Endoscope Heat Pipe Thermal Dissipation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The concentration of electronic components at the front end of video endoscopes generates heat, posing a risk to human tissues and organs, and existing heat management solutions are inadequate to meet regulatory temperature requirements.
Innovation Solution
An endoscopy system incorporating an insertion tube segment, a handle segment, heat sources, a heat pipe, and heat-conductive materials, where the heat pipe extends from the insertion tube segment to the handle segment, facilitating rapid heat dissipation and reducing heat exposure to the patient.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If image sensors and illumination devices are configured towards the front ends of the endoscopes to improve resolution and image quality, then image quality and resolution are improved, but heat generation increases causing safety hazards to human tissues and organs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the heat dissipation function from the traditional heat management approach by introducing a dedicated heat pipe structure. The heat pipe is separately configured to conduct heat away from the front end components, allowing the image sensors and illumination devices to maintain high performance while the heat pipe independently manages thermal energy removal from the system
Solution Approach 2:
The heat pipe serves as an intermediary thermal conduction medium between the heat-generating components (image sensors and illumination devices) and the external environment. It mediates the heat transfer process by providing a controlled thermal pathway that efficiently transports heat away from sensitive components without requiring direct thermal contact with surrounding tissues
2Volume of moving object
If electronic components are concentrated towards the front ends to miniaturize the endoscope, then device size is reduced, but heat management becomes more difficult to meet regulatory temperature requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pipe structure is nested within the compact endoscope assembly, with the heat-conductive material positioned between the heat sources and the heat pipe. This nested configuration allows efficient heat management to be integrated within the miniaturized device structure, maintaining small size while providing adequate thermal management capability through the nested heat conduction pathway
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal conduction parameters by introducing high-performance heat-conductive material with optimized thermal conductivity between the heat sources and heat pipe. This parameter optimization enhances heat transfer efficiency, allowing the miniaturized device to meet temperature requirements by improving the thermal conduction capability within the constrained size
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
The system achieves effective heat dissipation by quickly transferring heat from the heat sources to the heat pipe and guiding it away from the patient, thereby reducing the thermal impact on tissues and organs.
Implementation Method 1
The heat-conductive material is disposed between the at least one heat source and the first end portion of the insertion tube segment, and is thermally coupled to the at least one heat source and the heat pipe respectively
Implementation Method 2
The heat pipe is disposed in the connecting space, and at least extends from a portion of the connecting space of the insertion tube segment to a portion of the connecting space of the handle segment
Data Source
AI summary
An endoscopy system including an insertion tube segment, a handle segment, at least one heat source, a heat pipe and a heat-conductive material is provided. The insertion tube segment has first and second end portions opposite to each other and is inserted in the handle segment. An inside of the insertion tube segment and an inside of the handle segment commonly have a connecting space. The at least one heat source is disposed in the first end portion. The heat pipe is disposed in the connecting space and at least extends from a portion of the connecting space of the insertion tube segment to a portion of the connecting space of the handle segment. The heat-conductive material is disposed between the at least one heat source and the first end portion, and the heat-conductive material is thermally coupled to the at least one heat source and the heat pipe, respectively.