OPTICAL MONITORING DEVICE FOR MONITORING THE VALUE OF THE CURVATURE OF A FLEXIBLE MEDICAL INSTRUMENT Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC G01M11/08 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: device and method for implementing the claimed device comprises an optical fiber detector comprising one or more optical fibers, a light source for introducing light into optical fibers, a light receiver for measuring the optical characteristic of reflected light from optical fibers. Moreover, the optical fibers are designed so that the optical characteristic of the reflected light is exposed to the bending of the fibers. In addition, a processor for analyzing the measured optical characteristic to determine the value of the curvature of the optical fiber detector and for comparing the curvature value with the threshold curvature value. The processor is further configured to: locate along a fiber optic detector with a defined curvature value, store the previous curvature values and the associated location along the fiber detector in the storage device and analyze the stored curvature values by counting or summing the curvature values determined at a predetermined location with the current time, to predict the failure of a flexible medical instrument.

EFFECT: determining the exact location of the deformation of the medical instrument followed by the formation of a warning.

4 cl, 2 dwg