Endoscope Handle Frame Assembly for Low-Friction Steering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscope handles face issues with misalignment and increased friction due to manufacturing and assembly tolerances, leading to undesirable sounds and increased torque requirements for steering the distal tip, especially when tools are inserted through the working channel.
Innovation Solution
The endoscope handle design includes a frame with bearings supporting trunnions of the control device, clamped between columns of shell parts, allowing for reduced misalignment and friction, and uses polymer materials for easy assembly and alignment, with features like snap locks and alignment pairs to secure the components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If tighter tolerances are used to ensure precise alignment between control device and shell parts, then misalignment and friction are reduced, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
A frame component is introduced as an intermediary element between the control device and shell parts. The frame includes features that interface with both the control device trunnions and the shell part columns, serving as a mediator that absorbs alignment variations and reduces direct misalignment friction between the control device and shell parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The design changes the geometric parameters and material properties of the frame and bearing components to accommodate looser manufacturing tolerances. By optimizing the frame's structural parameters and using polymer materials with appropriate friction characteristics, the system maintains precise operation even with reduced alignment precision.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the control device is securely clamped between shell part columns, then alignment stability is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope handle is divided into separate modular components: shell parts, frame, control device, and bearings. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured and assembled independently, with the frame being clamped between the shell part columns to secure the control device, simplifying the overall assembly process while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame is pre-assembled with the control device and bearings in a predetermined configuration before being clamped between the shell part columns. This preliminary assembly ensures proper alignment and stability while simplifying the final assembly steps, as the pre-assembled frame unit can be inserted and secured as a single component.
3Reliability
If steering wires are tested before complete assembly, then operational reliability is improved, but assembly time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control device with steering wires is assembled and tested in a preliminary configuration before final integration into the complete endoscope handle. This allows functional testing of the steering wires while they are still accessible and adjustable, ensuring operational reliability without requiring disassembly of the complete assembly for testing.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame includes movable and adjustable features that allow dynamic testing and adjustment of the steering wires during assembly. The frame's design permits the steering wires to be manipulated and tested in various positions before final securing, enabling reliability verification without fixed time constraints.
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 reduces friction and assembly complexity, ensuring precise maneuvering of the endoscope tip while allowing looser manufacturing tolerances, thus improving operational efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
The trunnions of the control device and, preferably, the columns are supported by the bearings of the frame so that the control device is rotatable about the pivot axis
Data Source
AI summary
An endoscope having a handle, the handle including a frame with bearings, a control device with trunnions extending from opposite sides of a body of the control device, shell parts together enclosing a cavity accommodating the frame and at least partly the control device therein, the shell parts including a first column and a second column extending into the cavity from opposite sides, wherein the shell parts and the frame each are formed as separate components, wherein the trunnions of the control device and preferably the columns are supported by the bearings of the frame so that the control device is rotatable about a pivot axis, and wherein the first and second columns of the shell parts are arranged to retain the trunnions of the control device between the first and second columns of the shell parts.