Replaceable Surgical Scissor Blades With Over-Centered Pulley Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic surgical instruments with end effectors, such as surgical scissors, face issues due to high-wear components that degrade over time, limiting their useful life and affecting efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A system for easily replacing the blades of surgical scissors by rotating actuation pulleys to an over-centered position, exposing the actuation bosses for quick removal and installation of new blades, extending the end effector's life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surgical scissor blades are used continuously, then productivity is maintained, but the blades dull over time and reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical scissor is divided into replaceable blades and a permanent handle assembly. The blades can be independently removed and replaced when dull, while the handle assembly remains in use. This segmentation allows the high-wear blade components to be replaced without discarding the entire end effector, resolving the contradiction between maintaining reliability and extending useful life.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a system where dull blades are discarded and replaced with new blades, while the handle assembly is recovered and reused. The quick-release mechanism enables efficient discarding of worn blades and recovery of the valuable handle component, maintaining reliability through blade replacement while extending the overall useful life of the end effector system.
2Reliability
If blades are made replaceable, then reliability is improved through replacement of dull blades, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical scissor is divided into replaceable blades and a permanent handle assembly. The blades can be independently removed and replaced when dull, while the handle assembly remains in use. This segmentation allows the high-wear blade components to be replaced without discarding the entire end effector, resolving the contradiction between maintaining reliability and extending useful life.
Solution Approach 2:
The quick-release mechanism enables the user to independently replace blades without requiring specialized tools or complex procedures. The actuation boss and actuation hole design allows the blade to be self-ejected from the handle assembly through simple manual manipulation, reducing the complexity of the replacement process while maintaining reliability improvements.
3Ease of operation
If quick-release mechanism is implemented, then ease of operation is improved for blade replacement, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The quick-release mechanism enables the user to independently replace blades without requiring specialized tools or complex procedures. The actuation boss and actuation hole design allows the blade to be self-ejected from the handle assembly through simple manual manipulation, reducing the complexity of the replacement process while maintaining reliability improvements.
Solution Approach 2:
The actuation boss serves as an intermediary element between the blade and the handle assembly. This intermediate component provides a simple mechanical interface that enables quick release through minimal user action, improving ease of operation while adding only a single structural element to the device.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical tool includes a drive housing, a shaft extending from the drive housing, wrist arranged at an end of the shaft and including a distal clevis, an axle mounted to the distal clevis, and first and second actuation pulleys rotatably mounted to the axle and rotatable about a pivot axis extending through the axle, each actuation pulley providing an actuation boss eccentric to the pivot axis, and an end effector operatively coupled to the wrist and including first and second blades pivotably coupled to the actuation bosses of the actuation pulleys. The blades are movable between open and closed positions by rotating the actuation pulleys such that the actuation boss of each actuation pulley remains proximal to a centerline of the axle, and movable to an over-centered position by rotating the actuation pulleys such that the actuation boss of each actuation pulley is located distal to the centerline.