JPH0611255B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an endoscope having a bendable flexible tube section and a bendable bending section connected to the flexible tube section in an insertion section. Regarding the mirror.

[Prior Art] In recent years, medical endoscopes capable of diagnosing an affected part by inserting an elongated insertion part into a living body have been widely used. Further, an industrial endoscope is widely used also when inserting an elongated insertion portion into a tubular body such as a boiler or a turbine to inspect the inside.

Generally, in a flexible endoscope having a flexible insertion portion, the insertion portion is composed of a rigid distal end portion, a bendable bending portion, and a flexible flexible portion (also referred to as a flexible tube portion) in this order from the distal end side. Has been done. The flexible portion may be made of, for example, a flexible spiral tube formed by winding a long thin plate member in a spiral state, a mesh tube covering the spiral tube, and a resin covering the mesh tube. It is made of flexible material. A distal end portion of a bending operation wire (also referred to as an angle wire) inserted through the insertion portion is fixed to the bending portion, and the bending operation wire is pushed and pulled by a bending operation knob provided in the operation portion. The bending portion can be bent.
The bending operation wire is inserted through a guide pipe provided on the flexible member.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, the bending portion and the flexible portion are connected to each other, for example, via a connecting ring, and the tip end portion of the guide pipe is fixed to the connecting ring by linear brazing or the like. A spiral tube or a mesh tube forming the soft part is also fixed to the connection ring by brazing or the like. Therefore, during the operation of assembling the endoscope, in the two operations of connecting the guide pipe to the connecting ring and connecting the spiral tube or the mesh tube, due to the effect of heat during the adhesion in one operation, they were once adhered in the other operation. The thing melted, the fixation did not work well, and the workability of the fixing work was poor. Therefore, it is difficult to assemble the endoscope and work efficiency is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope capable of improving assembly workability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The endoscope of the present invention includes a bendable flexible tube portion in an insertion portion,
In an endoscope having a bendable bending portion connected to the flexible tube portion, a connection ring attached to one end of the flexible tube portion for connecting the flexible tube portion and the bending portion. And a ring member fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the connection ring, and an operation wire arranged in the flexible tube portion and fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the ring member for bending the bending portion. And a guide pipe for inserting the inside.

[Operation] In the present invention, the connecting tube connects the flexible tube portion and the bending portion of the insertion portion, the ring member is fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the connecting ring, and the guide pipe is attached to the inner peripheral portion of the ring member. Is fixed.

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an insertion portion of an endoscope in which an insertion assisting tool is mounted, and FIG. 2 is an overall configuration of this embodiment. 3 and 4 are side views showing the insertion assisting tool attached to the insertion portion, FIG. 4 is a front view of the tip optical adapter attached to the tip portion, and FIG. 5 is a development of the positioning groove portion formed in the tip portion. 6 and 6 are sectional views taken along the line AA 'in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an electronic endoscope 2, a light source device 3 that supplies illumination light to the electronic endoscope 2, and the electronic endoscope. 2 is composed of a control device 4 for processing the image signal sent from the display device 2, and a color monitor 5 for displaying the video signal output from the control device 4 on a display screen.

The electronic endoscope 2 includes an elongated insertion portion 6 and the insertion portion 6
A large-diameter operating portion 7 continuously provided on the rear end side, and the operating portion 7
The universal cord 8 extends from the side of the universal cord 8, and the signal cable 10 extends from the light source connector 9 attached to the universal cord 8.

A rigid tip portion 11 is provided on the tip end side of the insertion portion 6, and a bending portion 12 adjacent to the tip end portion 11 and capable of bending is provided on the rear side. Further, a flexible soft portion 13 is continuously provided behind the curved portion 12. Further, an insertion assisting tool mounting portion 14 is formed on the outer peripheral portion near the boundary between the curved portion 12 and the flexible portion 13.

The bending portion 12 can be bent in the vertical / horizontal directions by operating a bending operation knob 15 provided on the operation portion 7.

Further, by connecting the light source connector 9 to the light source device 3, the white light of the light source lamp 16 is converted into the condenser lens 1.
The light is condensed at 9 and is irradiated onto the incident end surface of the light guide 20.

Signal cable 10 extended from the light source connector 9
The signal connector 10a formed at the end of the signal cable 10 can be connected to the control device 4, and after the signal processing of the image signal captured by the electronic endoscope 2 is performed to form a predetermined image. The color image is transmitted to the color monitor 5 so that the observation image can be displayed in color.

A distal end optical adapter 21, which is made of a hard material and formed into a substantially cylindrical shape, can be detachably attached to the distal end portion 11 of the insertion portion 6.

An insertion aid 22 (for an endoscope) can be attached to the insertion aid attachment part 14, and a part of the insertion part 6 when the insertion aid 22 is attached is shown in FIG. An enlarged structure of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, an observation through hole and an illumination light through hole are formed in the front end surface of the distal end optical adapter 21 in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the insertion portion 6.

A first lens 26 as an optical system member constituting the angle-of-view changing lens system 24 is fitted to the front end of the observation through hole,
Behind that, there is a female threaded portion 27 provided on the inner circumference of the observation through hole.
A second lens 31 that is fitted into a lens frame 29 having a male screw portion that is screwed in to configure the angle-of-view changing lens system 24 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, two illumination through holes are provided,
A light distribution lens system 32 is fitted and fixed in each case.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rear end surface of the tip optical adapter 21 is provided with a circular recess 34 into which the substantially columnar tip body 33 of the electronic endoscope 2 can be inserted.
1 and the center line of the insertion part 6 are aligned.

A threaded portion 35 is threaded on the rear end of the inner peripheral surface of the recess 34, and a peripheral groove is formed on the inner peripheral surface in front of the threaded portion 35, and an annular watertight member 36 such as an O-ring is formed. Is wrapped around. In addition, a positioning pin 37 is projected inward in the radial direction at the front part of this circumferential groove.

The distal end portion main body 33 inserted into the concave portion 34 has the insertion portion 6
An observation through hole and an illumination through hole are provided in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the optical rod 41. The observation through hole includes an optical rod 41 via a first lens frame, and a rear portion of the optical rod 41. A second lens system 42 is attached via a second lens frame, and an objective lens system 43 is constituted by the optical rod 41 and the second lens system 42. Further, a cover glass 44 is fitted in the front end of the illumination through hole, and the rear end surface of the cover glass 44 has the ride guide 20 inserted in the insertion portion 6.
The light emitting end face of is contacted and fixed.

A step portion 45 and a step portion 46 are formed on the outer circumference of the tip end portion main body 33 so that the diameter becomes smaller toward the rear end side, and a cylindrical prism frame 47 abuts the front end surface on the step portion 45. The outer diameter is fitted so as to match the outer diameter of the tip body 33, and is fixed to the tip body 33 by a screw (not shown). Also,
As shown in FIG. 5, a crank-shaped positioning groove 48 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the tip end portion main body 33, and the positioning pin 37 is attached from the mounting start groove position 48a to the final groove position 48.
The structure is such that it is guided to position b and is positioned and fixed at this groove position 48a.

At the rear end of the prism frame 47, an optical low-pass filter 51 in the form of a quadrangular prism, a first prism 52 as a light guide, and a second prism 53 are held in this order from the front end side.

The optical low-pass filter 51 is arranged such that the front end face and the rear end face thereof are perpendicular to the optical axis of the objective lens system 43, and the optical low-pass filter 51, the first and second prisms 52, 53 are The transmitted light is the second prism 53.
Is guided to the CCD 54 whose image pickup surface side is in close contact with the emission end of the.

The CCD 54 is inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction of the insertion section 6. A color filter array 56 covered with a sealing glass 55 is attached to the front part of the image pickup surface of the CCD 54, and the color filter array 56 separates each pixel into, for example, red, green, and blue. .

The back side of the CCD 54 is a flexible substrate 57.
Attached to the CC of the flexible substrate 57.
An electronic component 58 is mounted on the front side portion of D54. Further, the portion of the flexible substrate 57 extending to the rear side of the CCD 54 is bent after soldering the signal lines 59, 59, ... And the reinforcing member 6 such as an insulating adhesive.
It is covered with 1.

When the tip optical adapter 21 is attached to the tip portion 11, as shown in FIG. 4, the first lens 26 forming the angle-of-view changing lens system 24 is notched in a circular shape by the notch portion 26a. ing. The notch portion 26 a is formed by notching the side toward the center of the tip optical adapter 21. The cross section taken along the line BB 'in FIG.
It is a figure. By the way, when the tip optical adapter 21 is properly mounted (as shown in FIG. 1), the notch 26a becomes parallel to one side of the rectangular shape of the image area 54a of the CCD 54 as shown in FIG. Is formed. Then, when an optical image of the object is formed on the image area 54a of the CCD 54 through the angle-of-view changing lens system 24 and the objective lens system 43, the cutout portion 26a is located inside the image area 54a in a normal mounting state. It has no effect on the. On the other hand, when the tip optical adapter 21 is loosely attached to the tip portion 11 instead of being in the proper attachment state, the tip adapter 21 is rotated from the proper attachment state, so that the notch portion 26a is imaged. It is set so as to block the field of view formed in the area 54a. Therefore, the observer is
By observing the image formed in the image area 54a of 54, it is possible to recognize whether the distal end optical adapter 24 is in a normal mounting state or whether the mounting may be loosened and dropped. Also, if you are not in the proper wearing state,
The observation light from the tip optical adapter 21 side is not completely incident on the objective lens system 43 side on the endoscope 2 side, and a part of it is blocked. Therefore, it can be determined that the visual field becomes dark.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, on the outer periphery of the prism frame 47, a small diameter portion 63 is formed on the rear side by a step portion. A front end side of a cylindrical cover member 64 accommodating the flexible substrate 57 and the CCD 54 mounted on the substrate 57 is externally fitted to the small diameter portion 63. Further, the cover member 64 has a step portion at a portion substantially near the center in the longitudinal direction, and the front side of the step portion is a small diameter portion 65. A mounting ring 66 for mounting the tip optical adapter 21 is rotatably fitted on the outer circumference of the small diameter portion 65 on the outer peripheral surface of the small diameter portion 65.
A slit is formed on the front side of the mounting ring 66,
Moreover, a male screw portion 67 is threaded on the outer peripheral surface thereof so as to be screwed with a female screw portion 68 provided on the rear end inner peripheral surface of the front end optical adapter 21.

Further, a projection 69 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the front part of the mounting ring 66 so that it can be engaged with a recess provided on the outer peripheral surface near the front end of the cover member 64.

The small-diameter portion 71 at the rear portion of the cover member 64 is further formed with a small-diameter portion 72 that becomes thinner toward the rear due to the step portion. A cylindrical ring stopper 73 having a through hole for the signal cables 59, 59, ... And a through hole for the light guide 20 is fitted and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the rear portion of the cover member 64. The ring stopper 73 at the portion projecting rearward from the cover member 64 is formed with the curved portion 12, and is connected to the longitudinal direction of the insertion portion 6 so as to be rotatable relative to each other. The outermost joint piece 74 is fitted and fixed to the ring stopper 73 with a screw.

The joint pieces 74, 74, ...
5, the front end portion of the tube member 75 is externally fitted so as to cover the small diameter portion 72. Furthermore, the outer periphery of the tube member 75 is covered with a protective sheath 76 made of a mesh tube or the like in which fine wires of metal or the like are braided in a mesh shape.

The front end portion of the outer sheath 76 is a small-diameter portion of a fixing ring 78 (which is externally fitted to the rear-side small-diameter portion 71 of the cover member 64 and fixed to the small-diameter portion 71 with a screw 77). Is fitted to the outside, and the stop ring 79 is covered on the outer periphery thereof,
It is fixed by soldering, etc.

The outer circumference of the cover member 64 and the screw 7 of the fixing ring 78
A cylindrical drop-preventing member 81 is loosely fitted to the outer periphery including 7 to prevent the screw 77 from falling off. The outer diameter of the fall prevention member 81 is the same as the outer diameter of the mounting ring 66, and a protrusion 82 is provided on the inner peripheral surface thereof to engage with a stepped portion provided on the cover member 64. It is supposed to do.

The rear portion of the through hole for the signal cable is enlarged in diameter by a step portion, and a ring-shaped cable stopper 83 is fitted and fixed in the enlarged diameter portion. This cable stop 83
A shield wire 84 covering the signal cables 59, 59, ... Is fixed to the small diameter portion on the rear end side by soldering or the like so as to maintain electrical continuity.

Both ends of the tube member 75 are fixed so as to maintain liquid-tightness by, for example, winding a thread and adhering them with an adhesive. The joint piece 74 at the final end is adhered to a substantially cylindrical and hard base 88 serving as a connection ring, for example, with an adhesive.

In addition, a front end of a mesh tube 89 and a flexible tube 91 made of resin or the like covering the mesh tube 89 is internally fitted and fixed to the rear end of the base 88. A flexible spiral tube 92 formed by spirally winding a long thin plate-shaped member is housed inside the mesh tube 89, and the light guide 20, signal cables 59, 59, ... Has been inserted. or,
A cylindrical member 93 as a ring member is adhered to the inner circumference of the front end of the base 88 with an adhesive, for example, and a long pipe member 94 as a guide pipe is brazed inside the cylindrical member 93. It is fixed by etc. still,
An angle wire (not shown) as an operation wire for bending the bending portion 12 is inserted through the pipe member 94.

The rear end of the outer sheath 76 covering the curved portion 12 is held by the inner pipe 95 and the outer pipe 96 at the outer peripheral position of the base 88, and is fixed to the base 88 with a screw.

Also on the flexible portion 13 side, the outer circumference of the flexible tube 91 is covered with an outer sheath 97 made of a mesh tube or the like.

This outer sheath 97 is impregnated with fluororubber,
The front end of the outer sheath 97 is held by an inner tube 98 and an outer tube 99.

A diametrically expanded portion 101 is provided on the outer periphery of the rear end of the mouthpiece 88. When the protective sheath 97 of the flexible portion 13 is biased toward the rear end side, the diametrically expanded portion 101 is attached to the inner pipe 98. On the other hand, the outer sheath 97 of the flexible portion 13 is fixed by acting as a stopper.

By the way, a rear end of the curved sheath protecting sheath 76,
The base 88 is formed between the front end of the outer sheath 7 for protecting the soft part and the base 88.
A circumferential groove 103 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the insertion assisting tool mounting portion 14.

The following insertion aid 22 can be mounted in the groove 103.

The insertion aid 22 includes a stopper 104 and a stopper stopper 1
05 and a cover member 106. The stopper stopper 105 is provided from the tip portion 11 to the soft portion 13.
It is made of a cylindrical member having a fitting hole 105a that can be inserted into the outer tube 99 and can be loosely fitted therein. A male screw portion 107 for mounting the stopper 104 is formed on the outer circumference of the stopper stopper 105. Further, on the inner peripheral surface of the stopper 104, a female screw portion 108 screwed to the male screw portion 107 is formed.
Are formed. Further, the stopper stopper 105 is provided with a fitting portion 105b fitted on the stopper 104 on the outer peripheral surface on the front end side of the male screw portion 107. On the other hand, a fitting hole 104b that fits into the fitting portion 105b is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the stopper 104. Further, the locking hole 1 is formed in the front end portion 109 of the stopper 104.
10 are formed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the locking hole 110 is provided in the stopper 10
4 is formed so as to open in a circular shape around a position O2 which is eccentric from the central axis O1 of 4 by an eccentric amount Δl. The inner diameter Ls of the locking hole 110 is the maximum outer diameter from the tip 11 to the groove 103 (in this case, the outer diameter Lt of the tip 11).
Is the maximum outer shape. ) Is set slightly larger than
It can be inserted from the tip end 11 side. The portion of the stopper 104 where the (eccentric) locking hole 110 is formed is in a state in which the upper side of the stopper 104 projects in the direction of the central axis O1 as shown in FIG. The insertion assisting tool 22 is adapted to be attached to the endoscope 2 in such a manner that the upper side portion thereof is caught in the groove 103.

A cover member 10 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the stopper 104 on the rear end side.
A male screw portion 111 for mounting four is formed, and a female screw portion 112 that is screwed into the male screw portion 111 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the front end of the cover member 106. In addition, the cover member 106 is formed with a hole portion 113 through which the portion extending from the tip portion 11 to the flexible portion 13 can be inserted.

Further, the cover member 106 is provided with convex portions 114, 114 having a gradually enlarged diameter at two positions on the outer peripheral surface, for example, in front and rear portions in the longitudinal direction, and these convex portions 114, 114 are formed.
By this, when inserted into a tube or the like having a larger diameter than the outer diameter of the insertion portion 6, uneven distribution on the tube wall side can be suppressed.

By the way, the inner diameter L of the locking hole 110 of the stopper 104 is
s is set to be slightly smaller than the maximum outer diameter La of the tip optical adapter 21. Therefore, in the state where the distal end optical adapter 21 is attached, even if the insertion assisting tool 22 is loosened from the regular attached state, it is locked at the maximum outer diameter portion of the distal end optical adapter 21 and can be prevented from falling off. Has become.

The operation of the present embodiment thus configured will be described below.

In the insertion portion 6 of the endoscope 2, the final joint piece 74 of the bending portion 12 and the front end portion of the flexible tube 91 forming the flexible portion 13 are connected by a base 88 as a connecting ring.
A cylindrical member 93 as a ring member is fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the base 88, and a pipe member 94 as a guide pipe is fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical member 93.

When the insertion aid 22 is attached to the endoscope 2, the cover member 106, the stopper stopper 105, and the stopper 104 are sequentially covered from the distal end portion 11 in a state where the distal end optical adapter 21 is not attached to the distal end portion 11.

Then, in a state where a part of the locking hole 110 of the stopper 104 is locked in the groove portion 103 of the endoscope 2, the stopper 104
The male screw portion 10 of the stopper stopper 105 is attached to the female screw portion 108 of the
The stopper 104 and the stopper stopper 105 can be mounted on the endoscope mounting portion 14 by screwing 7 together. FIG. 6 is a sectional view in this state. That is, a part of the locking hole 110 of the stopper 104 is engaged with the groove 103 of the endoscope 2 to be in the locked state.

After that, when the tip optical adapter 21 is attached to the tip portion 11, the state shown in FIG. 1 is obtained. In this state, the locking hole 11 of the stopper 104 is larger than the outer diameter La of the tip optical adapter 21.
The inner diameter Ls of 0 is slightly smaller. That is, since La> Ls, even if the insertion assisting tool 22 is loosely mounted by the insertion assisting tool mounting portion 14, the distal end optical adapter 2
Unless 1 is removed from the tip portion 11, it is prevented from falling off.
Therefore, the insertion assisting tool 22 can be reliably prevented from falling off, and a highly safe endoscope device can be realized.

If the distal end optical adapter 21 is not in the proper mounting state, the notch 26a appears in the observation field of view or becomes dark as described above, and thus in the mounting state in which there is a possibility of falling off. You can know for sure. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the device from being used in a state where it is not properly mounted, and it is possible to ensure safety.

The present invention is not limited to an endoscope using a solid-state image sensor, and can be similarly applied to a fiberscope having an image guide.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the flexible tube portion and the curved portion of the insertion portion are connected by the connection ring, and the ring member is fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the connection ring. Since the guide pipe is fixed to the inner peripheral portion of the member, the work of fixing the flexible tube portion and the curved portion to the connecting ring and the work of fixing the guide pipe to the ring member can be performed independently. There is an effect that it is possible to eliminate the influence of heat given to the other work by one work and improve the workability of assembling the endoscope.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an insertion portion of an endoscope in which an insertion assisting tool is mounted, and FIG. 2 is an overall configuration of this embodiment. 3 and 4 are side views showing the insertion assisting tool attached to the insertion portion, FIG. 4 is a front view of the tip optical adapter attached to the tip portion, and FIG. 5 is a development of the positioning groove portion formed in the tip portion. 6 and 6 are enlarged sectional views taken along the line AA 'of FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope device, 2 ... Electronic endoscope 6 ... Insertion part, 11 ... Tip part 12 ... Bending part, 13 ... Soft part 88 ... Base, 91 ... Flexible tube 93 ...... Cylindrical member, 94 ...... Pipe member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope having a bendable flexible tube portion in an insertion portion and a bendable bendable portion connected to the flexible tube portion, the endoscope being attached to one end of the flexible tube portion. A connection ring for connecting the flexible tube portion and the curved portion, a ring member fixed to an inner peripheral portion of the connection ring, and a ring member disposed in the flexible tube portion and An endoscope, comprising: a guide pipe fixed to an inner peripheral portion and having an operation wire for bending the bending portion inserted therein.