Influence of Dither Motion on the Friction Coefficient of a Capsule-type Endoscope

디더 운동이 캡슐형 내시경의 마찰계수 감소에 미치는 영향

Development of a locomotive mechanism for the capsule type endoscopes will largely enhance the ability to diagnose disease of digestive organs. In connection with it, most of the researches have focused on an installable locomotive mechanism in the capsule. In this paper, it is introduced that the movement of a capsule type endoscope in digestive organ can be manipulated by magnetic force produced outside human body. Since the magnetic force is provided by permanent magnets, no additional power supply to the capsule is required. Using a robotic manipulator for locating the external magnet, the capsule motion control system can cover the whole human digestive organs. This study is particularly concentrated on dither motion effect to improve the mobility of capsule type endoscope. It was experimentally found out that the friction coefficient between the capsule and digestive organ can be remarkably reduced by superposing yawing or rolling dither motion on the translatory motion. In this paper, the experimental results obtained while the direction, amplitude and frequency of sinusoidal dither motion were changed are reported.