FBG CATHETER USING THE FBG OPTICAL FIBER FOR SHAPE AND CONTACT FORCE SENSING AND CATHETER SYSTEM THEREBY

摘要

The present invention relates to a catheter comprising: a catheter body including a first region defined as a pathway including one or more channels, and a second region defined as a front end including a tip capable of being condensed upon application of an external force; optical fibers inserted into the channels and in which a plurality of FBGs are disposed in a length direction of the catheter body; and an elastic member provided inside the front end to surround the optical fibers, made of a material having a different elasticity than elasticity of the catheter body, and configured to concentrate an external force applied on the tip on the front end. In particular, the plurality of FBGs are configured to sense a shape of the catheter body by using optical wavelength information of an FBG group disposed in the first region, and are configured to sense the external force applied onto the tip by using optical wavelength information of an FBG group disposed in the second region. According to the present invention, by calculating triplets generated from three wavelength information items transmitted according to FBGs provided in three respective optical cores, the position, direction, angle, and curvature of a bent portion of the catheter body can be detected, thus enabling the shape of the catheter to be sensed.