University of Twente Student Theses
Improve stiffening method on STIFF-FLOP based endoscope
Gabriël, G.R. (2019) Improve stiffening method on STIFF-FLOP based endoscope.
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| Abstract: | At times where flexible endoscopes are being used for surgery far away from the incision point, stability is often the lagging factor for a reliable control of the endoscope. Designs based on soft robotics can offer solutions to this problem. A design based on a soft robotic approach is the STIFF-FLOP, a cylindrical soft endoscopic module, consisting of three pneumatic chambers and one central lumen. The chambers can be pneumatically actuated, a positive pressure is applied to one or two chambers, the chamber increases in volume, resulting in a bend module. The main cylinder gets moulded with the soft material silicone. To be able to intervene surgically, adjustable stiffness of the module is necessary. A pneumatic controlled stiffening method, granular jamming, shows to be a possible solution, however it still has some flaws. Other stiffening methods are still open for discussion. Layer jamming is one of those methods, which is based on stiffening with friction between two contacting layers. In this research a stiffening method based on layer jamming is implemented in a scale like design, in a novel approach. Actuation of the system induces interference from the adjacent scales. This contact will provide friction between the layers and thus will stiffen the construction. The scale friction counteracts possible external forces. Experiments are conducted to measure the amount of stiffening that this design/method can provide. It shows that the stiffening method applies stiffening only to a straight module, however quantification was not possible. Releasing the chamber pressure after max bend angle was achieved and stiffening method was applied, dropped the angle with 29.76%. To conclude, this novel design shows to apply stiffness to a straight module. More research is needed to find out if adjusting the scale size will improve the method such that it adds stiffness to a bended module. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Programme: | Electrical Engineering BSc (56953) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/80943 |
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