Disposable Endoscope Tip Assembly for Compact Watertight Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopes face challenges in sealing the distal tip part, which houses delicate electronics and requires watertightness to prevent malfunction due to humidity exposure, while also needing to minimize the tip's dimensions and reduce manufacturing time and costs.
Innovation Solution
A tip part design for disposable endoscopes featuring an exterior housing with integrated tube insertion sleeves and a camera assembly, where the tube insertion sleeves are formed in one piece with the housing, allowing for reduced dimensions and simplified assembly, and a multi-component molding process is used to integrate different materials for sealing and optical properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a transparent monolithic housing is formed by placing electronics and tube in a mold and filling with UV curable resin, then watertight sealing is achieved, but manufacturing time increases due to slow resin rising and curing process
Solution Approach 1:
The tube insertion sleeve is pre-formed as an integrated part of the housing structure before final assembly. The sleeve includes pre-positionedabutment surfaces and sealing features that are prepared in advance, eliminating the need for slow post-assembly sealing operations and reducing overall manufacturing time while maintaining watertight integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the chemical UV curing process with a mechanical insertion and sealing mechanism. The tube is inserted into the pre-formed sleeve and secured through mechanical engagement with abutment surfaces and sealing elements, eliminating the time-consuming UV curing step while achieving equivalent or superior sealing reliability
2Device complexity
If the tip part is sealed using traditional methods with separate components, then manufacturing flexibility is maintained, but the tip dimensions increase and assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tube insertion sleeve is merged with the housing to form an integrated single-piece structure. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate sealing components and reduces the number of assembly steps, simplifying manufacturing while minimizing the tip part dimensions through optimized material distribution
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is integrated into the longitudinal dimension of the sleeve structure rather than requiring additional radial or axial components. The abutment surfaces and sealing features are formed along the length of the sleeve, allowing compact packaging in all three dimensions and reducing overall tip part volume
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 solution provides a sealed, compact, and cost-effective tip part with improved assembly efficiency, ensuring watertightness and reduced external dimensions, while maintaining optical functionality.
Implementation Method 1
The resin is then cured using UV irradiation through the transparent mold to form the monolithic housing.
Data Source
AI summary
A tip part (2) for forming a tip of a disposable insertion endoscope (1), the tip part comprising an exterior housing (9) having an open proximal end (9a) for connection to other parts of the endoscope, the housing further having a distal front wall (11) and a circumferential housing wall (12), the circumferential housing wall extending a total housing length H in a proximal direction from the distal front wall to the proximal end of the housing, the distal front wall and the circumferential housing wall enclosing an interior spacing (24) of the tip part; a camera assembly able to provide an image from light received from an object to be investigated; and a tube insertion sleeve (38) provided within the interior spacing and fixed in relation to the distal front wall, the tube insertion sleeve being formed by a circumferential tube sleeve wall (39) that extends a total tube sleeve length S from the distal front wall of the housing to a proximal end of the tube insertion sleeve so that the tube insertion sleeve comprises an open proximal end; wherein the distal front wall has a fluid opening (10, 16a, 16b, 17) which is aligned with a distal end of the tube insertion sleeve, a proximal surface of the distal front wall surrounding the fluid opening to provide a tube abutment surface (40); whereby a tube (13, 21, 22, 23) can be inserted through the proximal end of the tube insertion sleeve until a distal end of the tube abuts the tube abutment surface, whereby the distal end of the tube is positioned to allow fluid flow through the tube to and through the fluid opening. Furthermore a method of manufacture of the tip part is disclosed.