Sterile Barrier Sensor Set Layout for Reusable Medical Instruments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical devices with internal components such as sensors and motor packs are difficult to sterilize and maintain sterility, posing a health risk due to potential contamination during reuse without disassembly and re-sterilization, and existing barriers fail to protect these components from patient contact.
Innovation Solution
A medical device design incorporating sterile barriers that isolate internal components like motor packs and sensors from the patient and environment, allowing reuse without sterilization, using compartments and barriers to prevent contamination while enabling force transfer to the end effector.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If internal components (sensors, motor packs) are reused without sterilization, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to contamination risk
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into sterile and non-sterile compartments. The sterile compartment contains the end effector and maintains sterility, while the non-sterile compartment houses reusable internal components like sensors and motor packs. This segmentation allows selective sterilization of only the sterile compartment, enabling reuse of internal components without compromising patient safety.
Solution Approach 2:
Internal components (sensors, motor packs) are extracted from the sterile field and placed in a non-sterile compartment. This extraction allows these components to be reused without sterilization while the sterile compartment can be sterilized independently or discarded, resolving the contradiction between reuse efficiency and sterility maintenance.
2Ease of operation
If existing sterile barriers are used, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates because internal components can still transmit infective particles
Solution Approach 1:
The sterile barrier is nested within the device structure, with the non-sterile compartment containing internal components and the sterile compartment containing the end effector. This nested configuration ensures that infective particles cannot transmit from non-sterile to sterile areas, maintaining reliability while preserving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
A sterile barrier acts as an intermediary between the non-sterile internal components and the sterile end effector. This barrier prevents direct contact and transmission of infective particles, ensuring infection prevention while allowing the device to operate easily with the barrier in place.
3Reliability
If internal components are isolated from patient contact, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional compartments and barriers
Solution Approach 1:
The sterile barrier and compartment structure serve multiple functions: they isolate internal components from patient contact, maintain sterility of the end effector, and enable selective sterilization. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate systems, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while maintaining improved reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Sterile barriers and sensor configurations for a medical device are described. The sterile barriers isolate internal components such as a battery pack or a sensor pack from the environment and the patient.