Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/313—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor for introducing through surgical openings, e.g. laparoscopes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/44—Mechanical structures for providing tensile strength and external protection for fibres, e.g. optical transmission cables
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/24—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor for the mouth, i.e. stomatoscopes, e.g. with tongue depressors; Instruments for opening or keeping open the mouth
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/44—Mechanical structures for providing tensile strength and external protection for fibres, e.g. optical transmission cables
  • G02B6/4401—Optical cables
  • G02B6/4415—Cables for special applications
  • G02B6/4416—Heterogeneous cables
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B11/00—Communication cables or conductors
  • H01B11/22—Cables including at least one electrical conductor together with optical fibres

Definitions

• This invention relates to multiple-wire cables, and more particularly cables for remote imaging systems.
• Remote imaging systems are used to view objects not normally accessible to human observation or conventional imaging tools. Only limited-size image transducers are positioned for viewing, and a signal is transmitted to a remote location for viewing. For instance, surgeons use optical probes to view internal anatomy for diagnosis or surgery. Such systems require miniaturized multi-wire cable assemblies to transmit images recorded by a charge coupled device (CCD) to an external display screen.
• CCD charge coupled device
• a further disadvantage of existing systems is that they lack a light source, requiring a second cable in the surgeon's hand to convey light via an optical fiber bundle. Coordination of separate cables makes surgery is difficult, and requires a larger surgical opening in the patient. Moreover, efforts to unify the two cables create a much stiffer cable lacking desired flexibility due to its overall size.
• the present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing an optical imaging system with a flexible cable having a first end and a second end.
• the cable has a central core element including a flexible optical conduit, with a number of wires surrounding the core element to form a tube concentric with an axis defined by the center of the core.
• the cable has a conductive shield layer surrounding the wires and uniformly spaced apart from the wires
• An electronic instrument is connected to the first end of the cable and has an illuminator coupled with the optical conduit and a display device connected to the wires.
• An image transducer is connected to the second end of the cable and is connected to the wires.
• the wires may be twisted pairs evenly spaced apart from each other, and evenly spaced apart from an axis defined by the core.
• Figure 1 is a cut-away perspective view of a cable assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 2 is a cut-away perspective view of a cable assembly component according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 3 is a sectional end view of a cable assembly according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 4 is a cut-away perspective view of an imaging system employing the cable assembly according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 1 shows a flexible cable assembly 10 for high frequency signal or high speed data transmission.
• the cable includes a core 12, a set of twistedpair wires 14 helically wrapped about the core, and an outer sheath portion 16.
• the core has a flexible optical conduit provided by bundle of light-transmissive optical fibers 20.
• the fibers are wrapped by a spiral metal armor layer 22 with an inside diameter of 0.160, and an outside diameter of 0.200.
• the armor layer serves to provide a cylindrical shape that does not deviate in cross section significantly under later pressure, to preserve uniform spacing of the pairs from the axis of the cable.
• the armor is insulated by a helically- wrapped single band of thin tape 23.
• the tape is a low-friction fluoropolymer film having a thickness of 0.002 inch, a width of 0.125 inch, and wrapped with 45% overlap.
• the conduit is provided by 2050 fibers, each of .66 Numerical Aperture and having a 70 micron diameter, with a fiber packing density of 80%, for an overall diameter of 3.5 mm.
• the twisted pair wires 14 each include two helically twisted wires insulated from each other and encased in a conformal pair sheath as will be discussed below. Nine twisted pairs are provided, although this number may vary without limitation depending on the needs of the particular application.
• Each twisted pair sheath has a diameter of 0.030 inch, which allows each to abut the surface of the core throughout its entire length, and to abut each adjacent pair sheath. This ensures that each pair is kept at the same controlled distance from the core conductor, and from the adjacent pairs.
• the pairs wrap helically about the core.
• the wrap angle results in each pair making one full wrap about the core over a cable length of 2.0 inches.
• the wrap angle may vary slightly to accommodate variations in pair sheath diameter and core sheath diameter. If the pairs were sized to abut each other and the core, a slight variance of the pair diameter above nominal, or of the core diameter below nominal would cause at least one pair to be forced away from abutment with the core. However, an intended slight under-sizing of the pairs (and/or over-sizing of the core) prevents this problem. In this case, the expected gapping between pairs that would occur if they were parallel to the core is prevented by helically wrapping them.
• the degree of the wrap angle is in effect determined by the geometry of the pairs and core, with the wrap angle increasing (and the length for one full helical revolution of a pair decreasing) for smaller pair diameters.
• the twisted pairs are helically wrapped by a single band of thin tape 26 that holds the pairs against the core during intermediate manufacturing stages, and throughout the life of the cable.
• the tape is slightly tensioned to bias the pairs against the core, and to prevent gapping when the cable is flexed during usage.
• the tape is a low-friction fluoropolymer film having a thickness of 0.004 inch. With a tape width of 0.5 inch, and an outside diameter of the pair and core bundle of 0.290 inch, the tape wraps with approximately 3 turns to the inch, with a 30% overlap between wraps.
• a conductive shield 32 wraps closely about the bundle.
• the shield is a braided wrap of
• An outer sheath 34 closely surrounds the shield with a wall thickness of 0.030 inch, and provides protection against damage.
• the outer sheath is formed of flexible polyurethane, and is preferably co-extruded about the shield.
• the finished cable has an exterior diameter of 0.390 inches.
• FIG. 2 shows a single twisted pair 14 in detail.
• Each wire of the pair has a conductor 40 of 32 AWG copper, surrounded by an insulating sheath 42 of 0.003 inch wall thickness fluropolymer material.
• Each sheathed wire has an outside diameter of 0.015 inch.
• the wires are wound in a helix with a twist rate of 3 full turns per inch. In some applications, the twist rates may be engineered at different rates to avoid unwanted interference between adjacent pairs. In alternative embodiments, the twist rates may alternate between two different values so that adjacent pairs do not interact.
• the wires are in contact with each other along their entire length, on an axis.
• the wires are encased in a cover 44 of polymeric material. The cover is co-extruded about the wires, with an outside diameter of 0.045 inch, or 1-1/2 times the diameter of the pairs.
• the cable enables data rates of 100 to 655 Mbits/sec per pair. This is for cables with a length of 18 to 120 inches. While the very fine wires employed are needed to ensure flexibility for applications where a connected component must be moved comfortably (such as for input devices or transducers connected to computing equipment or electronic instruments), it is believed that longer cable lengths required for other purposes will require larger conductors. Although these may employ the concepts disclosed and illustrated for the preferred embodiment, they are less suited where repeated flexibility is needed.
• the cable 10 is employed in an imaging system 50 as shown in Figure 4.
• the system includes an instrument 52, the cable 10, and a camera 54.
• the cable 10 has a first end 56 connected to the instrument, and a second end 60 connected to the camera.
• the instrument has a housing 62 with a connector 64.
• a fiber optic conduit 66 extends within the housing from the connector 64 to an illumination source such as a light bulb 70, via a concentrating lens 72 that couples the light source to the conduit.
• a set of electrical wires 74 extends from the connector to an electronic circuit element 76 in the housing.
• An electronic display screen 80 is electronically connected to the circuitry. The circuitry serves to receive an electronically encoded moving image information via the cable, and decodes it for display on the screen.
• the instrument connector includes an interface suitable for coupling the optical conduit 66 in the housing with the optical fiber bundle 20 of the cable.
• the connector includes components to connect the wiring 74 with the wires of the cable.
• the cable maybe permanently attached to the housing, so that no connector is required, and so that the optical fibers extend fully to the light source, and the cable wires connect directly to the circuitry.
• the camera 54 is a compact device having a housing 82 defining a chamber 84 in which a charge-coupled device (CCD) 86 is contained.
• CCD charge-coupled device
• any electronic image transducer suitable for generating an electronic signal that may be decoded for regeneration of an image formed on the transducer surface may be employed.
• a lens 90 in the housing is positioned on axis with the imaging surface of the CCD, to form an image of an object 92 on the imaging surface.
• the wires 14 of the cable are connected to the CCD, so that a corresponding electronic image 92' is displayed on the screen 80.
• Illumination of the object is provided by the light transmitted by the fiber optic bundle.
• the end of the fiber bundle 20 is located adjacent to the imaging lens 90, so that emitted light shines in the direction of the optical axis of the lens.
• the fiber ends may be distributed coaxially about the imaging lens.
• the camera is positioned away from the instrument, and adjacent to the object imaged.
• the camera may be internally positioned in a patient.
• the camera may be mounted together with surgical instruments such as endoscopes.
• sensors or elements requiring the protection of the spiral armor may be substituted for the optical fiber bundle.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Surgery (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Medical Informatics (AREA)
• Radiology & Medical Imaging (AREA)
• Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Biophysics (AREA)
• Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
• Pathology (AREA)
• Molecular Biology (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Communication Cables (AREA)
• Endoscopes (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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• 2002
  • 2002-02-06 CN CNA028167759A patent/CN1547447A/zh active Pending
  • 2002-02-06 EP EP02709476A patent/EP1408810A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-02-06 AU AU2002243958A patent/AU2002243958A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-02-06 JP JP2003517647A patent/JP2005526263A/ja active Pending
  • 2002-02-06 KR KR10-2004-7001102A patent/KR20040048885A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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