CN108553069B

CN108553069B - Controllable bent pipe structure

Info

Publication number: CN108553069B
Application number: CN201810475789.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 不公告发明人
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-05-17
Filing date: 2018-05-17
Publication date: 2020-08-28
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-17
Also published as: CN108553069A; WO2019218946A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a controllable bent pipe structure which comprises a plurality of circular pipe-shaped first pipe joints and a plurality of circular pipe joints which are connected in series at intervals, wherein C-shaped occlusion parts are respectively arranged at two ends of the first pipe joints along the axial direction of a bent pipe, and C-shaped notches and spherical bulges matched with the C-shaped occlusion parts are respectively arranged at two ends of the second pipe joints along the axial direction of the bent pipe. The controllable bending pipe is formed by connecting two different pipe sections in series at intervals, the two ends of each pipe section are designed to be in a central symmetry structure, the processing technology can be simplified, the manufacturing simplicity is improved, the pipe sections are tightly and firmly clamped with each other, and the bending angle can be flexibly controlled during bending.

Description

Controllable bent pipe structure

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of medical instruments, in particular to a controllable bending pipe structure.

Background

An endoscope applicable to industrial use and medical use is provided with an insertion portion to be inserted into a living body or a tube. Generally, in an endoscope having a flexible insertion portion, a controllable bending portion is provided on a distal end side of the insertion portion. The bending portion can perform a bending operation in accordance with an operation of an operation device provided in the operation portion. Therefore, in the endoscope having the bending portion, the direction of the observation portion provided at the distal end portion can be directed in a desired direction by the operation device.

In the invention patent application No. CN200510076111.1, there is disclosed a bendable part (8 '), the bendable part (8') being disposed at a distal end of an insertion tube of an endoscope, comprising: -a plurality of pipe sections (9 '), each of said pipe sections (9 ') having a connecting means (11), which connecting means (11) cooperate with the connecting means (11) of an adjacent pipe section (9 '); and a control line with which the bending of the bendable portion (8') can be controlled; wherein the respective connecting means (11) of a pipe section (9 ') are arranged such that they project axially from their faces (12 and 13, respectively) and are positioned within a housing (15') of the pipe section (9 ') such that they do not exceed the thickness of the housing, wherein the connecting means (11) arranged on the faces (12 and 13, respectively) of adjacent pipe sections (9') and positioned opposite one another complement one another in a hinge-type connection.

Patent document CN201280041664.1 discloses a bending portion having a bending block group in which a plurality of bending pieces are rotatably and continuously provided, the bending block group being formed by cutting a rigid tube to form bending pieces, and an engaging portion which is formed by forming a convex portion on one side of the bending pieces and a concave portion on the other side of the bending pieces and rotatably connects the bending pieces, wherein the engaging portion includes: a 1 st engaging part which is composed of a 1 st convex part formed on one side of the bending block by cutting and a 1 st concave part formed on the other side of the bending block at the same time and used for sliding the 1 st convex part; and a 2 nd engaging portion including a pair of 2 nd convex portions formed on the other side of the bending piece through the 1 st concave portion by cutting and a pair of 2 nd concave portions formed on the one side of the bending piece at the same time and allowing the pair of 2 nd convex portions to slide, wherein the bending piece is provided with either a 1 st reinforcing portion for cutting a part of a bottom portion of the 1 st concave portion and widening a bending piece end on one end side or a 2 nd reinforcing portion for widening a bending piece end on the other end side from bottom surfaces of the pair of 2 nd concave portions.

However, in the bending tube structure provided in the above document, the structures of the bending blocks or tube sections constituting the bending tube are the same, so that the two ends of each bending block or tube section need to be designed to be inconsistent and to be capable of being mutually clamped so as to connect the bending blocks or tube sections in series, which increases the complexity of manufacturing and processing, and the clamping angle of each bending block or tube section is consistent with the axial direction of the bending tube, which is easy to cause the tube section to fall off due to loose clamping, thereby affecting the service life of the instrument.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention discloses a controllable bending pipe structure which comprises a plurality of circular pipe-shaped first pipe joints and a plurality of circular pipe-shaped second pipe joints which are connected in series at intervals and form a controllable bending pipe, wherein C-shaped occlusion parts are respectively arranged at two ends of the first pipe joints along the axial direction of the bending pipe, and C-shaped notches and spherical bulges matched with the C-shaped occlusion parts are respectively arranged at two ends of the second pipe joints along the axial direction of the bending pipe.

Preferably, the opening direction of the C-shaped occlusion part forms an included angle of 10-90 degrees with the axial direction of the controllable bending pipe.

Furthermore, one end of each first pipe joint is provided with two C-shaped occlusion parts in the circumferential direction, correspondingly, one end of each second pipe joint is provided with two groups of C-shaped notches and spherical protrusions matched with the C-shaped occlusion parts in the circumferential direction, a crack is formed between the first pipe joint and the second pipe joint after clamping, and the crack extends in the circumferential direction of the controllable bending pipe and is arranged at the interval of the C-shaped occlusion parts.

Preferably, the pipe section wall between any two of the slits is provided with one or more slots extending in the circumferential direction of the controllably bent pipe.

Furthermore, the control device comprises one or more traction wires which penetrate through one end of the controllable bending pipe and are fixedly connected with the first pipe section or the second pipe section which is positioned at the outermost end of the other end of the controllable bending pipe.

Preferably, the first pipe section and the second pipe section are further provided with one or more fixing parts for fixing the traction wire.

Furthermore, the fixing parts are uniformly distributed on the circumference of the first pipe section or the second pipe section.

Preferably, the fixed part is a circular pipe fixedly connected to the inner wall of the first pipe section or the second pipe section.

In summary, the controllable bending pipe structure disclosed by the invention is formed by connecting two different pipe sections in series at intervals, and the two ends of each pipe section along the axial direction of the pipe body are designed into a central symmetrical structure, so that the processing technology can be simplified, and the manufacturing simplicity is improved.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a controlled bending tube disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a first pipe section and a second pipe section disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view in one direction of a controllably curved tube as disclosed in an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 4 is another side view in the alternative direction of the controllably bendable tube disclosed in the embodiments of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the overall structure of the bending state of the controllably bent tube disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a partially enlarged schematic view of the bending state of the controllably bent tube disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, however, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein, which are provided for complete and complete disclosure of the present invention and to fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting of the invention. In the drawings, the same units/elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Unless otherwise defined, terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Further, it will be understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense.

The structure of the controlled bending pipe 100 shown in fig. 1 is clearly visible, and includes a plurality of first pipe joints 10 and second pipe joints 20 in a circular pipe shape, which are connected in series at intervals, the first pipe joints 10 are respectively provided with a C-shaped engagement portion 11 at both ends in the axial direction of the controlled bending pipe, the second pipe joints 20 are respectively provided with a C-shaped notch 21 and a spherical protrusion 22 which are matched with the C-shaped engagement portion 11 at both ends in the axial direction of the controlled bending pipe, when the first pipe joints 10 and the second pipe joints 20 are connected in series, the spherical protrusion 22 of the second pipe joint 29 can be engaged with the C-shaped engagement portion 11 of the adjacent first pipe joint 10, so that the C-shaped engagement portion 11 of the adjacent first pipe joint 10 can be inserted into the C-shaped notch 21 of the second pipe joint 20, and the engaged with the bending of the controlled bending pipe 100, and the C-shaped engagement portion 11 of the first pipe joint 10 can relatively move in the C-shaped protrusion 21 of the second pipe joint 20.

Specifically, if the pipe sections are required to be connected together and can be pivoted without using additional devices such as bolts, and the other end of the adjacent pipe section is required to be clamped or clamped by a clamping structure, the embodiment of the invention adopts two pipe sections with different structures to be mutually clamped, the two different pipe sections are designed into a central symmetrical structure along the two ends of the axial direction of the pipe body, specifically, the two ends of the first pipe section 10 are respectively provided with a C-shaped clamping part 11, the C-shaped clamping parts 11 at the two ends are designed into a central symmetrical structure, the two ends of the second pipe section 20 are respectively provided with a set of C-shaped notch 21 and a spherical bulge 22 which are matched with the C-shaped clamping part 11, the spherical bulge 22 can be suitably clamped in the C-shaped clamping part 11 of the first pipe section 10, and simultaneously, the C-shaped part 11 of the first pipe section 10 can be just embedded in the C-shaped notch 21 of the second pipe section 20, in this way, the first pipe joint 10 and the second pipe joint 20 can be mutually clamped and connected in series at intervals, when the controllable bending pipe 100 is bent or stretched, the C-shaped engaging part 11 of the first pipe joint 10 can relatively move in the C-shaped notch 21 of the second pipe joint 20, and fig. 6 of the embodiment can be understood that the C-shaped engaging part 11 slides in the C-shaped notch 21 to provide a space for bending the pipe body, so that the flexibility of bending is ensured; meanwhile, the spherical bulge 22 is clamped in the center of the C-shaped occlusion part 11, so that the connection stability between the pipe sections is ensured.

The first pipe joint 10 and the second pipe joint 20 in the embodiment of the invention have simple structures, can be formed by laser cutting, and have low processing cost and high yield. The material of the tube walls of the first tube section 10 and the second tube section 20 is preferably a metal material, such as sus304 and sus316, or a nickel titanium alloy. Non-metallic materials such as nylon, Polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber (TPU), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and various plastic materials may also be used.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, a first included angle r formed by the opening direction of the C-shaped engaging portion 11 of the first pipe joint 10 and the axial direction of the controllably bent pipe 100 may range from 10 ° to 90 °, and the opening direction of the C-shaped engaging portion is offset from the axial direction of the controllably bent pipe, so that when the pipe body is bent or stretched and deformed, the spherical protrusion of the second pipe joint engaged therein is difficult to fall off from the opening of the C-shaped engaging portion along the axial direction of the pipe body, thereby increasing the stability of connection; furthermore, the best clamping limiting effect can be obtained within the range, the convenience of the connection process can be achieved, and the stable limiting effect can be obtained, so that the method can be well applied in practice.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of C-shaped engaging portions 11 may be protruded from one end of the first pipe joint 10 in the circumferential direction, so as to meet the requirement of bending directions in different application scenarios. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1-4, one end of each first pipe section 10 is provided with two opposite C-shaped engaging portions 11 along the circumference, and two sets of C-shaped notches 21 and spherical protrusions 22 are correspondingly provided opposite along the circumference of the second pipe section 20, and after the first pipe section 10 and the second pipe section 20 are engaged, a gap 30 is provided between the first pipe section 10 and the second pipe section 20, the gap 30 is provided at intervals of the C-shaped engaging portions and extends along the circumference of the controlled bending pipe, the controlled bending pipe of this embodiment can be bent in two directions under the control of the control device, the gap 30 provides a bending space for the bending of the controlled bending pipe 100, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, when the controlled bending pipe is bent in one direction, the C-shaped engaging portion 11 of the first pipe section 10 is displaced in the C-shaped notch 21 of the adjacent second pipe section 20, specifically, and rotates around the spherical protrusion 22 by a certain angle, or it can be understood that the controlled bending pipe 100 in this embodiment can be bent in two directions by sliding along the C-shaped notch 21 and arranging the opposite two side slits 30 separating the C-shaped engaging portion 11, so that the slit on one side is increased and the slit on the other side is decreased to satisfy the space required for bending the pipe body, and all the above changes are generated reversely when the controlled bending pipe is bent to the other side. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the design of the C-shaped engaging portion of the first pipe section or the C-shaped notch and the spherical protrusion of the second pipe section should not be limited to the positions and numbers provided in the embodiment, and can be designed according to the specific application to meet the requirements of different bending directions.

As can be seen from fig. 3 and 4, one or more grooves 31 may be further disposed between the gaps 30 formed by the first pipe joint 10 and the second pipe joint 20, the grooves 31 extend in the circumferential direction of the pipe joint 10, and the grooves 31 may be circular, square, or elongated. The two parallel elongated grooves 31 are formed between the gaps 30 of each pipe section 10 shown in fig. 4, and the grooves 31 can further provide the space for bending the pipe body, increase the bending angle range of the controllable bending pipe, enhance the flexibility of the pipe body, and reduce the weight and the manufacturing cost of the pipe body.

In order to allow the user to better control the controllable bending device, in one embodiment of the invention, the first pipe section 10 and the second pipe section 20, which are spaced in series, are also controlled by the control device. Further, the control device is preferably one or more traction wires, and is used for controlling the controllable bending tube 100 formed after serial connection to bend towards one or more directions, the traction wires penetrate through one end of any tube section of the controllable bending tube 100 and are fixedly connected with the tube section located at the outermost end of the other end of the controllable bending tube 100, when an external force is applied to the traction wires, namely the traction wires are pulled, the first tube section 10 or the second tube section 20 fixedly connected with the traction wires can be driven to move, at the moment, the C-shaped occlusion part 11 and the spherical protrusion 22 rotate, when the C-shaped occlusion part 11 rotates to the limit position of the C-shaped notch 21, the traction wires are continuously pulled, the adjacent second tube section 20 or the first tube section 10 can be continuously driven to rotate, and therefore the whole bending device is bent; after the bending device is bent to the desired angle by the user, the external force applied to the bending device is removed and the pull wire is fixed, so that the bending device is kept in the bending position.

Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, the pulling portion is preferably a steel wire, but is not limited thereto, and the pulling portion may be any filament-like structure, and the filament-like structure may be made of any metal or non-metal material.

In order to make the pull wire fit better with the bending apparatus and prevent the pull wire from moving in the first tube section 10 or the second tube section 20 of the bending apparatus, which affects the bending effect, in one embodiment of the invention, one or more fixing portions for fixing the pull wire may be further provided on the first tube section 10 or the second tube section 20. In one embodiment of the present invention, it may be preferable to provide one or two pull wires as a control device within a plurality of spaced apart series connected first pipe sections 10 or second pipe sections 20 to allow the controllable bending device to bend in one or two directions. Further, in this embodiment, when the first pipe joint 10 or the second pipe joint 20 is provided with a plurality of fixing portions, the plurality of fixing portions are uniformly distributed on the circumference of the first pipe joint 10 or the second pipe joint 20, so as to ensure that the bending device can be bent in all directions.

Furthermore, the fixing portion may be a circular tube fixedly connected to the inner wall of the first pipe section 10 or the second pipe section 20, or may be a wire groove formed on the inner wall of the first pipe section 10 or the second pipe section 20. The traction wire is fixed through the fixing part, so that the failure of the controllable bending device caused by the slippage of the traction wire can be prevented. The controllable bending device can bend the pipe section group by using the control part according to the requirements of users, can bend towards any direction required by the users, and is flexible and convenient. While the above provides a preferred means of controlling the controllably bendable tube, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a variety of means or devices for controlling the bending of the controllably bendable tube in a desired direction may be practiced, and are not limited to the means provided in the preferred embodiment.

In summary, the controllable bending pipe structure according to the present invention is formed by two different pipe joints connected in series at intervals, and the two ends of each pipe joint along the axial direction of the pipe body are designed to be centrosymmetric structures, so that the processing technology can be simplified, and the manufacturing simplicity can be increased.

Furthermore, the above-described embodiments of the present invention are merely illustrative of the principles and effects of the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Modifications and variations can be made to the above-described embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention, and be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A controllable bent pipe structure is characterized by comprising a plurality of circular pipe-shaped first pipe joints and second pipe joints which are connected in series at intervals and form the controllable bent pipe, wherein C-shaped occlusion parts and spherical notches are respectively arranged at two ends of the first pipe joints along the axial direction of the bent pipe, C-shaped notches and spherical protrusions matched with the C-shaped occlusion parts are respectively arranged at two ends of the second pipe joints along the axial direction of the bent pipe, and the included angle formed by the opening direction of the C-shaped occlusion parts and the axial direction of the controllable bent pipe ranges from 10 degrees to 90 degrees; when the first pipe joint and the second pipe joint are connected in series, the spherical bulge of the second pipe joint can be clamped with the C-shaped clamping part of the adjacent first pipe joint, so that the C-shaped clamping part of the adjacent first pipe joint can be embedded into the C-shaped notch of the second pipe joint, the clamping is followed by the bending of the controllable bending pipe, and the C-shaped clamping part of the first pipe joint can move relatively in the C-shaped notch of the second pipe joint.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein two C-shaped engaging portions are disposed at one end of each first pipe section in a circumferential direction, and two sets of C-shaped notches and spherical protrusions are disposed at one end of each second pipe section in a circumferential direction, and after the first pipe section and the second pipe section are engaged with each other, a gap is formed between the first pipe section and the second pipe section, and the gap extends in the circumferential direction of the controlled bending pipe and is spaced from the C-shaped engaging portions.

3. A controuably curved tubular structure as claimed in claim 2, wherein one or more slots are provided in the wall of the tubular section between any two of said nips, said slots extending circumferentially of said controuably curved tubular.

4. The controuably curved tube structure of claim 1, wherein the controuably curved tube structure comprises one or more pull wires threaded from one end of the controuably curved tube and fixedly connected to the first or second tube segments at an outermost end of the other end of the controuably curved tube.

5. A controllably bendable tube structure according to claim 4, wherein the first tube section and the second tube section are further provided with one or more anchors for anchoring the pull wire.

6. The structure of claim 5, wherein the fixing portions are both circumferentially disposed about the first or second tube segments.

7. A controlled bend tube structure as claimed in claim 6, wherein the anchoring portion is a circular tube fixedly attached to the inner wall of the first or second tube section.