JP2002204776A - Endoscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an endoscope system having good operability for each bending direction and a bending performance suitable for an observation. SOLUTION: The endoscope system 1 comprises a motor driven unit 16 for operating bending of a bending part 12 of a slender inserting section 2a by towing or relaxing a bending wire 32 extended from the part 12 of the section 2a. The driven unit 16 has motor units 47 each for driving to bend the part 12 by a motor. The unit 47 has the two units in response to the bending direction of the part 12, one of which is a motor unit 47a for a vertical bending direction, and the other of which is a motor unit 47b for a lateral bending direction. The units 47a and 47b are set at their motor operating characteristics in response to the bending characteristics to the bending directions of the part 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus, and more particularly to an endoscope apparatus characterized by a motor for bending a bending portion of an endoscope insertion section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, endoscope devices have been widely used in the medical and industrial fields. 2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope apparatus used in the industrial field is configured to insert an elongated endoscope insertion portion into a jet engine, a pipe of a power plant, or the like to perform observation of a test site and various treatments.

[0003] Generally, an endoscope apparatus is provided with a bendable bending portion in an elongated endoscope insertion portion. The endoscope apparatus is configured to perform a bending operation of the bending portion by pulling and relaxing a pulling member such as a bending operation wire inserted into the bending portion. Also, in recent years, endoscope devices aim to save the bending operation of bending the bending portion by performing bending operation using a controller, thereby electrically pulling and loosening a pulling member such as a bending operation wire, and bending the bending portion. There is something to work.

[0004] As such an endoscope apparatus, for example, as described in US Pat. No. 5,373,317, there has been proposed an endoscope apparatus comprising an insertion portion and a controller provided on the base end side of the insertion portion. . The endoscope device,
The controller includes an operation unit including a monitor, a motor for controlling bending, and a substrate. The endoscope apparatus is configured to perform a bending operation of the bending section by operating the controller by operating the controller. As for the endoscope apparatus, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,454, an arrangement diagram of a motor for controlling bending is disclosed.

Although not described in the above publication, these conventional endoscope devices usually have two motors of the same output (for bending up and down directions and for bending left and right directions) as bending control motors. Then, a bending operation is performed.

The endoscope apparatus has various variations in the insertion length and diameter of the endoscope insertion portion as well as the imaging system. In particular, an endoscope device having a large-diameter endoscope insertion portion is configured to insert and arrange internal organs such as a channel through which forceps and the like are inserted and an air supply / water supply channel for supplying air / water and a thick light guide. I have.

[0007]

However, the above-mentioned conventional endoscope apparatus has a problem in that a radial
The visceral object such as the inserted channel is located at an eccentric position. For this reason, in the conventional endoscope apparatus, there is a difference in the amount of bending force and the amount of bending operation wire for bending the bending portion in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the amount of pulling.

That is, if the conventional endoscope apparatus is configured by arranging two motors having the same output as the motor for controlling the bending, the load at the time of bending in a predetermined direction is low. Had excessive performance. Therefore, in the conventional endoscope apparatus, a large motor is arranged as a motor for controlling the bending, so that there is a problem that the endoscope apparatus becomes large in size and excessive in weight.

In particular, in an endoscope apparatus in which an imaging system, a light guide or a channel is inserted and arranged vertically in the radial direction of the insertion portion, the amount of bending force and the amount of traction in the up and down direction are large, and the amount of bending force in the left and right directions is large. There was a problem that the towing amount was small. For this reason, an endoscope apparatus configured by arranging two motors having the same output in the vertical direction has excessive bending force and traction in the horizontal direction.

On the other hand, in an endoscope apparatus having different bending loads in the bending direction, there is a problem that when the same drive is performed by the same motor, the bending operation in each direction differs depending on the magnitude of the bending load. For example, when the endoscope apparatus drives the arranged motor with a fixed pulse, the bending operation is slow and powerless in a direction in which a bending load is high,
A fast and powerful bending operation is performed in a direction in which the bending load is low. In this case, the endoscope apparatus has a different bending speed in each direction, the operation feeling is not constant, and the inspection is difficult. On the other hand, if the endoscope device is configured to change the pulse specification in each direction of the arranged motor, the program becomes complicated and bloated, and a mechanism with a larger storage capacity is required.

The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and provides an endoscope apparatus which can be reduced in size and weight, has good operability in each bending direction, and has a bending performance suitable for observation. The purpose is to:

[0012]

To achieve the above object, an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention comprises a motor for pulling and relaxing a bending operation wire to bend a bending portion of an endoscope insertion portion. The motor is characterized in that at least two motors are provided according to the bending operation direction of the bending section, and the operating characteristics of each motor are set according to the bending operation characteristics of the bending section in the bending direction. With this configuration, an endoscope device that can be reduced in size and weight, has good operability in each bending direction, and has a bending performance suitable for observation is realized.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIGS. 1 to 10 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an endoscope insertion portion and an optical adapter attached to a distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion.
(A) is a sectional view of the endoscope insertion portion and the optical adapter, FIG.
(B) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. (A), FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining a drum section in which a built-in object is arranged in the internal space of the storage case of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 (a) is an explanatory view showing a base body, and FIG.
(B) is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. (A), and FIG.
6A is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the base, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the vicinity of the fixed position of the base body, FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view showing the general configuration of the base body, and FIG. FIG. 7A is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a partition member of FIG. 7A, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view illustrating a configuration of an electric device, and FIG.
FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD in FIG. 6A, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the configuration of the direction changing means provided on the base body. ) Is a plan view showing a specific configuration of the direction changing unit, FIG. 8B is a side sectional view of FIG. 8A, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration of the motor unit of the present embodiment. 9 (a) is a plan view of the motor unit, FIG. 9 (b) is a side view of FIG. 9 (a), and FIG. 10 is an explanatory view for explaining the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention has an elongated insertion section 2a having flexibility.
Industrial endoscope equipped with (hereinafter simply referred to as an endoscope) 2
A cylindrical drum portion 3 for winding the insertion portion 2a of the endoscope 2 around an outer peripheral surface portion 3a; a frame portion 4 for holding the drum portion 3 in a rotatable state; A front panel 5 provided at an upper end thereof, on which various switches, connectors, and air supply / exhaust ducts are arranged; a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) 6 detachably connected to the front panel 5 via a cable; A monitor 7 rotatably supported by a pole, a storage case 8 provided with a cushioning material or the like for suppressing an impact force applied to stored equipment, and an AC cable connected to the front panel 5 and capable of supplying commercial power. 5a. The storage case 8 includes a bottom body 8a and a lid 8b that form a case body.

The insertion portion 2a of the endoscope 2 extends from the front panel 5 via a rubber member 5b for preventing buckling. The insertion portion 2a is, in order from the distal end side, a rigid distal main body portion 11, and a bendable portion 12 that is provided at a rear end of the distal main body portion 11 and turns the distal main body portion 11 in a desired direction. An elongated and flexible flexible tube portion 13 is provided continuously.

A light source section 14 for supplying illumination light to a light guide serving as an illumination light transmission means for the endoscope 2 and a distal end main body section 11 of the endoscope insertion section 2a are provided inside the space of the drum section 3. A CCU 15 that performs signal processing on an image sensor described below provided, and an electric device 16 that includes a driving mechanism that electrically drives the bending section 12 of the endoscope insertion section 2a to bend,
An electric bending circuit unit 17 that controls the driving of the electric device 16 based on an operation instruction signal of the remote controller 6 to control the bending state of the bending unit 12 is housed. An opening (see FIG. 3) 3b for guiding the insertion portion 2a to the electric device 16 is formed in the outer peripheral surface portion 3a of the drum portion 3.

The remote control 6 includes the endoscope insertion section 2
A joystick 6a is provided as a bending input control unit for performing a bending operation on the bending portion 12 of FIG. Note that reference numeral 6b
Is a curved ON button provided on the remote controller 6. In addition, various optical adapters 18 for converting optical characteristics such as a viewing direction and a viewing angle can be detachably attached to the distal end main body 11 of the endoscope insertion section 2a.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the optical adapter 18 has an adapter main body 18a and an adapter-side optical system 19a.
Has been arranged. In the optical adapter 18, an illumination optical system 19b for transmitting illumination light from the light guide 21 of the endoscope 2 is disposed in the adapter body 18a.

A light guide 21 for transmitting illumination light is inserted into the endoscope insertion section 2a. The rear end of the light guide 21 is fixed to the light source unit 14, transmits the illumination light supplied from the light source unit 14, and is fixed to an illumination window of a distal end member 22 constituting the distal end main body unit 11. Then, the light passes through an illumination lens 23 arranged immediately before the illumination optical system 19b to illuminate the object side such as the inside of the plant.

An observation window (imaging window) is provided on the distal end main body portion 11 adjacent to the illumination window, and an objective optical system 24 is attached to the observation window. At the image forming position of the objective optical system 24, for example, a charge-coupled device (C
CD 25). The signal line 26 extended from the CCD 25 is connected to the C
It is connected to CU15. The CCU 15 includes the C
A standard video signal is generated from a signal photoelectrically converted by the CD 25 and output to the monitor 7 so that a subject image can be displayed on the screen of the monitor 7.

The bending portion 12 has a ring-shaped node ring 2.
7 are stacked in the optical axis direction, and further covered with a mesh tube 28 and a tube body 29. Inside the curved portion 12, the light guides 21 and the signal lines 26 are arranged vertically in a curved vertical direction or slightly shifted in a horizontal direction. It is to be noted that, on the outside of the tube body 29, an outer skin 30 formed almost entirely of a mesh tube up to the base end side of the insertion portion 2.
It is covered with.

As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the node ring 27 has a pipe shape having holes 31a at positions corresponding to the upper, lower, left and right sides of an inner peripheral surface which divides the circumference of the ring into approximately four equal parts. Is fixedly provided. These wire receivers 31
The insertion portion side wire 32a of the bending operation wire 32 is slidably inserted into the hole 31a. The distal ends of the insertion portion side wires 32a are fixed at positions corresponding to the up, down, left, and right directions of the rear end of the distal end member 22, respectively. For this reason, the insertion portion side wire 32 corresponding to each direction
As the a is pulled and relaxed, the bending portion 12 bends in a desired direction, and the tip main body portion 11 can be directed in a desired direction. The insertion portion side wire 32a
Is guided to the base end side of the insertion portion 2 by a guide tube 33 mainly made of a metal such as stainless steel.
The insertion portion side wire 32a is connected to the electric device side wire 32b in the drum portion 3 (see FIG. 4).

As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 (a) and 4 (b), the drum portion 3 has a tubular member 41 around which the insertion portion 2a is wound around the outer peripheral surface, and both ends of the tubular member 41 are closed. And a set of disk members 42. In the drawing, the disk member 42 that blocks the upper opening is referred to as an upper plate 43, and the disk member 42 that blocks the lower opening is referred to as a lower plate 44.

In the internal space of the drum portion 3 composed of the tubular member 41, the upper plate 43 and the lower plate 44, the electric device 16 and the electric bending circuit 1
7, the CCU 15, the light source unit 14, and peripheral devices such as a power supply unit (not shown).

The base end of the insertion section 2 is installed in the electric device 16 through the opening 3b and the base 45.
The electric device 16 and the electric bending circuit 17 are connected by a drive cable (not shown). Also,
The signal line 26 extending from the distal end portion main body 11 through the inside of the insertion portion 2 a is connected to the CCU 15. Similarly, the light guide 21 extending through the insertion portion 2a and extending from the distal end portion main body 11 is also provided.
Are connected to the light source unit 14.

The CCU 15 converts the image signal transmitted from the CCD 25 through the signal line 26 into a TV signal, and then transmits the TV signal to the monitor 7. The electric bending circuit section 17 drives and controls a motor unit, which will be described later, of the electric device 16 based on an operation instruction signal obtained by operating the joystick 6 a of the remote controller 6 so as to bend the bending section 12 in a desired direction. Has become. The light source unit 14 includes a lamp unit 14
a, a lighting device 14b, and the light guide 2
Illumination light is supplied to the rear end face of the light emitting element 1. The electric device 16, the electric bending circuit 17, and the light source 14 are disposed in the drum 3 as described with reference to FIG. 1 and are rotatable with respect to the storage case 8.

Next, the electric device 16 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the base end of the insertion section 2 is mounted on an electric device 16 fixed to a base body 46 made of a plate material of aluminum or stainless steel. The motor unit 4 is attached to the base body 46 as the electric device 16.
7 is attached.

The motor unit 47 is provided with
Two are provided in accordance with the two bending operation directions, one being a bending vertical motor unit 47a and the other being a bending left / right motor unit 47b. The curved vertical motor unit 47a is disposed on the inner side of the outer peripheral surface portion 4a than the curved left / right motor unit 47b.

In this embodiment, the bending vertical motor unit 47a and the bending left / right motor unit 47b set the operating characteristics of the respective motors in accordance with the bending operation characteristics of the bending portion 12 in the bending direction. It is constituted so that.

A sprocket 49, which rotates in conjunction with the operation of the motor unit 47, is fixed to the rotatable output shaft 48 of the motor unit 47 (see FIG. 6). The sprocket 49 is further meshed with a chain 50 connected to the bending operation wire 32 by a pulling and relaxing operation (see FIG. 7).

As shown in FIG. 4A, the guide tube 33 which guides the insertion portion side wire 32a to the base end side of the insertion portion 2a is fixed by a support portion 51 provided on the base body 46. Have been. The insertion portion side wire 32a and the electric device side wire 32 which are the bending operation wires 32
b is connected to the base body 46 via a connecting member 52.

As shown in FIG.
“a” uses a wire that is thinner than the electric device-side wire 32b, and the electric device-side wire 32b uses a thick flexible wire that has high resistance to repeated bending.

In this embodiment, the insertion portion side wire 32a
Uses a 1x3, 1x7 twisted wire with an outer shape of about 0.2 to 0.5, and the electric device side wire 32b has a larger diameter than the insertion portion side wire 32a. Twist, 3 × 7
Wires such as main strand and 7 × 19 strand are used.

The connecting member 52 includes a male screw 52a on the insertion portion side wire 32a side and the electric device side wire 32b.
It is composed of a female screw 52b on the side. The female screw 52
b is a base 52 provided at the end of the electric device side wire 32b.
The screw portion is rotatably supported by c. Note that the male screw 52a and the female screw 52b are provided with chemical loosening prevention means such as a screw lock. FIG. 5 (b) covers the female screw 52b and the male screw 52a.
A heat shrink tube 53 may be provided as shown in FIG.

Next, the sprocket 49 and the chain 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, sprockets 49a and 49b for bending in the vertical direction and bending in the horizontal direction are fixed to the output shaft 48 of each motor unit 47. And, for example, a sprocket 49 for vertical bending
a is disposed on the lower layer 54b side of the base body 46, and the sprocket 49b for bending in the left-right direction is disposed on the upper layer 54a side. A partition member 55 is provided between the upper layer 54a and the lower layer 54b to separate the two layers and to serve as a guide for the chain 50 and the like.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the sprocket 49 is provided with a cover member 56 for preventing the engagement with the chain 50 from coming off. Guards 57 are provided on both sides of the chain 50 in order to restrict traveling in the lateral direction. Further, a guide 58 for regulating the position in the lateral direction is provided at the running position near the end of the chain 50.

At the end of the chain 50, there is provided a female portion 59b which engages with a male portion 59a provided at the end of the electric device side wire 32b. The male portion 59a and the female portion 59b are provided. Are engaged and fixed, so that the chain 50 and the electric device side wire 32b are integrally connected and fixed. Further, the electric device-side wire 32b is converted by a direction conversion unit 60 provided in the base body 46 after ensuring the extending direction thereof at 90 degrees or more.

Next, the direction conversion unit 60 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 8A, the direction changing unit 60 includes a wire holding unit 60a and a wire disconnection preventing unit 60.
b. The wire holding part 60a
Is a support plate 61 fixedly arranged on the base body 46.
And two shafts 62 fixed to the support plate 61, and the electric device side wires 32
and a roller portion 63 that rotatably supports b.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the roller 63
Are stacked on one shaft 62 so as to respectively correspond to the upper and lower, left and right electric device side wires 32b, and are rotatably supported by the shaft. The stacked upper roller portion 63 supports the electric device side wire 32b that is curved in the left-right direction. On the other hand, the lower roller portion 63
Supports the electric device side wire 32b that is curved in the vertical direction. Note that the shaft body 62 is provided with a screw 64 on the support plate 61.
Is fixed integrally. The roller section 63 is mainly formed by a ball bearing.

The wire detachment preventing portion 60b prevents the electric device side wire 32b from coming off. The wire detachment preventing portion 60b is an eccentric pipe member 65 having a through hole 65a formed at a position displaced from the center axis of the cylindrical member, and is fixed to the support plate 61 by a screw 66.

Next, the motor unit 47 used in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 4, two motor units 47 are provided, and one curved vertical motor unit 47a is disposed inside the outer peripheral surface 4a with respect to the other curved left / right motor unit 47b. .

As shown in FIG. 9, the motor unit 47 includes a motor 71 serving as a driving source for generating a driving force.
And a reduction gear unit 72 composed of a gear train such as a spur gear for transmitting the driving force of the motor unit 71 to the output shaft 48.
And a potentiometer 73 for detecting the amount of rotation of the output shaft 48.

The potentiometer 73 is arranged in parallel with the motor section 71 via the reduction gear section 72. The amount of projection of the potentiometer 73 is smaller than the amount of projection (Lm) of the motor unit 71. The output shaft 4 that rotates through the reduction gear portion 72
Reference numeral 8 denotes a double-shaft type. The sprocket 49 is fixed to one end of the output shaft 48, and the potentiometer 73 is arranged at the other end.

As shown by the dotted line in FIG.
And a fitting hole 4 formed in the output shaft 48 on the potentiometer 73 side, which is a geared motor portion composed of
8a has a turning shaft 7 of a potentiometer 73 serving as a female portion.
4 are fitted. And, this potentiometer 73
The turning shaft 74 is fastened and connected to the fitting hole 48a by screws, adhesion, fitting, or the like, and is disposed and fixed so as to be continuous with one end of the output shaft 48. The potentiometer 73 uses a multi-rotation type rotation angle detection potentiometer. In this embodiment, the potentiometer 73 is of a three-turn or five-turn type.

In the present embodiment, the curved vertical motor unit 47a is smaller than the curved left / right motor unit 47b in the reduction gear section 72 (reduction gear section 72).
The configuration is such that the reduction ratio of b) is high and the torque is large. Therefore, the motor unit 47 for the curved vertical direction is used.
The reduction gear portion 72a of FIG. 7A has a larger gear ratio than the reduction gear portion 72b of the curved left / right direction motor unit 47b. In the present embodiment, the motor unit 71a and the motor unit 71b have the same specifications.

The operation of the endoscope apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. In the endoscope apparatus 1, the insertion section 2 is wound around the outer periphery of the drum section 3 in a state other than use such as storage or transportation. At the time of setting, first A
Connect the C cable 5a to an outlet or the like. Next, the lid 8b of the storage case 8 is opened, and the remote controller 6 is taken out. Thereafter, the user waits for the vicinity of the distal end portion 11 of the insertion section 2 and slowly pulls it out. Then, the drum portion 3 is rotated by the pulling force, the inserted portion 2 to be used is pulled out, and the preparation of the inserted portion 2 is completed.

Next, the operator first selects the optical adapter 18 necessary for the inspection before the observation starts, and attaches the optical adapter 18 to the distal end body 11. Next, by turning on the power supply (not shown) of the main body provided on the front panel 5, the observation state is established.

Then, the bending ON button 6b of the remote controller 6
Is turned on, a bendable state is established. next,
By operating the remote controller 6, a bending operation of the endoscope insertion section 2a is performed.

Here, the driving operation of the electric device 16 by the operation of the remote controller 6 will be described. By operating the joystick 6a of the remote control 6 in the up, down, left, and right directions, a signal corresponding to the tilt angle of the joystick 6a is transmitted to the electric bending circuit unit 17. Electric bending circuit 17
Calculates the amount of rotation of the sprocket 49 corresponding to the operation signal by arithmetic processing, and transmits the rotation signal to the motor unit 71.

The motor 71 is rotated by a rotation signal from the electric bending circuit 17, and the rotation of the motor 71 rotates the output shaft 48 via the gear of the reduction gear 72. The amount of rotation of the output shaft 48 is detected by the potentiometer 73. Therefore, the potentiometer 73 operates the motor unit 71 while constantly monitoring the rotational position of the output shaft 48. When the detected rotational position of the output shaft 48 matches the calculated value calculated by the electric bending circuit 17 in the arithmetic processing, the potentiometer 73
Is controlled by the electric bending circuit 17 so as to stop the operation. At this time, the bending section 12 of the endoscope insertion section 2a may be bent at the maximum bending angle.

Here, as described above, the potentiometer 73 uses a multi-rotation type potentiometer.
For this reason, when many bending operation wires 32 that bend the bending portion 12 at the maximum bending angle must be pulled and relaxed, the motor portion 71 is controlled by the electric bending circuit portion 17.
Means that the output shaft 48, that is, the sprocket 49 is rotated a plurality of times to wind up the chain 50. In this embodiment, the potentiometer 73 uses a three-rotation type or a five-rotation type potentiometer. Therefore, on one side of the bending, the potentiometer 73 uses a maximum of one and a half rotations or a maximum of two and a half rotations.

The bending portion 1 is operated by operating the joystick 6.
2 is bent by the above-mentioned repetition, and the tip main body 11 can be oriented in a desired direction at the time of inspection, and an object can be observed.

When the sprocket 49 is rotated by the operation of the motor unit 47 and the tune 50 meshed with the sprocket 49 is pulled and relaxed, the bending section 12 pulls the bending operation wire 32 connected to the tune 50. The relaxation operation is performed, and the bending portion 12 performs the bending operation.

In the pulling / relaxing operation of the bending operation wire 32, the insertion portion side wire 32a is mainly pulled / relaxed in the guide tube 33, and the transmission device side wire 32b is mainly used for the roller portion 63 of the direction changing portion 60. The center is towed and relaxed. Then, the bending portion 12 bends, and at the time of inspection, the distal end main body 11 is oriented in a desired direction to observe an object.

When the bending portion 12 performs the bending operation, the internal components such as the signal line 26 and the light guide 21 disposed inside the bending portion 12 are gradually bent as shown in FIG. Near the maximum bending angle, the built-in component is bent so as not to buckle, thereby bending the bending portion 12 itself.

For this reason, as described with reference to FIG.
6, when the built-in components such as the light guide 21 are cascaded in the vertical direction, the bending resistance of the built-in component is stronger when the bending portion 12 is bent in the vertical direction than in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the bending portion 12 needs to increase the amount of bending force particularly downward, that is, the amount of pulling force of the bending operation wire 32.

In this embodiment, as the motor unit 47 on the vertical direction side of the bending section 12, a large bending vertical motor unit 47a is provided together with the above-mentioned torque. Further, as the motor unit 47 on the left-right direction side of the bending portion 12, a motor unit 47a for the bending vertical direction is used.
In addition to the torque, a small curved left-right direction motor unit 47b is provided.

For this reason, the bending vertical motor unit 47a can bend the bending portion 12 in this vertical direction without losing the resistance by utilizing its characteristics.
Also, since the bending left / right direction motor unit 47b does not have a large resistance in the left / right direction of the bending portion 12, the bending portion 12 can be bent in the left / right direction even with less torque than the bending vertical direction motor unit 47a. It is.

As described above, in response to the operation of the electric device 16, the operation is transmitted from the chain 50 to the electric device side wire 32 b, the connecting member 52, and the insertion portion side wire 32 a, whereby the bending operation of the bending portion 12 is performed. When the electric device side wire 32b is pulled and relaxed by the chain 50, the electric device side wire 32b advances and retreats while rotating the roller portion 63. With the forward / backward movement of the electric device side wire 32b,
The insertion portion side wire 32a connected by the connecting member 52 also moves forward and backward. That is, the portion to be repeatedly bent is only the electric device side wire 32b.

In the endoscopic examination, the insertion section 2a is inserted into the object, and this bending operation is performed to observe and inspect the target part of the object. After the inspection is completed, the insertion section 2a is wound around the drum section 3, the used remote controller 6 is inserted into the case main body 12, and the power is turned off to end the use state. The inspection is completed by closing the lid 8b of the main body.
Thus, the endoscope device 1 is in a storage state.

As a result, the endoscope device 1 of the present embodiment
Has the effects described below. Conventional endoscope devices are:
Two identical motor units 47 are provided in the vertical and horizontal directions. For this reason, when the bending load and the resistance of the bending portion 12 have directionality, the motor unit 47 tends to have excessive performance (the amount of bending force and the amount of traction) on the side where the load is small.

However, in the endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the tendency can be eliminated by changing the torque of the motor unit 47 in accordance with the direction of the bending load of the bending portion 12. That is, if the motor unit 47 has excessive performance (bending force, traction amount), the motor unit 47 itself is unnecessarily large, so that the device itself becomes large and the weight increases. In particular, since the motor unit 47 is contained in the drum unit 3 as the electric device 16, the same as the conventional motor unit 47a for the curved left / right direction may be used instead of the curved left / right motor unit 47b on the left / right side. For example, the portion A in FIG. 4A collides with the inner peripheral surface of the tubular member 41 of the drum portion 3, so that the drum portion 3 itself has to be enlarged. That is, if the drum portion 3 becomes large, the storage case 8 must be made large.

However, the endoscope device 1 according to the present embodiment can solve the problem, and can reduce the size and weight of the device itself.

Further, the direction changing portion 60 increases the durability of the bending operation wire 32 as a whole by bending the roller portion 63 repeatedly by the large-diameter electric device side wire 32b instead of the insertion portion side wire 32a. This has the effect. In other words, a wire with a small number of twists, such as a 1 × 3 twist or a 1 × 7 twist, has the advantage of high tensile strength even with a small diameter of about 0.21 to 0.5, but lacks flexibility and has bending resistance. There is a problem that is weak. In order to dispose the bending operation wire 32 in the insertion section 2a, the bending operation wire 32 having a small diameter can make the insertion section 2a small in diameter.
Although there is a merit, if the direction of the insertion portion side wire 32a is changed by the direction changing portion 60 as it is, there is no resistance to repeated bending.

However, in the endoscope apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, since the electric device side wire 32b having excellent bending resistance is provided by the connecting member 52, the insertion portion 2a can be inserted while maintaining the small diameter. The weakness that the part side wire 32a lacks flexibility and the bending resistance is weak can be covered.

When the arrangement of the signal lines 26, the light guides 21 and the like as the built-in components of the insertion portion 2a described in FIG. 2 are not arranged vertically in the curved vertical direction but arranged in parallel in the curved left and right direction, The load in the bending left-right direction increases. in this case,
The motor unit 47a for bending up and down direction and the motor unit 47a for bending up and down direction may be for horizontal bending, and the motor unit 47b for bending left and right direction and motor unit 47b for bending left and right direction may be for vertical bending. Further, not only the signal line 26 and the light guide 21 but also a channel through which forceps are inserted, an air supply / water supply tube for air supply / water supply, and a forceps raising wire for raising the forceps raising base are arranged as internal components of the insertion portion 2a. The same is true if

In addition to the output and torque of the above-described embodiment, this rotation speed is suitable for a bending load so that the output of the motor unit 71 and the reduction ratio of the reduction gear unit 72 may be increased or decreased. No problem. Further, there is no problem even if the operating characteristics of the two motor units 47 are compensated by combining the output, the torque, the number of revolutions, and the reduction ratio of the motor unit 71 with the above-described reduction gear unit 72. Further, the motor unit 47 used in the above embodiment uses a DC motor, but may be an AC motor or an ultrasonic motor without any problem.

(Second Embodiment) FIGS. 11 to 13
FIG. 11 relates to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a base body constituting a motorized device of an endoscope apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Is B in FIG.
11B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C′-C ′ of FIG. 11A, FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing the vicinity of the fixed position of the base body, and FIG. FIG. 12B is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating the partition member of FIG. 12A, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory view illustrating the configuration of the electric device. FIG. FIG. 13A is a cross-sectional view taken along line E′-E ′ of FIG. 12A, and FIG. 13B is a cross-sectional view taken along line D′-D ′ of FIG.

In the first embodiment, the reduction gear ratio of the reduction gear portion 72 (reduction gear portion 72b) of the curved vertical motor unit 47a is higher than that of the curved left / right motor unit 47b. In the second embodiment, the output of the motor unit 71 is larger in the curved vertical motor unit than in the curved left / right motor unit.
The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus the description is omitted, and the same configuration is denoted by the same reference numeral.

As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, a motor unit 101 used in the endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment
And a motor unit 101a for the vertical direction of the bending portion as a motor unit on the vertical direction of the bending portion 12, and a motor unit 101b for the horizontal direction of the bending as the motor unit on the left and right direction of the bending portion 12.

The above-mentioned motor unit 101 for the curved vertical direction
“a” is disposed on the inner side of the outer peripheral surface portion 4a with respect to the curved left-right direction motor unit 101b.

The motor unit 101a for the curved vertical direction is provided with the motor unit 101 for the curved horizontal direction.
The output of the motor unit 71a is larger than that of the motor unit b, and is large and large. In the present embodiment, the reduction gear unit 72
a, the reduction gear section 72b uses the same specification.

For this reason, the bending vertical motor unit 101a can bend the bending portion 12 in the vertical direction without losing resistance by utilizing its characteristics. In addition, the curved left-right direction motor unit 101b includes:
Since the resistance in the left-right direction of the bending portion 12 is not so large,
The bending portion 12 can be bent in the left-right direction even if there is no torque as much as the bending vertical direction motor unit 101a.

In the conventional endoscope apparatus, two identical motor units are provided in the vertical and horizontal directions. Therefore, when the bending load and resistance of the bending portion 12 have directionality, the motor unit tends to have excessive performance (bending force and traction) on the side where the load is small.

However, the endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment eliminates the tendency by changing the output of the motor unit 101 (motor unit 71) in accordance with the direction of the bending load of the bending unit 12. can do. That is, if the motor unit 101 has excessive performance (bending force, traction amount), the motor unit 101 itself is unnecessarily large, so that the device itself becomes large and the weight increases. In particular, since the motor unit 101 is contained in the drum unit 3 as the electric device 16, the motor unit 101 for bending the left and right directions on the left and right sides as in the conventional case is used.
If b is the same as the curved vertical motor unit 101a, the portion of FIG. 11A collides with the inner peripheral surface of the tubular member 41 of the drum portion 3, so that the drum portion 3 itself becomes large. I have to do it. That is, if the drum portion 3 becomes large, the storage case 8 must be made large.

However, the endoscope device according to the second embodiment eliminates the problem, and can reduce the size and weight of the device itself.

The endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment has the following advantages. In the pulse driving as a motor driving method, when a certain same pulse is applied to the motor, if the output of the motor is different, the torque, rotation angle, and speed generated by one pulse are different. That is, when the bending load of the bending portion 12 has directionality, when two identical motor units 101 are provided, and when the same bending speed is attempted in each direction of the bending portion 12, the pulse specification in each direction is used. (The width when the pulse is ON, the width when the pulse is OFF, and the voltage height) need to be changed one by one. For this reason, the program for performing the bending operation of the electric bending circuit unit 17 becomes complicated and the capacity increases.

The bending load of the built-in member of the bending portion 12 has directionality depending on the bending direction. When a large amount of pulling force of the bending operation wire 32 is required in a certain direction, the bending operation wire 32 is easily elastically deformed. . For this reason, the bending operation wire 32 is elastically stretched to some extent. That is,
In order to obtain the same bending angle, it is necessary to pull more bending operation wires 32 by the extension. In this case, if it takes time to bend the wire by the length of the bending operation wire 32, the operability may be reduced and the inspection efficiency may be reduced. For this reason, it is necessary to pull the bending operation wire 32 faster by that amount. That is, it is necessary to increase the number of rotations of the motor in a certain direction.

However, in the endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment, since the output of the motor section 71a on the side where the bending load is high is increased, even if a similar pulse is given, the endoscope apparatus is more effective than the motor section 71b. The torque, rotation speed, and angle increase.
That is, since the ratio of the output of the motor unit 71a to the motor unit 71b is made appropriate, the same electric bending circuit unit 1 is used.
With the control of 7, the bending speed of the bending portion 12 in each direction can be made constant. That is, there is also an effect of preventing the program of the electric bending circuit unit 17 from becoming complicated and increasing. As a result, the second
The endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment can obtain the same effects as those of the first embodiment.

As described above, when the conventional endoscope apparatus operates the bending section 12, the electric bending circuit section 17 generates heat in accordance with the frequency of the operation. Normally, the conventional endoscope apparatus disposes heat on the electric bending circuit unit 17 to radiate heat. However, the conventional endoscope device often cannot provide a heat sink with good thermal efficiency due to the space in the drum unit 3.

Therefore, the electric bending circuit unit 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
An endoscope device configured to be able to cool 7 will be described.
FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the drum unit 3 illustrating an endoscope apparatus configured to be able to cool the electric bending circuit unit 17.

As shown in FIG. 14, the endoscope apparatus is configured so that the electric bending circuit portion 17 dissipates heat at the base body 46. The base main body 46 is
A power amplifier 110 serving as a heating element on the electric bending circuit unit 17 is attached to a part of. The base body 46 includes:
It is fixed to the lower surface plate 44 of the drum unit 3 with screws. The base body 46 radiates heat from the electric bending circuit portion 17 over the entire base body 46. A fan 111 is provided outside the upper surface plate 43 of the drum unit 3.

The upper plate 43 and the lower plate 4 of the drum unit 3
The base 4 has a plurality of ventilation holes 112 for ventilation to increase the heat radiation efficiency of the base body 46. Thereby, the electric bending circuit section 17 can be cooled.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Supplementary note] (Supplementary note 1) A motor for pulling and relaxing the bending operation wire to bend the bending portion of the endoscope insertion portion is provided. The motor has at least a function according to the bending operation direction of the bending portion. 2
An endoscope apparatus comprising: a plurality of motors; and an operation characteristic of each motor is set according to a bending operation characteristic of the bending portion in a bending direction.

(Additional Item 2) The endoscope apparatus according to additional item 1, wherein the at least two motors are different in at least one of output, torque, and rotation speed as operating characteristics.

(Additional Item 3) One of the at least two motors is arranged as a curved vertical direction side, and the other is arranged as a curved left and right direction side. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of output, torque, and rotation speed is different as an operation characteristic.

(Additional Item 4) The additional item 1 wherein the at least two motors are geared motors.
An endoscope apparatus according to claim 1. (Additional Item 5) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 1, wherein the at least two motors are ultrasonic motors.

(Additional Item 6) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 4, wherein the operation characteristics of the geared motor can be changed at a motor portion. (Additional Item 7) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 4, wherein the geared motor can change an operation characteristic at a gear portion.

(Additional Item 8) The geared motor is
5. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the endoscope apparatus is a C motor. (Additional Item 9) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 4, wherein the geared motor is an AC motor.

(Appendix 10) The geared motor is
6. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the motors have different diameters. (Additional Item 11) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 8, wherein the geared motor has a different size of a gear box.

(Additional Item 12) A bending operation wire for connecting one end to a bending portion of an elongated endoscope insertion portion and bending and bending the bending portion of the endoscope insertion portion by being pulled and relaxed, and this bending operation The bending operation wire is provided with a direction changing means for changing the direction of pulling the operation wire, the bending operation wire is formed with a small-diameter wire on the endoscope insertion portion side, and the large diameter wire is formed on the direction conversion means side. An endoscope apparatus wherein the small-diameter wire and the large-diameter wire are connected by a relay means.

(Additional Item 13) The bending operation wire is
13. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the traction operation is performed by a motor.

(Additional Item 14) The relay means is provided with a male screw portion provided at the end of the small-diameter wire on the endoscope insertion portion side and the direction changing device side so as to be freely screwable with the male screw portion. 13. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the endoscope apparatus comprises an external thread portion provided at an end of the large-diameter wire.

(Additional Item 15) The inner cable according to Additional Item 12, wherein the large-diameter wire on the direction changing means side has a larger number of twists than the small-diameter wire on the endoscope insertion section side. Endoscope device.

(Supplementary Item 16) A looseness preventing means for preventing a male screw portion provided at the end of the small-diameter wire and a male screw portion provided at the end of the large-diameter wire from loosening is provided. 15. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 14, wherein:

(Additional Item 17) The endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 16, wherein the loosening prevention means is a screw lock agent. (Additional Item 18) The loosening prevention means is a heat-shrinkable tube that covers a male screw part provided at the end of the small-diameter wire and a male screw part provided at the end of the large-diameter wire. An endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 16.

[Prior Art of Supplementary Items 14 to 18] In general,
The endoscope apparatus includes a slender endoscope insertion portion provided with a bendable bending portion. The endoscope apparatus is configured to perform a bending operation of the bending portion by pulling and relaxing a pulling member such as a bending operation wire inserted into the bending portion. Also, in recent years, endoscope devices aim to save the bending operation of bending the bending portion by performing bending operation using a controller, thereby electrically pulling and loosening a pulling member such as a bending operation wire, and bending the bending portion. There is something to work.

Such an endoscope apparatus is configured to be capable of being pulled by changing the direction of pulling of a bending operation wire by a direction changing means, as described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-9762. Has been proposed.

[Problems to be Solved in Additional Items 14 to 18] However, the endoscope apparatus repeatedly changes the pulling direction of the bending operation wire by the direction changing means and repeatedly performs the pulling and relaxing operation, thereby repeatedly bending load or wear. Accordingly, there is a problem that the bending operation wire is easily broken.

[Purpose of Supplementary Items 14 to 18] Even if the wire is repeatedly pulled and relaxed by the bending motion, the wire is not broken,
An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope apparatus which does not hinder an examination.

[Means for Solving Additional Items 14 to 18] To achieve the above object, the endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 12, wherein one end is connected to a curved portion of an elongated endoscope insertion portion, and the endoscope device is pulled and relaxed. A bending operation wire for bending the bending section of the endoscope insertion section, and a direction changing means for changing a direction of pulling the bending operation wire, wherein the bending operation wire is provided in the endoscope insertion section. The small-diameter wire and the large-diameter wire are connected by a relay means. With this configuration, an endoscope apparatus that does not break the wire and does not hinder the inspection even when the traction and relaxation operation is repeatedly performed by the bending operation is realized.

[Effects of Supplementary Items 14 to 18] Even if the traction and relaxation operation is repeatedly performed by the bending operation, the wire is not broken.
An endoscope apparatus that does not hinder the examination can be realized.

[0104]

As described above, according to the present invention, an endoscope apparatus having good operability in each bending direction and having a bending performance suitable for observation can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an endoscope insertion portion of FIG. 1 and an optical adapter attached to a distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a drum unit in which a built-in object is arranged in an internal space of the storage case of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a base body constituting the electric device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the base in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the vicinity of the fixed position of the base body.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an electric device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a direction changing unit provided on a base body.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration of a motor unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a base main body constituting an electric device of an endoscope apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing the vicinity of the fixed position of the base body.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an electric device.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a drum unit illustrating an endoscope apparatus configured to be able to cool an electric bending circuit unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope apparatus 2 ... Endoscope (industrial endoscope) 2a ... Insert part 3 ... Drum part 11 ... Tip part main body 12 ... Bending part 16 ... Electric apparatus 17 ... Electric bending circuit part 32 ... Bending operation wire 32a ... insertion part side wire 32b ... electric device side wire 47 ... motor unit 47a ... curved vertical motor unit 47b ... curved left and right motor unit 49 ... sprocket 50 ... chain 71 ... motor unit 72 ... reduction gear unit 73 ... potentiometer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A motor for pulling and relaxing a bending operation wire to bend a bending portion of an endoscope insertion portion, wherein at least two motors are provided in accordance with a bending operation direction of the bending portion. An endoscope apparatus, wherein operating characteristics of each motor are set according to a bending operation characteristic of a bending portion in a bending direction.