Surgical Hand Tool - Arthroscopic Shaver

Surgical hand tools are essential devices that assist surgeons in various medical procedures such as hand and wrist surgeries. These manufacturers face a tough challenge in designing and building their products, as surgeons expect the tool to be lightweight, run cool and survive multiple autoclave cycles. They must also be low noise, given the sensitive nature of these procedures.

A leading surgical tool company required a small gear motor that could power a shaver hand piece used for small joint arthroscopic surgery. Portescap engaged with the manufacturer and focused on a modified size 5 gearmotor, quickly developing a custom stack length and housing to meet the customer’s requirements. Using the B0512 series brushless DC slotted SMS motor with gearhead as a baseline, the R&D team optimized a solution that included Teflon-coated gears to maximize durability.

Fully customized prototypes were delivered to the customer in 5 weeks and successfully met all test criteria, including the critical autoclave test. The Portescap motor outperformed other competitor designs and survived the autoclave life test by more than 8 times the closest competitive design. The shaver device benefited from improved ergonomics due to a reduction in length and weight, resulting in a more powerful and precise tool that also prioritized user comfortability.

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