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 is a  hospital chain in India. It was founded in 1976 and has grown into a network of eye hospitals and has had a major impact in eradicating cataract related blindness in India.

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