Surgical Jaw Retainer Arrangement for Pivotable Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical stapling and cutting instruments face challenges in maintaining precise jaw alignment and engagement during pivotal movements, leading to inefficiencies and potential misalignment issues.
Innovation Solution
A jaw retainer arrangement is introduced to maintain pivotable retaining engagement between surgical instrument jaws, ensuring stable and precise jaw alignment during pivotal movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a pivotable jaw mechanism is used to enable surgical instrument movement, then operational versatility and access to different surgical sites is improved, but jaw alignment precision and engagement stability deteriorates during pivotal movements
Solution Approach 1:
A jaw retainer component is introduced as an intermediary element between the pivotable jaw and the instrument body. This retainer maintains proper jaw alignment and engagement stability during pivotal movements, solving the precision loss problem while preserving the versatility benefit of the pivotable mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The jaw retainer creates an equipotential condition for jaw engagement by maintaining consistent geometric relationships and alignment constraints throughout the range of motion. This ensures that jaw alignment precision is maintained at all positions during pivotal movements, eliminating the precision degradation that occurs with simple pivotable mechanisms.
2Manufacturing precision
If a fixed jaw arrangement is used to maintain precise alignment, then jaw alignment precision is improved, but operational flexibility and adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The jaw retainer enables dynamic jaw positioning while maintaining precision alignment. The mechanism allows the jaw to move through different positions and angles during pivotal motion, providing operational flexibility, while the retainer constraints ensure that alignment precision is maintained throughout the range of motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The jaw assembly is segmented into the movable jaw portion and the retainer component. This segmentation allows the jaw to pivot for adaptability while the retainer maintains precise alignment constraints, resolving the contradiction between fixed precision and flexible adaptability.
3Reliability
If a complex retention mechanism is introduced to maintain jaw engagement during pivotal movements, then jaw engagement stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A single jaw retainer component serves as an intermediary element that provides engagement stability during pivotal movements. This straightforward intermediary mechanism achieves reliable jaw retention without introducing complex multi-component systems, maintaining simplicity while improving stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The jaw retainer is designed to automatically maintain engagement stability through its geometric constraints and inherent mechanical properties. The mechanism self-regulates jaw alignment and retention during motion without requiring additional control systems or complex actuation mechanisms, thereby improving reliability while minimizing added complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical instrument that includes a first jaw that has a pair of laterally aligned vertical slots formed in a proximal end portion thereof. Each vertical slot includes an open upper end. A second jaw is movably supported for selective pivotal travel relative to the first jaw between a fully open and a fully closed position. Pivot members protrude laterally from the second jaw and are each received in a corresponding one of the vertical slots in the first jaw such that the pivot members may pivot therein. A retainer member is configured to operably engage the proximal end portion of the first jaw and retain the pivot members in the corresponding vertical slots as the second jaw moves between the fully open and the fully closed positions.