JP2002034901A - Operating device of endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope operating device that does not require adjustment of a brake force, allows quick operation with a simple mechanism, and allows anyone to easily and certainly to release a locking operation. SOLUTION: This endoscope operating device comprises a turning shaft 3 provided on the base end side of an insertion part, a bending mechanism for turning a knob 4A for a bending operation about the turning shaft 3 and bending the tip side of the insertion part, and a locking mechanism 7 for turning a knob 5A for the locking operation about the turning shaft 3 and holding a turning action of the bending mechanism in a lock state. The locking mechanism 7 comprises a drum type brake.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope for medical or industrial use, and more particularly to an endoscope operating device capable of bending the distal end side of an insertion portion into a desired shape by manual operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an endoscope has an insertion portion for insertion into an observation object such as a body cavity or a jet engine, and a bending operation portion allows a rotation shaft on a base end side of the insertion portion to be inserted. A bending mechanism that rotates the bending portion on the distal end side of the insertion portion into a desired shape by rotating the locking portion, and a locking mechanism that rotates along a rotation axis to maintain the bending shape of the bending portion. And a lock mechanism for preventing the operation of.

Further, in such an endoscope, for example, a friction member which is allowed to move only in the axial direction of a rotation axis perpendicular to the rotation direction is provided on a lock operation portion side, and a bending operation is performed. There is known a device provided with a bending operation unit and a contact member that rotates integrally with the bending operation unit on the unit side.

In such an endoscope, when the lock operation portion is rotated in a certain direction, the friction member, which has been prevented from rotating, moves linearly in the axial direction of the rotation shaft by the action of the screw, and comes into close contact with the contact member. Start. When the lock operation unit is further rotated from the close contact state and the friction member is brought into close contact with the contact member, the rotational operation of the bending operation unit is braked by the frictional force generated between the two, and the lock operation is stopped. State. Thereby, for example, it is possible to prevent a problem that the bending operation unit is rotated even though the bending operation is not performed, and the bending state of the bending unit changes and the observation site changes.

[0005] Incidentally, as this friction member, a donut type member made of cork or rubber is usually used. Such a donut-shaped friction member is not easily deformed by the action of an external force. That is, it has a stable shape that is not easily crushed. For this reason, in this friction member, the displacement amount in the vertical direction from the time when it comes into contact with the contact member and causes displacement in the thickness direction, until the braking force due to friction acts sufficiently and the bending operation portion is locked. (Stroke) is very slight, and the operation is heavy and dull.

In other words, when the lock operation part is rotated, the braking force changes and increases rapidly at a small rotation angle, so that fine adjustment of the brake is required. That is, this is achieved by finely adjusting the assembled state of both the friction member fixed to the lock operation unit side and the abutting member facing the lock member, which constitutes the lock mechanism, so that the gap is appropriate. The time until the lock starts to be applied, and thus the time until the brake is fully applied, is adjusted. Therefore, fine adjustment of the braking force by such a method has been troublesome and troublesome.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that does not require fine adjustment of a brake, can be operated easily with a simple mechanism, and can release lock operation easily and reliably by anyone. It is an object to provide an operation device.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a bending mechanism for turning a knob for bending operation around a rotation shaft provided on a base end side of an insertion section to bend the distal end side of the insertion section, and the turning mechanism. A lock mechanism for rotating a knob for lock operation about an axis, and a lock mechanism for holding the rotation of the bending mechanism in a locked state, wherein the lock mechanism is a drum. It is characterized by comprising a type of brake.

A drum-type brake includes a friction member having a large friction coefficient which moves in a radial direction of the rotation shaft by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, and the friction member is partially provided on the bending mechanism side. It can be configured so as to be in close contact with and prevent operation of the bending mechanism.

The lock mechanism includes a cam integrally provided on a lock operation knob, a contact member integrally provided on a bending operation knob, and a brake member provided between the cam and the contact member. And a friction member, and when a knob for locking operation is rotated, a cam that rotates integrally with the knob pushes a brake member, and the brake member directs the friction member outward in the axial direction of the rotation shaft. Then, the friction member is brought into close contact with the contact member to brake the operation of the bending mechanism.

The lock mechanism comprises a substantially polygonal cam which is integrally rotated by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, a brake member whose inner peripheral surface is in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the cam, and an adjacent brake member. A tension spring connecting the two members, and a friction member fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the brake member;
A structure in which the brake member and the friction member are movably accommodated in a radial direction of a rotation shaft, and a contact member is fixed to an inner peripheral surface on a bending operation portion side of a bending mechanism opposed to an outer peripheral surface of the friction member. It is possible.

The lock mechanism includes a substantially polygonal cam which is integrally rotated by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, a brake member whose inner peripheral surface is in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the cam, and a substantially ring-shaped cam. A friction member formed and externally inserted so as to surround an outer peripheral surface of the brake member, and a rotation member on a bending operation portion side of a bending mechanism that accommodates the brake member and the friction member movably in a radial direction of the rotation shaft. And a contact member fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating member facing the outer peripheral surface of the friction member.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an endoscope to which an operation device according to the present invention is attached.
The endoscope includes an operation unit 100, an insertion unit 101, a light source device 103 connected to a connector 102, and the like.

The operation unit 100 is provided with an operation device having knobs 2A and 4A.
By rotating this, the bending portion 101A provided on the distal end side of the insertion portion 101 can be bent in any direction of up, down, left, and right through power transmission means using a wire (not shown).

At the distal end of the insertion portion 101, an observation window, an illumination window, and the like (not shown) are provided. An image obtained through the observation window is provided with an eyepiece 10 provided at the base end side of the operation unit 100.
You can look directly from 5 and observe. On the other hand, illumination light from the light source device 103 is guided to the illumination window via a light guide (not shown) so as to project and illuminate a desired portion of the observation target.

Next, an operation device for an endoscope according to the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the description of the bending operation unit in the left-right direction and the lock operation unit is omitted,
Although only the vertical bending operation section and the lock operation section for locking the bending state in the vertical direction have been described, the horizontal bending operation section and the lock operation section have the same configuration. Can be applied.

FIG. 2 shows an operating device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The operating device 1 has a rotary shaft 3 and a bending operating section 4 on a housing 6 as a schematic configuration.
, A lock operation unit 5, a wire or other bending mechanism (not shown), and a lock mechanism 7.

A base portion 3C is formed on the rotation shaft 3, and right and left and up and down pulleys 2 are provided immediately above the base portion 3C.
3, 43 are fixed. The base 3C of the rotating shaft 3 is fixed to a substrate 62 on the housing 6 described later, and is not rotated with respect to the housing 6 side.

The bending operation unit 4 for up and down is configured to rotate the knob 4A for bending operation to bend the bending portion on the distal end side of the insertion unit to be inserted into the observation object in the vertical direction.
In addition to the knob 4A, a rotating member 41 and a contact member 42
And a pulley 43. The knob 4A is integrally fixed to the turning member 41, and the turning operation of the knob 4A in either the forward or reverse direction allows the bending operation of the bending portion to be performed in the vertical direction.

The rotating member 41 is provided with a shaft portion 41A constituting a rotating shaft, which penetrates the center portion vertically in the vertical direction. The shaft portion 41A is formed by cutting a center portion side into a circular cross section, and has a rotating hole 41B penetrating in a vertical direction. The shaft portion 2A on the bending mechanism side for the right and left sides via an O-ring S1.
The shaft portion 21A is rotatably externally mounted on the outer peripheral side of the rotating shaft 3 while being rotatably externally inserted on the outer peripheral side of 1A. Thus, the shaft portion 41A and the shaft portion 21A rotate coaxially with respect to the rotation shaft 3.

The shaft portion 41A is connected to the rotating portion 4 provided on the upper portion.
1C is a stopper portion 21D provided on the shaft portion 21A.
And a slide guide portion 61A of a fixed base 61 on the housing 6 described later, which is rotatably held between the upper end surface and the upper and lower surfaces. It turns without. A pulley 43 is fixed to a lower end of the shaft portion 41A, and a pair of wires (not shown) is provided on the pulley 43 between the pulley 43 and the bending portion.

The pulley 43 is rotated integrally with the knob 4A by the same angle in the same direction by the turning operation of the knob 4A in either the forward or reverse direction, so that one of the wires is wound. At the same time, the other is paid out. That is, by the winding / unwinding operation of the wire, the bending portion is pulled in one of the left and right directions and bent in the same direction.

The contact member 42 includes a friction member 5 described later.
4 is integrally fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the knob lower cover constituting a part of the rotating member 41 in a state of facing the outer peripheral surface of the rotary member 4 from the outside.

The lock operation section 5 includes a lock mechanism 7 described later.
The left and right locking knobs 5 are used to maintain the locked state in which the turning operation of the bending operation unit 4 cannot be performed.
A, a rotating member 51, a cam 52, a brake member 53 engaged with the cam 52, a friction member 54 fixed to the brake member 53, a guide member 55 for guiding the brake member 53, and a brake member 53 And a tension spring 56 for connecting the two.

The rotary member 51 is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, and a knob 5A is integrally fixed thereto. A circular hole 51A having a circular cross section is opened at the center. The round hole 51A of the rotary member 51 is inserted into the slide guide 61A on the fixed base 61 side, and the outer peripheral surface of the slide guide 61A having a circular cross section on the rotary shaft 3 side via the O-ring S3. Can be freely rotated with respect to. In other words, the position of the turning member 51 is changed in the axial direction of the turning shaft 3 (vertical direction) by turning the knob 5A.
Is rotated integrally with the knob 5A by the same angle.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cam 52 is formed in a substantially square shape by various kinds of metal materials and the like. At the four corner portions 52B, a locked state is set for the bending operation section 4. In particular, by chamfering the corner portion 52B, when a brake member 53 described later is locked to the chamfered portion, the locked state can be reliably maintained in a stable state. The shape of the cam 52 is not particularly limited to this quadrangle, but may be a polygon (n) or more than a triangle, but if the number of corners (n) increases, the outer angle approaches 180 degrees and the plane becomes flat. Therefore, it is difficult to secure a large stroke for locking.

On the other hand, the brake member 53 has a structure in which a substantially donut-shaped one is divided into the same number as the number of corners (n) of the cam 52, that is, divided into four pieces. And are provided so as to approach each other. The brake member 5
Numeral 3 is slidably mounted on the floor surface 41D on the side of the knob lower cover, which constitutes a part of the rotating member 41, and its movement direction is regulated by a guide member 55 described later.
It is convenient for the brake member 53 to be formed with a concave portion 53A for locking the corners 52B between the four side portions 52A of the cam 52 in a stable state.

The friction member 54 is made of a material having a large coefficient of friction such as cork or rubber, and is formed into a substantially donut shape by dividing it into four parts. It is fixed to the outer peripheral surface. In FIG. 3, it is preferable that the friction member 54 has a shape and a configuration in which the elasticity is enhanced particularly in the radial direction.

The guide member 55 guides or regulates the movement direction of the brake member 53, and has a shaft portion 55 having a square hole or the like having a non-circular cross section such as a square hole.
A, and the shaft portion 55A is provided with a guide portion 55B extending radially in four directions from the shaft portion 55A. That is, the guide member 55 does not rotate in conjunction with the rotation operation of the cam 52 or moves in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 3 and is always stationary at a fixed position in a stationary state. .

The housing 6 includes a fixed pedestal 61 for rotatably supporting the shaft portions 21A and 41A on the bending operation portions 2 and 4 side, a substrate 62 for fixing the fixed pedestal 61, the fixed pedestal 61 and the housing body 6 And a lid 63 that rotatably closes the space between the two through O-rings S4 and S5.

The lock mechanism 7 temporarily holds the bending section in a locked state by preventing the bending mechanism and the bending operation section 4 that operates the bending mechanism from rotating unnecessarily. That is, the lock mechanism 7 includes the cam 52, the brake member 53, the friction member 54, the guide member 55, the tension spring 56, the contact member 42, and the like, and forms a drum type brake.

Next, the operation of the lock mechanism according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. By operating the locking knob 5A, the rotating member 51 and the cam 52 are rotated in a predetermined direction. For example, in this embodiment, the knob 5A is rotated 45 degrees in the counterclockwise direction from the state of FIG. 3A to the state of FIG. 3B. Then, the cam 52 is turned with the knob 5A around the rotation shaft 3 side.
The brake member 53 is integrally rotated in the same direction by the same angle, so that the state of contact at the four sides 52A of the brake member 53 is changed to the state of contact at the corners 52B. That is, the contact position between the cam 52 and the brake member 53 moves outward from a position close to the center position of the rotating shaft 3 (the state shown in FIG. 3A) to a position far away (the state shown in FIG. 3B). It will move to.

That is, the brake member 53 is
Is strongly pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the guide shaft 55 while extending the spring 56 against the elastic force of the tension spring 56, and at the same time, while being regulated and guided by the radially extending guide portion 55B of the guide member 55, 3 is extruded radially outward. As a result, the friction member 54 is similarly extruded in the same direction by the brake member 53 and comes into close contact with the contact member 42 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the turning member 41 on the bending operation section 4 side, so that the friction braking force is reduced. That happens. This allows
The frictional force prevents the operation of the bending mechanism and the bending operation unit 4 or prevents the bending operation unit 4 from rotating carelessly (locked state).

In order to release the locked state, it is only necessary to slightly turn the knob 5A on the lock operation section 5 in either the forward or reverse direction. In other words, it is not always necessary to rotate in the clockwise direction opposite to the rotating direction when the locked state is set, and it is not necessary to return to the original position.

That is, when the knob 5A is in the locked state, the cam 52 integral with the knob 5A is pressed against the brake member 53 and is in an immobile state. Therefore, a force is applied so as to rotate the knob 5A in the immobile state in either the forward or reverse direction. Then, the balance is lost from the contact state at the corner portion 52B that has been balanced. That is, the elastic force of each tension spring 56 becomes unbalanced, and the locked state is released. Therefore, the cam 52 can freely rotate integrally with the knob 5A. Next, in order to lock again, the four side portion 52A
It is sufficient to rotate the brake member 53 to a position where the brake member 53 is in contact. Then, the elastic force of the tension springs 56 balances again, and the rotation of the cam 52 is stopped. Thereby, the locked state is established again. As described above, when performing the lock operation and the lock release operation, the knob 5A may be always turned in the same direction or may be turned in the opposite direction.

In this manner, the insertion portion is inserted into a deep and narrow observation object such as a body cavity or an observation object of a jet engine while appropriately bending the bending portion to observe a desired portion. At this time, even if a finger or the like accidentally touches the knob 4A on the bending operation section 4 side, the friction member 54 is strongly pressed against the contact member 42, so that the locked state can be maintained. As a result, for example,
The bending operation unit 4 is inadvertently rotated to operate the bending mechanism,
It is thus possible to prevent a trouble that the observation region is shifted and the observation cannot be performed due to a change in the bending state of the bending portion in the left-right direction.

In particular, according to the lock mechanism 7 according to this embodiment, since the brake members 53 are connected to each other by the tension springs 56 to provide elastic force, the knob 5A can be turned lightly while receiving an appropriate load. Movement operation can be performed.

Further, by forming the cam 52 in a quadrangular shape, a large stroke can be ensured during the locking operation. For example, it is possible to ensure a sufficient and sufficient play until the brake starts to work, so that the cam 52 is short. The problem that the braking force suddenly increases with the stroke is eliminated. Further, according to this embodiment, a large stroke amount of the cam 52 can be secured, so that a change in the braking force per unit stroke can be set small, so that the adjustment of the braking force becomes easy and fine adjustment is not required. Become.

Next, an operation device for an endoscope according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, only the lock mechanism 7 is different in the configuration similar to that of the first embodiment, and therefore, the description will be focused on the lock mechanism 7. The lock mechanism 7 according to this embodiment includes a cam 52, a brake member 53, a friction member 54 ', a guide member 55, and a contact member 42, as shown in FIG. However, unlike the first embodiment, the tension spring 56 is not required.

The cam 52, the brake member 53,
The guide member 55 and the abutment member 42 are the same as those of the first embodiment, but the friction member 54 ′ is not divided into four parts, but is formed of a ring-shaped member integrally formed. Have been. That is, the friction member 54 '
Unlike the first embodiment, the brake member 5 is formed of a material having not only a large friction coefficient but also a large elasticity in the circumferential direction, for example, a material such as rubber.
Instead of being fixed to the outer peripheral surface of No. 3, it is only necessary to extrapolate so as not to come off.

Next, the operation of the lock mechanism according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. By operating the lock operation knob 5A, the rotating member 51 and the cam 52 are rotated in a specific direction. For example, in this embodiment, the knob 5A is rotated 45 degrees in the counterclockwise direction from the state of FIG. 4A to the state of FIG. 4B. Then, as in the case of the first embodiment, the cam 52 rotates integrally with the knob 5A in the same direction by the same angle, so that the contact state shifts from the four side portion 52A to the corner portion 52B. To go. That is, the contact position between the cam 52 and the brake member 53 is close to the center position of the rotating shaft 3 (FIG. 4A).
4B) to the outside (the state shown in FIG. 4B).

That is, when the inner peripheral surface of the brake member 53 is pressed by the cam 52, the friction member 54 'is extended in the circumferential direction against the tightening force of the friction member 54', and is simultaneously guided. While being regulated and guided by the radially extending guide portion 55 </ b> B of the member 55, it is pushed outward in the radial direction of the rotating shaft 3. As a result, the friction member 5
4 is a rotating member 4 to which a knob 4A of the bending operation unit 4 is attached.
Since it comes into close contact with the one-side contact member 42, a friction braking force is generated. Thereby, the operation of the bending mechanism and the bending operation unit 4 is prevented by the frictional force, or the bending operation unit 4 can be prevented from being carelessly rotated.

Therefore, according to the second embodiment, even with a simple structure having a small number of parts, the brake operation can be performed lightly and the brake can be easily released by anyone. it can. In addition, since a longer stroke can be ensured, fine adjustment of the brake can be eliminated, and a user-friendly one can be realized.

[0044]

According to the present invention, a large stroke can be ensured by forming and using a cam in an appropriate shape, so that the braking force can be easily adjusted and fine adjustment is not required.

Further, according to the present invention, the lock mechanism has no left-right directionality with respect to the turning direction, in other words,
Since the internal mechanism can be configured symmetrically, it is possible to set and release the lock state by rotating in either forward or reverse direction, so that anyone can perform the unlock operation with simple operation Therefore, there is no fear that the component parts are damaged due to an erroneous operation or the braking force is weakened, and a highly reliable product can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an entire structure of an endoscope to which an operation device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing the operating device of the present invention.

3A and 3B are explanatory views showing the operation of the operating device shown in FIG. 2, in which FIG. 3A shows an unlocked state, and FIG. 3B shows a locked state.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory views showing the operation of the operating device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG.
Indicates a locked state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operating device 2A (for right-and-left bending operation) knob 3 Rotating axis 4 (for vertical operation) Curving operation part 4A (for vertical bending operation) knob 41 Rotating member 42 Applying member (lock mechanism) 43 Pulley 5 (for vertical locking) ) Lock operation part 5A (for vertical locking) knob 51 Rotating member 52 Cam (Lock mechanism) 53 Brake member (Lock mechanism) 54 Friction member (Lock mechanism) 54 'Friction member (Lock mechanism) 55 Guide member (Lock mechanism) 56 Tension spring (lock mechanism) 6 Housing 61 Fixed pedestal 62 Substrate 7 Lock mechanism (for vertical lock)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A bending mechanism for rotating a knob for bending operation around a rotation shaft provided on a base end side of an insertion portion to bend the distal end side of the insertion portion, and a bending mechanism for centering the rotation shaft. A lock mechanism for rotating a knob for lock operation, and a lock mechanism for holding the operation of the bending mechanism in a locked state, wherein the lock mechanism is a drum type brake. An endoscope operating device, comprising: 2. A drum-type brake includes a friction member having a large friction coefficient which moves in a radial direction of the rotation shaft by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, and the friction member is used for a bending operation. The operation device for an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the operation device is configured to be in close contact with a part of the knob side to prevent the operation of the bending mechanism. 3. The lock mechanism is provided with a cam integrally provided on a knob for lock operation, a contact member integrally provided on a knob for bending operation, and provided between the cam and the contact member. A brake member and a friction member are provided. When a knob for lock operation is rotated, a cam that rotates integrally with the knob pushes the brake member, and the brake member moves the friction member axially outward of the rotation shaft. 3. The endoscope operating device according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope is configured to be pushed toward the contact member, and the friction member is brought into close contact with the contact member to brake the operation of the bending mechanism. 4. 4. A cam having a substantially polygonal shape, wherein the lock mechanism is integrally rotated by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, and a brake member having an inner peripheral surface in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the cam. A tension spring for connecting the brake members to each other; a friction member fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the brake member; and a knob for bending operation and accommodating the brake member and the friction member movably in a radial direction of a rotation shaft. The operating device for an endoscope according to claim 3, further comprising: a rotating member; and a contact member fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the rotating member facing the outer peripheral surface of the friction member. 5. A substantially polygonal cam which is integrally rotated by a rotation operation of a lock operation knob, a brake member whose inner peripheral surface abuts an outer peripheral surface of the cam, and a substantially ring. A friction member externally formed so as to surround the outer peripheral surface of the brake member, the brake member and the friction member being accommodated movably in the radial direction of the rotation shaft, and a knob for bending operation attached. The operating device for an endoscope according to claim 3, further comprising: a rotating member; and a contact member fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the rotating member facing an outer peripheral surface of the friction member. .