JP2006130186A - Lightening capsule - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lightening capsule capable of irradiating illuminating light not only forward but backward. <P>SOLUTION: This lightening capsule 40 has a structure in which a battery 41 connected in series, an LED (light emitting diode) 42 for irradiation with illuminating light (white light) to the forward (shown in the left side of the figure) by connecting to the battery and supplying a drive current, a half mirror 43 for partially reflecting the illuminating light generated from the LED 42 and transmitting the rest light, and a tubular reflecting mirror 44 for guiding the illuminating light reflected by the half mirror 43 to the backward (shown in the right side of the figure) are liquid-tightly included with a transparent capsule 45. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an illumination capsule for observing the inside of a body cavity.

  An endoscope is used to insert the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion into the body cavity and observe the inside of the body cavity. However, since the body cavity is naturally a dark space, It is necessary to illuminate the test object to such an extent that it can withstand observation by introducing illumination light.

  For this reason, in the conventional endoscope, the light guide fiber bundle is passed through the insertion portion in the body cavity, and the illumination light introduced from the illumination device connected to the proximal end of the light guide fiber bundle is emitted from the distal end. The object is irradiated through an illumination window formed at the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion.

  By the way, in addition to the light guide fiber bundle or the cable for supplying the drive current to the light emitting element, various built-in items are incorporated in the insertion portion in the body cavity of the endoscope, and the insertion portion in the body cavity itself is flexibly bent. There is a limit to reducing the outer diameter of the body cavity insertion portion because it is necessary to secure a certain amount of space (a space in which the built-in object can move when the outer cylinder of the body cavity insertion portion bends). . Examples of built-in objects incorporated in the body cavity insertion section include, for example, an image guide fiber bundle (in the case of a fiberscope), an image sensor and a signal cable (in the case of an electronic endoscope), an air / water supply channel, and a bending operation. Pulling wire, forceps channel for passing forceps and the like to the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion, and suctioning. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a layout example of the distal end surface of the body cavity insertion portion 100 in such a conventional endoscope (with a light emitting element embedded for illumination). In FIG. 7, 101 and 101 are light emitting elements, 102 is a forceps channel, 103 is an objective optical system, and 104 is a nozzle as an outlet of an air / water supply channel.

The present applicant uses a light capsule that emits illuminating light as an endoscope system that can omit an illumination optical system such as a light guide fiber bundle and a light emitting element from the insertion portion of the endoscope into the body cavity. Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-273920 has previously filed an endoscope system for illuminating a body cavity. As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 6, the illumination capsule 140 used in this endoscope system includes a battery 141 connected in series and an LED (light emitting element) 142 connected to the battery 141 and supplied with a drive current. It has a structure enclosed in a liquid-tight manner by a transparent capsule 143. Then, by projecting the pipe-shaped forceps, which is a transparent tube loaded with a large number of such illumination capsules 140, from the distal end of the endoscope, it becomes possible to illuminate the front of the endoscope, and this pipe-shaped forceps By irradiating the illumination capsules one by one from the tip of each and arranging them around the test part, it becomes possible to illuminate the test part in a concentrated manner.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-216085 JP 11-216111 A

  However, since only one LED 142 is included in the illumination capsule 140 configured as described above, the illumination light is only irradiated to the front of the illumination capsule 140. Therefore, when the individual illumination capsules 140 are loaded on the pipe-shaped forceps, each illumination capsule 140 is pipe-shaped in a state where the emission direction of the illumination light is confirmed and the front end portion for emitting the illumination light is directed forward. Must be inserted into the proximal end of the forceps.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an illumination capsule that can irradiate illumination light not only in the front but also in the rear, thereby reducing the labor required for loading the pipe-shaped forceps. .

  The illumination capsule according to the present invention devised to solve the above problems includes a battery, a light emitting element that emits illumination light when supplied with a driving current from the battery, and an illumination light emitted from the light emitting element. A separating optical element having a partially reflecting surface that partially transmits and reflects the rest, and illumination light reflected by the partially reflecting surface, passing through the light emitting element and the battery, and passing through the partially reflecting surface, Is a light guide member that guides in the opposite direction, and the illumination light transmitted through the partial reflection surface and the illumination guided by the light guide member by integrally covering the battery, the light emitting element, the separation optical element, and the light guide member. Capsules that transmit light to the outside through transparent portions provided at both ends thereof are provided.

  With this configuration, a part of the illumination light emitted from the light emitting element is transmitted through the partial reflection surface and irradiated to the front of the illumination capsule, and the remaining illumination light is reflected by the partial reflection surface. The light guide member guides the light emitting element and the gap between the battery and the inner surface of the capsule, and irradiates the back of the illumination capsule. Accordingly, since illumination light is emitted from both front and rear ends of the illumination capsule, it is not necessary to consider the direction when loading the pipe capsule or placing it in a body cavity, for example.

  In the present invention, the separation optical element may be a half mirror or a beam splitter. In the case of a half mirror, the partial reflection surface can be arranged perpendicularly or obliquely with respect to the beam axis of the illumination light. When the partial reflection surface is arranged perpendicular to the beam axis of the illumination light, the illumination light can be guided using a cylindrical light guide member whose inner surface is the reflection surface. In other cases, the illumination light reflected by the partially reflecting surface is reflected in a direction oblique or perpendicular to the central axis of the capsule, and thus needs to be guided by a light guide. As this light guide, for example, condensing acrylic can be used, but from the viewpoint of transmission efficiency, an optical fiber bundle is desirable.

  As described above, the illumination capsule of the present invention can irradiate illumination light not only forward but also backward. Therefore, the operator does not need to confirm the direction in which the illumination light is emitted when the illumination capsule is loaded on the pipe-shaped forceps, and it is not necessary to align the directions of the individual illumination lights, so that labor is reduced.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

  The schematic diagram of FIG. 1 shows each device constituting the endoscope system using the illumination capsule according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope system includes an endoscope 10, an image processor 20, pipe-shaped forceps 30, and a number of illumination capsules 40.

  The endoscope 10 is obtained by removing a light guide optical system (a light guide fiber bundle and a light distribution lens) from a normal electronic endoscope, and is inserted into a body cavity so as to be inserted into a body cavity. Unit 10a, an angle knob (not shown) for bending the distal end portion of the body cavity insertion portion 10a and an operation unit 10b having various switches 10c, a universal cable for connecting the operation unit 10b and the image processor 20 10e and a connector 10d connected to the base end of the universal cable 10e.

  Further, an imaging window in which an objective lens (objective optical system) 12 is fitted is formed on the distal end surface of the body cavity insertion portion 10a. An imaging element 13 that captures an image of a subject formed by the objective lens 12 is incorporated in the body cavity insertion portion 10a.

  A cable 18 composed of a large number of signal lines for inputting a signal (synchronization signal, clock signal, etc.) for controlling the image sensor 13 to the image sensor 13 and transmitting an image signal output from the image sensor 13 is: The body is inserted into the body cavity insertion portion 10a, the operation portion 10b, and the universal cable 10e, and is electrically connected to an electrical connector (not shown) including a large number of pins implanted in the base end surface of the connector 10d. Then, it is detachably connected to the image processing processor device 20 through this electrical connector.

  The image processor 20 is a device that controls the image pickup device 13 with a signal transmitted through the cable 18 and performs image processing on the image signal output from the image pickup device 13 to visualize the image signal.

  A forceps channel 14 having a distal end opened at the distal end surface and a proximal end opened at the side surface of the operation unit 10c is passed through the body cavity insertion portion 10a. The protrusion on the side of the operation portion 10c where the proximal end of the forceps channel 14 is open is referred to as a forceps port 10f.

  Various types of forceps are inserted into the forceps channel 14 from the forceps port 10f, and used in a state where the distal end protrudes from the distal end surface of the endoscope body cavity insertion portion 10a. One of the forceps inserted into the forceps channel 14 is a pipe-shaped forceps 30. This pipe-shaped forceps 30 is a hollow tube made of a transparent material such as vinyl chloride, and since its outer diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the forceps channel 14, it can be inserted into the forceps channel 14. And has its own flexibility. On the inner surface in the vicinity of the distal end of the forceps channel 14, as shown in FIG. 3, a sloped foamed urethane stopper 31 is attached so as to be inclined from the inner surface toward the distal end side from the proximal end side. Yes.

  This pipe-shaped forceps 30 is used for introducing the illumination capsule 40 into the body cavity. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the illumination capsule 40. As shown in FIG. 2, the illumination capsule 40 is connected to a battery 41 connected in series and supplied with a driving current to forward illumination light (white light) forward (left side in FIG. 2). An LED (light emitting element) 42 to be irradiated, a half mirror 43 that partially reflects the illumination light emitted from the LED 42 and transmits the remainder, and the illumination light reflected by the half mirror 43 rearward (right side in FIG. 2) ) Has a structure in which a cylindrical reflecting mirror 44 is guided in a liquid-tight manner by a transparent capsule 45. The capsule 45 has a so-called cigar shape (the shape in which both front and rear ends of the cylinder are closed by hemispherical surfaces) whose outer diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the pipe-shaped forceps 30.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the half mirror 43 is a separation optical element having a disk shape having an outer diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of the cylindrical portion of the capsule 45, and the LED 42 side surface is a partially reflecting surface. It has become. And it is being fixed to the boundary of the cylindrical part of the capsule 45, and a front side antispherical surface so that the partial reflective surface may face perpendicular | vertical with respect to the optical path of the illumination light emitted from LED42. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the reflecting mirror 44 is inscribed in the inner surface of the cylindrical portion of the capsule 45 behind the half mirror 43. As a light guide member, the reflection mirror 44 has a reflection surface on its inner peripheral surface, and its inner diameter is sufficiently larger than the outer diameters of the battery 41 and the LED 42. That is, the battery 41 and the LED 42 are fixed by a stay (not shown) in the reflection mirror 44 with a sufficient gap between the inner surface (reflection surface) of the reflection mirror 44. Therefore, when the LED 42 supplied with the drive current by the battery 41 emits illumination light forward, a part of the LED 42 is transmitted to the front of the illumination capsule 40 through the half mirror 43 and the rest is the same. The annular space reflected by the half mirror 43 and formed between the outer edge of the LED 42 and the battery 41 and the inner surface of the reflecting mirror 41 is guided rearward by being reflected by the inner surface of the reflecting mirror 44. The light is irradiated backward from the rear end of the reflection mirror 44. In this way, the illumination light transmitted through the half mirror 43 and the illumination light emitted from the reflection mirror 44 are transmitted to the outside through the aspheric surfaces (corresponding to the transparent portion) before and after the capsule. .

  In addition, since the optical path of the light reflected by the half mirror 43 is not necessarily good in light conduction efficiency, it is desirable that the reflectance of the half mirror 43 is larger than 50%. And if this reflectance is set appropriately, the light quantity of the illumination light irradiated forward from the illumination capsule 40 can be made equal to the light quantity of the illumination light irradiated backward.

  A number of the illumination capsules 40 are used for a single endoscope observation. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, an operator loads a large number of illumination capsules 40 into the interior from the proximal end side opening of the pipe-shaped forceps 30 in advance. At this time, since the illumination light is emitted from the respective illumination capsules 40 toward the front and the rear, the operator does not need to stay in the direction of the illumination capsule 40, so that it does not take much time and effort. Then, the illumination capsule 40 initially loaded in the pipe-shaped forceps 30 abuts against the inclined surface of the stopper 31, so that a large number of illumination capsules 40 loaded in the pipe-shaped forceps 30 are removed from the tip of the pipe-shaped forceps 30. Dropping is prevented.

  When the pipe-shaped forceps 30 thus prepared are inserted into the forceps channel 14 from the forceps opening 10f of the endoscope 10 and slightly protruded from the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion 10a, the pipe-shaped forceps 30 Illumination light emitted from the illumination capsule 40 in the vicinity of the tip is irradiated in front of the body cavity insertion portion 10a. At this time, even if there is an illumination capsule 40 in which the orientation of each illumination capsule 40 loaded in the pipe-shaped forceps 30 is not aligned and the front end (the end close to the half mirror 43) is directed rearward, Since such illumination capsule 40 also irradiates illumination light behind itself (ie, in front of the pipe-shaped forceps 30), the amount of illumination light is lower than when all illumination capsules 40 are facing forward. (Strictly speaking, if there is a difference in the amount of illumination light before and after each illumination capsule, the illumination light amount will change somewhat). In this way, the object existing in front of the body cavity insertion portion 10a is illuminated by the illumination light irradiated to the front of the pipe-shaped forceps 30, and is photographed by the objective lens 12 and the image sensor 13 and visualized by the image processor 20. Thus, the operator can operate the endoscope 10 while viewing the visualized video.

  When the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion 10a opposes the test portion, the operator examines each illumination capsule 40 as shown in FIG. 1 in order to increase the amount of illumination light for detailed observation. Work to arrange around the part.

  Specifically, the operator applies force from the proximal end side of the pipe-shaped forceps 30 to the lighting capsule group 40 that is at issue in the pipe-shaped forceps 30 in a direction of pushing into the pipe-shaped forceps 30. Add As a result, the front end surface (spherical surface) of the foremost illumination capsule 40 abuts against the slope of the stopper 31, and the illumination capsule 40 passes while crushing the stopper 31. One pipe-shaped forceps 30 is discharged from the tip. At this time, if the tip of the pipe-shaped forceps 30 is previously positioned on the body cavity inner wall, the illumination capsule 40 discharged by the pipe-shaped forceps 30 adheres to the body cavity inner wall. Thus, each illumination capsule 40 adhering to the inner wall of the body cavity irradiates illumination light toward the front and the rear of itself. Therefore, when attaching the illumination capsule 40 to the inner wall of the body cavity, as long as the central axis is directed to the test part, the illumination light is reliably irradiated to the test part regardless of the direction of the center. Can be made. Therefore, the trouble when attaching the illumination capsule 40 to the inner wall of the body cavity can be reduced.

Embodiment 2

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an illumination capsule 50 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same components as those of the illumination capsule 40 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. . As shown in FIG. 4, the illumination capsule 50 according to the second embodiment includes a battery 41 connected in series, and is connected to the battery 41 and supplied with a drive current to the front (left side in FIG. 4). LED (light emitting element) 42 that emits white light), a beam splitter 46 that partially reflects illumination light emitted from the LED 42 at a right angle and transmits the remaining light, and illumination light reflected by the beam splitter 46 It has a structure in which a light guide 47 for guiding light to the rear (right side in FIG. 4) is liquid-tightly enclosed by a transparent capsule 45. The capsule 45 has a so-called cigar shape (the shape in which both front and rear ends of the cylinder are closed by hemispherical surfaces) whose outer diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the pipe-shaped forceps 30.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the outer diameters of the battery 41 and the LED 42 are smaller than the inner diameter of the capsule 45. That is, the battery 41 and the LED 42 are fixed in the capsule 45 by a stay (not shown) in a state where a gap is opened between the battery 41 and the LED 42. The half mirror 43 is a separation optical element whose front and rear end surfaces are rectangular surfaces larger than the light emitting surface of the LED 42, and is inclined with respect to the beam axis of illumination light emitted from the LED 42 (the central axis of the capsule 45). It has a partially reflecting surface inclined at 45 degrees. The light guide 47 is a light guide member composed of a plurality of optical fibers bundled together, and the base end of each light guide 47 is an individual light for the entire area of the beam splitter 46 where the reflected light is emitted. The shape of the fiber is adjusted so that the fiber contacts vertically, the middle part of which is laid in the gap between the LED 42 and the battery 41, and the tip of the fiber surrounds the battery 41 as shown in FIG. The shape of each optical fiber is adjusted so as to face a direction parallel to the central axis of the capsule 45.

  Therefore, when the LED 42 supplied with the drive current by the battery 41 emits the illumination light forward, a part of the LED 42 is transmitted to the front of the illumination capsule 40 through the beam splitter 46 and the rest is the same. The light is reflected by the partial reflection surface of the beam splitter 46, enters the base end of the light guide 47, is guided by the light guide 47, and exits from the tip. Since the tip of the light guide 47 has an annular shape surrounding the battery 41, the illumination light is emitted toward the rear of the illumination capsule 50 so as to diverge evenly. Although the optical path of the illumination light irradiated toward the rear of the illumination capsule 50 has improved conduction efficiency compared to that of the first embodiment, it is inevitable that a conduction loss will occur. It is desirable that the reflectance of the partially reflecting surface is greater than 50%. And if this reflectance is set appropriately, the light quantity of the illumination light irradiated forward from the illumination capsule 50 and the light quantity of the illumination light irradiated backward can be made equal.

  Since other configurations and operations in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment described above, description thereof will be omitted.

System configuration diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope system according to the first embodiment The perspective view of the illumination capsule by 1st Embodiment Longitudinal section of a pipe-shaped forceps loaded with an illumination capsule The perspective view of the illumination capsule by 2nd Embodiment The back view of the illumination capsule seen from the V direction in FIG. The perspective view of the illumination capsule disclosed in the prior application invention Front view showing the layout of the distal end surface of the body cavity insertion portion in a conventional endoscope

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Endoscope 30 Pipe-shaped forceps 40 Illumination capsule 41 Battery 42 LED
43 Half mirror 44 Reflecting mirror 45 Capsule 46 Beam splitter 47 Light guide

Claims (3)

Battery,
A light emitting element that emits illumination light by being supplied with drive current from the battery;
A separation optical element having a partially reflecting surface that partially transmits illumination light emitted from the light emitting element and reflects the rest; and
A light guide member that guides the illumination light reflected by the partially reflecting surface in a direction opposite to the illumination light transmitted through the partially reflecting mirror through the periphery of the light emitting element and the battery;
By covering the battery, the light emitting element, the separation optical element, and the light guide member integrally, illumination light transmitted through the partial reflection surface and illumination light guided by the light guide member are provided at both ends, respectively. An illumination capsule comprising: a capsule that is transmitted through the transparent portion to the outside. The partial reflection surface is directed perpendicular to the optical path of illumination light emitted from the light emitting element,
The illumination capsule according to claim 1, wherein the light guide member is a cylinder whose inner surface is a reflective surface. The partial reflection surface is directed obliquely with respect to the optical path of the illumination light emitted from the light emitting element,
The illumination capsule according to claim 1, wherein the light guide member is a light guide formed by bundling a plurality of optical fibers.