Endoscope With Dynamic Working Channel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current endoscopic devices face limitations in providing both effective peripheral viewing and accommodating tools due to restricted viewing angles and working channel diameters, which hinder their utility in procedures like hysteroscopy.
Innovation Solution
The development of an endoscope with an elongated shaft featuring an image sensor with adjustable viewing angles and a working channel that changes cross-sectional dimension, allowing for both straight and articulated configurations to facilitate peripheral viewing and tool insertion, utilizing an elastomeric wall and articulating mechanisms for enhanced flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the image sensor has a large diagonal dimension to improve field of view, then peripheral viewing capability is improved, but the working channel diameter must be reduced which limits tool accommodation
Solution Approach 1:
The working channel is designed to be dynamically changeable between a first configuration with a larger cross-sectional area for tool accommodation and a second configuration with a smaller cross-sectional area to accommodate the image sensor. This dynamic transformation allows the channel to adapt its size based on whether tools or sensors need to pass through, resolving the contradiction between large field of view and tool accommodation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross-sectional area of the working channel is made variable through the use of an elastomeric wall that can change shape. By controlling the deformation of this elastomeric material, the channel diameter can be adjusted between different states, enabling the system to optimize for either sensor placement or tool passage depending on the operational requirement.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the endoscope shaft is made rigid to maintain insertion profile, then structural stability is improved, but articulation capability for peripheral viewing is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope shaft is divided into multiple segments or sections, with at least one articulating portion that can independently move relative to the rest of the shaft. This segmentation allows the insertion profile to remain stable in the proximal sections while enabling articulation at specific portions, thus maintaining both structural stability and peripheral viewing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the shaft are given different mechanical properties: the proximal sections maintain rigidity for stable insertion, while distal articulating portions are designed with flexibility to enable viewing angle adjustment. This local differentiation of mechanical quality allows the shaft to simultaneously provide structural stability and articulation capability.
3Volume of moving object
If the working channel diameter is increased to accommodate larger tools, then tool accommodation is improved, but the image sensor viewing angle is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The working channel's cross-sectional area is made dynamic rather than fixed. When tools need to be accommodated, the channel expands to a larger configuration. When the image sensor needs to achieve a wide viewing angle, the channel contracts to a smaller configuration. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by allowing the channel to be large when needed for tools and small when needed for optimal sensor viewing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enables improved visualization and tool accommodation within the endoscope, enhancing the efficacy of hysteroscopic procedures by providing a larger field of view and accommodating tools of varying sizes, thus improving procedural outcomes.
Implementation Method 1
The distal section of the working channel can comprise an elastomeric wall
Data Source
AI summary
Integrated hysteroscopic treatment systems which includes an endoscopic viewing system, a fluid management system, a resecting device and a controller for operating all the systems.