Profiled Guide for Medical Instrument Shaft Steering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical instrument shafts face challenges with steering element guidance, leading to twisting, wear, and incorrect deflection due to lack of precise guidance, which impairs instrument performance and increases assembly complexity.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a contoured guide with a specific contour shape between the outer and inner tubes to create guide channels for individual steering element guidance, preventing twisting and wear, and enhancing shaft stiffness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple thin steering elements are used for exact control of the distal end, then uniform movement and force distribution are enabled, but assembly complexity increases and steering elements may become twisted or mixed up during threading
Solution Approach 1:
The interior of the shaft is segmented into multiple separate guide channels, each dedicated to guiding a specific steering element. This segmentation prevents steering elements from becoming twisted or mixed up during assembly, while still allowing multiple thin steering elements to be used for precise control of the distal end.
Solution Approach 2:
Each guide channel provides localized guidance with specific geometric constraints tailored to the particular steering element it accommodates. This local quality ensures that each steering element maintains its proper orientation and position throughout the shaft, enabling precise control while simplifying assembly through dedicated pathways.
2Ease of manufacture
If steering elements are guided through the shaft without individual guidance, then assembly is simpler, but steering elements may become twisted and wear may occur due to friction
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure is segmented into multiple separate channels, each providing individual guidance for a steering element. This segmentation maintains assembly simplicity by providing clear pathways while simultaneously improving reliability by preventing twisting and reducing friction-induced wear through dedicated guidance for each element.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the shaft tube is made flexible to allow deflection, then the distal end can be deflected, but the shaft tube may bend when wire tension is applied
Solution Approach 1:
The guide channels are designed with specific geometric properties that provide lateral support to steering elements at critical locations. This local quality allows the shaft to maintain its longitudinal stability and resist bending under wire tension, while still permitting controlled deflection at the distal end through the hinge mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
An elongated shaft for a medical instrument includes an end section that is angled relative to a longitudinal central axis of the shaft by means of a joint mechanism, and a tool is arranged on the end section which can be angled. Multiple guiding elements are guided through the interior of the shaft in the longitudinal direction and connects a drive to the joint mechanism. The shaft has an outer tube or an inner tube and an elongated profiled guide between the outer tube for guiding the guiding elements. The profiled guide includes a first contact point for contacting the outer tube or the inner tube such that a guide channel or multiple guide channels is/are formed in the longitudinal direction between the outer tube and the profiled guide or between the profiled guide and the inner tube for guiding a guiding element or multiple guiding elements.