Welch Allyn, Inc.

Earl H Slee

Robert J Wood

Michael J Pileski

Gregory E Pasik

This invention involves a lighting system for a portable borescope in which the light is turned on and off at video frequencies and the duration of actuation is controlled in relation to the illumination picked up by the video imager in the distal end of the borescope insertion tube. By turning off the lamp for a significant portion of the duty cycle, a significant amount of power is saved, allowing use of the system in a battery operated borescope.

Illumination system for portable color imager borescope

A portable steerable borescope has a cable bendable steering section adjacent the viewing head, a servo control mechanism for the actuation cables of the bendable steering section, a joystick for actuating the steering section which is located remotely from the insertion tube and a control module/battery pack containing all the operating functions except for the video display which is a standard JVC portable color video monitor, all of which cooperate to yield a compact and portable industrial video borescope that can be used in remote locations as well as in conventional commercial power environments. Special circuitry has been provided to limit power consumption allowing over one hour remote operation without external power or large, heavy cumbersome batteries.

Portable color imager borescope

This invention involves a cable bendable borescope in which opposing cable pairs are displaced to deflect the tip of the borescope in the perpendicular planes of motion. A servo motor is connected to each pair of actuating cables to selectively displace one or the other in accordance with the rotation of the servo motor. A control circuit for rotating the servo motors has a pulse generation network and a modulator circuit for modulating the pulse width to control the degree of rotation of the servo motors. A joystick type of actuator for the control circuit creates a change in variable potentiometers for the two directions of motion of the joystick which, in turn, causes the control circuit to rotate the servo motors for the corresponding plane of motion to produce the desired deflection of the tip of the borescope insertion tube. Tension control, centering and component compensation circuits are provided to limit stress on the cables. The servo motors are slidably mounted on a track with spring anchors to the frame chosen to allow the entire assembly to move to limit tension in the actuating cables to a predetermined amount.

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Syracuse, NY, United States of America

Earl H Slee