Endoscope Tip Assembly With Tolerance Compensation and Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopes face challenges in maintaining consistent optical performance due to manufacturing and assembly variations affecting the relative positioning of light sources and image sensors, leading to non-optimal illumination and image quality, while also requiring insulation and liquid-sealing to prevent electrical breakdown and ingress.
Innovation Solution
The tip part incorporates tolerance compensating members to adjust the distance between light sources and image sensors after assembly, along with a sealed exterior housing and flexible printed circuit board, ensuring precise alignment and insulation, and a miniaturized design with integrated bending sections for maneuverability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If standard manufacturing and assembly processes are used for the tip part, then production efficiency is maintained, but manufacturing and assembly variations cause inconsistent relative positioning of light sources and image sensors, leading to non-optimal illumination and image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs adjustable positioning structures that allow dynamic adjustment of the light source position relative to the image sensor during assembly. This enables operators to compensate for manufacturing variations without requiring ultra-precise initial positioning, thereby achieving consistent optical performance while maintaining reasonable assembly speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention allows adjustment of key geometric parameters (distances and angles) between optical components through mechanical adjustment mechanisms. By enabling post-assembly parameter tuning, the system achieves precise optical alignment without demanding extremely tight manufacturing tolerances on individual components.
2Volume of moving object
If the tip part is miniaturized to reduce outer circumference, then new application fields are opened and working channel diameter can be increased, but manufacturing complexity increases and assembly precision requirements become more stringent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functional components within a compact nested arrangement. The adjustable positioning mechanisms, light sources, image sensor, and housing structures are arranged in a space-efficient nested configuration that minimizes the overall tip part diameter while preserving the necessary adjustment capability for optical alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes thin-walled housing structures and flexible mounting substrates that enable precise positioning adjustment in a compact form factor. These thin-film and flexible structures allow for fine-tuning of component positions without requiring large adjustment mechanisms that would increase the tip part diameter.
3Adaptability or versatility
If electrical wiring and optical fibers are routed through the insertion tube to the tip part, then functional integration is achieved, but the risk of insulation breakdown and liquid ingress into electrical and optical components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the electrical and optical components into a sealed, isolated chamber within the tip part housing. By separating these sensitive components from the external environment through robust sealing structures, the design maintains functional integration while protecting against insulation breakdown and liquid ingress.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces sealed feedthrough structures and protective barriers as intermediary elements between the external environment and the internal electrical/optical components. These intermediary sealing structures allow electrical and optical connections to pass through while maintaining liquid-tight and electrically insulating barriers.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3c
AI summary
A tip part for an endoscope, the tip part having a pre-compensation condition and a post-compensation condition, and comprising: a camera assembly having an image sensor and a first light source configured for emitting light along an optical axis to provide illumination of the object to be visualised by the image sensor; and a first tolerance compensating member being configured to, in the pre-compensation condition, allow adjustment of the distance between the first light source and the image sensor along the optical axis of the first light source and being configured to, in the post-compensation condition, maintain the distance between the first light source and the image sensor at least along the optical axis of the first light source.