Penile Prosthesis Pump Overpressure Relief Valve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing penile prostheses with inflatable members face issues due to complex valve components that disrupt fluid transfer, leading to potential damage and health risks from overpressure.
Innovation Solution
A penile prosthesis with a pump assembly featuring a valve assembly that includes a movable member and a fluid passageway with a sealing connection that breaks at high pressure, allowing fluid to bypass and relieve overpressure, ensuring safe and efficient inflation and deflation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If complex valve components are used to control fluid flow, then the prosthesis can achieve inflation and deflation functionality, but the valve components disrupt smooth fluid transfer and increase device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes complex valve components from the fluid transfer path entirely. Instead of using traditional valves with moving parts, the invention uses a simple aperture that opens and closes based on pressure differential, extracting the problematic valve mechanism while retaining the essential inflation/deflation functionality through fluid dynamics alone
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the fluid pressure itself to control the aperture opening and closing without external actuation. The high-pressure fluid automatically opens the aperture to relieve overpressure, and the low-pressure condition automatically closes it, making the system self-regulating without complex control mechanisms
2Ease of operation
If high fluid pressure is applied to inflate the member to maximum erection, then complete erection is achieved, but the prosthesis may be damaged and user health endangered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful high-pressure condition into a beneficial safety feature. The same high pressure that could cause damage automatically triggers the aperture to open, relieving the excess pressure. The harmful overpressure becomes the activating force for the safety relief mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The aperture is designed as a pre-prepared safety path that activates before damage can occur. The structural design anticipates potential overpressure scenarios and provides a relief pathway in advance, preventing damage before it happens rather than reacting to it
3Device complexity
If simple aperture design is used without complex valves, then device complexity is reduced, but control over fluid flow direction becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses hydraulic principles where fluid pressure itself becomes the control mechanism. The aperture responds to pressure differential automatically - low pressure on the inflation side keeps it closed, high pressure opens it - eliminating the need for mechanical valve control while maintaining precise fluid flow directionality
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 provides a safe and efficient mechanism for inflating and deflating the prosthesis, preventing damage and ensuring user safety by automatically relieving overpressure.
Implementation Method 1
when the valve is in the inflation position and the fluid pressure in the first chamber is above the threshold value, deform a sidewall portion of the second chamber of the fluid passageway, such that the sealing connection is broken and fluid flow from the first chamber of to the second chamber is not blocked
Data Source
AI summary
An inflatable penile prosthesis includes a fluid reservoir for holding fluid, an inflatable member, and a pump assembly for transferring fluid between the fluid reservoir and the inflatable member. The pump assembly includes a pump bulb, a valve block, and valves in the valve block. The valves include a control valve configured to move in a passageway formed within the valve block between an inflation position and a deflation position to control the flow of fluid within the valve block and the transfer of fluid between the fluid reservoir and the inflatable member. The control valve and the passageway are configured to form a seal that blocks fluid flow from the from a first side to a second side of the control valve, but to allow the seal to break when fluid pressure on the control valve is high, so as to relieve a high-pressure condition.