Pleated Trocar Seal for Pneumoperitoneum Leakage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trocars and seal assemblies in endoscopic surgical procedures face challenges in maintaining pneumoperitoneum effectively, particularly when instruments are inserted or removed, leading to insufflation fluid leakage and inefficient sealing.
Innovation Solution
A trocar design featuring a seal housing with a closure valve and an instrument seal that includes a duck bill valve and an elastomeric membrane with conically arranged pleats, which reduces hoop stresses and friction, ensuring a durable seal that maintains pneumoperitoneum by accommodating instruments of varying diameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional seal assembly is used in a trocar, then the structure is simple, but the sealing effectiveness deteriorates when instruments are inserted or removed, leading to insufflation fluid leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The seal assembly is divided into multiple functional components: an elastomeric membrane with pleats for dynamic sealing, a duck bill valve for one-way fluid control, and a seal housing for structural support. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in a specific sealing function, improving overall reliability without requiring a single complex seal mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastomeric membrane with conically arranged pleats provides a dynamic sealing solution that adapts to instrument insertion and removal. The pleats allow the membrane to expand and contract, maintaining contact with the instrument shaft and preventing leakage during dynamic operations, thus improving sealing effectiveness during instrument manipulation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a seal assembly accommodates instruments of varying diameters, then the adaptability improves, but the friction and drag forces increase, reducing instrument maneuverability
Solution Approach 1:
The elastomeric membrane forms a flexible sealing surface that can deform to accommodate instruments of varying diameters. The material flexibility allows the seal to conform to different instrument sizes without requiring rigid adjustment mechanisms, maintaining adaptability while minimizing friction through smooth elastomeric contact surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The conically arranged pleats create a curved, tapered sealing surface that gradually transitions from a smaller to larger diameter. This curved geometry allows instruments of varying sizes to pass through smoothly with reduced friction, as the pleats provide a gradual adaptation rather than an abrupt size change, thereby reducing drag forces on the instruments.
3Reliability
If the seal maintains tight sealing during instrument insertion, then the sealing effectiveness improves, but the insertion force required increases, making instrument manipulation more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The elastomeric membrane with pleats provides dynamic compliance during instrument insertion. As the instrument enters, the pleats compress and the membrane deforms elastically, maintaining sealing contact without requiring excessive insertion force. This dynamic response allows tight sealing to be achieved while keeping insertion forces manageable through the material's elastic properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastomeric material properties are selected to provide optimal balance between sealing force and insertion ease. The material's elasticity, durometer, and compliance are engineered to create sufficient friction for sealing while remaining soft enough to allow smooth instrument passage, thus resolving the contradiction between tight sealing and easy insertion through material parameter optimization.
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 trocar design effectively prevents insufflation fluid leakage by providing a reliable seal during instrument insertion and removal, maintaining pneumoperitoneum and reducing drag forces, thus enhancing the durability and efficiency of the sealing mechanism.
Implementation Method 1
an elastomeric membrane with conically arranged pleats, which reduces hoop stresses and friction
Implementation Method 2
a closure valve and an instrument seal that includes a duck bill valve
Data Source
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AI summary
A trocar seal comprising an elastomeric membrane having an opening adapted to receive a surgical instrument. The membrane is configured with a plurality of pleats circumscribing the opening and extending laterally from opening. The pleats comprise a plurality of pleat walls increasing in height as the pleats extend laterally from the opening. In one embodiment, the pleats are conically arranged.