used to create the cavity, then accuracy and fatigue issues are overcome, but capital cost becomes very high and tactile feedback is removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the robotic system into a simple handheld tool that the surgeon directly operates. Rather than using a complex, expensive robotic arm, the system divides the function into a motor-driven impacting mechanism combined with the surgeon's natural tactile feedback and manual dexterity, achieving accuracy without the high cost of full robotic automation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the surgeon to directly operate the impacting tool with tactile feedback, allowing the surgeon's own senses and skills to serve the function that would otherwise require expensive robotic systems. The motor provides assistance rather than full automation, maintaining surgeon control and feedback while reducing system complexity and cost
4Force
If linear compressor is used to compress air and release it onto a striker, then impacting force can be generated, but large forces are generated on gear train and linear motion converter components leading to premature wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the pneumatic linear compressor system with a direct motor-driven linear actuator. This substitution eliminates the need for high-pressure air compression and release mechanisms, reducing the peak forces transmitted to the gear train and linear motion converter components. The motor provides controlled force delivery without the explosive pressure cycles that cause premature wear
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 tool provides precise and controlled impacting, reducing unnecessary trauma to the surgical area, improving accuracy, and allowing for adjustable impact settings based on specific bone types or patient profiles.
Implementation Method 1
a mechanical spring assembly system, including a motor and gearbox, in combination with a linear motion converter, actuates a spring piston and/or launched mass or striker
Implementation Method 2
a gas spring assembly system, including a motor and gearbox, in combination with a linear motion converter, actuates a gas spring piston and/or launched mass or striker
Implementation Method 3
a motor and gearbox, in combination with a linear motion converter
Data Source
AI summary
A motor-driven orthopedic impacting tool is provided for orthopedic impacting in the hips, knees, shoulders and the like. The tool is capable of holding a broach, chisel, or other end effector, which when gently tapped in a cavity with controlled percussive impacts, can expand the size or volume of an opening of the cavity or facilitate removal of the broach, implant, or other surgical implement from the opening. A stored-energy drive mechanism stores potential energy and then releases it to launch a launched mass or striker to communicate a striking force to an adapter in either a forward or reverse direction. The tool may further include a combination anvil and adapter and an energy adjustment mechanism to adjust the striking force the launched mass delivers to the adapter in accordance with a patient profile.