Removable Forceps Tips for Reuse Without Tip Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing disposable medical instruments face a challenge in balancing cost reduction with maintaining quality and safety, as sacrificing quality for cost savings can lead to patient safety risks due to product failure.
Innovation Solution
A laparoscopic instrument assembly with removable tips, featuring a handle and pivotable arms with magnetically-actuated switches, where tips and arms connect via press-fit or other mechanisms, allowing for separate disposal or reuse, and includes insulative coverings for durability and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If disposable forceps are made completely single-use including handle and cord, then cost per instrument is reduced, but overall cost increases due to disposal of all components and loss of reusable value
Solution Approach 1:
The forceps instrument is divided into separable components: a reusable handle assembly and disposable tip assemblies. The handle can be sterilized and reused, while only the tips are discarded after single use. This segmentation allows high-value components to be recovered and reused, reducing overall cost while maintaining quality standards for disposable portions.
2Ease of manufacture
If tips are made removable and replaceable, then cost is reduced by reusing handle, but device complexity increases due to connection interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The tip assemblies are designed as inexpensive, single-use components that can be easily attached to and removed from the reusable handle. By making the disposable portion (tips) simple and low-cost, the complexity of the connection interface is justified and offset by the economic benefit of handle reuse.
3Reliability
If tips are securely attached to arms, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to difficulty in removal and reattachment
Solution Approach 1:
The connection interface between tip and arm incorporates movable locking mechanisms (such as spring-loaded locks or cam actuators) that allow the tip to be securely held during use but easily released when needed. This dynamic design provides both secure attachment for reliability and simple operation for replacement.
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
This design reduces costs by allowing reusable components while maintaining quality and safety, enhancing user efficiency and reducing patient harm from tip misalignment.
Implementation Method 1
a magnetically-actuated switch configured to actuate the heater when the pair of arms moves towards each other, and further configured to deactivate the heater when the pair of arms moves away from each other
Implementation Method 2
the electrically-conductive tip element is connected to a heater on the distal working surface
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic forceps system includes a handle including a pair of pivotable arms distally extending from a proximal end of the handle, at least one arm of the pair of arms having an electrically-conductive arm element connectable to a power source, wherein each arm of the pair of arms comprises a respective pair of arm interfaces, and the electrically-conductive arm element extends to at least one interface of the pair of interfaces. Also provided is a pair of tips, at least one tip of the pair of tips having an electrically-conductive tip element, wherein each tip has a tip interface configured to removably connect to a respective arm interface, each tip has a distal working surface, the electrically-conductive tip element is configured to removably and electrically connect to the electrically-conductive arm element, the electrically-conductive tip element is connected to a heater.