JPH04176429A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve a higher durability of a bending part along with a finer diameter thereof by providing a manipulating wire for bending which pierces a fluid pressure artificial muscle to bend the bending part of an inserting section by the stretching and contracting action of the fluid pressure artificial muscle. CONSTITUTION:A fluid artificial muscle of a fluid pressure artificial mechanism 13 is made up of a tubular air cavity body 15 comprising an elastic material such as rubber and a air cavity chamber 16 is formed inside the air cavity body 15 to let a pressure fluid in or out. The air cavity body 15 has end members 17a and 17b mounted on the front and rear ends thereof to serve as sealing members concurrently and the front and rear ends of the air cavity body 15 are closed. An insertion hole 18 is formed on the front end member 17a so as to pass a manipulating wire 7 there through. Then, the manipulating wire 7 for bending is taken into the air cavity body 15 through the insertion hole 18. The rear end of the manipulating wire 7 for bending taken in is linked to the rear end member 17b on the internal side of the air cavity body 15. That is, the manipulating wire 7 is provided coaxially along the center axis of the air cavity body 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a curved section of an insertion section is driven to curve by a hydraulic artificial muscle.

[Prior Art] An endoscope in which a curved portion of an insertion portion is bent using a hydraulic artificial muscle is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-62154.

The fluid pressure artificial muscle used in this endoscope has a flexible, non-stretchable filament mesh pipe installed around the outer periphery of an elastomeric air cavity, which supplies fluid into the air cavity and directs it in the radial direction. By expanding it, it contracts in the axial direction and pulls the bending operation wire.

Further, this hydraulic artificial muscle is housed in a tubular semi-rigid exterior member in a state where it is completely covered.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional fluid pressure artificial muscle, the extensible member is covered with a tubular exterior member, so the overall diameter of the fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism becomes large and thick. It had become.

In addition, when fluid is supplied to the air cavity and it expands in its radial direction, the outer periphery of the air cavity presses against the inner surface of the surrounding exterior member and is forcibly pressed down, causing the artificial muscle to expand and contract. Components are susceptible to damage.

The present invention has been made with attention to the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide an endoscope that can reduce the diameter of a fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism and increase the durability of the fluid pressure artificial muscle. be.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a fluid pressure artificial muscle in the insertion section that expands and contracts in the axial direction by supplying and discharging fluid, and the fluid pressure artificial muscle In an endoscope in which the curved part of the insertion section is curved, the negative end is a fixed end that is connected to a connecting member fixed to the inner surface of the insertion section, and the other end is a free end that moves when the insertion section is expanded and contracted. A fluid pressure artificial muscle that expands and contracts in the axial direction by the pressure of the fluid is provided, a bending operation wire is provided that passes through the fluid pressure artificial muscle in the axial direction, and this operation wire is connected to the free end of the fluid pressure artificial muscle. The curved portion of the insertion portion is bent by the expansion and contraction action of the hydraulic artificial muscle via this operation wire.

[Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the insertion section 2 of the endoscope 1 is formed by sequentially connecting a flexible flexible tube 3, a bending section 4, and a distal end component 5 from the proximal side.

The curved section 4 consists of a plurality of curved sections 6 arranged along the axial direction of the insertion section 2 and pivoted so that adjacent ones thereof can rotate in the vertical direction. are provided with wire guides 9 and 10 through which corresponding bending operation wires 7 and 8 are inserted and guided. The most extreme curved portion 6 is attached to the body member of the tip component 5 . The tip of the operating wire 7.8 is fixed to the most extreme curved portion 6 by means of attachment, such as soldering.

The upper and lower bending operation wires 7.8 guided to the rear end side through the wire guides 9 and 10 of the bending section 6 are further guided by a flexible but incompressible guide tube 11.12 made of a tightly wound coil. They are guided rearward and connected to respective corresponding hydraulic artificial muscle mechanisms 13 incorporated within the flexible serpentine tubes 3. Note that one fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism located on the lower side is not illustrated. These two hydraulic artificial muscle mechanisms 13 are arranged so as to be shifted back and forth in the axial direction of the insertion section 2 so as not to overlap each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fluid artificial muscle of the fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism 13 consists of a tube-shaped air cavity body 15 made of an elastic material such as rubber, which is somewhat long in the front and back, and inside the air cavity body 15. forms an air cavity chamber 16 through which pressurized fluid is taken in and taken out. The air cavity body 15 has end members 17a and 17b, which also serve as sealing members, attached to its front end and rear end, respectively, to close the front end and the rear end of the air cavity body 15. An insertion hole 18 through which the operating wire 7 (8) passes is formed in the front end member 17a. The bending operation wire 7 (8) is taken into the air cavity body 15 through the insertion hole 18. The rear end of this taken-in bending operation wire 7 (8) is connected to the rear end member 17b inside the air cavity body 15. In other words,
The operating wire 7 (8) is provided coaxially along the central axis direction of the air cavity body 15. Furthermore, the operation wire 7 (8)
An elastic O-ring 19 as a sealing member is attached to the inner surface of the insertion hole 18 through which the insertion hole 18 passes. The bending operation wire 7 (8) can slide through the insertion hole 18 airtightly, so that the air cavity chamber 16 within the air cavity body 15 is always kept airtight.

Further, the outer periphery of the air cavity body 15 is covered with a braided reinforcing structure (not shown). This braided reinforcement structure is formed by knitting the warp and weft of non-stretchable strands in a plain weave format, for example, to form a cylindrical shape, and each strand is inclined at an equal angle with respect to the central axis of the air cavity body 15. are doing.

Each front and rear end of the braided reinforcement structure has a corresponding end member 17.
a, 17b. Although this braided reinforcing structure is intended to strengthen the contraction force of the air cavity body 15 when pressurized, this is not necessarily necessary.

Furthermore, the front end members 17a of the air cavity body 15 are fixed to the rear ends of the guide tubes 11.12, respectively. ·Also,
The tips of the guide tubes 11 and 12 are fixed to a fixed part on the inner surface of the insertion section 2, for example, to the inner surface of the connecting tube 14 that connects the flexible tube 3 and the bending section 4.

For this reason, the tips of the guide tubes 11, 12 are fixedly connected to the fixed portion of the insertion section 2. In other words, the guide tubes 11 and 12 constitute a connecting member fixed to the inner surface of the insertion section 2.

As described above, since the guide tube 11.12 holding the front end member 17a of the air cavity body 15 has a flexible but non-contractable structure, the front end member 17a of the air cavity body 15 can be inserted easily. It will be fixedly connected to the fixed part of the part 2 via the guide tube 11.12. By this fixing means, the air cavity body 1
5 has its front end member 17a as a fixed end. In this case, other connecting means may be used as long as the front end member 17a can be substantially fixed. For example, it may be fixed directly to the fixed portion of the insertion section 2, or a rod-shaped guide member may be used.

Further, flexible fluid supply/discharge tubes 21 and 22 serving as conduits for supplying and discharging pressurized fluid such as air are connected to the rear end member 17b of the air cavity body 15. A ventilation hole (not shown) is formed in the rear end member 17b to communicate the tube 21, 22 connected thereto with the air cavity chamber 16 of the air cavity body 15.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, a fluid supply/discharge tube 21.2
The other end side of 2 is guided to the outside of the endoscope 1 through the inside of the insertion section 2. Each fluid supply/discharge tube 21.
22 is connected to a compressor 24 via a directional control valve 23. The directional control valve 23 controls the fluid pressure supplied to the inner cavity of the hydraulic artificial muscle mechanism 13 through each tube 21 , 22 , and is operated by the control device 25 . Further, a control device 26 is connected to the control device 25 .

On the other hand, the distal end component 5 of the insertion section 2 is provided with an objective optical lens system 29 for observation as shown in FIG. The signal captured by the solid-state image sensor 30 is transmitted to the second
transmitted to the camera control unit 32 shown in the figure;
Here it is converted into a video signal. A monitor 33 that displays an observed image is connected to the camera control unit 32. Further, the distal end portion 5 of the insertion portion 2 is provided with an illumination lens (not shown). For this purpose, illumination light from a light source device 42 is sent through a light guide fiber 36, and the illumination lens illuminates the observation field.

Next, the operation of the above endoscope system will be explained.

The control device 26 is operated, and the control device 25 controls the direction control valve 23.
Suppose that the compressor 24 sends pressurized air to one side of the fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism 13 disposed inside the flexible pipe 3 through the fluid supply/discharge tubes 21 and 22 by controlling the flow rate.

At this time, due to the increase in the internal pressure applied to the air cavity chamber 16 of the air cavity body 15 in the fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism 13, the air cavity body 15 expands in the radial direction and contracts in the axial direction. This contraction action causes the end member 17b on the free end side to slide rearward. Then, the bending operation wire 7.8 connected to this end member 17b is pulled in the same direction, the pulling force is transmitted to the bending section 4, and the bending section 4 is bent toward the pulling operation wire 7.8. .

Note that when pressurized, for example by increasing the angle of the strands of the braided reinforcing structure in the air cavity 15, the air cavity 1
Fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism 13 configured such that 5 extends and becomes thinner
may be configured.

According to the configuration of the above embodiment, since the air cavity body 15 is not covered with a semi-rigid exterior cylinder member, the diameter of the hydraulic artificial muscle mechanism 13 can be reduced, and when the air cavity body 15 is expanded, Since its outer circumferential surface is not pressed by the exterior cylindrical member, its durability is ensured.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. This second embodiment has an air cavity body 15 and an air cavity chamber 16.
A hollow hole 50 was formed. The hollow hole 50 passes through the air cavity body 15 and the end members 17a, 17b along the longitudinal axis direction of the air cavity body 15. The operating wire 7.degree. 8 is inserted through this hollow hole 50. Operating wire 7.8
The rear end is attached to the end member 17b on the free end side of the air cavity body 15. The rest of the structure is the same as that of the first embodiment.

According to the configuration of this embodiment, since the hollow hole 50 for guiding the operating wire 7.8 is formed separately from the air cavity 16, sealing means such as an elastic O-ring is not required. Furthermore, no frictional force is generated due to the sealing means. Further, the usual operating wire 7.8 can be used as is without considering the sealing means.

Although not described in each of the above embodiments, length measuring means as described below may be incorporated. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a distance sensor 52 for measuring the distance from the object to be observed 51 is provided at the distal end component 5 of the insertion section 2. This distance sensor 52 has a light projector 55 made up of a semiconductor laser 53 and a light projecting lens 54, and a position detector 58 made of a light receiving lens 56 and a position detecting element 57. The optical axes of the light projector 55 and the position detector 58 intersect at an angle in the front.

Next, the case of measuring distance will be explained.

First, a flaw 61 to be measured, for example, is displayed on the monitor 33 as shown in FIG. Then press the freeze switch to pause the screen. Next, the distance to the scratch 61 is measured by the distance sensor 52. Further, on the monitor 33, a scale 62 calculated based on the distance, type of objective lens system, distortion, etc. is superimposed on the freeze screen. The length of the scratch 61 is determined using the scale 62. After the measurement is completed, press the freeze switch again to return to the normal observation image.

Also, as shown in FIG. 9, the screen can be temporarily stopped and the scratch 61
The cursor 65 is placed on one end of the scratch 61, and then the cursor 65 is moved to the other end of the scratch 61 to measure the distance between the two points. The measured results are displayed on the screen.

Note that there are other distance measuring methods such as methods that apply ultrasonic waves and laser diffraction.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications are possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the air cavity body is not covered with a semi-rigid exterior cylinder member, the diameter of the fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism can be reduced, and the air cavity body is When expanded, its outer circumferential surface is not pressed by the outer cylindrical member, so its durability is ensured.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG.
The figure is a schematic configuration explanatory diagram of an endoscope system. Third
4 to 4 show a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal side view of the hydraulic artificial muscle mechanism, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 3. . Fig. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the tip of the insertion section of the endoscope, Fig. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the distance sensor, and Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the display state of the monitor screen.
FIG. 8 is a time chart of the signals, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the display state of the monitor screen. 1... Endoscope, 2... Insertion section, 3... Serpentine tube, 4...
...Bending portion, 7.8... Operation wire, 13... Fluid pressure artificial muscle mechanism, 15... Air cavity body, 16... Air cavity chamber,
17a, 17b one end member, 21.22-...tube,
50...Hollow hole. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Atsushi Tsuboi Figure 5 Figure 7 Figure 9vA Figure 6 (by Akada Fuchi) Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] A fluid pressure artificial muscle that expands and contracts in the axial direction by supplying and discharging fluid is provided in the insertion section, and the fluid pressure artificial muscle is used to operate the operating wire to curve the curved portion of the insertion section. In an endoscope, one end is a fixed end that is connected to a connecting member fixed to the inner surface of the insertion tube, and the other end is a free end that moves when expanded and contracted, and the fluid pressure expands and contracts in the axial direction depending on the pressure of the fluid being supplied and discharged. An endoscope comprising an artificial muscle, a bending operation wire passing through the fluid pressure artificial muscle in its axial direction, and the operation wire being attached to the free end of the fluid pressure artificial muscle. .