Endoscope Control Apparatus Friction Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional control devices for precision mechanical and surgical applications experience high frictional forces due to their construction, leading to user fatigue and increased risk during prolonged use, especially in minimally invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
A control device with force-transmitting longitudinal elements arranged at regular angular distances, featuring a rectangular cross-section and produced from flat materials, which reduces friction by minimizing contact surfaces and allowing for flexible movement in multiple planes, and can be guided by outer and inner shafts with reduced frictional forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional control devices use multiple force-transmitting longitudinal elements arranged directly adjacent to one another, then guidance of the longitudinal elements is ensured in every direction, but high frictional forces occur between the longitudinal elements leading to user fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The control element is segmented into multiple longitudinal elements (at least two) that are arranged at regular angular distances from one another around the central axis, rather than being directly adjacent. This segmentation reduces contact between elements while maintaining guidance through the shafts.
Solution Approach 2:
The longitudinal elements are arranged in a circumferential pattern around the central axis, utilizing the angular dimension. This spatial arrangement allows elements to be distributed around the circumference rather than stacked radially, reducing frictional contact while maintaining structural integrity and guidance.
2Ease of manufacture
If longitudinal elements are made flexible in articulation areas and rigid in the middle section, then the control element can be assembled using a small tube, but the production becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the longitudinal elements have different properties: the end portions are flexible to allow articulation, while the middle sections maintain rigidity for force transmission. This local differentiation of properties enables both ease of assembly and functional performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The longitudinal elements exhibit dynamic characteristics with flexible end portions that allow movement in articulation areas while maintaining a rigid central section for stable force transmission. This dynamic design balances assembly ease with production feasibility.
3Reliability
If longitudinal elements are guided by outer and inner shafts, then mutual lateral guidance is ensured, but frictional forces increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guidance system is segmented into an outer shaft and an inner shaft that work together to guide the longitudinal elements. This dual-shaft segmentation provides lateral guidance while distributing the guidance function to reduce friction on individual elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner and outer shafts act as intermediary structures that provide guidance for the longitudinal elements. These shafts mediate between the longitudinal elements and the articulation zones, ensuring lateral guidance while minimizing direct friction through the regular angular arrangement of elements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~2A
Figure 3A
AI summary
What is proposed is a control apparatus, in particular for use in endoscopes or the like, which makes relatively long operation without fatigue possible. The control apparatus is equipped with a proximal and a distal end portion, which each comprise an articulation zone, and also a central portion arranged therebetween, having an outer hollow-cylindrical shaft, an inner, preferably hollow-cylindrical shaft and also having a control element that is arranged between said shafts and has two or more force-transmitting longitudinal elements extending substantially from the proximal to the distal end portion of the control apparatus for mechanically coupling the movement of the distal end portion to the movement of the proximal articulation portion, wherein the longitudinal elements are arranged spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction of the control apparatus at substantially regular angular distances b1, b2,... bn and are fixed with respect to one another in the region of the proximal and distal ends thereof in each case in the circumferential direction, wherein the angular distances b1, b2,... bn between the longitudinal elements, measured in the circumferential direction, are selected such that the force-transmitting longitudinal elements are guided without contact in the circumferential direction and, if appropriate, resting on the outer and/or the inner shaft in the radial direction.