Medical Facility Collision Protection via Digital Movement Model
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical technology facilities face limitations in freedom of movement due to conservative collision protection systems, which restrict access to clinically relevant positions and are costly and complex, especially when additional components like cable routing systems are not accurately modeled in movement models.
Innovation Solution
A software-based collision protection system that maps the movement of additional components, such as cable routing components, using deterministic relationships between carrier components and additional components, allowing for more precise geometric representations and increased freedom of movement without requiring additional sensors, by incorporating these components into the movement model using existing position data and kinematic chains.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conservative collision protection systems are designed to ensure safety, then collision risks are reduced, but freedom of movement of functional components is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical collision protection systems with a software-based solution. The control facility uses a digital movement model that calculates and monitors the positions of all components (carrier components and additional components) to detect potential collisions, eliminating the need for conservative mechanical limits on movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement model dynamically updates the positions of carrier components and additional components during operation. The system continuously calculates the spatial relationships between components and adjusts collision detection in real-time, allowing functional components to move freely while maintaining safety through active monitoring rather than static constraints.
2Measurement precision
If distance sensors are installed on functional components and carrier components to improve collision detection, then collision protection precision is enhanced, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy (movement model) of the physical system that mirrors the positions and movements of all components. This virtual model allows the control facility to calculate spatial relationships and detect potential collisions without requiring additional physical sensors, achieving precise collision detection through computational geometry rather than hardware additions.
Solution Approach 2:
The control facility performs multiple functions using existing infrastructure: it controls the movement of carrier components, tracks their positions, maintains the digital movement model, and detects potential collisions all through software processing of data from existing position sensors, eliminating the need for dedicated collision detection hardware.
3Device complexity
If additional components like cable routing systems are not included in the movement model, then device complexity is reduced, but collision protection reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into carrier components (actively controlled) and additional components (passively modeled). The movement model incorporates geometric representations of additional components like cable routing systems based on their relationship to carrier components, allowing collision detection without requiring active control or sensors on these additional elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement model acts as an intermediary that bridges the control of carrier components and the collision protection for additional components. By calculating the positions of additional components based on their deterministic relationship to carrier components, the system extends collision protection to all system elements without directly instrumenting them.
4Device complexity
If enlarged geometric model elements are used to represent additional components, then collision protection is simplified, but freedom of movement is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by using precise geometric representations of additional components only in the specific regions where they exist, rather than applying conservative enlargement throughout the entire workspace. The movement model accurately represents the actual geometry and position of cable routing components, allowing functional components to access clinically relevant positions that would be blocked by enlarged model elements.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical technology facility includes a functional component, a carrier arrangement provided so as to position the functional component in a space, at least one additional component configured to be positioned and/or formed differently in different positions of the carrier arrangement, and a control facility. In order to form a collision protection system, the control facility is configured to: update a digital movement model of the medical technology facility, wherein the digital movement model maps the carrier components and the functional component with their movability based on position data that indicates prevailing positions of the carrier components; evaluate the prevailing movement model so as to detect possibly impending collisions with at least one subject and/or object that is located in the movement region and that is mapped in the movement model; and implement at least one collision protection measure when an impending collision is detected.