Removable Sterilizable Control Wheel for Surgical Micromotors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current micromotor control systems for dental and surgical applications are noisy, non-ergonomic, and difficult to sterilize, with existing solutions either being too aggressive for chemical disinfection or requiring tedious manual cleaning.
Innovation Solution
A control system featuring a rotatably mounted adjustment wheel with a magnetically coupled, removable sterilizable button that allows for easy assembly, disassembly, and replacement without tools, enhancing ergonomics and facilitating effective sterilization with aggressive chemicals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire console is sterilized by heating to 135°C, then complete sterilization is achieved, but the console materials are seriously damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The control wheel is divided into two separable parts: a sterilizable button and a control support. This segmentation allows the button to be removed and sterilized independently using aggressive methods (heating to 135°C or chemical disinfection) without exposing the entire console to such conditions, thus protecting the console materials from damage while ensuring complete sterilization of the contaminated parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The sterilizable button is extracted as a separate component from the control support. This extraction enables the button to be removed for dedicated sterilization processing while the control support remains in the console, avoiding the need to subject the entire console to damaging sterilization conditions.
2Strength
If manual disinfection with chemical products is used, then the console is protected from thermal damage, but the materials suffer aesthetic degradation over time
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the control wheel into a removable button and control support, the button can be selectively disinfected with chemical products while the control support remains protected inside the console. This limits chemical exposure to only the necessary components, reducing aesthetic degradation over time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple successive presses on different buttons are required, then mode selection is achieved, but the interface becomes non-ergonomic
Solution Approach 1:
The control wheel combines multiple functions into a single integrated component: rotation selects different modes, and pressing activates them. This merging of selection and activation functions into one ergonomic wheel eliminates the need for multiple successive button presses, improving ease of operation while maintaining full mode selection capability.
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
The solution provides a user-friendly, ergonomic, and easily sterilizable control interface that improves operational efficiency and extends the lifespan of the sterilizable components, allowing for effective chemical disinfection without damaging the control box.
Implementation Method 1
a sterilizable button (21) magnetically coupled in a removable manner to the control support (20), that is to say in order to allow manual assembly and disassembly of said sterilizable button (21) without the aid of a tool
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
Control system (1) for a micromotor for dental or surgical use comprising a control housing (10) provided with an adjustment wheel (2), rotatably mounted about a rotation axis (AA). The adjustment wheel (2) is formed of a control support (20) integral with an encoder (3) integrated into said housing (10), and a sterilizable button (21) removably coupled to said control support (20).