Rotatable Access Port Valve for Flexible Robotic Instrument Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing minimally invasive surgery devices lack efficient mechanisms for enhancing the movement and manipulation of instruments within the operative field, particularly in robotic surgery, where multiple instruments need to be maneuvered with precision and flexibility.
Innovation Solution
An instrument access device featuring a rotatable valve component with a main valve on the center line and auxiliary valves radially outward, allowing for enhanced movement and manipulation of surgical instruments, including robotic instruments, through a central and auxiliary access ports with rotatable and sealable configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single central access port is used for instrument insertion, then the device structure is simple, but the flexibility and efficiency of instrument movement within the operative field is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The access port device is segmented into multiple functional components: a central access port for robotic instruments and auxiliary access ports for manual instruments. This segmentation allows each port to serve specific purposes, enhancing instrument movement flexibility while maintaining a modular structure that balances complexity with functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces auxiliary access ports positioned at different angular orientations around the central port, adding spatial dimensionality to instrument access. This multi-dimensional arrangement enables instruments to approach the operative field from multiple angles, significantly improving flexibility without requiring a completely complex redesign of the base structure.
2Productivity
If auxiliary access ports are added to enhance instrument manipulation, then the efficiency of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The auxiliary access ports are designed with universal functionality to accommodate various surgical instruments. Each auxiliary port can receive different instrument types (retractors, graspers, scissors, etc.), allowing a single device structure to support multiple surgical functions simultaneously, thereby improving operational efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve component is designed to be rotatable relative to the base, allowing dynamic adjustment of auxiliary port orientations during surgery. This dynamic capability enables optimal positioning of instruments for different surgical tasks while maintaining a relatively simple fixed structure for the ports themselves, balancing efficiency gains with structural simplicity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple valves are positioned at different locations, then the versatility of instrument access is enhanced, but the complexity of valve component mounting and sealing increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple auxiliary valves are merged into a single rotatable valve component assembly rather than being separate fixed components. This consolidation reduces the number of individual mounting operations and sealing interfaces required, as the entire valve assembly can be mounted and sealed as one unit to the base, while still providing multiple access points for instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve component incorporates rotational movement capability, allowing a single dynamic component to assume multiple positional configurations rather than requiring multiple static valves at fixed locations. This dynamic approach simplifies the valve component structure by using one adaptable element instead of several rigid ones, while maintaining versatile instrument access.
Data Source
AI summary
A valve component 1 of the invention includes a main valve 2 which is located on a centre line and at least one auxiliary valve 3 which is located radially outwardly of the main valve 2. The main valve may be used for sealing engagement with a cannula. In some cases the cannula may be used for introduction of a number of robotically controlled surgical instruments generally, including a camera. The auxiliary valves 3 may be utilised to introduce another instrument through the valve component. The valve component is mounted in a manner which ensures that the valve component 1 is rotatable about a centre line through the axis of the valve component 1.