Surgical instrument
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopic surgical instruments, such as staplers, often fail due to unclear failure modes, making it challenging and costly for manufacturers to diagnose issues and determine the need for design changes, as analyses rely on instrument damage and often attribute failures to improper use without clear evidence.
Innovation Solution
A surgical stapling instrument with a motor-driven mechanism, including a shaft, firing member, closure member, and manually-actuatable closure trigger, coupled with a motor to transmit firing and closing motions, and equipped with sensors to record instrument conditions, providing user feedback and facilitating analysis of failure modes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If manual surgical instruments are used without recording capabilities, then device complexity is low, but failure mode analysis is unclear and diagnostic complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by equipping the surgical instrument with sensors and recording capabilities before the failure occurs. The system proactively captures operational data, motor parameters, and sensor readings during normal use, so that when a failure happens, the information is already recorded and available for immediate analysis, eliminating the need for post-failure reconstruction of failure modes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary recording system that acts as a mediator between the surgical instrument's operation and the failure analysis process. This intermediary system captures and stores operational data, motor status, and sensor information, providing a clear bridge that translates complex instrument behavior into analyzable failure mode information for manufacturers.
2Loss of time
If surgical instruments lack feedback and recording capabilities, then device complexity is reduced, but diagnostic time and analysis cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data collection and recording during normal instrument operation, capturing motor parameters, sensor readings, and operational status before failures occur. This preliminary action eliminates the need for time-consuming post-failure diagnostic reconstruction, allowing manufacturers to immediately analyze recorded data when failures happen.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where sensors continuously monitor instrument operation and feed data back to a recording system. This feedback loop provides real-time information about instrument status, motor performance, and operational conditions, enabling rapid diagnostic analysis by providing manufacturers with accurate, time-stamped operational data leading up to and during failure events.
3Reliability
If surgical instruments do not have motor-driven mechanisms with recording, then manufacturing cost is lower, but reliability analysis and design improvement are hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The motor-driven system incorporates sensors and recording capabilities that provide continuous feedback on motor performance, operational parameters, and instrument status. This feedback enables manufacturers to analyze reliability patterns, identify failure precursors, and make data-driven design improvements, directly enhancing instrument reliability through iterative development based on real-world operational data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional purely mechanical surgical instruments with motor-driven systems that incorporate electronic sensors and data recording capabilities. This substitution enables automated data collection on operational parameters, motor performance, and failure modes, providing manufacturers with precise quantitative information for reliability analysis and design optimization that would be impossible to obtain from manual instruments.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical stapling instrument comprising a shaft, a firing member, a closure member, a manually-actuatable closure trigger, and a motor is disclosed. The shaft is configured to support a stapling assembly. The firing member is configured to transmit a firing motion to the stapling assembly. The closure member is configured to transmit a closing motion to the stapling assembly. The manually-actuatable closure trigger is operable to impart the closing motion to the closure member. The manually-actuatable closure trigger is mechanically coupled to a jaw of the stapling assembly such that a load can be transmitted between the jaw and the manually-actuatable closure trigger. The motor is operably coupled to the firing member to impart the firing motion to the firing member.