An Effective Endoscope Actuator Based on Electromagnetic Driving Principle

In this paper, an electromagnetically endoscope driven actuator based on electromagnetic driving principle is proposed. The actuator is mainly composed of three solenoids and one control module. Driving actuation can be realized by controlling the currents in the solenoids. Firstly, depict the movement process and the force condition of a three-solenoid actuator is graphically illustrated. Secondly, the electro-magnetic force (EM force), friction and viscous force on the solenoids are analyzed. Thirdly, the appropriate range of the structure parameters of the solenoid is given. Then, a group of structural parameters is selected to design an electromagnetic actuator. Finally, a prototype actuator consisting of three solenoids has been fabricated. The size of each solenoid is
$16.62 \times 20.88$
mm. Finally, the validity of the actuator is verified by two groups of experiments on experimental plate and pig stomach tissue. The measured results are in good agreement with the calculated results, and the results verify the correctness of the proposed method.