CARE SURGICAL

Carbon Fibre Tubes (CFT) are excited to be working closer with the medical technology sector, collaborating with an innovative surgical equipment manufacturer, Care Surgical

With a mission of advancing and improving patient care, Care Surgical (CS) are designing and creating safe, cost-effective yet innovative patient positioning equipment. Working with their end users, they ensure their product development not only meets, but exceeds, the needs of the customers. Care Surgical are providing the highest quality patient support products and, in this case, revolutionising spinal operating equipment.

The designers at Care Surgical enlisted the expertise of the Carbon Fibre Tubes team for the development of the CS Carbon Spine Extension kit. The aim of this system, and vision of Care Surgical, was to create equipment that ensured hospitals could easily convert their existing operating tables into a speciality spinal table. The benefits are clear; reducing the amount of equipment needed, and the cost burden for spinal surgical procedures.

The use of composites in this project has multiple benefits. The strength-to-weight ratio that carbon fibre offers makes it an ideal material choice. The patient’s weight must be adequately supported hence the need for high strength. However, the frame also requires low weight to ensure that the bed conversion equipment can be safely handled and fitted by the hospital staff.

Another reason for selecting carbon fibre in the construction of this product is the radiolucent property of the material. When performing complex spinal surgery, clinicians need to be able to take multiple images of the spine, it is therefore necessary to use a material construction that is permeable to this form of radiation.

Working with the team at CS, the CFT technicians designed and manufactured the tubing to create the extension frame. This project is a great example of not only CFT’s in-house capabilities but also the agile manufacturing methods we can employ for our customers. In this case, we used closed tool bladder moulding in our in-house heated platen press to make the square tubes required for the frame.

Once manufactured and quality checked, the square tubing was painted with a gloss clear coat. Given the structure, it was crucial that full load testing and inspection was conducted on each frame by the technicians and quality team. Once satisfied with the integrity of the frame construction, the project moved through to the machining team who worked on the square tubing using our in-house CNC machining centres.

The final stage of the project was assembly using the free-issued components, conducted using a controlled assembly fixture. CFT have long been recognised as experts in the bonding of composites, and this expertise was brought to bear in this case. The bonding was conducted using high strength structural adhesives and, for this project, CFT worked directly with the industry-leading team at 3M to determine and advise on adhesive selection.

Our team at Carbon Fibre Tubes found immense satisfaction in undertaking this project, as it served as a testament to our comprehensive composite manufacturing capabilities, spanning from tube design to assembly and finishing.