Design Of Thermal Cautery Device

• Main Author: Fathi, Farhana Mohamad
• Format: Monograph
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Sains Malaysia 2017
• Subjects: T Technology; TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/53549/1/Design%20Of%20Thermal%20Cautery%20Device_Farhana%20Mohamad%20Fathi_M4_2017.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/53549/
• Institution: Universiti Sains Malaysia

Cauterization is a technique whereby a portion of tissues is burnt off for the purpose of closing the wound. It mitigates bleeding by destroying some tissues to reduce the risk of other possible injuries. Thermal cauterization uses heat for cutting of vessels, unlike the regular cutting with knife. Temperature measurement of the existing thermal cautery device is carried out to obtain the temperature of the heating element. The temperature is then verified with the results obtained from the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) by using the ANSYS software. The highest temperature measured by the thermal infrared camera is 620 °C while the result obtained from the simulation is 678 °C. This gives a percentage error of 9.4%. The design study of the thermal cautery device is required in order to improve the overall safety aspects of the device. The existing thermal cautery device lacks in protection and has exposed heated parts which could injure both patients and surgeons. By implying the safety features of LigaSureTM small jaw instrument from Covidien Medtronic, a new design of the thermal cautery device is proposed. In this proposed design of the thermal cautery device, the heating element is completely hidden when it is not in used, thus reducing the possibilities of accidental injuries. A heating notification switch is included to ensure the surgeon about the cutting. Total time of 5 seconds are needed to prepare the heating element to temperature of 620 °C. After the switch is released, there would be no more heating of the heating element to avoid any accidental errors. The first order lever system would help to increase the precision and reduce the exchange of instruments during surgeries. The improvement of the design of thermal cautery device in term of safety could help reduce accidents and injuries due to electrical devices.