Segmented Spiral Dilator with Inclined Surface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dilators with helical screws face resistance issues when linearly pushed in or pulled out, making smooth advancement and retreatment difficult due to wire contact with the hollow shaft.
Innovation Solution
A dilator design featuring a hollow shaft with a tapered section and a spirally-arranged protruding portion having gaps and an inclined surface, allowing for smooth advancement and retreatment by rotation and linear movement, reducing resistance with the inclined surface facilitating both screwing and linear propulsion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a helical screw is formed by winding a wire around the shaft, then the dilator can advance by screwing action, but the wire hits contact objects and resistance increases when linearly pushed or pulled
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous wire helical screw is segmented into discrete protruding portions with gaps between them. This segmentation allows the dilator to maintain screwing capability while reducing continuous contact resistance during linear movement, as the gaps provide spaces for the dilator to move through tissue more easily.
Solution Approach 2:
The protruding portions are designed with specific local geometries including inclined surfaces and apex sections. The inclined surfaces provide screwing action locally, while the overall segmented structure reduces global resistance during linear movement. Each local region has optimized properties for its specific function.
2Productivity
If the shaft is rotated to advance by screwing action, then dilation can be achieved, but smooth linear push-in and pull-out movement is hindered by wire contact
Solution Approach 1:
By dividing the continuous helical screw into segmented protruding portions with gaps, the invention enables both effective screwing action for dilation and smooth linear movement for insertion and withdrawal, resolving the contradiction between productivity and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The dilator is designed to dynamically switch between screwing motion (for dilation) and linear motion (for insertion/withdrawal). The segmented structure with gaps allows the device to adapt its interaction with tissue based on the type of motion being performed, optimizing both dilation efficiency and movement smoothness.
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
Enables efficient dilation of holes with reduced resistance during insertion and withdrawal, allowing for both screwing and linear motion, enhancing the dilator's operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the wire hits a contact object and the resistance exerted on a hollow shaft increases, so that it may not be possible to smoothly advance and retreat the dilator
Data Source
AI summary
A dilator that includes a hollow shaft including a tapered section having a diameter increasing from a distal end toward a proximal end, and a spirally-arranged protruding portion provided on an outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft and including spirally-arranged protruding sections and gaps between adjacent spirally-arranged protruding sections along an axial direction of the hollow shaft. The spirally-arranged protruding portion includes an apex section having the greatest height from the outer peripheral surface in a transverse cross-section thereof, and a side surface section facing outward and extending from the apex section toward the outer peripheral surface. The side surface section includes an inclined surface inclined substantially linearly toward at least one of the distal and proximal end direction between the outer peripheral surface and the apex section in the transverse cross-section of the spirally-arranged protruding portion.