Surgical tables
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical tables lack the ability to adjust to a wide range of heights and tilt angles efficiently, with a high minimum operating height and large footprint, which limits ergonomic flexibility and access during various surgical procedures, especially with increasing patient weights due to obesity.
Innovation Solution
A surgical table design featuring a telescoping column with a wide operating range, tiltable tabletop, and compact footprint, utilizing a mechanism with electric actuators and stabilizers to adjust height and tilt, allowing for low minimum height, high maximum height, and extensive tilt/trend angles while supporting heavy loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the column is made extendable with a telescoping arrangement to provide a wide range of heights, then the operating range of the tabletop height is improved, but the minimum operating height cannot be reduced sufficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The column is divided into multiple telescoping segments that can extend and contract independently. This segmentation allows the column to achieve a wide operating range while keeping the retracted length minimal, as each segment contributes to the overall extension capability without adding to the minimum height when fully contracted.
Solution Approach 2:
The telescoping column segments are nested within each other in a concentric arrangement, with inner segments housed within outer segments. This nesting configuration minimizes the overall diameter and retracted length of the column, allowing the tabletop to reach very low minimum heights while still providing extensive height adjustment range when segments are extended.
2Strength
If the column and actuator mechanisms are made larger to support heavy loads (500+ kg), then the load-bearing capacity is improved, but the footprint of the column increases
Solution Approach 1:
The column and actuator mechanisms utilize composite material constructions that provide high strength-to-weight ratios. This allows the structures to support heavy loads of 500+ kg while maintaining a compact footprint, as the composite materials deliver superior mechanical properties without requiring increased cross-sectional dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The actuator mechanisms are designed with dynamic load distribution features that optimize force transmission efficiency. By dynamically adjusting the load path and utilizing mechanical advantage through optimized linkage geometry, the system can support heavy vertical loads and offset loads without requiring oversized stationary components, thus maintaining a small column footprint.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the tabletop is made tiltable about two orthogonal axes with wide angle ranges, then the versatility for different surgical procedures is improved, but the structure complexity and footprint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator mechanisms are designed with multi-functionality, where the same actuators and mechanical linkages serve multiple purposes: they control both tilt and trend movements, provide positioning at various angles, and maintain stability during procedures. This universal design approach enables wide tilt/trend angle ranges without proportionally increasing system complexity, as each component performs multiple functions simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The tilt and trend actuator mechanisms are merged into an integrated system rather than separate independent mechanisms. By combining the control functions and sharing common structural elements, the system achieves wide angular adjustment capabilities while reducing overall complexity compared to having separate mechanisms for each degree of freedom.
4Area of stationary object
If the column is made compact with small cross-sectional area, then the footprint is reduced improving access to patient, but the load-bearing capacity and stability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The column employs composite material construction that provides exceptional strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios. This allows the column to maintain a compact cross-sectional area with small footprint while still supporting heavy vertical loads (500+ kg) and resisting lateral forces during tilting and trending operations, ensuring stability without requiring oversized dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The column features a curved or rounded cross-sectional geometry rather than a simple rectangular or circular shape. This curved configuration optimizes the distribution of stresses under various loading conditions, including vertical compression and lateral bending moments during tilt/trend operations. The curved geometry provides enhanced structural efficiency, maintaining stability and load-bearing capacity while minimizing the column's footprint.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical table having an actuator mechanism that includes first and second actuators, wherein the first actuator has an upper first end connected to a first portion of the movable framework and a lower second end coupled to the column and the second actuator has an upper first end connected to a second portion of the movable framework and a lower second end coupled to the column, the first and second portions being mutually spaced and located on opposite sides of the trend axis, wherein the first and second actuators are each inclined at a respective acute angle in opposite directions from a plane including a longitudinal axis of the column and the trend axis so that the upper first end of each of the first and second actuators is oriented further from the plane than the respective lower second end.