JPH11216186A - Helically structured active flexible tube belt element and helically structured active flexible tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize multi-degrees of freedom of a catheter and enable the catheter to bend and move regardless of the kind of walls by arranging plural actuators that control the intervals between the upper and the lower rims of the base along the longitudinal direction of the belt-shaped flexible substrate and controlling components that drive and control them. SOLUTION: The catheter belt 1 consists of a belt-shaped base board 2 that is composed of a flexible and soft material. The base board 2 is made as the interval w between the upper and the lower rims can be extended and shrunken. To make the interval variable, the part of which interval can be varied is made between the upper and the lower rims serially or intermittently. On the base board 2, plural linear actuators 6 that controls the interval, controlling circuit 7 and driving circuit 8 that controls and drives the actuators are arranged. the upper rim 3 and the lower rim 4 are connected by the linear actuator 6 as each interval can be movable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a helical active flexible tube base band and a helical active flexible tube. The helical active flexible tube base and the helical active flexible tube of the present invention are used in the medical industry such as catheters, endoscopes and forceps,
It can be used in industrial fields such as capillary inspection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Active flexible tubes can be used as catheters to be inserted into body cavities or hollow organs or as test tubes to be inserted into tubules when examining tubules. Active catheters that have the flexibility to bend when inserted into a catheter and have the function of bending themselves and that can be actively bent have been developed.

[0003]

The conventional active-bendable catheter has a driving mechanism in which a wire is extended from the distal end to the outside of the body and moved, or the wire is made to have elasticity using a shape memory alloy or the like. The information transmission mechanism became large, and it was difficult to increase the degree of freedom. On the other hand, a method has been proposed in which a plate on which an actuator (shape memory alloy) and a control circuit are integrated is attached to the side surface of a cylinder to reduce the number of wires. In this method, however, the work of attaching a plate on a curved surface and performing wiring is troublesome. However, the problems of wiring integration and labor saving cannot be solved.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and realizes a multi-degree of freedom of a catheter.
A catheter element that can bend and move forward and backward regardless of irregular or fixed wall surfaces and can enter complicated body cavities.Also, it has multiple contact surfaces to distribute the load and to move freely even in highly constrained environments. It is an object to provide a band and a helical catheter.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this object, a catheter strip according to the present invention controls a distance between an upper side and a lower side of a flexible substrate in the form of a strip along a longitudinal direction. A plurality of actuators are arranged, and a control element for controlling and driving the actuator and a drive element are arranged. Further, in the helical catheter of the present invention, a plurality of actuators for controlling a distance between an upper side portion and a lower side portion of the substrate are arranged on a strip-shaped flexible substrate along a longitudinal direction, and a control for controlling and driving the actuator is provided. The catheter is characterized in that a catheter band formed by disposing the element and the driving element is spirally wound or spirally wound around the surface of a flexible tube.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a catheter base band. The catheter base 1 has a band-shaped substrate 2. The substrate 2 is made of a flexible material. As such a material, for example, a polyamide strip having a width of 10 mm, a thickness of 100 μ, and a length of 100 mm can be used. The distance w between the upper side 3 and the lower side 4 of the substrate 2 is variable. The substrate has a variable interval section 5 between the upper side section 3 and the lower side section 4 intermittently or continuously in the length direction in order to make the substrate a variable interval structure. The variable interval unit 5 intermittently or continuously reduces the thickness of the substrate in the length direction of the substrate 2 to reduce the resistance to expansion and contraction, or
The material of the substrate between the lower side portion 4 and the lower side portion is cut off in that portion in a window shape. A plurality of linear actuators 6 for controlling the distance between the upper side 3 and the lower side 4 of the substrate 2 are arranged on the substrate 2 along the longitudinal direction, and a control circuit 7 and a drive circuit 8 for controlling and driving the linear actuator 6 are disposed. ing. The upper side 3 and the lower side 4 of the substrate are connected by a linear actuator 6 so that the distance between them can be changed.

A control signal transmission line 11 is connected to the control circuit 7. A power transmission unit (positive) 12 and a power transmission unit (negative) 13 are connected to the drive circuit 8.

As the linear actuator 6, an ultrasonic motor, a fluid pressure motor or the like can be used in addition to the one using a shape memory alloy. FIG. 4 shows an example of the control circuit 7.
Shown in

FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration in which a linear actuator 6 using a shape memory alloy is used. The linear actuator 6 uses a shape memory alloy wire 6a for expansion and a shape memory alloy 6b for contraction, the driving circuit 8 uses a switching circuit (for expansion) 8a, a switching circuit (for contraction) 8b, and a power transmission unit (positive). 12, a power supply line 12a, and a power transmission section (shade) 13 as a ground line 1
3a is used. When an ultrasonic motor is used as the linear actuator 6, the drive circuit 8 has substantially the same configuration. However, when a liquid pressure motor is used as the linear actuator 6, a positive fluid pressure circuit (higher pressure) is used as the power transmission unit (positive), and the power transmission unit (shade) is used.
As 13, a negative fluid pressure circuit (lower pressure) is used.

As shown in FIG. 5, the catheter strip 1 constructed as described above is spirally wound as shown in FIG. 5, or spirally wound around the surface of a flexible tube to constitute the catheter 20. At this time, the linear actuators 6 are arranged at equal intervals so that there are, for example, three or more linear actuators in one turn. In the catheter 20 in which the catheter strip 1 is spirally wound, when a signal is transmitted from the control signal transmission line 14 to the control circuit 13 to supply power to the linear actuator 6 from the driving force transmission line 15, the linear actuator 6 expands and contracts. It can bend and expand and contract in two directions like a coil spring.

[0011]

According to the active flexible flexible tube of the spiral structure and the active flexible flexible tube of the spiral structure according to the present invention, since the active flexible flexible flexible tube of the spiral structure is flat, it is not necessary to manufacture minute actuators and sensors. Since it is performed on a plane, the conventional integration technology can be applied as it is. The method also has an advantage in incorporating elements made out of plane. Further, since all actuators and sensors are formed on a continuous plane, wiring can be performed in this plane, and integration of the wiring is easy. In conventional active catheters, since the individual actuators and sensors are manufactured separately, wiring must be performed at the stage of assembly, which makes manufacturing difficult and expensive. Further, if an integrated circuit is used, a control circuit can be formed, thereby reducing the number of lines.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a multi-degree-of-freedom catheter and to enter a complicated body cavity which can be bent and retreated regardless of an irregular wall surface or a fixed wall surface. In addition, by having a plurality of contact surfaces, the load can be dispersed, and a catheter strip and a helical catheter that can move freely even in an environment with many constraints can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of a spirally-structured active flexible tube strip.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view of a portion A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration explanatory view showing an example of a linear actuator and a control driving element.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a control circuit.

FIG. 5 is a process explanatory view showing a process of manufacturing a helically structured active flexible tube.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Catheter band 2 Substrate 3 Upper side 4 Lower side 5 Interval variable section 6 Linear actuator 7 Control drive element 8 Control drive circuit 11 Control signal transmission line 12 Power transmission section (positive) 13 Power transmission section (shade) 20 Catheter

Claims (6)

[Claims] A control element for arranging a plurality of linear actuators for controlling a distance between an upper side and a lower side of the substrate along a longitudinal direction on a strip-shaped flexible substrate, and controlling and driving the linear actuator; A helical active flexible tubular element characterized by comprising a driving element disposed therein 2. A control element for arranging a plurality of linear actuators for controlling an interval between an upper side and a lower side of the substrate along a longitudinal direction on a strip-shaped flexible substrate, and controlling and driving the linear actuator. A spiral active flexible tubular element band comprising a driving element, wherein the substrate is intermittently or continuously positioned in a longitudinal direction, and a distance between an upper side and a lower side is variable. A helically structured active flexible tubular element comprising a variable portion. 3. The variable distance section is intermittently or continuously located in a longitudinal direction of the substrate, and is formed by removing a material of the substrate between an upper side and a lower side. The active flexible tubular element having a helical structure according to claim 2, characterized in that: 4. A control element for arranging a plurality of linear actuators for controlling a distance between an upper side and a lower side of the substrate along a longitudinal direction on a strip-shaped flexible substrate, and controlling and driving the linear actuator. A helically structured active flexible tube characterized by comprising a spirally structured active flexible tubular element band in which a driving element is arranged and spirally wound or spirally wound around the surface of a flexible tube. 5. A control element for disposing a plurality of linear actuators for controlling a distance between an upper side and a lower side of the substrate along a longitudinal direction on a strip-shaped flexible substrate, and controlling and driving the linear actuator. A helical active flexible tubular element band having a driving element disposed therein, wherein the substrate is intermittently or continuously positioned in a longitudinal direction, and a distance between an upper side and a lower side is variable. A variable portion is configured, and the linear actuator is disposed on the variable interval portion, and is formed by spirally winding the spiral-structured active flexible tubular element or spirally winding the surface of a flexible tube. Spiral active flexible tube characterized by the following: 6. The variable distance section is intermittently or continuously located in a longitudinal direction of the substrate and is formed by removing a material of the substrate between an upper side and a lower side. 6. An active flexible tube having a helical structure according to claim 5, wherein: