Surgical End Tool and Shaft Assembly With Reduced Wire Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical instruments require multiple degrees of freedom and complex wire paths, leading to increased size, reduced operational force, and inefficiency in manipulating end tools for laparoscopic surgery.
Innovation Solution
The end tool and shaft assembly minimizes wire usage by incorporating a simplified design with independent roll degrees of freedom, allowing the end tool to move in all directions through a combination of roll, joint, and yaw motions, reducing the need for separate yaw and pitch shafts and pulleys.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional surgical instruments use multiple degrees of freedom and complex wire paths, then the end tool can achieve omnidirectional movement, but the device size increases and operational force is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates redundant yaw and pitch shafts from the conventional surgical instrument structure. By removing these unnecessary components, the system achieves omnidirectional movement capability with reduced structural complexity and fewer wire paths, directly resolving the contradiction between movement versatility and device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The end tool is designed with a universal mechanism that combines roll, joint, and yaw motions into a single integrated structure. This multi-functional design allows the end tool to achieve omnidirectional movement without requiring separate dedicated shafts for each degree of freedom, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining full movement capability
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional surgical instruments use multiple wire paths, then the end tool can be manipulated in all directions, but wire tension loss increases and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes redundant wire paths associated with separate yaw and pitch shafts, reducing the total number of wires required. This extraction of unnecessary wire paths minimizes tension loss while preserving the ability to manipulate the end tool in all directions through the simplified roll and joint motion mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the control of multiple degrees of freedom into a unified mechanism that uses fewer wire paths. By combining the functional requirements into an integrated structure, the system achieves effective manipulation with reduced wire tension loss and improved operational efficiency
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional surgical instruments include separate yaw and pitch shafts, then the end tool can rotate in multiple directions, but the joint part size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the separate yaw and pitch shafts from the joint structure. By eliminating these redundant components, the joint part size is significantly reduced while the end tool retains rotational motion capability through the simplified roll and joint motion mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the rotational motion functions into a single integrated joint mechanism. This merging approach achieves the necessary rotational capability in multiple directions without requiring separate shafts, thereby reducing the overall volume of the joint part while maintaining full rotational adaptability
Data Source
AI summary
An end tool and shaft assembly includes an extension shaft defining a first longitudinal axis, and an end tool connected to one end portion of the extension shaft and configured to perform a joint motion about a first rotational axis perpendicular to the first longitudinal axis, the end tool defining a second longitudinal axis based on an extension direction of the end tool and configured to perform a second roll rotational motion using the second longitudinal axis as a rotational axis and a first roll rotational motion using the first longitudinal axis as a rotational axis.