JPH03215238A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the drainage of an objective lens by mounting the objective lens to a leading end part main body so that the leading end surface thereof is allowed to protrude from the leading end surface of the main body and making the protruding width of the objective lens larger than the longitudinal width of the orifice of the tip of a nozzle and directing the orifice part of the nozzle toward the protruding wall part of the objective lens. CONSTITUTION:The air and water feed control valve 37 of an operation part 35 is operated by a user to spray water to the surface of an objective lens 101 from a nozzle 102 through an air and water feed pipeline 106. At this time, the water spreads from the tip of the nozzle 102 to forcibly flow along the surface of the lens 1 to wash off mucus. Next, when air feed operation is performed by operating the air and water feed control valve 37, the water left on the surface of the objective lens 101 is removed by the force of the fed air. At this time, the fine waterdrops remaining in the air and water feed pipeline 106 or the nozzle 102 are discharged toward the lens 101 from the tip of the nozzle 102 whose orifice part has width B along with the fed air but, since the lens 101 protrudes by width A from the surface of a leading end cover 103 and the width A is larger than the diameter of each of waterdrops, waterdrops can not get over a vertical rising wall part 108 to become a state whirling around the lens 101.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present application relates to an endoscope in which a nozzle for air and water supply is provided on the distal end body of the insertion section.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In general, an endoscope is provided with a nozzle for supplying air and water at the distal end body of the insertion portion thereof, with the distal end opening facing the objective lens. Then, during observation with the insertion part introduced into the body cavity, when blood or dirt in the body cavity adheres to the objective lens and the field of view is obstructed, water is supplied from the nozzle toward the objective lens, The objective lens is then cleaned by blowing air to remove water droplets attached to the objective lens.

By the way, when cleaning the objective lens using the method described above, air is supplied for the purpose of removing water droplets after the water supply is completed.
Water droplets adhering to the inside of the air/water supply pipe or the inner surface of the nozzle are released as fine water droplets from the tip of the nozzle by the air supply. The ejected water droplets adhered to the surface of the objective lens, and the attached small water droplets were difficult to completely remove even with air supply, which obstructed the field of view. Specifically, conventional examples are shown in Figures 4 and 5 (a) and (b). As shown in FIG. 4, the tip component 32 includes an objective lens L, an air/water supply nozzle 2 having an opening facing the objective lens, a forceps opening, and a light guide lens (not shown).
is provided. The tip cover 3 is formed horizontally so as to cover the front side of the tip component 32, and is adhered to the tip component.

A digital image element 4 is provided at the rear end of the objective lens l, and a video signal of an image formed on this element is displayed as an image on a monitor that is led to a processor device through a signal cable 5. Further, an air and water supply pipe 6 is connected to the rear end side of the air and water supply nozzle 2, and the objective lens 1 is passed through the air and water supply nozzle 2 by operating an air and water supply control valve of an operation section (not shown).
Dirt on the surface of the objective lens 1 can be removed by sending water and air to the surface.

However, the stepped portion between the objective lens 1 and the tip cover 3 is bonded smoothly in a slope shape with an adhesive 9. For this reason, water droplets remaining in the pipe were discharged from the nozzle 2 during air supply after water supply, climbed up the slope of the slope-shaped adhesive 9, and adhered to the surface of the objective lens 1, obstructing the field of view. ．． In order to solve this drawback, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-54081 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-10610, the surface quality of the tip of the endoscope was improved and a wiper was installed to wipe the objective lens surface. It is believed that this is the case. However, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-54801, a hydrophilic part and a water-repellent part are provided to make it easier to remove water droplets from the lens surface, but this does not prevent the water droplets from being ejected from the nozzle and flying onto the objective lens surface in the first place. However, a considerable amount of water droplets remain on the lens surface. Furthermore, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-10610, a so-called wiper is provided at the tip of the endoscope to wipe the objective lens surface, so the end of the endoscope becomes larger due to the wiper, and the movable parts tend to break down. There are drawbacks to this. The present application was made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and aims to provide an endoscope that has a simple structure and has an objective lens that drains water easily. [Means and effects for solving the problem] In an endoscope having at least an objective lens and a nozzle for cleaning the objective lens in the distal end body of the insertion section, the distal end surface of the objective lens is connected to the distal end body of the insertion section. The nozzle is attached so as to protrude from the tip surface, and the width of the protrusion is larger than the vertical width of the opening at the mouth of the nozzle, and the nozzle opening is oriented toward the protruding wall of the objective lens; Improved water drainage on the surface of the objective lens. [Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the main parts of the present invention, FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are diagrams showing the state of the water supply system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the endoscope apparatus. As shown in FIG. 3, an endoscope, for example, an electronic endoscope device, includes an endoscope 30 that is elongated so as to be inserted into a body cavity, and a universal cord 40 of the endoscope 30.
a video processor 42 connected by a connector 41;
and a monitor 43 that displays a subject such as a body cavity internal region based on a video output signal from a video processor device 42. The endoscope 30 includes an elongated insertion section 31 and an elongated insertion section 31.
Consists of a large-diameter operating section 35 connected to the rear end, a universal cord 40 extending to the side of the operating section 35, and a connector 41 provided at the end of the universal cord 40. has been done.

The insertion section 31 includes a distal end section 32 in which an image sensor for capturing an image of a subject is disposed, a bending section 33 connected to the rear end of the distal end section 32 and capable of bending vertically/horizontally. It consists of a flexible tube section 34 connected to the rear end of a curved section 33. The operation section 35 includes an angle knob 39 for bending the bending section, and a forceps 036 communicating with a forceps channel provided inside the insertion section 3l.
, an air/water supply control valve 37 for controlling the supply of air to the air supply line installed inside the insertion section 31 , and a switch (not shown) for controlling the video processor 42 . The video processor unit f42 includes a light source unit that supplies illumination light to a light guide installed in the endoscope, and performs various signal processing on the image signal input from the image sensor and converts it into a video signal. For example, it is composed of a video signal processing section that outputs to the monitor 43, and the like. In this embodiment, the distal end component 32 of the endoscope 30 has the following configuration. Incidentally, parts having the same configuration as the conventional example shown in FIG. 3 are given the same numbers, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. That is, the surface of the objective lens 101 is made to protrude from the surface of the tip cover 103 by a width A to form a protruding wall portion 108 perpendicular to the surface of the tip cover 103, and the wall portion 8 is Air and water nozzle 10 directed toward
The vertical width B of the mouth opening of No. 2 is configured to be smaller than the radius A. Note that the objective lens frame 107 is fixed to the tip cover 105 and the pre-spray component main body 132 by adhesive 109. The operation of the endoscope configured in this way when supplying air and water will be explained with reference to Figures 2 (a) and (b). Objective lens 10
1 becomes dirty with mucus or the like and obstructs the field of view, the user first operates the air/water supply control valve 37 of the operating section 35 to supply water. Then, water stored in a water supply tank (not shown) is sprayed from the nozzle 102 onto the surface of the objective lens 101 via the air and water supply pipe 106. At this time, the water flow spreads over a certain range from the mouth of the nozzle 102, as shown in FIG. 2(a), and flows vigorously over the surface of the objective lens 1, washing away mucus and the like. Next, the air/water supply control valve 37 is operated to perform an air supply operation. Then, the water remaining on the objective lens surface is removed by the force of the air supply. At this time, fine water droplets remain inside the air and water supply pipe 106 and inside the nozzle 102 and flow into the nozzle 1 along with the air supply.
Since the width of the opening at the mouth of the nozzle 102 is B, the diameter of the water droplets discharged from the mouth of the nozzle 102 is also approximately the width B. Water droplets of this size are discharged from the mouth of the nozzle 102 in the direction of the objective lens 101.
3, and since this width A is larger than the diameter of the water droplet, the water droplet cannot get over this vertical rising wall part 8 (see Figure 2).
As shown in the figure, the light goes around the objective lens 101. In other words, even if air is supplied, the air and water supply pipe 1
Water droplets remaining inside the nozzle 102 and the objective lens 1
It is possible to eliminate the problem of the film becoming attached to the surface of the 01 surface and obstructing the field of view.

Note that a light-shielding paint or the like is applied to the vertical protruding wall portion 108 of the objective lens 101 to prevent the incidence of illumination light. Further, instead of applying paint, the lens frame 107 may be extended to the former tip surface of the objective lens 1.

In addition, although the nozzle is manufactured by bending a pipe in the above embodiment, the nozzle is not limited to this. For example, a slit is provided on the side surface of a cylindrical member with a bottom, and water and air flow through the slit to the objective lens. In this case, it is sufficient that the lens protrusion width is higher than the vertical width of the slit opening, and that the slit opening faces the lens protruding wall. ．． [Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an endoscope with a simple configuration and excellent drainage of water from the surface of the objective lens.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an endoscope having at least an objective lens and a nozzle for cleaning the objective lens in the distal end body of the insertion section, the distal end surface of the objective lens is attached so as to protrude beyond the distal end surface of the distal end body, and this protrusion is provided. An endoscope characterized in that the width of the nozzle opening is larger than the vertical width of the nozzle mouth opening, and the nozzle opening is oriented toward a protruding wall of the objective lens.