Flexible Endoscope Shaft With Reversible Spring Rods
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible endoscope shafts with helical spring designs are complex and costly to produce, and their predefined curved profiles limit adaptability during medical examinations, as they lack the ability to change shape in response to varying anatomical structures.
Innovation Solution
A flexible endoscope shaft design featuring reversibly deformable spring rods, where each shaft portion has additional spring rods integrally bonded by laser welding, allowing for adjustable flexibility and stability, with helical winding of spring rods to enhance torsional and bending strength, and an elastic outer sheath for ease of assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If helical spring elements are used in the endoscope shaft, then the shaft achieves flexibility and can be adjusted in different directions, but the cleaning process becomes complex and production becomes elaborate and cost-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the spring elements from helical springs to spring rods with specific cross-sectional shapes (I-shaped, T-shaped, or channel-shaped). This parameter change maintains the flexibility and adjustability function while dramatically simplifying the structure, making cleaning easier and production more cost-effective.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite cross-sectional designs for the spring rods (such as I-shaped, T-shaped, or channel-shaped sections) that combine multiple functional properties in a single element. These composite shapes provide both the necessary flexibility for shaft adjustment and the structural simplicity for easy manufacturing and cleaning.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the endoscope shaft uses a predefined curved profile maintained by stiff rods, then the shaft maintains inner stiffness during use, but the curved profile cannot be changed during operation to examine lateral branches
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the shaft from a static, predefined curved profile to a dynamic structure using reversibly deformable spring rods. These spring rods allow the shaft to maintain stiffness when needed while enabling continuous adjustment of the curved profile during operation to adapt to different anatomical structures or examine lateral branches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs spring elements with reversible deformability, allowing the mechanical parameters of the shaft (curvature, stiffness) to be dynamically changed during use. This enables the operator to adjust the shaft profile in real-time while maintaining sufficient structural stability for safe operation.
3Strength
If spring rods are integrally bonded with additional spring rods, then dimensional stability and torsional stiffness increase, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple spring rods into integral assemblies where additional spring rods are bonded to primary spring rods within the same shaft portion. This merging approach increases torsional stiffness and dimensional stability while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing through standardized bonding processes like laser welding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates composite spring rod assemblies by bonding together spring rods with different cross-sectional shapes (I-shaped, T-shaped, channel-shaped) to achieve enhanced mechanical properties. These composite structures provide superior torsional stiffness and dimensional stability while remaining manufacturable through conventional bonding techniques.
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 design enables a cost-effective, flexible endoscope shaft with adjustable bending properties, allowing for uniform bending in all directions and sufficient stability, suitable for complex anatomical examinations, while being simple to produce and assemble.
Implementation Method 1
each shaft portion, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the shaft body from the distal end to the proximal end, has at least one additional spring rod, which is integrally bonded, in particular by laser welding, to the other spring rods
Implementation Method 2
the spring rods of each shaft portion are wound helically about each other and/or are wound helically about the spring rods of the shaft portions which, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the shaft body, are located distally
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible endoscope shaft with a shaft body which, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the endoscope shaft, is composed of at least two shaft portions with different degrees of flexibility, wherein at least one shaft portion is composed of at least one spring element, and wherein all the spring elements of the shaft portions, which, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the shaft body, are arranged proximally from the outer distal shaft portion, are designed as reversibly deformable spring rods extending in the longitudinal direction of the shaft body. In order to create a flexible endoscope shaft that can be produced easily and cost-effectively, each of the shaft portions having at least one spring rod has at least one further spring rod, which is integrally bonded to the other spring rods of the respective shaft portion.