Enhanced heat transfer for drilling of cortical bone with oscillating heat pipe

The excess heat generated during drilling may lead to thermal damage in tissues, necessitating the exploration of innovative methods to effectively control drilling heat. To address the issue of drilling heat and associated thermal damage control in cortical bone drilling processes, the current study proposes the implementation of oscillating heat pipes for efficient thermal management during bone drilling. In this paper, a novel oscillating heat pipe drill (OHPD) was meticulously designed to explore its strength calibration under diverse rotational speeds, drilling forces, and torques. Furthermore, the study comprehensively investigated the heat transfer mechanism and the thermal management performance of the drill at different input heat flux and rotational speeds. The results demonstrate that the OHPD efficiently transfers heat from the cortical bone. Additionally, it significantly reduces the domain of osteonecrosis, decreasing the diameter from 12.23 mm to 11.28 mm at the rotational speed of 2500 r/min. Moreover, the oscillating heat pipe drill is simulated at different speeds and heat flux. when the input heat flux ranged from 4000 to 20000 W/m2, the domain of osteonecrosis was further minimized from 11.908 mm to 11.527 mm at heat flux of 20000 W/m2. Besides, the domain of osteonecrosis was disappeared under 8000 W/m2 as OHPD was applied. Finally, Bone drilling experiments with the oscillating heat pipe drill is conducted, validating its enhanced heat transfer effect in cortical bone drilling compared to the drill. This analytical approach provides valuable insights to optimize and maximize the efficiency of the OHPD during bone drilling procedures.