Trocar Seal With Inverting Hinge For Leakage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trocar designs fail to effectively maintain pneumoperitoneum during endoscopic procedures, as they do not provide a reliable seal against insufflation fluid leakage when instruments are inserted or removed, leading to potential complications and increased recovery time.
Innovation Solution
A trocar design featuring a closure valve and instrument seal arrangement, where the closure valve is a duck bill valve and the instrument seal has a lip with a bending portion that inverts to prevent fluid leakage, combined with a nested structure for secure alignment and sealing, ensuring pneumoperitoneum is maintained.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional seal assembly is used in the trocar, then the structure is simple, but the seal reliability against insufflation fluid leakage is insufficient when instruments are inserted or removed
Solution Approach 1:
The seal assembly is divided into multiple functional components: a closure valve (duck bill valve) for sealing the cannula opening, and a separate instrument seal with a lip and bending portion for sealing around the instrument. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in its sealing function, improving overall seal reliability while maintaining reasonable complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument seal incorporates a bending portion that dynamically inverts or flexes in response to instrument insertion and removal. This dynamic behavior allows the seal to adapt its shape to maintain contact with the instrument surface, ensuring continuous sealing reliability throughout the instrument exchange process without requiring complex mechanical adjustments.
2Reliability
If the bending portion of the instrument seal is made more flexible to improve sealing, then the seal effectiveness increases, but the risk of inversion and structural failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument seal exhibits local quality variations through its geometric design: the lip portion is thin-walled and highly flexible to conform to the instrument surface for effective sealing, while the base portion is thicker and more rigid to provide structural support and resist inversion. This gradient in wall thickness creates optimal local properties at each location, achieving both sealing effectiveness and structural integrity without compromising either.
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 design effectively prevents insufflation fluid leakage during instrument insertion and removal, reducing the risk of complications and facilitating faster recovery by maintaining a consistent pneumoperitoneum.
Implementation Method 1
the bending portion is a thin-walled structure that inverts when an instrument is extracted from the trocar
Implementation Method 2
the closure valve is a duck bill valve that opens or closes in response to insertion or removal of an instrument
Data Source
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AI summary
A trocar comprising an alignment channel (53, 153) and an instrument seal (40, 140) comprising a bending portion (43, 143) and a base portion. The bending and base portions of the instrument seal are spaced relative the alignment channel such that when a surgical instrument is retracted the bending portion inverts and the lip does not enter the alignment channel.