Endoscope Insertion Tube with Unequally Spaced Cuts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional endoscope insertion tubes require complex designs and high manufacturing costs to achieve the necessary properties of bending flexibility, torsional rigidity, and dimensional stability, which are inherently contradictory.
Innovation Solution
The endoscope features an insertion tube with a proximal passive flexible section that includes main cuts with unequal spacing, secondary cuts adjacent to the main cuts, and uncut bridges remaining between main cut portions, allowing for high flexibility and torsional rigidity while maintaining dimensional stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the insertion tube is made stiff to ensure torsional rigidity and dimensional stability, then it can transmit torque and maintain shape, but it loses bending flexibility needed for insertion into the body
Solution Approach 1:
The insertion tube is segmented by introducing cuts through the wall at spaced intervals, creating multiple axial segments that can bend relative to each other while the circumferential integrity remains through the bridges between cuts. This segmentation enables bending flexibility while preserving torsional rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tube wall has non-uniform structure with bridges of varying lengths between cuts. The bridge lengths are specifically designed to provide different degrees of flexibility in different axial regions, allowing the tube to achieve both flexibility and rigidity through localized structural variations.
2Reliability
If multiple components are assembled to achieve high flexibility, torsional rigidity, and dimensional stability, then all requirements are met, but manufacturing complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the functions of multiple components into a single tubular structure. The base portion is formed as one piece with integrated cuts and bridges, eliminating the need for separate metal mesh, spirals, and coatings that were assembled in conventional designs. This reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining all required properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The single-piece tubular structure combines the flexibility of cut-and-bridged construction with the strength of continuous material, creating a composite-like structure that achieves multiple mechanical properties simultaneously without requiring multiple assembled components.
3Ease of operation
If cuts are made in the insertion tube to allow bending, then flexibility is achieved, but torsional rigidity and dimensional stability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The tube is segmented axially by cuts while maintaining circumferential continuity through bridges. This segmentation allows bending at the cut locations while the bridges preserve dimensional stability and prevent excessive deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cuts are made in a specific pattern that respects the cylindrical geometry, with bridges maintaining circumferential integrity. By orienting cuts perpendicular to the axis and maintaining bridges in the circumferential direction, the structure achieves flexibility in one dimension while maintaining stability in another.
Data Source
AI summary
An endoscope with an insertion tube having a proximal passive flexible section and a distal bending section. Cuts are provided in the proximal passive flexible section. Adjacent cuts are unequally spaced in the proximal passive flexible section. The proximal passive flexible section has secondary cuts adjacent to main cuts, wherein the secondary cuts are arranged closer in the longitudinal direction of the proximal passive flexible section to the adjacent main cuts on one side of the secondary cuts than to the adjacent main cuts on the other side of the secondary cuts. The main cuts extend along the circumference of the proximal passive flexible section in an interrupted manner. The proximal passive flexible section includes the main cuts, wherein at least within a subzone in the proximal passive flexible section, the main cuts are unequally spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the proximal passive flexible section.