Surgical Tool for Eye Surgery

An ophthalmologist requires a steady hand when using surgical tools during cataract surgery. The interocular lens injector (IOL) inserts a new lens into the eye after the occluded lens is removed. The IOL injector is a small hand tool with an incorporated motor/leadscrew combination that pushes a rolled-up lens from a tube into the eye. Once inserted into the eye, the lens then unrolls into the correct position.

A medical device manufacturer asked Portescap to provide a small motor to incorporate into their IOL injector. The motor needed to be as short as possible, meet the desired speed and load point and survive extensive autoclave cycles. Portescap’s array of technologies provided several options to solve this application, and engineers eventually settled on Portescap’s B0508 brushless DC slotted SMS motor with gearbox to minimize axial length. The state of the art autoclavable motor technology provided the required endurance to handle more than 1000 autoclave cycles while simultaneously satisfying the speed and load point requirements.

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