CN115104996A

CN115104996A - Self-adaptive bending tube, bending tube for endoscope and endoscope

Info

Publication number: CN115104996A
Application number: CN202110969088.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 胡舜; 荆峰; 林守钢; 龚鹏程; 陈国富; 朱彦聪
Original assignee: Sonoscape Medical Corp
Current assignee: Sonoscape Medical Corp
Priority date: 2021-08-23
Filing date: 2021-08-23
Publication date: 2022-09-27
Also published as: WO2023025119A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a self-adaptive bending tube, a bending tube for an endoscope and an endoscope, which comprise a plurality of coaxially arranged bending rings, wherein two adjacent bending rings are connected through a clamping structure, and a preset gap is formed between the two adjacent bending rings in a clamping state; the joint structure includes: the convex part is arranged in one of the two adjacent bent rings, and the free end of the convex part is provided with a first clamping hook; the groove is arranged in the other of the two adjacent bent rings, and a second clamping hook is arranged at the notch of the groove and is used for being matched with the first clamping hook to prevent the bulge from being separated from the groove; the protruding part can be embedded in the groove along the axial movement of the bending ring, and the protruding part can rotate relative to the groove. The maximum bending angle of the self-adaptive bending pipe is controllable by reasonably designing the size of a preset gap between two adjacent bending rings, the axial movement stroke of the lug boss relative to the groove and the rotating angle range of the lug boss relative to the groove; and the self-adaptive bending pipe has long fatigue life and is not easy to lose efficacy when bent.

Description

Self-adaptive bending tube, bending tube for endoscope and endoscope

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of medical instruments, in particular to a self-adaptive bending tube. The present invention also relates to an endoscope bending tube including the adaptive bending tube, and an endoscope.

Background

With the development of medical instrument technology, insertion tubes capable of entering into body lumens are widely used, so as to facilitate observation of target positions in the body and assist in minimally invasive or non-invasive treatment. For example, an insertion portion of an endoscope.

Because the bending condition of the channel in the human body cavity is complex, especially for some human body cavities which are continuously bent or violently bent, in order to ensure the smoothness of the entering of the insertion tube, the insertion tube is generally required to be provided with a self-adaptive bending part, so that the self-adaptive bending part can be limited by the shape of the human body cavity to be bent adaptively and freely, and the insertion tube can enter the human body cavity smoothly.

For endoscopes, it includes an insertion portion, which typically includes a tip portion, a bending portion, and a flexible portion. In the prior art, in order to enable an insertion part of an endoscope to smoothly enter a human body cavity, the rigidity of a section of a flexible part close to a bending part is generally reduced, so that the rigidity of the section of the flexible part close to the bending part is lower than that of other parts of the flexible part, and a self-adaptive bending section is formed, so that the section of the flexible part close to the bending part can be adaptively bent under the limitation of a cavity channel, and the smoothness of the insertion part entering the human body cavity is ensured.

However, the adaptive bending section is formed by reducing the rigidity of a section of the flexible portion near the bending portion, so that the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending section is not well controlled, and the bending fatigue life of the adaptive bending section is low and the adaptive bending section is liable to fail when bent.

In summary, those skilled in the art need to solve the above problems how to provide an adaptive bending tube with a controllable maximum bending angle and less failure in bending.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an adaptive bending tube, which has a controllable maximum bending angle and is not prone to failure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a bending tube for an endoscope including the above-described adaptive bending tube, which has both an active bending portion and a passive bending portion, and whose maximum bending angle of the passive bending portion is controllable, and which is not easily subject to failure in bending.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an endoscope including the above-mentioned bending tube for an endoscope, which has an insertion portion with good adaptability to a body lumen.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention provides the following technical scheme:

a self-adaptive bending pipe comprises a plurality of coaxially arranged bending rings, wherein two adjacent bending rings are connected through a clamping structure, and a preset gap is formed between the two adjacent bending rings in a clamping state; the clamping structure comprises:

the convex part is arranged on one of the two adjacent bent rings, and a first clamping hook is arranged at the free end of the convex part;

the groove is arranged on the other one of the two adjacent bent rings, and a second clamping hook is arranged at the notch of the groove and is used for being matched with the first clamping hook to prevent the lug boss from being separated from the groove;

the protruding part can be embedded in the groove along the axial movement of the bending ring, and the protruding part can rotate relative to the groove.

Preferably, any two adjacent bending rings are respectively connected through at least two clamping structures, and all the clamping structures between every two adjacent bending rings are spirally distributed.

Preferably, the terminal surface of bending ring is equipped with two at least step faces of staggering the setting along its axial, follows adjacent two of the circumference of bending ring the joint structure is located the difference respectively on the step face.

Preferably, the step surface is provided with a sunken groove, and the protruding part extends from the groove bottom of the sunken groove along the axial direction of the bending ring.

Preferably, the step face is perpendicular to the axis of the bending ring.

Preferably, two axially adjacent clamping structures of the bending ring are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the bending ring, so that the axial size of the bending ring is reduced.

Preferably, one side of the convex part facing the groove wall of the groove is provided with a first arc-shaped surface; the side wall of the groove is connected with the bottom wall of the groove through a second arc-shaped surface.

Preferably, the protruding part and the first hook form a T-shaped structure, and the two opposite sides of the notch are respectively provided with the second hook; or the bulge and the first clamping hook form an L-shaped structure, and the second clamping hook is arranged on one side of the notch.

Preferably, the adaptively curved tube is cut from a unitary tubular member.

Preferably, the convex part and the groove are matched and limited in the circumferential direction of the bending ring, so that two adjacent bending rings are prevented from being twisted relatively.

A curved tube for an endoscope, comprising:

the first end of the active bending pipe is connected with a traction rope penetrating through the active bending pipe so as to drive the active bending pipe to bend by drawing the traction rope;

any one of the above adaptive bending tubes, wherein a first end of the adaptive bending tube is connected to a second end of the active bending tube, and the second end of the adaptive bending tube is used for connecting to a flexible tube of an endoscope.

Preferably, the adaptive bending tube is connected to the active bending tube by a transfer ring.

Preferably, an elastic tube is arranged in the adaptive bending tube in a penetrating manner and used for the traction rope to pass through, one end of the elastic tube is connected with the adapter ring, and the other end of the elastic tube is connected with one end of the flexible tube, which is far away from the adaptive bending tube, or an operation part of the endoscope.

An endoscope comprising an insertion portion including any one of the above-described endoscope bending tubes.

The invention provides a self-adaptive bending pipe which is formed by a plurality of coaxially arranged bending rings, wherein two adjacent bending rings are connected through a clamping structure, the clamping structure comprises a convex part and a groove, and the convex part can move along the axial direction of the bending rings in the groove and can rotate relative to the groove, so that when the bending rings of the self-adaptive bending pipe are acted by a force with a certain angle or vertical to the axis of the bending rings, if a preset gap between the two adjacent bending rings is not zero in an initial state, the clamping structure between the bending rings on a stress side is axially compressed, and the free end of the convex part on the stress side is close to the groove bottom of the groove; meanwhile, the clamping structure between the bending rings on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side is axially stretched, namely, the free end of the convex part on the non-stressed side and the groove bottom of the groove are mutually far away; in addition, the convex part and the concave groove in other directions generate composite motion of axial motion and relative rotation along the bending ring, thereby bending the whole adaptive bending pipe. When the free end of the convex part on the stressed side is in fit contact with the groove bottom of the groove, or when the first clamping hook of the convex part on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side is in fit contact with the second clamping hook at the groove opening of the groove, or when the preset gap between two adjacent bending rings is reduced to zero, so that when the corresponding end surfaces of the two adjacent bending rings are in fit contact, the self-adaptive bending pipe reaches the maximum bending angle, and at the moment, the self-adaptive bending pipe cannot be bent continuously.

When the bending rings of the self-adaptive bending pipe are acted by a force with a certain angle or vertical to the axis of the bending rings, if the preset gap between every two adjacent bending rings is zero in an initial state, namely, the two adjacent bending rings are in a state of being close to each other, the clamping structures between the bending rings on the stressed side are kept close to each other and used as a rotating fulcrum, so that the clamping structures between the bending rings on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side are axially stretched, and the free ends of the protruding parts on the non-stressed side are far away from the groove bottoms of the grooves; the convex parts and the grooves in other directions generate composite motion of axial motion and relative rotation along the bending ring, so that the whole self-adaptive bending pipe is bent until the first clamping hook of the convex part on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side is in contact with the second clamping hook at the groove opening of the groove in a fitting manner, the self-adaptive bending pipe reaches the maximum bending angle, and the self-adaptive bending pipe cannot be bent continuously at the moment.

Therefore, the maximum bending angle of the self-adaptive bending pipe is related to the axial movement stroke of the lug boss relative to the groove, the rotating angle range of the lug boss relative to the groove and the size of the preset gap between two adjacent bending rings, so that the maximum bending angle of the self-adaptive bending pipe can be controlled by reasonably designing the size of the preset gap between two adjacent bending rings, the axial movement stroke of the lug boss relative to the groove and the rotating angle range of the lug boss relative to the groove, and the maximum bending angle of the self-adaptive bending pipe is controllable; in addition, the bending of the self-adaptive bending pipe is realized by utilizing the preset gap between two adjacent bending rings, the axial movement of the protruding part relative to the groove and the rotation of the protruding part relative to the groove, and compared with the prior art that the self-adaptive bending part is formed by reducing the rigidity of one section of the flexible part close to the bending part, the bending caused by the elastic deformation of the self-adaptive bending pipe is avoided, so that the bending fatigue life of the self-adaptive bending pipe can be prolonged, and the bending failure is prevented.

The endoscope bending tube comprises an active bending tube and the self-adaptive bending tube, and the endoscope bending tube not only has an active bending part, but also has a passive bending part, the maximum bending angle of the passive bending part is controllable, and the endoscope bending tube is not easy to fail in bending.

The endoscope provided by the invention comprises the bending tube for the endoscope, and has better human body cavity adaptability.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the provided drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an adaptive bend tube according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the snap-fit arrangement of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an adaptive bend tube according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an adaptive bend tube according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the structure of a bending tube for an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a structure of a bending tube for an endoscope according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front view of the curving unit;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an endoscope in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the insertion portion of FIG. 10 inserted into a body lumen;

fig. 12 is a left side view of fig. 11.

The reference numerals in fig. 1 to 12 are as follows:

11 is a curved ring, 111 is a predetermined gap, 112 is a step surface, 1121 is a sinking groove, 113 is a connecting surface, 114 is a fifth mating end surface, 115 is a sixth mating end surface, 12 is a clamping structure, 121 is a protrusion, 1211 is a first clamping hook, 1212 is a first arc surface, 1213 is a first mating surface, 1214 is a third mating surface, 122 is a groove, 1221 is a second clamping hook, 1222 is a second arc surface, 1223 is a second mating surface, 1224 is a fourth mating surface;

1 is a self-adaptive bending pipe, 2 is an active bending pipe, 21 is a traction rope, 22 is a bending unit, 23 is a rivet, 24 is a rotating shaft axis, 25 is a guide ring, 3 is a flexible pipe, 4 is a front end part, 5 is a transfer ring and 6 is an elastic pipe;

100 is an insertion portion, 200 is an operation portion, 300 is a connector, and 400 is a connection pipe.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The core of the invention is to provide a self-adaptive bending pipe, the maximum bending angle of which is controllable, and the bending is not easy to fail. Another core of the present invention is to provide an endoscope bending tube including the above-described adaptive bending tube, which has both an active bending portion and a passive bending portion, and in which the maximum bending angle of the passive bending portion is controllable and the bending is not easily failed. Still another core of the present invention is to provide an endoscope including the above-described bending tube for an endoscope, the insertion portion of which has a good adaptability to the lumen.

Please refer to fig. 1-12, which are drawings illustrating the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the present invention provides a self-adaptive bending pipe, which includes a plurality of coaxially disposed bending rings 11, two adjacent bending rings 11 are connected by a clamping structure 12, and a preset gap 111 is provided between two adjacent bending rings 11 in a clamping state; the clamping structure 12 includes a protrusion 121 and a groove 122 that are engaged with each other, the protrusion 121 is disposed on one of the two adjacent curved rings 11, the groove 122 is disposed on the other of the two adjacent curved rings 11, a first hook 1211 is disposed at a free end of the protrusion 121, a second hook 1221 is disposed at a notch of the groove 122, and the first hook 1211 and the second hook 1221 are matched to be limited, so that the protrusion 121 is prevented from being disengaged from the groove 122, thereby ensuring the reliability of the connection between the two adjacent curved rings 11.

More importantly, as shown in fig. 2, the protrusion 121 is movably embedded in the groove 122 along the axial direction of the bending ring 11, and the protrusion 121 is rotatable relative to the groove 122. That is, after the protrusion 121 is embedded in the groove 122, the dimension of the first hook 1211 in the axial direction of the bending ring 11 is smaller than the distance from the second hook 1221 to the bottom of the groove 122 in the axial direction of the bending ring 11, so that a certain gap is formed between the first hook 1211 and the bottom of the groove 122 or the second hook 1221, and the first hook 1211 has a certain moving space in the axial direction of the bending ring 11 in the groove 122, so as to ensure that two adjacent bending rings 11 have axial movement toward or away from each other. In addition, the protrusions 121 and the grooves 122 are relatively rotatable to ensure relative rotation between two adjacent bending rings 11 so as to achieve bending of the adaptive bending pipe.

It should be noted that, in the present invention, the specific size of the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is not limited, and a person skilled in the art can set the preset gap 111 according to actual requirements, for example, the preset gap 111 may be zero, at this time, after two adjacent bending rings 11 are connected through the clamping structure 12, the parts of two adjacent bending rings 11 except for the clamping structure 12 are mutually closed and close together, and the surface and the face are attached; of course, the preset gap 111 may be any value greater than zero as long as the adaptive bending pipe formed therefrom has bending properties and can secure its structural strength.

Furthermore, the invention does not limit the axial movement stroke of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, and the axial movement stroke of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122 may be the same as or different from the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11. When the axial movement stroke of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122 is the same as the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11, when the free end of the protrusion 121 contacts the groove bottom of the groove 122, the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is zero; when the first hooks 1211 of the protrusion 121 contact with the second hooks 1221 at the notch of the groove 122, the predetermined gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is the largest. When the predetermined gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is different from the stroke of the axial movement of the protrusion 121 with respect to the groove 122, the maximum bending angle is reached as long as a corresponding feature mating surface abuts during the movement.

When the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is not zero in the initial state, when the bending rings 11 of the adaptive bending pipe are subjected to a force having a certain angle or perpendicular to the axis thereof, the clamping structure 12 between the bending rings 11 on the stressed side is axially compressed, so that the free end of the protrusion 121 on the stressed side and the groove bottom of the groove 122 are close to each other; meanwhile, the clamping structure 12 between the bending rings 11 on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side is axially stretched, that is, the free end of the convex part 121 on the non-stressed side and the groove bottom of the groove 122 are far away from each other; in addition, a composite motion of axial movement and relative rotation along the bending ring 11 will occur between the protrusions 121 and the grooves 122 in other directions, thereby bending the entire adaptive bending pipe.

As shown in fig. 2, when the first mating surface 1213 of the free end of the protrusion 121 on the force-receiving side is in abutting contact with the second mating surface 1223 of the groove bottom of the groove 122, or when the third mating surface 1214 of the first hook 1211 of the protrusion 121 on the non-force-receiving side completely opposite to the force-receiving side is in abutting contact with the fourth mating surface 1224 of the second hook 1221 at the notch of the groove 122, or when the predetermined gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is reduced to zero, so that the fifth mating surface 114 and the sixth mating surface 115 of two adjacent bending rings 11 are in abutting contact, it indicates that the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending pipe is reached, and the adaptive bending pipe cannot be bent further.

When the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is zero in the initial state, when the bending rings 11 of the self-adaptive bending pipe are acted by a force with a certain angle or perpendicular to the axis, the clamping structures 12 between the bending rings 11 on the stressed side are kept close to each other to serve as a rotation fulcrum, so that the clamping structures 12 between the bending rings 11 on the non-stressed side completely opposite to the stressed side are axially stretched, and the free ends of the convex parts 121 on the non-stressed side and the groove bottoms of the grooves 122 are far away from each other; the combined axial and rotational movements of the protrusion 121 and the groove 122 in the other directions will cause the entire adaptive bending tube to bend until the first hook 1211 of the protrusion 121 on the non-stressed side, which is completely opposite to the stressed side, comes into contact with the second hook 1221 at the notch of the groove 122, which indicates that the adaptive bending tube reaches the maximum bending angle, and the adaptive bending tube cannot be bent further.

Therefore, the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending pipe is related to the stroke of the axial movement of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, the angle range of the rotation of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, and the size of the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11, so that by reasonably designing the size of the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11, the stroke of the axial movement of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, and the angle range of the rotation of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending pipe can be controlled, so that the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending pipe is controllable; in addition, the bending of the adaptive bending pipe is realized by utilizing the preset gap 111 between two adjacent bending rings 11, the axial movement of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122 and the rotation of the protrusion 121 relative to the groove 122, compared with the prior art that the adaptive bending part is formed by reducing the rigidity of a section of the flexible part close to the bending part, the bending is avoided by utilizing the elastic deformation of the adaptive bending pipe, so that the bending fatigue life of the adaptive bending pipe can be prolonged, and the bending failure is prevented.

In consideration of the firmness of the connection between two adjacent bending rings 11, it is preferable that any two adjacent bending rings 11 are connected by at least two clamping structures 12 respectively on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment. That is to say, more than two clamping structures 12 are distributed between two adjacent bending rings 11 along the circumferential direction of the bending rings 11, so that the connection between the two adjacent bending rings 11 is realized through the combined action of the clamping structures 12, and the reliability of the connection between the bending rings 11 is ensured.

Further, in order to provide the adaptive bending pipe with better structural strength, on the basis of the above embodiment, all the clamping structures 12 between two adjacent bending rings 11 are spirally distributed.

In addition, in order to ensure the uniformity of the bending rigidity of the adaptive bending pipe in all directions, it is preferable that all the clamping structures 12 between two adjacent bending rings 11 are uniformly distributed along the circumferential direction of the bending rings 11, that is, the angle between two adjacent clamping structures 12 between two adjacent bending rings 11 is the same, which is advantageous for ensuring the uniformity of the bending rigidity of the adaptive bending pipe in all directions.

Further, in order to realize that two clamping structures 12 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11 are staggered from each other in the axial direction of the bending ring 11, on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the end surface of the bending ring 11 is provided with at least two step surfaces 112 staggered from each other in the axial direction, and two clamping structures 12 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11 are respectively located on different step surfaces 112. It can be understood that, since the different step surfaces 112 are offset from each other along the axial direction of the bending ring 11, when the clamping structures 12 (such as the protrusions 121 or the recesses 122) are provided on the different step surfaces 112, the clamping structures 12 on the different step surfaces 112 can be offset along the axial direction of the bending ring 11.

It should be noted that two clamping structures 12 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11 may be disposed on two adjacent step surfaces 112, or may be disposed on two non-adjacent step surfaces 112, that is, more than one step surface 112 without the clamping structure 12 (such as the protrusion 121 or the groove 122) may be disposed between two clamping structures 12 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11.

In addition, the present embodiment does not limit the connection manner between two adjacent step surfaces 112, and preferably, as shown in fig. 1, two adjacent step surfaces 112 are connected by a connection surface 113 parallel to the axis of the bending ring 11. It can be understood that, in order to avoid the connection between two adjacent step surfaces 112 affecting the bending of the adaptive bending pipe, the corresponding connection surfaces 113 of two adjacent bending rings 11 are oppositely arranged, and a certain gap is provided between the two corresponding connection surfaces 113.

Further, in order to minimize the width dimension of each bending ring 11 in the axial direction thereof and to make the entire adaptive bending pipe more flexible, based on the above embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the step surface 112 is provided with a sinking groove 1121, and a protrusion 121 extends from the bottom of the sinking groove 1121 in the axial direction of the bending ring 11. That is, the protrusion 121 protrudes from the sinking groove 1121, so that the axial dimension of at least a part of the protrusion 121 along the bending ring 11 coincides with the axial dimension of the bending ring 11 itself, and the maximum width dimension of the whole bending ring 11 is reduced, which is equivalent to compressing the distance between the clamping structures 12 located between different bending rings 11 along the axial direction of the bending ring 11, thereby reducing the rigidity of the adaptive bending pipe and improving the flexibility of bending the adaptive bending pipe.

In addition, in consideration of the convenience of the structure and installation, as shown in fig. 3, as a preferable mode, in addition to the above-described embodiment, with reference to fig. 3, the sinking groove 1121 is provided at one end of the step surface 112, so that the connection surface 113 between the step surface 112 provided with the sinking groove 1121 and the adjacent step surface 112 becomes a part of one side wall of the sinking groove 1121. This eliminates the need to drop the connecting surface 113 between two adjacent step surfaces 112, so that two adjacent step surfaces 112 are transited by the snap structure 12 (e.g., the protrusion 121 or the groove 122).

It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the specific arrangement manner of the step surface 112 is not limited, for example, the step surface 112 may be an inclined surface having a certain inclination angle with respect to the axis of the bending ring 11, and in view of convenience of processing, as a preferable solution, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, on the basis of the above embodiments, the step surface 112 is perpendicular to the axis of the bending ring 11. In other embodiments, the step surface 112 may be inclined at an angle to the axis of the bending ring 11.

It can be understood that, in order to make the rigidity of the adaptively curved pipe as low as possible, it is necessary to minimize the axial distance between two clamping structures 12 adjacent in the axial direction of the curved ring 11, and when the axial distance between two clamping structures 12 adjacent in the axial direction of the curved ring 11 is small, the structural strength of the adaptively curved pipe is affected, so that, in order to ensure the structural strength of the adaptively curved pipe, two clamping structures 12 adjacent in the axial direction of the curved ring 11 are arranged in a staggered manner in the circumferential direction of the curved ring 11 on the basis of the above-described embodiment. That is to say, two adjacent joint structures 12 on the axial of flexure ring 11 are not the setting of aiming at totally, but stagger each other along flexure ring 11's circumference and set up, like this, are favorable to reducing flexure ring 11's axial dimensions under the prerequisite of guaranteeing flexure ring 11 intensity to reduce the rigidity of the crooked pipe of self-adaptation, promote its crooked flexibility.

In addition, in order to ensure that the protrusion 121 can rotate relative to the groove 122, on the basis of the above embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, one side of the protrusion 121 facing the groove wall of the groove 122 has a first arc-shaped surface 1212; the side walls of the recess 122 are connected to the bottom wall of the recess 122 by a second arcuate surface 1222. That is, the present embodiment forms a rotation pair by the cooperation between the first arc-shaped surface 1212 and the second arc-shaped surface 1222, so that the protrusion 121 can rotate relative to the groove 122.

In addition, in the above embodiments, the specific shapes of the first hook 1211 and the second hook 1221 are not limited, as long as the first hook 1211 and the second hook 1221 can cooperate with each other to limit the position, and prevent the protrusion 121 from coming out of the groove 122. For example, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, the protrusion 121 and the first hook 1211 form a T-shaped structure, and the two opposite sides of the notch of the groove 122 are respectively provided with a second hook 1221. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 4, the protrusion 121 and the first hook 1211 form an L-shaped structure, and one side of the notch of the groove 122 is provided with the second hook 1221. It can be seen that the latter solution is simple in structure and convenient to process compared with the former solution.

It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the specific manner of connecting the clamping structures 12 between the adjacent bending rings 11 is not limited as long as the clamping state of the clamping structures 12 between the adjacent bending rings 11 can be maintained, and as a preferable scheme, on the basis of the above embodiments, the adaptive bending pipe is formed by cutting an integrated tubular member. That is to say, through the mode of cutting, form bending ring 11 and joint structure 12 with predetermineeing clearance 111, integrated into one piece, simple structure, the processing cost is low.

In addition, in the above embodiments, in order to ensure that the adaptive bending pipe has better anti-twisting performance, on the basis of the above embodiments, the protrusions 121 and the grooves 122 are matched and limited in the circumferential direction of the bending rings 11 to prevent the adjacent two bending rings 11 from twisting relatively. That is, the size of the protrusion 121 and the groove 122 is the same or there is a small gap along the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11, as long as the protrusion 121 and the groove 122 can be ensured to rotate relatively, so as to prevent the relative rotation between the bending rings 11 around the axis thereof by utilizing the matching limit of the protrusion 121 and the groove 122 along the circumferential direction of the bending ring 11, thereby providing the adaptive bending pipe with better torsional rigidity.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the orientation of each protrusion 121 may be the same or different; correspondingly, the orientation of each groove 122 may be the same or different, and preferably, the orientation of each protrusion 121, that is, each bending ring 11 is: one end is provided with a protrusion 121 and the other end is provided with a groove 122.

As shown in fig. 5 and 7, in addition to the adaptive bending tube, the present invention further provides an endoscopic bending tube including the adaptive bending tube disclosed in the above embodiment, the endoscopic bending tube further including an active bending tube 2, a first end of the active bending tube 2 being adapted to be connected to a traction rope 21 inserted therein, so as to pull the traction rope 21 to bend the active bending tube 2; the second end of the active bending tube 2 is connected to the first end of the adaptive bending tube, which is adapted to be connected to the flexible tube 3 of the endoscope. The flexible tube 3 is mainly used for connection between an endoscope insertion portion and an operation portion located outside a body cavity.

That is, the present embodiment provides the bending tube for an endoscope having both the active bending portion (i.e., the active bending tube 2) and the passive bending portion (i.e., the adaptive bending tube). When the bending tube for the endoscope is applied to the endoscope, one end of the traction rope 21, which is far away from the active bending tube 2, is connected with the angle control knob of the operation part 200 of the endoscope, so that the traction rope 21 is pulled by operating the angle control knob, and the traction rope 21 drives the active bending tube 2 to bend, so that the active bending tube 2 smoothly passes through a human body cavity, and meanwhile, under the limitation of the bending shape of the human body cavity, a force is exerted on the adaptive bending tube, so that the adaptive bending tube can be freely bent along the shape of the human body cavity; in addition, the bending fatigue life of the self-adaptive bending tube is long, and the bending failure can be prevented, so that the bending tube for the endoscope can be applied to not only a disposable endoscope, but also an endoscope which is repeatedly used.

It should be noted that, the present embodiment does not limit the specific structure of the active bending tube 2 and the bending principle thereof, and as a preferable scheme, as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7, on the basis of the above embodiments, the active bending portion includes a plurality of coaxially disposed bending units 22, a certain interval is provided between two adjacent bending units 22, and the two adjacent bending units 22 are rotatably connected by a rotating shaft (e.g., a rivet 23), so that two adjacent bending units 22 can relatively rotate around a rotating shaft axis 24. Preferably, two adjacent bending units 22 are connected by two rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) symmetrically arranged about the axis of the bending unit 22, and the rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) of one bending unit 22 respectively connected to the bending units 22 on both sides thereof are arranged to be offset by a certain angle in the circumferential direction of the bending unit 22. It is further preferable that the rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) of one bending unit 22 connected to the bending units 22 on both sides thereof are vertically arranged (as shown in fig. 9), so that the active bending pipe 2 can be rotated back and forth around two rotating shaft axes 24 perpendicular to each other by operating the pulling rope 21, for example, when the rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) of one bending unit 22 connected to the bending units 22 on both sides thereof are respectively in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, the active bending pipe 2 can be rotated in four directions, up and down, left and right, and bending of the active bending pipe 2 in any direction of 360 ° can be achieved by combining the movements.

It will be appreciated that, in order to facilitate the control of the rotation of the active bending tube 2 in all directions, it is preferable that the number of the traction ropes 21 is the same as the number of the rotation shafts (e.g., rivets 23) of the bending units 22 at different angles in the circumferential direction. For example, as shown in fig. 9, when one bending unit 22 is respectively connected to four rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23), two pairs of the four rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) are respectively symmetrically arranged about an axis of the bending unit 22, different pairs of the rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) are vertically arranged, and the four rotating shafts (e.g., rivets 23) of different bending units 22 are respectively aligned one by one and are respectively located on four straight lines, the number of the traction ropes 21 is four, the four traction ropes 21 are all inserted into the active bending tube 2, as shown in fig. 6 and 8, a guide ring 25 is respectively arranged at a position corresponding to each rotating shaft (e.g., rivet 23) on the bending unit 22, the traction ropes 21 pass through the guide ring 25, when an operator pulls the corresponding traction rope 21 by an angle control knob of the operating part 200, the traction force of the traction ropes 21 is transmitted to the bending unit 22 through the guide ring 25, and the bending unit 22 is further rotated about the axis of the corresponding rotating shaft (e.g., rivet 23), thereby bending the actively bent tube 2 in a certain direction (e.g., upward or downward or leftward or rightward).

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the specific connection mode between the adaptive bending tube and the active bending tube 2 is not limited as long as the connection between the adaptive bending tube and the active bending tube is realized, and in consideration of the convenience of the connection between the adaptive bending tube and the active bending tube, as a preferable solution, on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the adaptive bending tube is connected to the active bending tube 2 through the transfer ring 5. As shown in fig. 6 and 8, preferably, the adapter ring 5 includes a first sleeving part for sleeving with the active bending pipe 2 and a second sleeving part for sleeving with the adaptive bending pipe, and the active bending pipe 2 and the first sleeving part and the adaptive bending pipe and the second sleeving part are respectively connected by a fastener or fixed by riveting or welding or other methods.

It will be understood that the traction rope 21 is passed through the flexible tube 3 of the endoscope, sequentially passes through the adaptive bending tube and the active bending tube 2 to the first end of the active bending tube 2, and is connected to the first end of the active bending tube 2, and therefore, when the traction rope 21 is pulled to control the bending of the active bending tube 2, the rigidity of the traction rope 21 is increased, which affects the performance of the adaptive bending tube and the flexible tube 3, and in order to reduce the influence of the rigidity of the traction rope 21 on the adaptive bending tube and the flexible tube 3, it is preferable that, as shown in fig. 6 and 8, an elastic tube 6 is inserted into the adaptive bending tube and the flexible tube 3, the elastic tube 6 is used for the traction rope 21 to pass through, and it is preferable that, in consideration of the convenience of fixing the elastic tube 6, one end of the elastic tube 6 is connected to the adaptor ring 5, and the other end of the elastic tube 6 is connected to one end of the flexible tube 3 remote from the adaptive bending tube or an operation portion of the endoscope, thereby ensuring the performance of the self-adaptive bending pipe and the flexible pipe 3 when the active bending pipe 2 is bent.

It should be noted that, there are a plurality of elastic tubes 6, which are the same as the pulling ropes 21 in number, and the elastic tubes and the pulling ropes 21 are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence manner, that is, each elastic tube 6 is provided with one pulling rope 21. For example, when the number of the pulling ropes 21 is four, the number of the elastic tubes 6 is also four, and the elastic tubes 6 are fitted around the outer circumference of each pulling rope 21, four bending directions are controlled by the four pulling ropes 21, and thus, multi-degree-of-freedom pulling is realized.

In addition to the above-described adaptive bending tube and the bending tube for an endoscope, the present invention provides an endoscope including the bending tube for an endoscope disclosed in the above-described embodiments, and the structure of other parts of the endoscope is referred to the related art.

As shown in fig. 10, the endoscope includes an insertion portion 100, an operation portion 200, a connector 300, and a connection tube 400, wherein the insertion portion 100 is used for entering a human body to be examined, and includes a distal end portion 4, a bending tube for endoscope, and a flexible tube 3, the distal end portion 4 being connected to a first end of an active bending tube 2 of the bending tube for endoscope, and the flexible tube 3 being connected to a second end of an adaptive bending tube of the bending tube for endoscope; the front end part 4 is provided with a camera unit, an instrument channel, a water-gas channel and other structures, and is used for visually observing a human target area and facilitating auxiliary treatment by utilizing instruments. One end of the flexible tube 3, which is far away from the adaptive bending tube, is connected to the operation part 200, and the operation part 200 is provided with an angle control knob for controlling the bending of the active bending tube 2 of the insertion part 100 and other various function buttons, so that an operator can realize corresponding functions according to requirements. The operation unit 200 is connected to a connector 300 via a connection tube 400, the connector 300 is used for connection to an external device such as a processor and a light source of an endoscope, and the connector 300 realizes transmission and connection of signals, illumination light, and other functions to the insertion unit 100 via the connection tube 400 and the operation unit 200.

Because the endoscope comprises the endoscope bending tube which comprises the adaptive bending tube disclosed by the embodiment, the maximum bending angle of the adaptive bending tube is controllable, and the bending of the adaptive bending tube is not easy to fail, the endoscope has better cavity adaptability.

As shown in fig. 11 and 12, the insertion portion 100 of the endoscope is inserted into a body lumen.

It is further noted that, in the present specification, relational terms such as first and second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions.

The embodiments are described in a progressive manner in the specification, each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments are referred to each other.

The present invention provides an adaptive bending tube, an endoscope bending tube, and an endoscope. The principles and embodiments of the present invention are explained herein using specific examples, which are presented only to assist in understanding the method and its core concepts. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, it is possible to make various improvements and modifications to the present invention without departing from the principle of the present invention, and those improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. The self-adaptive bending pipe is characterized by comprising a plurality of coaxially arranged bending rings (11), wherein two adjacent bending rings (11) are connected through a clamping structure (12), and a preset gap (111) is formed between the two adjacent bending rings (11) in a clamping state; the clamping structure (12) comprises:

a bulge (121) arranged on one of two adjacent bending rings (11), wherein a first clamping hook (1211) is arranged at the free end of the bulge (121);

a groove (122) provided in the other of the two adjacent bending rings (11), wherein a notch of the groove (122) is provided with a second hook (1221) for cooperating with the first hook (1211) to prevent the protrusion (121) from being disengaged from the groove (122);

the protruding part (121) can be embedded in the groove (122) in a movable manner along the axial direction of the bending ring (11), and the protruding part (121) can rotate relative to the groove (122).

2. The self-adaptive bending pipe according to claim 1, wherein any two adjacent bending rings (11) are respectively connected through at least two clamping structures (12), and all the clamping structures (12) between two adjacent bending rings (11) are spirally distributed.

3. The self-adaptive bending pipe according to claim 2, wherein the end face of the bending ring (11) is provided with at least two step faces (112) which are staggered along the axial direction of the bending ring, and two clamping structures (12) which are adjacent along the circumferential direction of the bending ring (11) are respectively positioned on different step faces (112).

4. The adaptive bending tube according to claim 3, wherein the step surface (112) is provided with a sinker (1121), and the protrusion (121) extends from a bottom of the sinker (1121) in an axial direction of the bending ring (11).

5. The adaptive bend tube according to claim 3, characterized in that the step face (112) is perpendicular to the axis of the bending ring (11).

6. The self-adaptive bending tube according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein two clamping structures (12) which are axially adjacent to the bending ring (11) are arranged in a staggered manner along the circumferential direction of the bending ring (11) so as to reduce the axial dimension of the bending ring (11).

7. The adaptive bend tube according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the side of the protrusion (121) facing the groove wall of the groove (122) has a first arc-shaped face (1212); the side wall of the groove (122) is connected with the bottom wall of the groove (122) through a second arc-shaped surface (1222).

8. The adaptive bend tube according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the protrusion (121) and the first hook (1211) form a T-shaped structure, and the second hook (1221) is disposed on opposite sides of the notch; or the bulge part (121) and the first clamping hook (1211) form an L-shaped structure, and the second clamping hook (1221) is arranged on one side of the notch.

9. The adaptive bend tube according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the adaptive bend tube is cut from a unitary tubular member.

10. The self-adapting bending tube according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the protrusions (121) and the grooves (122) cooperate in a limit in the circumferential direction of the bending rings (11) to prevent the adjacent two bending rings (11) from twisting relative to each other.

11. A curved tube for an endoscope, comprising:

the first end of the active bending pipe (2) is connected with a traction rope (21) penetrating through the active bending pipe, so that the active bending pipe (2) is driven to bend by drawing the traction rope (21);

the adaptive bending tube (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, a first end of the adaptive bending tube (1) being connected to a second end of the active bending tube (2), the second end of the adaptive bending tube (1) being adapted to be connected to a flexible tube (3) of an endoscope.

12. Bending tube for endoscopes according to claim 11, characterized in that the adaptive bending tube (1) is connected to the active bending tube (2) by a transfer ring (5).

13. The bending tube for an endoscope according to claim 12, wherein an elastic tube (6) is inserted into the adaptive bending tube (1) for passing the pulling rope (21), one end of the elastic tube (6) is connected to the adaptor ring (5), and the other end of the elastic tube (6) is connected to an end of the flexible tube (3) away from the adaptive bending tube (1) or an operation portion of the endoscope.

14. An endoscope comprising an insertion portion (100), characterized in that the insertion portion (100) comprises the bending tube for an endoscope according to any one of claims 11 to 13.