Thermoplastic Bone Anchorage with Adjustable Load-Frame Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for establishing anchorage or reinforcement in hard tissues using thermoplastic materials are limited by complexity, handling difficulties, and variability in product quality, particularly when dealing with different axial lengths of permeable sleeves and thermoplastic elements.
Innovation Solution
A system with an adjustable distal housing part and a set of interchangeable distal housing parts or transmitting pieces of varying lengths, forming a closed load frame with a driver spring and ultrasonic transducer unit, allows for secure coupling and energy transmission to liquefy and displace thermoplastic material, ensuring compatibility with diverse axial lengths and facilitating easy separation and revision procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed-length housing is used in the system, then the structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but the system cannot accommodate permeable sleeves and thermoplastic elements of different axial lengths
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with an adjustable effective axial length through a telescopic arrangement of housing parts that can be locked in multiple positions. This dynamic structure allows the housing to adapt to different axial lengths of permeable sleeves and thermoplastic elements while maintaining structural integrity and closed load frame formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing is divided into multiple separable housing parts (proximal and distal sections) that can be assembled in different configurations. This segmentation enables the effective axial length to be adjusted by combining different numbers or arrangements of housing parts, providing versatility without requiring a completely different housing for each application.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the housing effective axial length is made adjustable to accommodate different sleeve lengths, then versatility improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable housing design serves multiple functions: it accommodates different axial lengths of permeable sleeves and thermoplastic elements, maintains the closed load frame structure, and provides a consistent interface for the transmitting piece and driver spring. This multi-functionality justifies the increased complexity by eliminating the need for multiple specialized housings.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing parts are designed to nest within each other in a telescopic arrangement, with smaller sections fitting inside larger sections. This nesting mechanism provides a compact way to achieve length adjustment while minimizing the overall increase in device complexity, as the nested structure naturally provides stability and alignment.
3Manufacturing precision
If a fixed transmitting piece length is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but the system cannot ensure consistent performance across different axial lengths of thermoplastic elements
Solution Approach 1:
The transmitting piece is designed with variable axial length as a controllable parameter. By selecting or adjusting the length of the transmitting piece to match the specific application requirements, the system ensures consistent energy transmission and liquefaction performance across different axial lengths of thermoplastic elements, while allowing for standardized manufacturing of each specific length variant.
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
The system enhances ease of use, repeatability, and safety by ensuring consistent performance across different axial lengths, improving handling and product quality, and enabling efficient revision and removal of permeable sleeves and thermoplastic elements.
Implementation Method 1
a source of ultrasonic vibration energy arranged to be coupled to the transmitting piece
Implementation Method 2
energy is applied to the thermoplastic element such that the material having thermoplastic properties is at least partly liquefied
Implementation Method 3
a driver spring arranged in the proximal housing part and designed to form, in an assembled configuration, a closed load frame
Implementation Method 4
the material having thermoplastic properties is at least partly liquefied, and, in a liquefied state, is pressed out of the permeable sleeve
Data Source
AI summary
A system for establishing an anchorage or augmentation in hard tissue with the aid of a material having thermoplastic properties, which is brought to the site of the anchorage or reinforcement in a solid state, is liquefied in situ, and, in a liquefied state, is displaced to contact the object. The system includes a housing with a proximal housing part and mounted therein, a transmitting piece possibly coupled to an energy source and a driver spring, a distal housing part releasably coupled to the proximal housing part, a permeable sleeve couplable to the distal housing part, and a thermoplastic element positionable in the permeable sleeve. The two housing parts, the transmitting piece, the driver spring and the permeable sleeve form a closed load frame in which the thermoplastic element is compressed between the transmitting piece and the permeable sleeve.