Piezo valves from Festo enhance precision in eye surgery

This Festo control unit carries valves that enhance eye-surgery workstations.

Eye surgery is a delicate process that requires not only skilled personnel, but also the latest technology. This is why Festo offers proportional and fast-switching surgical valves to go with workstations such as BYTEC’s line of QUBE and QUBE Pro stations. With state-of-the-art pneumatic technology, these valves can perform critical functions in eye surgery with enhanced precision. This is yet another way that Festo piezo technology improves everyday lives everywhere.

The technical assistants of choice

QUBE and QUBE Pro workstations, produced in Germany, are the technical assistants of choice for many surgeons who perform cataract or retina surgery. Each has a pneumatic control unit that includes solenoid and piezo surgical valves, which drive cutting tools, vacuum-assisted suction removal, and liquid delivery. The VEAB valve from Festo uses piezo technology to regulate pressure in surgical systems with constant accuracy. Meanwhile, the company’s fast-switching valves can raise the cutting rates for precise incisions and suctioning.

Among the many advantages that VEAB valves and other piezo surgical valves from Festo offer are their light weight, their low noise levels, their accuracy, their minimal heat generation, and the fact that they are virtually wear-free. Redundant valves are included for every valve function in each of these workstations to ensure a high level of safety in surgical tasks, so that the surgeon always has appropriate equipment at hand.

In cataract surgery, an ultrasound probe breaks up the opacified lens, and a high-precision suction and rinsing device then removes the lens fragments; a Festo MPYE proportional valve actuates the latter device. A VEAB valve controls the necessary infusion pressure. After rinsing and removing the residual tissue, the eye surgeon can insert a new, clear, artificial lens. The surgery also requires high-precision pressure regulation on the anterior segment of the eye, also known as a vitrectomy.

Thanks to revolutionary technology like the kind that Festo provides, cataract surgery is a fairly routine procedure these days. Piezo technology in these innovative valves ensures extremely precise incision and worry-free eye operations. Festo continues to be the world’s leading supplier of the latest automation technology.

For more information, contact Festo.

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