Insertion Force Fixture
INSERTION FORCE FIXTURE SUMMARY
A fixture to allow R&D teams to measure the insertion force of a laparoscopic device into a trocar or other receptacle.
TEAM:
Mechanical Engineer, Machinist, Assembly technician
DESIGN TOOLS USED:
SolidWorks
MARKET:
Medical Device Manufacturing and R&D
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
- Surgical Device shall be held rigidly in the vertical orientation.
- The companion device shall be suspended with freedom along the lateral, longitudinal, pitch, roll, and yaw axes.
- A force vs displacement measurement shall be taken from the vertical axis as the companion device is lowered onto the surgical device
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES
This insertion force fixture is a simple solution to the complex problem of measuring the insertion and retraction force of a surgical instrument into a companion device (such as a trocar) while maintaining multiple degrees of freedom. The surgical device is held rigidly on the fixture baseplate while the companion device is lowered at controlled rate, generating a force vs displacement curve. The companion device is held in the gimbal ring along the vertical line of force allowing freedom in the lateral and longitudinal axis as well as freedom of pitch, roll, and yaw. The surgical instrument is mounted to a floating x/y plate to allow for some degree of lateral displacement during insertion (to prevent the measurement instrumentation from erroneously picking up side loads between device and companion due to slight manufacturing misalignments).
Preliminary Design, Internal Design review meetings, Detailed Design, multiple design review meetings with customer team, Final Design, Manufacturing, Assembly, Internal Test and Validation, Delivery, Customer Test/Validation/Measurement Systems Analysis
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