Endoscope Bending Instrument Sheath Window Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bending instruments for endoscopes used with gastrostomy catheters are prone to soiling due to exposed ultrasonic probes and lack the ability to capture images using a lens, making it difficult to observe the stomach's interior without compromising the endoscope's integrity.
Innovation Solution
A bending instrument for an endoscope featuring a tubular sheath with a light-transmissive window and a bending member that includes a fixed part, sliding part, and linking part, allowing the endoscope to be inserted into a gastrostomy catheter while maintaining the lens's functionality and preventing soiling, with the bending member controlling the orientation of the endoscope tip.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the ultrasonic probe is inserted into the bending sheath from the metal fixture for the forceps hole, then the tip end of the ultrasonic probe can be oriented in the required direction, but the exposed portion of the ultrasonic probe comes into direct contact with bodily fluids and becomes soiled
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful exposure of the ultrasonic probe by introducing a cap that covers the probe tip. The cap is removed only when bending is required, isolating the probe from bodily fluids during non-bending operations and preventing soiling while maintaining orientation capability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap serves as an intermediary protective element between the ultrasonic probe and the bodily fluids. It allows the probe to be inserted and oriented while preventing direct contact with soiling agents, and can be temporarily removed when bending functionality is required.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the cap comprises a member that is closed at its tip end, then the probe is protected from soiling, but it cannot be used with an endoscope for capturing images by focusing using a lens
Solution Approach 1:
The cap is designed with a removable structure that transitions between closed and open states. When closed, it protects the probe from soiling; when opened, it allows lens-based imaging functionality. This dynamic design enables the system to adapt to different operational requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap is segmented into a removable portion and a fixed portion. The removable portion can be taken off to allow lens imaging, while the fixed portion remains to provide structural support and partial protection. This segmentation enables both soiling protection and lens functionality.
3Strength
If the bending sheath and the cap are joined to the wire, then structural integrity is maintained, but a portion of the ultrasonic probe lying between the bending sheath and the cap is exposed to the outside
Solution Approach 1:
The bending sheath and cap are merged into a single integrated assembly that is joined to the wire. This combination ensures structural integrity while the cap portion extends to cover the previously exposed probe section, eliminating the exposure problem while maintaining the strength of the joined structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A bending instrument for an endoscope which is used when a fiberscope is inserted into a gastrostomy catheter. The bending instrument comprises a sheath which covers a fiberscope shaft of the fiberscope, and a bending member which allows the fiberscope shaft to bend together with the sheath. A light-transmissive window part is formed at the tip end of the sheath. Furthermore, the bending member comprises a fixed part which is attached to the tip end outer periphery of the sheath, a sliding part which is slidably attached further to the base end side of the sheath than the fixed part and which engages with a cylindrical engagement part of the gastrostomy catheter so as not to be able to go past an intra-stomach fixed part, and a linear linking part which links the fixed part and the sliding part.