Parabolic Incision Medical Cutting Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prior art lancets often produce non-ideally shaped incisions, cause excessive pain, and are costly due to variations in use and single-use disposable nature, which affects their effectiveness and efficiency in obtaining blood samples.
Innovation Solution
A medical cutting device with a pivoted element and a trigger mechanism that uses a cutting blade to create a smooth, parabolic incision path, reducing pain and variability through a mechanism that generates high momentum and speed, ensuring consistent incision quality regardless of user dexterity, and is cost-effective due to mass production capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a simple cutting blade is used, then the device is easy to manufacture and low cost, but the incision shape is inconsistent and produces pain
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting blade is made movable through a pivoting mechanism that transforms linear trigger motion into a parabolic cutting path. The blade holder pivots about a pivot axis, allowing the blade to follow a controlled curved trajectory during activation, which ensures consistent incision shape while maintaining mechanical simplicity for cost-effective manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting path is designed to follow a parabolic (curved) trajectory rather than a straight line. The blade moves along a curved path defined by the pivot mechanism, creating a consistent parabolic incision shape that reduces pain and improves reliability, while the curvature is achieved through simple mechanical geometry rather than complex guidance systems.
2Reliability
If a complex mechanism is used to ensure consistent incisions, then the incision quality is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanism uses a single pivot point to dynamically transform simple linear motion into a controlled parabolic cutting path. This dynamic approach achieves consistent incision quality without requiring complex multi-component mechanisms, maintaining simplicity while ensuring reliability through motion transformation rather than mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanism is divided into simple functional segments: a trigger for linear motion input, a pivot mechanism for motion transformation, and a blade holder for cutting execution. This segmentation allows each component to perform a single function simply, reducing overall complexity while achieving reliable consistent incisions through the coordinated action of these segmented elements.
3Device complexity
If a straight cutting path is used, then the mechanism is simple, but the incision shape is non-ideal and causes more pain
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting path is changed from straight to parabolic (curved) by implementing a pivot mechanism. The blade follows a curved trajectory that creates a more ideal incision shape, reducing pain and tissue damage. The curvature is achieved through the natural geometry of the pivot motion rather than complex guided paths, maintaining mechanism simplicity while eliminating the harmful straight-cut effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The static straight-cutting configuration is transformed into a dynamic parabolic path through the pivot mechanism. The blade's motion is dynamically changed from linear to curved during activation, creating a more humane incision shape that reduces pain while the underlying mechanism remains mechanically simple.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical cutting device is disclosed in which a pivoted element (50) is actuated by a trigger (34) and a cutting blade (30) is attached to the pivoted element (50) by a flexible connector and cam elements (46, 49) cause the blade (30) to move in an essentially parabolic path when making an incision on a patient.