JP2003235787A - Endoscope apparatus and illuminating mechanism for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve light distribution function of a light source provided on the edge of an inserting portion. <P>SOLUTION: A light transmitting layer 34 made of a transparent resin is provided on an edge portion 12a of the inserting portion 12 of an endoscope, and a plurality of LEDs 20 are embedded within the light transmitting layer 34. A power supply unit installed in the endoscope supplies power to the LEDs 20, and a lighting circuit installed in an operating portion of the endoscope controls lighting and turning off of the LEDs 20. The light transmitting layer 34 not only holds the LEDs 20 in a prescribed position, but also transmits and disperses illuminating light emitted from the LEDs 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illumination mechanism for an endoscope device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope has an insertion portion to be inserted into a digestive organ of a human body or the like, and illumination light for illuminating a subject is emitted from a tip portion of the insertion portion. This illumination light is generally supplied from a light source device separate from the endoscope through an optical glass fiber which is inserted through the insertion portion. That is, since the endoscope is connected to the light source device, there is a problem that the operability is poor.

As a countermeasure for this problem, an endoscope in which a light emitting element such as an LED is embedded in the distal end portion of the insertion portion and the illumination light is directly emitted from the distal end of the insertion portion is considered. According to this light source embedded endoscope, Since it is not necessary to connect to a separate light source device, operability is improved. However, since the illumination range by the LED is narrow and the side surface of the light emitting element is covered with a supporting member made of a material that does not transmit light, the light utilization efficiency is poor,
Even if a light distribution lens for illumination is provided on the front surface of the LED, it is difficult to supply illumination light having a desired light intensity over a wide range.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to improve the light distribution of the illumination mechanism provided at the tip of the insertion portion.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An endoscope apparatus according to the present invention includes a flexible insertion portion, an objective optical system arranged at the tip of the insertion portion, and a light emitting element adjacent to the objective optical system. And a light transmission layer which covers the entire light emitting surface of the light emitting element and is provided over the entire front end surface of the front end portion.

In the above endoscope device, the light transmission layer is preferably formed of a transparent resin material, and further, the transparent resin material is preferably polycarbonate.

The illumination mechanism according to the present invention is provided at the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope apparatus, covers the light emitting element adjacent to the objective optical system, and the entire light emitting surface of the light emitting element, and the tip surface of the tip. And a light transmitting layer provided over the entire surface.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of an endoscope apparatus of the present invention. The endoscope apparatus is a fiberscope 10 that allows a subject to be visually observed, and includes an insertion section 12 having a flexible tube and an operation section 14 provided with various buttons 14a for manually operating various functions of the fiberscope 10. And an eyepiece section 16 for observing a subject are integrally configured. Further, a forceps (treatment tool) insertion port 14b is provided in the vicinity of the insertion portion 12 side of the operation portion 14.

An LED 20 which is a light emitting element and an objective optical system 22 are provided at the tip portion 12a of the insertion portion 12, and an optical glass fiber is provided inside the insertion portion 12 from the objective optical system 22 to the eyepiece portion 16. An image guide member 24 (shown by a broken line in the drawing) which is a bundle is inserted. When the subject in front is illuminated by the light emitted from the light emitting element 20, an optical image of the subject is formed on the end face of the image guide member 24 by the objective optical system 22, and is directed to the eyepiece section 16 via the image guide member 24. Be guided. Thereby, the optical image of the subject can be visually observed from the eyepiece unit 16.

The LED 20 is operated by electric power supplied from the power supply unit 18, and its lighting and extinguishing are controlled by a lighting circuit (not shown) provided inside the operation unit 14.

2 is an enlarged perspective view showing the distal end portion 12a of the insertion portion 12, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. The distal end portion 12a is provided with a hollow flexible tube 32 having a light-shielding synthetic resin outer tube, and a hard light transmitting layer 34 is provided so as to seal the open end 32a of the flexible tube 32. The light transmission layer 34 has an axial length L1, and about half of the light transmission layer 34 is fitted in the flexible tube 32. The light transmitting layer 34 is formed of a synthetic resin material such as polycarbonate having high transparency and appropriate rigidity. Polycarbonate is a synthetic resin material that has high light transmittance, excellent impact resistance, dimensional accuracy and dimensional stability during molding, weather resistance, nontoxicity, and insulation, and is easy to mold and is inserted into the body. Considering the above point, it is a suitable material for the tip of the insertion part.

Three LEDs 20 are embedded in the light transmitting layer 34, and the tip of each LED 20 is arranged at a position recessed from the tip surface 34a of the light transmitting layer 34 by a distance L2. This distance L2 is the tip surface. 34a to the open end 3 of the flexible tube 32
It is set to a value smaller than the distance L3 to 2a. That is, the tip of each LED 20 has an opening end 32 a of the flexible tube 32.
Located in front of you. The LED 20 is a ballistic LED, and light is radially emitted from the entire light emitting surface 20a having a ballistic tube shape. The light emitting surface 20a of the LED 20 is entirely the light transmitting layer 3
The light emitted from the light emitting surface 20 a of the LED 20 is diffused by the light transmission layer 34. This improves the light distribution of the illumination light. The number of the LEDs 20 is not limited to three, and may be appropriately selected according to the brightness of the LEDs 20 alone and the size of the arrangement space, that is, the diameter of the insertion portion 12.

The light transmitting layer 34 has a forceps projecting opening 4
2, a cylindrical hole serving as a water supply port 44 and an air supply port 46 is formed and connected to each channel, and the objective optical system 2
2 and a cylindrical hole for inserting the light-shielding tube 26 holding the image guide member 24 arranged in the back are formed.

As described above, since the light transmission layer 34 provided at the tip of the insertion portion 12 has both the function of supporting the LED 20 at a predetermined position and the function of transmitting illumination light, LE
Even if the illumination optical system is not provided in front of the D20, the LED20
Illumination light emitted from not only the tip but also the side is diffused without waste. Therefore, the illumination light is emitted from the light transmitting layer 34, that is, the entire tip of the insertion portion 12 without being attenuated, so that not only the total amount of light given to the subject is increased but also its light distribution is improved, and Uniform illumination light can be supplied to the subject.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an endoscope apparatus (fiberscope) according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the distal end portion of the insertion portion. The second embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment except that a chip type LED is used instead of the ballistic type LED and that the thickness of the light transmission layer is different, and corresponds to the first embodiment. The configuration is shown by adding 200 to the reference numeral, and description thereof is omitted. Further, in FIG. 4, the objective optical system and the image guide fiber are omitted.

The LED 220 is a chip type LED and emits light radially from a light emitting surface 220a which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the flexible tube 232. Due to the shape of the LED 220, the light transmitting layer 234 is not provided on the entire tip of the tip portion 212a of the insertion portion, and the light emitting surface 220 extends from the middle of the chip portion of the LED 220.
a truncated cone shape having a thickness L4 that sufficiently covers a,
The flexible tube 32 is integrally and tightly fixed to the plug member 230 that seals the opening end 32a of the flexible tube 32. The plug member 230 does not need to be transparent, and may be an opaque synthetic resin material or metal material.

Also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the light transmission layer 234 provided at the tip of the tip portion 212a.
However, since it has both the function of supporting the LED 220 at a predetermined position and the function of transmitting the illumination light, the LED 220
Even if the illumination optical system is not provided on the front surface of the LED 220, the illumination light emitted from the light emitting surface 220 a of the LED 220 is also diffused without waste.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the third aspect of the present invention is described.
An embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a simplified configuration of the endoscope apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing the configuration of the tip of the insertion portion. The third embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment except that the endoscope apparatus is an electronic endoscope, and 300 is added to the code for the configuration corresponding to the first embodiment. The description is omitted.

The endoscope apparatus of the third embodiment is an electronic endoscope 310 capable of observing a subject on a monitor screen.
The video signal processing device 360, the external input device 370, and the monitor device 380 are combined. In the electronic endoscope 350, the image pickup device 350 is provided in the back of the objective optical system 322 instead of the image guide fiber, and the optical object image formed on the image pickup surface of the image pickup device 350 by the objective optical system 322 is an image. Video signal processing device 3 photoelectrically converted into a signal
60 is transmitted. The video signal processing device 360 subjects the video signal to appropriate image processing such as γ processing and white balance correction processing by the image processing circuit 366 which operates under the control of the system control circuit 362, and transmits the video signal to the monitor device 380. The monitor device 380 reproduces the subject image on the monitor screen based on the video signal. The LED 320 provided at the tip of the insertion section 312 is controlled to be turned on and off by an LED drive circuit 364 provided in the video signal processing device 360.

Also in the endoscope apparatus of the third embodiment, the distal end portion 3 of the insertion portion 312 is the same as in the first and second embodiments.
Since the light transmission layer 334 provided on 12a has both the function of supporting the LED 320 at a predetermined position and the function of transmitting the illumination light, the light emitting surface 320a of the LED 320 does not have to be provided on the front surface of the LED 320. The illumination light emitted from is also diffused without waste.

[0022]

As described above, since the endoscope device of the present invention has a structure in which the LED provided at the distal end portion of the insertion portion is covered and supported by the light transmitting layer, the light distribution of the illumination light is improved. Can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an endoscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view partially showing a distal end of the insertion section shown in FIG.

3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the distal end of the insertion portion of the endoscope device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an endoscope apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view partially showing the distal end of the insertion portion shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Fiberscope 12 Insert 20 LED 22 Objective Optical System 34 Light Transmission Layer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A flexible insertion part, an objective optical system arranged at the tip of the insertion part, a light emitting element adjacent to the objective optical system, and a light emitting surface of the light emitting element. An endoscope apparatus comprising: a light transmission layer provided over the entire tip surface of the tip portion. 2. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light transmission layer is made of a transparent resin material. 3. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transparent resin material is polycarbonate. 4. An illumination mechanism provided at a distal end portion of an insertion portion of an endoscope apparatus, which covers a light emitting element adjacent to an objective optical system and an entire light emitting surface of the light emitting element, and a distal end surface of the distal end portion. An illumination mechanism comprising: a light transmission layer provided over the entire surface.