JPH11295619A - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a watertight endoscope device which can cope with the difference of the incident end diameter of the light guide of an endoscope and the difference of a light distribution characteristic with respect to an observation part. SOLUTION: The endoscope device 1 is constituted so that a light guide fiber 34 is fixed to the inside of a light guide ferrule 26 by a machine screw 36 and a light guide cover glass 34a is fixed to the end surface of the fiber 34. Besides, a cover glass 14 is disposed at an almost middle part in a housing holder 50 disposed in a light source main body part. Then, when a lamp part is disposed in the holder 50, the light emitting side of a lamp 5 is arranged at the back end surface of the glass 14. Besides, when a condensing lens unit 10 is screwed in the holder 50, a condensing lens 7 is positioned in front of the glass 14 in the holder 50.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus suitable for portable use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A diagnostic or examination site of an endoscope which has been widely used in the medical field and the industrial field includes:
Since it is inside a living body, a plant, or the like, illumination means for observation is required. In a general endoscope device, a light source device is prepared as an external device of the endoscope, and illumination light of a lamp in the light source device is guided to a light guide fiber provided in the endoscope. The configuration is such that the guided illumination light is emitted from the illumination window on the distal end side of the insertion section and illuminates the inspection target site for observation.

[0003] In addition to the endoscope device using the light source device,
The present applicant has proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-253770 an endoscope apparatus which uses a detachable battery-type light source as a light source for a light guide base provided in the endoscope. This endoscope device is suitable for emergency use because it is easy to carry and can be used without a power source.

[0004]

However, in an endoscope apparatus using a battery-type light source, since the battery-type light source is used in combination with a plurality of types of endoscopes, the diameter of the light guide entrance end of the endoscope is reduced. Are different from each other, the illumination light emitted from the lamp provided in the battery-type light source is not efficiently condensed at the light guide entrance end, and the amount of illumination emitted from the illumination window is reduced, which adversely affects observation. Was likely to occur.

When performing endoscopic observation, there are cases where illumination light for uniformly illuminating the entire observation section is required, and illumination light for illuminating the vicinity of the central portion of the observation section is required. Depending on the purpose of observation, the condenser lens was replaced with one with the corresponding light distribution characteristics.However, by repeatedly replacing the condenser lens, the watertight O-ring was damaged and the watertight performance was degraded. There is a problem that watertightness cannot be ensured when a chemical solution is immersed in the detached state.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is capable of coping with a difference in the light guide entrance end diameter of an endoscope and a difference in light distribution characteristics with respect to an observation site, and maintaining watertightness. It is intended to provide a device.

[0007]

An endoscope apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
An endoscope comprising an endoscope having a light guide fiber for guiding illumination light, and a battery type light source having a lamp detachably attached to the endoscope and supplying illumination light to a light incident end of the light guide fiber. A mirror device, wherein a condensing lens for condensing light emitted from a lamp of the battery type light source to a light incident end of a light guide fiber is detachably provided between the endoscope and the battery type light source. Provided.

[0008] According to this configuration, an optimal condensing lens corresponding to the light guide incident end diameter and the light distribution characteristic with respect to the observation region is appropriately disposed between the endoscope and the battery-type light source, thereby always providing the best converging lens. Observation can be performed under illumination conditions.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 7 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the entire configuration of an endoscope apparatus, and FIG. 2 shows a positional relationship when an endoscope and a battery-type light source are connected. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a battery-type light source, FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a conductive member forming a light source main body and a lid, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating a configuration of a lamp unit. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the relationship between the condenser lens unit, the battery-type light source, and the endoscope.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the endoscope is connected to a battery-type light source provided with a condenser lens unit.

As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present invention
Is a tip portion 21 and a bendable bending portion 2 sequentially from the tip side.
2. An elongated insertion portion 24 connected with a flexible tube portion 23 having flexibility, and an eyepiece portion 25 provided at a rear end portion located at a base end side of the insertion portion 24 and protruding from a side portion. An endoscope 2 having a watertight structure including an operation unit 27 also serving as a gripping unit provided with a light guide base 26 formed of a member having good thermal conductivity.
The light guide base 2 provided on the operation unit 27 of the endoscope 2
6 comprises a water-tight battery-type light source 4 having a substantially T-shape, which is detachably connected to a connection portion 41 via a connection portion 41 and in which a lamp and a battery described later are arranged. A light guide cable detachable from a light source device (not shown) can be connected to the light guide base 26, and the light guide cable and the battery type light source 4 can be selectively connected.

The operating section 27 is provided with a bending operation lever 28, and the bending section 22 performs a bending operation by rotating the bending operation lever 28. The operation unit 27 communicates with a suction button 29 for performing a suction operation, and a suction channel (not shown) provided in the endoscope 2 and protruding from the vicinity of the proximal end of the suction button 29 in a lateral direction. A suction base 31 is provided. The suction base 31 is connected to a suction device (not shown) via a tube (not shown), and the suction channel and the suction base 3 are operated by appropriately operating the suction button 29.
The body fluid in the body cavity can be sucked through the device 1. Further, a forceps insertion port 32 for inserting a treatment tool such as forceps is provided at the distal end side of the operation unit 27, and a forceps plug 33 is attached to the forceps insertion port 32.

A light guide fiber 34 (see FIG. 6) for guiding (transmitting) illumination light is inserted into the insertion portion 24. The proximal end of the light guide fiber 34 extends through the operation portion 27. It is fixed in the light guide base 26 that has come out.

[0013] As shown in FIG.
6 is provided with a male screw part 26a, which is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the male screw part 26a and a connection socket 44 that is rotatably provided on the outer peripheral side of the connection base 43 of the connection part 41. The endoscope 2 and the battery-type light source 4 are integrally connected and fixed by screwing the female screw.

That is, when the endoscope 2 and the battery type light source 4 are connected, the index 26b provided on the connection ring 26c of the light guide base 26 and the index 4a provided on the battery type light source 4 coincide. After that, the battery type light source 4 is screwed and fixed to the light guide base 26 as described above. As a result, the positioning pin 43a provided on the battery type light source 4 is engaged with the pin receiving portion 26d provided on the connection ring 26c of the light guide base 26, so that the positioning pin 43a is always positioned and fixed in a fixed positional relationship. . At this time, the battery type light source 4 is in an off state in which the light is not turned on.

The configuration of the battery-type light source 4 that is detachable from the endoscope 2 will be described. As shown in FIG.
A light source body 40 provided with a battery housing 40a for housing the dry battery 6 in an exterior member 46 formed of an insulating resin member and a lamp housing 40b for housing a lamp 42 described below; A lid 45 detachable from the battery housing 40a, and a lamp housing 40b;
A lamp holder 60 provided with a convex electric contact portion 62 which is detachable from the lamp holder, a lamp portion 42 provided with a lamp 5 detachable from the lamp holder 60, and a condenser lens unit 10 detachable from the connection portion 41 The battery 6 and the lamp 5 can be replaced by removing the lid 45 and the lamp unit 42 from the light source main unit 40.

The condenser lens unit 10 emits illumination light at an arbitrary angle toward the end of the light guide fiber 34, and the condenser lens 7 is integrally fixed to the tip end side. A substantially pipe-shaped lens holding member 12 having a small-diameter portion 12a formed with a male screw portion 12b on the outer peripheral surface to be disposed and a large-diameter portion 12c formed on a base end surface with a slit 13 for attaching and detaching a lens unit. ing.

The condensing lens 7 is, for example, of a type that uniformly condenses light over the entire end of the light guide fiber 34 to illuminate the entire observation visual field, and a light guide fiber 34 that illuminates the center of the observation visual field. The exit angle from the condenser lens 7 toward the end of the light guide fiber 34 is different, such as a type that condenses light at the center of the end.
Then, a plurality of condenser lens units 10 in which the condenser lenses 7 having different lens characteristics are adhered and fixed to the small diameter portion 12a of the lens holding member 12 are prepared.

The battery housing 40 of the light source body 40
A battery housing member 47 formed of a conductive member shown in FIG. Reference numeral 49 denotes a packing member, and the lid 45 is attached to the light source main body 40.
When the packing member 49 is integrally fixed to the lid 45, the packing member 49 comes into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the lid 45 to be in a watertight state. Reference numeral 71 denotes a contact spring portion described later. The lamp housing 40
On the inner peripheral surface side of b, a lamp housing holder 50 formed in a substantially pipe shape by a conductive member having a plurality of elongated steps shown in FIG. The lamp housing holder 50 has a cutout portion 51 extending in the longitudinal axis direction from the base end surface through the base end side large diameter portion 52 to the central trunk portion 53. Is formed so that the convex electric contact portion 62 is inserted. For this reason, the width of the notch 51 is formed to be wider than the width of the convex electrical contact 62. Also,
The exterior member 4 located on the distal end side of the central trunk 53
The small-diameter portion 12a of the condensing lens unit 10 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the small-diameter body portion 56 that is disposed so as to protrude from the opening 46c.
Female screw part 5 screwed with male screw part 12b formed in
6d are formed. Further, on the inner peripheral surface side of the lid 45, a battery receiving member 48 formed of a conductive member shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the lamp storage holder 5
The lamp holder 60 of the lamp unit 42 which can be detached and mounted in the
A holder main body 61 formed in a substantially pipe shape by an insulating resin member or the like;
a, and electrically contacts a lamp side electrode 5p provided on a side peripheral surface of a base end portion of the lamp 5 and contacts a dry battery 6 housed in the battery housing portion 40a. An electrical contact portion 62 and a convex portion 63a that fits loosely into a through hole provided in a partition 61b formed in the through hole of the holder main body 61.
a contact pin 63 having a substantially convex cross section formed by a conductive member having a front end surface a electrically connected to a lamp rear end electrode 5n provided on a base rear end surface of the lamp 5;
A conductive contact spring 64 for urging the contact pin 63 toward the rear end electrode 5n of the lamp and a base end of the holder main body 61 are covered so that the outer peripheral surface protrudes from the outer peripheral surface of the holder main body 61. A contact spring receiving portion 65 formed of a conductive member to which the contact spring 64 and the lamp holder 60 are attached, the contact spring receiving portion 65 being in contact with the lamp housing holder 50, and a retaining pin 66 for the contact spring receiving portion 65. A lamp holder mounting screw portion 67 rotatably provided with a male screw portion 67a on the outer peripheral surface;
And a holder exterior member 68 formed of a resin or the like having a low thermal conductivity attached to the holder.

The glass surface at the tip of the lamp 5 has a lens shape and has a function of converging emitted light.
Further, the battery receiving member 48, the battery storage member 4
7. As the material of the contact spring 71, the lamp housing holder 50, the contact spring receiving portion 65, the contact pin 63, and the convex electric contact portion 62, nickel-plated copper alloy is suitable. It is suitable that the spring steel wire is copper-plated or nickel-plated. Further, a watertight ring 69a is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the lamp holder mounting screw portion 67. Further, a slit 67b for attaching and detaching the lamp holder is formed on the base end surface of the lamp holder mounting screw portion 67.

As shown in FIG. 6, a light guide fiber 34 is fixed to the inside of the light guide base 26 by screws 36, and a light guide cover glass 34a is provided on the end face side of the light guide fiber 34 with the light guide base 26. Is water-tightly arranged and fixed on the tip side of the. The watertightness between the operation portion main body 27a forming the operation portion 27 and the base body 26e forming the light guide base 26 is held by a watertight ring 26f.

On the other hand, a ring-shaped holding member is provided substantially in the middle of the storage holder 50 provided in the light source body 40 constituting the battery type light source 4 integrally connected to the endoscope 2. Cover glass 1 held and fixed by 15
4 are provided. Watertightness is maintained by the adhesive applied to the outer peripheral surfaces of the pressing member 15 and the cover glass 14.

By disposing the lamp portion 42 in the storage holder 50, the cover glass 1
On the rear end face side of 4, the light emitting side of the lamp 5 provided in the lamp section 42 is arranged. In addition, the storage holder 5
The female screw portion 56d formed on the inner peripheral surface of the small-diameter body portion 56 inside the small-diameter portion 56 of the condenser lens unit 10
The cover glass in the storage holder 50 is formed by fitting a slit driver, for example, to the slit 13 and screwing the condenser lens unit 10 in accordance with the male screw portion 12b formed in the storage holder 50. The condenser lens unit 10 is disposed such that the condenser lens 7 is located in front of the condenser lens 14.

At this time, the water tightness between the rotation restricting ring 54 disposed in the lamp housing portion 40b of the exterior member 46 and the lamp housing portion 40b is held by a water tight ring 59a, and the connection base 43 and the lamp housing portion The water tightness with the connection base 43 is held by the water tight ring 59d provided on the outer peripheral surface of the lamp holder mounting screw portion 67, and the water tightness with the connection base 43 is held by the water tight ring 59d. Watertightness with the holder 50 is maintained by a watertight ring 38.

As shown in FIG. 7, the connection part 41 of the battery type light source 4 having the light source body part 40 in which the lamp part 42 and the condenser lens unit 10 are integrated is connected to the light guide base 26 of the endoscope 2. The endoscope 2
And the battery type light source 4 are integrally connected and fixed.
At this time, the watertightness of the connection portion 41 and the light guide base 26 is maintained by the watertight ring 16.

As a result, the battery type light source 4
Lamp 5 and light guide fiber 34 of endoscope 2
Light guide cover glass 34a disposed at the end
The condenser lens 7 having a characteristic of emitting the light emitted from the lamp 4 toward the end of the light guide fiber 34 at a predetermined angle is disposed between the illumination light and the illumination light emitted from the lamp 5. Is incident on the condenser lens 7 through the cover glass 14 and refracted, and then exits at a predetermined exit angle toward the end of the light guide fiber 34, passes through the light guide cover glass 34a, and passes through the light guide fiber. Illumination light in a desired state is incident on the 34 end.

By replacing the condenser lens unit with another condenser lens unit having a fixed condenser lens having a desired lens characteristic, the condenser lens unit emits light from the lamp, passes through the condenser lens unit, and writes light. By changing the incident angle of the light incident on the end of the guide fiber,
The illumination light for illuminating the observation site in a desired state can be obtained.

As described above, the condenser lenses having different lens characteristics are fixed to the lens holding member to constitute a plurality of condenser lens units, and the condenser lens units are detachable from the battery type light source. The angle of the illumination light incident on the end of the light guide fiber can be set arbitrarily, and the light distribution of the illumination light applied to the observation site from the illumination window at the endoscope end can be easily changed to a desired state. Can be done.

Further, since both the battery type light source and the endoscope have a watertight structure, even if the condensing lens unit is in an insufficiently attached state or is in a detached state, Water can be prevented from entering the endoscope and the battery-type light source.

Thus, even when the condenser lens unit is repeatedly attached and detached, the watertightness of the endoscope and the battery-type light source is maintained, and the immersion and cleaning of the liquid medicine can be performed.

In this embodiment, the condenser lens unit is detachably provided on the battery type light source side. However, as shown in FIG. 8, the condenser lens unit is detachably provided on the endoscope side. It may be.

The endoscope apparatus 1 according to the embodiment described above.
The negative electrode of the dry battery 6 includes a spring (not shown) for urging the dry battery 6, a battery receiving member 48, a battery housing member 47, a contact spring 71, and a lamp housing holder 5.
0, contact spring receiving portion 65, contact spring 64, contact pin 63
, And is always electrically connected to the lamp rear end electrode 5n of the lamp 5. On the other hand, when the notch 51 of the storage holder 50 is opposed to the positive electrode of the dry battery 6 as shown in FIG. The electrical contact portion 62 and the positive electrode of the dry battery 6 come into contact with each other, and the lamp side electrode 5 of the lamp 5
The positive electrode of the dry battery 6 is electrically connected to p.

However, the exterior member 46 is rotated with respect to the lamp housing holder 50 to bring the positive electrode of the dry battery 6 into contact with the insulating ring 55 provided on the housing holder 50 as shown in FIG. In this state, the lamp side electrode 5p and the positive electrode of the dry battery 6 are electrically disconnected.

That is, in this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (c), the exterior member 46 of the battery-type light source 4 disposed on the operation unit 27 of the endoscope 2 is rotated, and as shown in (b) of FIG. The battery housing 40 of the light source main body 40 with respect to the optical axis of the eyepiece 25
When the axes of “a” are arranged in a parallel positional relationship, the positional relationship shown in FIG. 9B and FIG.
The positive electrode of the dry battery 6 comes into contact with 5, the lamp 5 and the dry battery 6 are turned off, and the lamp 5 is turned off.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The outer member 46 of the battery-type light source 4 provided in the operation unit 27 is rotated to rotate the outer member 46 with respect to the optical axis of the eyepiece 25 of the operation unit 27 as shown in FIG. When the axes of the battery accommodating portions 40a of the light source main body portion 40 are arranged in a vertical positional relationship, the positional relationship shown in FIGS. , The negative electrode of the dry battery 6 and the rear end electrode 5n of the lamp bias the dry battery 6, the battery receiving member 48, the battery housing member 47, and the contact spring 7
1. Connected via the lamp housing holder 50, the contact spring receiving portion 65, the contact spring 64, and the contact pin 63, the lamp 5 and the dry battery 6 are turned on and the lamp 5 is turned on.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to only the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the invention.

[Appendix] According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention as described in detail above, the following configuration can be obtained.

(1) A battery type having an endoscope having a light guide fiber for guiding illumination light and a lamp detachably attached to the endoscope and supplying illumination light to a light incident end of the light guide fiber. In an endoscope apparatus including a light source, a condensing lens that causes light emitted from the battery type light source to enter a light incident end of a light guide fiber at an arbitrary incident angle, the endoscope and the battery type light source. An endoscope device provided detachably between the endoscopes.

(2) The endoscope apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein the condenser lens is provided between a light entrance end of the light guide fiber and a light exit end of the battery type light source.

(3) The condenser lens constitutes a condenser lens unit integral with a lens holding member for holding the condenser lens, and the condenser lens unit is a light incident end of the light guide fiber. Alternatively, the endoscope apparatus according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, which is attached to a light emitting end of the battery-type light source.

(4) The endoscope apparatus according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 3, wherein a detachable portion of the battery type light source for the endoscope is provided in an operation section of the endoscope.

(5) The endoscope and the battery type light source are:
Appendix 1 to Appendix 4 each having a watertight structure in both a single state and a connected state.
An endoscope apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to cope with the difference in the light guide entrance end diameter of the endoscope and the difference in the light distribution characteristics with respect to the observation site, and to maintain the watertightness. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 7 relate to one embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the entire configuration of the endoscope apparatus.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship when an endoscope and a battery-type light source are connected.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a battery-type light source.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a conductive member forming a light source main body and a lid.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a lamp unit.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a relationship among a condenser lens unit, a battery-type light source, and an endoscope.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the endoscope is connected to a battery-type light source provided with a condenser lens unit.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which an endoscope provided with a condenser lens unit and a battery-type light source are connected.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship and operation between a lamp storage holder provided with an insulating ring and a dry battery;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a position of a battery-type light source with respect to an operation unit of the endoscope and a lamp on / off state.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing the positional relationship and operation between a contact spring and a lamp housing holder.

[Description of Signs] 2 ... Endoscope 4 ... Battery type light source 5 ... Lamp 7 ... Condensing lens 10 ... Condensing lens unit 14 ... Cover glass 34 ... Light guide fiber 34a ... Light guide cover glass

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope having a light guide fiber for guiding illumination light, and a battery-type light source having a lamp detachably attached to the endoscope and supplying illumination light to a light incident end of the light guide fiber. An endoscope apparatus comprising: a condenser lens for condensing light emitted from a lamp of the battery-type light source to a light incident end of a light guide fiber, between the endoscope and the battery-type light source. An endoscope apparatus provided detachably.