Catheter Articulation via Magnetic Field Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current articulation systems for catheters and elongate flexible bodies face challenges in maintaining accurate control due to hysteresis and friction issues, leading to unpredictable behavior, especially in tortuous vascular pathways, and often require complex and costly systems with many pull wires or motors.
Innovation Solution
A fluid-driven balloon array system that interacts with an elongate skeletal structure to locally alter articulation, using a processor-controlled inflation system with valves to selectively inflate or deflate balloons, allowing for precise control over the stiffness and bending of catheters and other flexible structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If complex articulation systems with many pull wires or motors are used, then control accuracy is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical articulation systems (pull wires, motors) with a magnetic field-based system. A magnetic field generator creates a magnetic field that interacts with a magnet embedded in the catheter tip, enabling wireless control of catheter articulation. This substitution eliminates complex mechanical components while maintaining control accuracy through magnetic field manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a magnetic field as an intermediary between the control system and the catheter. The magnetic field acts as a mediator that transmits control signals wirelessly through tissue, enabling precise articulation control without direct mechanical connection. This intermediary approach simplifies the system architecture while preserving control fidelity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If traditional articulation systems are used, then structural support is maintained, but hysteresis and friction cause unpredictable behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates mechanical friction and hysteresis by replacing pull-wire mechanisms with a magnetic field-based articulation system. The magnet embedded in the catheter tip responds predictably to magnetic field gradients without mechanical contact, eliminating the unpredictable behavior caused by friction and hysteresis in traditional systems while maintaining structural support through the catheter's inherent design.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive catheter approaches are used, then patient trauma is reduced, but access to and alignment with target tissues becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses magnetic field-based articulation to enable precise control of catheter tip orientation and position without requiring complex mechanical articulation mechanisms within the catheter body. This allows minimally invasive catheters to achieve sophisticated alignment capabilities through external magnetic field control, maintaining the benefits of small catheter size while improving operational ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables dynamic control of catheter articulation by changing magnetic field parameters (strength, direction, gradient) to achieve desired catheter tip orientation. This parameter-based control allows flexible adjustment of catheter configuration to match complex vascular anatomy, improving alignment capability while maintaining minimally invasive characteristics.
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 solution provides improved control and dexterity for catheters within the beating heart, enabling better alignment with target tissues and reducing the complexity and cost of articulation systems by using a modular manifold architecture with fluid channels and pressure control, allowing for tailored motion and varied stiffness along the catheter length.
Implementation Method 1
The charge receiving coupler may comprise an inductive charge receiving coupler, and the charge providing coupler may similarly comprise an inductive charge providing coupler
Data Source
AI summary
Articulation devices, systems, methods for articulation, and methods for fabricating articulation structures will often include simple balloon arrays, with inflation of the balloons interacting with elongate skeletal support structures so as to locally alter articulation of the skeleton. The skeleton may comprise a simple helical coil or interlocking helical channels, and the array can be used to locally deflect or elongate an axis of the coil under control of a processor. Liquid inflation fluid may be directed so as to pressurize the balloons from an inflation fluid canister, and may vaporize within a plenum or the channels or balloons of the articulation system, with the inflation system preferably including valves controlled by the processor. The articulation structures can be employed in minimally invasive medical catheter systems, and also for industrial robotics, for supporting imaging systems, for entertainment and consumer products, and the like.