Trabecular Lattice Surgical Tool for Bone Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical instruments for bone machining, such as reamers and rasps, face challenges in achieving optimal precision, minimizing bone and cartilage chippings, reducing cutting resistance, and lowering manufacturing costs while ensuring structural stability and ease of disposal.
Innovation Solution
The development of a disposable surgical tool with a trabecular internal structure formed by a lattice of material bars or struts, similar to a honeycomb structure, which is manufactured using three-dimensional additive manufacturing methods, reducing material requirements and allowing for customized designs with optimal characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional solid structure surgical tools are used, then structural stability is maintained, but material requirements and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tool body is constructed with a trabecular lattice structure consisting of interconnected struts forming porous voids throughout the material. This porous architecture reduces material consumption by approximately 70% compared to solid structures while maintaining structural stability through the geometric interlocking and load distribution across the lattice framework. The trabecular pattern allows the tool to achieve required strength with significantly reduced material requirements, directly addressing the contradiction between manufacturing cost and structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool body is segmented into a lattice of discrete struts arranged in trabecular patterns rather than using a continuous solid structure. This segmentation creates a framework where individual struts bear specific loads and fail independently if overloaded, preventing catastrophic failure and maintaining overall structural integrity. The segmented lattice design reduces material usage while preserving the necessary mechanical properties for surgical applications.
2Reliability
If disposable single-use tools are used, then infection risk is minimized, but manufacturing costs and waste increase
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tool is designed as a disposable single-use instrument with a simplified trabecular lattice structure that reduces manufacturing complexity and material costs. The optimized lattice design lowers production expenses enough to justify single-use disposal, eliminating cross-contamination risks while minimizing material waste through efficient material usage in the tool construction itself. The cost-effective disposable nature allows infection prevention without proportionally increasing waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool's structural parameters have been optimized through numerical modeling to achieve the minimum necessary strength and stability for surgical performance. By carefully selecting lattice geometry, strut thickness, and density parameters, the tool achieves adequate performance at lowest possible material cost, making disposable use economically viable and reducing overall material consumption compared to traditional solid disposable tools.
3Manufacturing precision
If custom-made tools with optimal characteristics are produced, then precision and performance are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Custom-made tools are produced by adjusting numerical parameters in the lattice design (strut dimensions, spacing, geometry) rather than creating entirely new complex structures. This parameter-based customization allows optimization of precision and performance for specific surgical applications while maintaining the same fundamental manufacturing process and tool architecture, thereby avoiding exponential increases in manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The trabecular lattice tool body serves multiple functions simultaneously: structural support, cutting element mounting platform, and bone debris collection reservoir. This multi-functionality is achieved through the universal lattice architecture that can accommodate various cutting element configurations while providing consistent structural and collection functions, reducing overall device complexity compared to separate components for each function.
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
This approach results in surgical tools with reduced manufacturing costs, improved precision, minimized bone and cartilage chippings, and enhanced structural stability, facilitating efficient bone machining with reduced cutting resistance and simplified disposal.
Implementation Method 1
Tools with such trabecular internal structures may be manufactured using three-dimensional additive manufacturing methods
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical trabecular tool for manipulating or removing bone tissue includes a tool body and at least one cutting element provided on the tool body. The cutting element includes a number of cutting edges arranged thereon, and the tool body is formed at least in part by a trabecular internal structure including a plurality of material struts forming a regular or irregular lattice structure which supports and connects the cutting elements.