Endoscopic Actuating Device Threaded Guide Shaft
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopic devices face challenges in handling and production costs, particularly in achieving precise adjustment movements and increased traction for instruments like stone traps, which struggle with stones of large dimensions that cannot be easily removed through bodily orifices without causing patient injury.
Innovation Solution
The actuating device features a guide shaft with an external thread and a thumb ring, along with an adjusting nut that interacts with a contact surface, allowing for precise adjustment and increased traction, enabling the instrument to be fixed in position and apply higher pulling forces, facilitating the removal or fragmentation of large stones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If a complex actuating mechanism is used to achieve precise adjustment and high traction, then the device can handle large stones, but the device complexity and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the adjustment function and the traction function into a single integrated actuating mechanism. The pull rod serves dual purposes: it adjusts the instrument position by moving longitudinally within the guide shaft, and it applies traction force by being pulled through the rope. This merging eliminates the need for separate adjustment and traction mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining both precise adjustment capability and high traction force for handling large stones
Solution Approach 2:
The guide shaft is designed as a multi-functional component that provides both precise longitudinal guidance for the pull rod during adjustment and structural support for withstanding high traction forces during stone removal. The external threading on the guide shaft allows it to serve as both a positioning guide and a force transmission element, embodying the universality principle by making a single component perform multiple critical functions
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple parts are used in the actuating device, then adjustment precision can be improved, but production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The actuating mechanism is segmented into functionally distinct but structurally integrated components: the guide shaft with external threading for precise positioning, the pull rod with internal threading for force application, and the rope for force transmission. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently using standard machining processes, simplifying production while maintaining precise adjustment capability through the threaded interface between components
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex multi-component mechanism to achieve precise adjustment, the patent inverts the approach by using a simple threaded interface where the pull rod threads into the guide shaft. This inverted approach uses a fundamental mechanical principle (screw threading) that is easy to manufacture with high precision, achieving accurate adjustment through a minimal number of parts rather than through complex assembly
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
This design enhances handling precision and speed, allows for intuitive operation, and reduces production costs by using a simple structure with fewer parts, enabling effective stone capture and fragmentation within the body without causing injury.
Implementation Method 1
one of which actuating elements is provided at least partially with an external thread into which an internal thread of an adjusting nut engages
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
An endoscopic device (1) has an instrument at a distal end of a tube (2) which can be actuated via a cable running within a lumen and an actuating device (3) acting proximally on the cable. The actuating device (3) consists of a guide shaft (11) connected at least indirectly to the tube (2) and an actuating element (8) guided longitudinally on the guide shaft and movable towards a proximal end of the guide shaft (11) to initiate the actuating movement.To generate an increased tensile force on the rope and/or to fix the actuating element in a predetermined position, the guide shaft (11) shall be provided at least partially with an external thread (35) into which an internal thread of an actuating nut (15) engages, wherein an end face (16) of the actuating nut (15) interacts with a contact surface (17) of the actuating element (8) facing it in such a way that the rope can be tensioned via the actuating nut (15) and/or the actuating element (8) can be fixed in its position relative to the guide shaft (11).