Reusable Surgical Tip Hub With PEEK Insulation for Fast Sterilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally invasive surgical instruments are burdensome to sterilize due to their length, requiring multiple batches and significant resources, and disposable tips lack sufficient cleaning and sterilization, leading to waste and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A reusable surgical tip design featuring a proximal hub made of PEEK and a threaded connection with a distal hub, allowing for easy detachment and sterilization, with the proximal hub providing electrical insulation to prevent tissue damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire shaft is sterilized, then sterility is achieved, but sterilization time and resource consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is divided into distinct segments: a reusable handle and a disposable shaft assembly. This segmentation allows the handle to be sterilized separately and reused, while the shaft is designed for single-use, eliminating the need to sterilize the entire instrument and significantly reducing sterilization time and resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft assembly is extracted as a separate disposable component from the reusable handle. By removing the shaft as a distinct element that can be discarded after single use, the system eliminates the need to sterilize the entire instrument, thereby reducing sterilization time and resource requirements while maintaining sterility where needed.
2Ease of manufacture
If disposable tips with heat-shrink tubing are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but cleaning and sterilization capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft assembly is designed as a disposable component that is manufactured simply with heat-shrink tubing but is not intended to be sterilized and reused. Instead, it is discarded after single use, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while avoiding the sterilization issue by accepting single-use disposal.
3Adaptability or versatility
If reusable instruments with long shafts are designed, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and sterilization burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument is segmented into a reusable handle and a disposable shaft, allowing the handle to maintain adaptability for various surgical procedures while the disposable shaft eliminates sterilization complexity. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by maintaining versatility where needed while removing sterilization burden.
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
Enables efficient sterilization of multiple surgical tips using a single handle and control shaft, reducing waste and costs while ensuring safe and effective, the effectiveness of the technical solution is demonstrated by the ability to quickly change surgical tips during a procedure and maintain electrical insulation.
Implementation Method 1
the proximal hub providing electrical insulation to prevent tissue damage
Data Source
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AI summary
A reusable tip for minimally invasive surgical instruments can include an end effector, a two-part hub, and a yoke. The end effector can include one or more movable portions enabling the end effector to move between first (e.g., open) and second (e.g., closed) positions via manipulation of the yoke within the hub. The hub can include a proximal hub and a distal hub coupled together. The end effector can be coupled to the distal hub, which can be made of a metal to provide high strength and secure shape to the distal hub. The proximal hub can be made of an autoclavable insulation material capable of maintaining a removable coupling with a control shaft. The proximal hub can be made of polyetheretherketone (PEEK).