Case Study
Foot Pedal For Smooth Cataract Surgery
See how Petrus designed a sustainable design of Phaco Emulsifier foot pedal for smooth cataract surgery
About the Client
The client focuses on the ophthalmic segment, but it also diversified into related health care areas such as cardiovascular sutures, microsurgical hand sutures, antiseptics, disinfectant solutions, spectacle cleaner, etc.
Problem Statement
Cataract surgeries take up to 45 minutes and the surgeons needs to operate the phaco foot pedal with balance throughout the surgery to have fine control over the fluidics.
Phacoemulsification is vitally controlled by the phaco foot pedal in all three stages of the surgery – irrigation, aspiration and ultrasound. Accurate foot pedal control requires patience to master, but once learned, it allows an increased margin of safety and efficiency during phacoemulsification.
The client tasked Petrus to design a sustainable solution to overcome the tiresome balancing the phaco pedal issues faced by Eye Cataract Surgeons in Medical Industry.
Approach
- Our engineering expertise used the latest techniques i.e., Concept Design, Concept Evaluation, Detailed design, DFMEA, DFMA, DFC, DFS, Stack-up Analysis, and Prototype Manufacturing (SLA 3D printing, Vacuum Casting & Machining).
The pedal was designed with 3 steps in front movement & a back movement as well as Left & Right movement to control various parameters of a Phaco Cataract surgery system.
Solution
- We arrived at these 3 steps by selecting i.e., Concept Evaluation method considering Efficiency, Reliability, Maintenance, Lightweight, Ergonomics, and Serviceability.
- We built a prototype where multiple persons operated to test Ergonomics and user comfort
- Each pedal is pressed >1000 times for repeatability of Pedal pressing
- Switched tested using Multimeter
- A potentiometer tested for 10mm movements & found signal variations
Sustainable Value Delivered
100%
User satisfaction by the Surgeons
Faster
TAT including prototyping
Optimized
Costs and time to operate