Endoscope Tip Assembly with Cup-Shaped Housing and Liquid Adhesive Embedding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopes face challenges in achieving a smaller outer diameter for urethroscope tips while maintaining electrical insulation and mechanical stability, especially when incorporating both a camera and a working channel, which are typically bulky and prone to liquid ingress.
Innovation Solution
A cup-shaped housing with a circumferential wall and distal end wall encloses a spacing, allowing adhesive filling through the open proximal end, reducing the housing thickness and diameter, and incorporating a bending section with a distal end segment adjoining the housing for enhanced insulation and mechanical stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the tip part assembly includes both a camera and a working channel extending through it, then the endoscope can perform multiple functions (imaging and working), but the cross-sectional extent of the tip part assembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the camera assembly and working channel in a nested arrangement within the tip part assembly. The working channel is positioned centrally, with the camera assembly arranged around it, allowing both components to coexist in a compact configuration that minimizes the overall cross-sectional extent while maintaining both imaging and working functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a traditional radial arrangement where components are positioned in different radial directions to a stacked arrangement where the camera and working channel are positioned one above the other in the longitudinal dimension. This dimensional reorganization allows both components to fit within a smaller cross-sectional footprint.
2Volume of moving object
If the tip part assembly is made with smaller diameter, then patient comfort and accessibility to narrow body cavities improve, but electrical insulation and mechanical stability become more difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible insulating coating applied to the outer surface of the tip part assembly. This thin film provides adequate electrical insulation without adding significant thickness, allowing the assembly to maintain a small outer diameter while ensuring reliable electrical insulation against the surrounding body cavity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction for the tip part assembly, combining flexible insulating materials with structural components. This composite approach enables the assembly to achieve both small diameter and adequate electrical insulation by selecting materials that provide insulation properties without significant bulk.
3Volume of moving object
If the tip part assembly is made with smaller diameter, then patient comfort and accessibility improve, but mechanical stability and resistance to liquid ingress become more difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible protective coating that forms a liquid-tight barrier around the tip part assembly. This thin film provides mechanical protection and prevents liquid ingress without adding significant thickness, maintaining both small diameter and adequate mechanical stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction for the tip part assembly, combining materials with different properties to achieve both small diameter and mechanical stability. The composite structure provides inherent strength and liquid resistance while maintaining a compact cross-sectional extent.
4Volume of moving object
If the housing thickness is reduced to decrease outer diameter, then the cross-sectional extent is minimized, but the structural integrity and insulation may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible structural material for the housing that maintains sufficient structural integrity even at reduced thickness. The flexible nature of the material allows it to bend and conform while maintaining strength, enabling thinner housing walls without compromising structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction for the housing, combining materials that provide high strength-to-thickness ratios. This allows the housing walls to be made thinner while maintaining adequate structural integrity and insulation properties through the selected composite materials.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2~3
Figure 4a~4b
AI summary
This disclosure relates to a method of manufacture of a tip part assembly for an endoscope, the tip part assembly comprising a bending section and a tip part and having a proximal end and a distal end, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing the bending section, the bending section having a distal end segment, b) providing a camera assembly of the tip part, the camera assembly including a camera module and a circuit board, the camera assembly having a distal end and a proximal end opposite the distal end, the circuit board being positioned at the proximal end, c) providing a cup-shaped housing having an open proximal end, the housing further having a distal end positioned oppositely from the proximal end and defining a distal end of the manufactured tip part assembly, the housing further comprising a circumferential wall extending between the proximal and distal ends of the housing and a distal end wall positioned at the distal end of the housing, the circumferential wall and the distal end wall enclosing a spacing, d) inserting the camera assembly through the open proximal end of the housing so that the camera assembly is at least partly positioned within the spacing, e) subsequent to step d), filling a liquid adhesive into the spacing through the open proximal end of the housing so that the camera assembly is at least partly embedded in the adhesive.