Rigid Extender for Flexible Shaft Positioning Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The flexibility of surgical shafts hinders accurate positioning and manipulation of surgical attachments within the body, especially for hard-to-reach locations, leading to reduced effectiveness in surgical procedures.
Innovation Solution
A substantially rigid flexible shaft extender with rotatable drive shafts and a data wiring harness that couples to both the surgical shaft and attachment, allowing for precise control and data transfer, enabling improved positioning and operation of surgical attachments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible shaft is used to connect the driver device to the surgical attachment, then the surgical attachment can reach difficult-to-access locations within the patient's body, but the flexibility of the shaft hinders accurate positioning and manipulation of the surgical attachment
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into three segments: the driver device, the flexible shaft, and the rigid extender. The rigid extender acts as an intermediate segment that provides stable positioning control while the flexible shaft maintains adaptability to reach difficult locations. This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function without compromising the others.
Solution Approach 2:
The rigid extender serves as an intermediary component between the flexible shaft and the surgical attachment. It mediates the transmission of rotational motion from the drive shafts while providing a stable platform for accurate positioning and manipulation of the surgical attachment at difficult-to-access locations.
2Length of moving object
If the user holds the flexible shaft at a substantial distance from its point of connection to the surgical attachment to reach deep surgical locations, then the surgical attachment can access distant body locations, but the user's ability to accurately position and manipulate the surgical attachment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The long connection is segmented into the flexible shaft portion and the rigid extender portion. The rigid extender provides a stable, controllable section that the user can manipulate with precision, while the flexible shaft portion maintains the necessary length to reach distant surgical locations within the patient's body.
Solution Approach 2:
The rigid extender acts as an intermediary that improves the user's mechanical leverage and control authority over the surgical attachment. By providing a rigid section closer to the surgical attachment, the user experiences better feedback and control compared to holding the flexible shaft at a distant location.
3Measurement precision
If a rigid extender is introduced to improve positioning accuracy, then control over the surgical attachment is enhanced, but the device complexity increases due to additional components such as drive shaft engagement and data wiring harness
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid extender is designed with multi-functionality to reduce overall system complexity. It simultaneously provides mechanical support for positioning, rotational drive transmission through engaged drive shafts, and data communication through the wiring harness. By consolidating these functions into a single component, the number of separate parts is reduced.
Solution Approach 2:
The extender merges multiple functions into a single integrated component: structural support for rigid positioning, mechanical drive transmission through coupled drive shafts, and electrical data communication through the wiring harness. This consolidation simplifies the overall system architecture compared to having separate components for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
An extender for use in an electro-mechanical surgical system that includes a surgical attachment that may be detachably coupled to an electro-mechanical driver device via a flexible shaft. The extender is a substantially rigid extender that includes a proximal end that may be detachably coupled to a distal end of the flexible shaft. The extender also includes a distal end that may be detachably coupled to the surgical attachment. The extender also includes at least one rotatable drive shaft configured to engage and be secured with a respective rotatable drive shaft of the flexible shaft such that rotation of the respective rotatable drive shaft of the flexible shaft by the electro-mechanical driver device causes the at least one rotatable drive shaft of the extender to rotate, thereby rotating a complementary connector of the surgical attachment so as to operate the surgical attachment. The extender may include a memory unit and a data cable that transfers data from the memory unit to an electro-mechanical driver device. Additionally or alternatively, the extender may include a data cable that transfers data from a memory unit in the surgical attachment to the electro-mechanical driver device. Advantageously, the extender is autoclavable.