In the field of medical instruments, additive manufacturing allows for a drastic reduction in the number of components while improving the functionalities of the final design. In addition, modifications for users' needs or specific procedures become possible by enabling the production of single customized items. In this work, we present the design of a new fully 3D-printed handheld steerable instrument for laparoscopic surgery, which was mechanically actuated using cables. The pistol-grip handle is based on ergonomic principles and allows for single-hand control of both grasping and omnidirectional steering, while compliant joints and snap-fit connectors enable fast assembly and minimal part count. Additive manufacturing allows for personalization of the handle to each surgeon's needs by adjusting specific dimensions in the CAD model, which increases the user's comfort during surgery. Testing showed that the forces on the instrument handle required for steering and grasping were below 15 N, while the grasping force efficiency was calculated to be 10-30%. The instrument combines the advantages of additive manufacturing with regard to personalization and simplified assembly, illustrating a new approach to the design of advanced surgical instruments where the customization for a single procedure or user's need is a central aspect.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma14247910 | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
December 2024
School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15500, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland.
Engineering plastics are finding widespread applications across a broad temperature spectrum, with additive manufacturing (AM) having now become commonplace for producing aerospace-grade components from polymers. However, there is limited data available on the behavior of plastic AM parts exposed to elevated temperatures. This study focuses on investigating the tensile strength, tensile modulus and Poisson's ratio of parts manufactured using fused filament fabrication (FFF) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) plastics doped with two additives: short carbon fibers (SCFs) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs).
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April 2025
University of Coimbra, CEMMPRE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 3030-788, Coimbra, Portugal.
Polymeric coronary stents, like the ABSORB™, are commonly used to treat atherosclerosis due to their bioresorbable and cell-compatible polymer structure. However, they face challenges such as high strut thickness, high elastic recoil, and lack of radiopacity. This study aims to address these limitations by modifying degradable stents produced by additive manufacturing with poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with degradable metallic coatings, specifically zinc (Zn) and magnesium (Mg), deposited via radiofrequency (rf) magnetron sputtering.
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December 2024
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA.
Due to the high cost of each experimental run in additive manufacturing (AM), there has been a drive to develop simulations that can find the optimal processing parameters. The accuracy of these simulations is dependent on the accuracy of the material parameters recorded in literature. These reported parameters can vary widely resulting in differing simulation results.
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December 2024
Photo-Acoustics Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York, USA.
Unlike many conventional manufacturing techniques, 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing (3DP/AM) fabrication creates builds with unprecedented degrees of structural and geometrical complexities. However, uncertainties in 3DP/AM processes and material attributes could cause geometric and structural quality issues in resulting builds and products. Evaluating the sensitivity of process parameters and material properties for process optimization, quality assessment, and closed-loop control is crucial in practice.
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December 2024
Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (Shantou University), Ministry of Education, Shantou, China.
Cutting tools with orderly arranged diamond grits using additive manufacturing show better sharpness and longer service life than traditional diamond tools. A retractable needle jig with vacuum negative pressure was used to absorb and place grits in an orderly arranged manner. However, needle hole wear after a long service time could not promise complete grit adsorption forever.
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