title: Endoscope shaft-rigidity control mechanism: "FORGUIDE".
abstract: Recent developments in flexible endoscopy and other fields of medical technology have raised the need for compact slender shafts that can be made rigid and compliant at will. A novel compact mechanism, named FORGUIDE, with this functionality was developed. The FORGUIDE shaft rigidifies due to friction between a ring of cables situated between a spring and an inflated tube. A mathematical model for the FORGUIDE mechanism working principle was made and used to obtain understanding of this mechanism, predict the maximum rigidity of a FORGUIDE shaft design, and tune its design variables. The mathematical model gave suggestions for significant performance improvement by fine-tuning the design. A prototype FORGUIDE shaft was built and put to a series of bench tests. These tests showed that the FORGUIDE mechanism provides a reliable and simple way to control the rigidity of a flexible shaft.
authors.affiliation: Department of BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands. a.j.loeve@tudelft.nl
authors.forename: Arjo J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Loeve
authors.forename: Dick H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Plettenburg
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Breedveld
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dankelman
mesh_terms: D003106:Colon / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D019723:Endoscopes; D004867:Equipment Design; D017276:Friction; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011312:Pressure