GE OEC Medical C-Arm Lift Column
GE OEC Medical Systems (GE) retained Design Integrity to assist with the redesign of the lift column utilized in a GE mobile C-arm. The heavy cantilevered load from the C-arm generated too much friction in the lift column, which increased the electrical power required to a level that was too high to sustain.
Challenge
GE manufactures a successful line of mobile C-arm medical imaging systems, which can be moved around and positioned to obtain detailed x-ray images at ideal viewing angles. In the C-arm assembly, there is a lift column that lifts and lowers the C-arm assembly to allow for proper positioning of the generator and receptor.
The C-arm utilized a TELEMAG life column (linear vertical drive) that generated too much friction at the top near full extension due to the cantilevered weight of the C-arm, which increased the current draw excessively and reduced the speed of the system.
GE initially approached the manufacturer of the TELEMAG lift column to resolve the issues and make improvements to the design. The manufacturer was hesitant to commit to making changes to the lift column design, as their team was not confident that a simple redesign could be implemented that would meet the performance requirements.
GE then retained Design Integrity to design a new lift column that would meet the target specifications with a focus on lower friction, lower power consumption, higher lift speed, and a short list of additional improvements.
Solution
The DI team brainstormed alternative lift column design architecture options including researching various motors, linear drives, guidance, and friction reduction components. As part of the ideation effort, DI mechanical engineers studied the TELEMAG lift column design to see if there were design elements that could be leveraged or redesigned to arrive upon a design solution that met all project requirements.
During the analysis of the existing lift column, our engineering team came up with a novel manner to attach small rollers on pins and hardened plates for the pins to ride on between the two main extrusions. Some aluminum on the extrusions would have to be machined off, which appeared feasible. As an alternative, low friction wear plates and surfaces were conceived as options.
The concepts were presented to the GE OEC Medical engineering team, which believed that the ideas had potential.
Client Benefit
The GE engineering team showed our concepts to the manufacturer of the TELEMAG lift column. The manufacturer studied the proposed designs, and their team felt that the concepts had potential.
Instead of designing a new lift column, which would have been a costly and time consuming effort, the manufacturer had confidence that the current design could be modified to incorporate the proposed friction reduction components suggested by our engineering team and test it out.
As a result, the project was a success as a viable solution was uncovered during the preliminary phase. The path forward was projected to be less extensive in scope and, therefore, lower in cost and shorter in turnaround time as the existing manufacturer committed to working with GE to develop the modified lift column design.
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