JP2006288834A - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe where a wire can be fitted easily between respective pulleys. <P>SOLUTION: The ultrasonic probe consists of an insertion part 2 and a grip part 1, and a motor 5 is provided at the grip part. The insertion part is provided with: a first power transmission means 10 for transmitting power for a motor; a driving means 6 rotating with power; a second power transmission means 8 in the state of a cable which transmits power generated by rotation; a swinging means 7 for swinging an ultrasonic vibrator with power generated by the rotation of the driving means; a first fixing means 11 to be fixed to the swinging means with the second power transmission means; and a second fixing means 12 for fixing one end of the fixed second power transmission means facing the other end to the driving means. The first fixing means calks and folds a part of the second power transmission means into two by a plate member, and makes second power transmission means into the state of the ring to fix it to itself. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe that receives an echo signal by inserting an ultrasonic transducer into a body cavity and irradiating the living body with ultrasonic waves.

As shown in FIG. 5, the conventional ultrasonic probe includes a drive mechanism for swinging or rotating the drive pulley 102 by the motor 5, and a swing pulley 7 installed in the ultrasonic transducer 4. The wire drive mechanism 100 is configured to transmit the drive, and the rotation of the motor 5 is transmitted to the swing pulley 7 by the wire drive mechanism 100 to swing or rotate the ultrasonic transducer 4. Such a technique is disclosed in Patent Document 1 below.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-179588 (FIG. 3)

  However, in the ultrasonic probe disclosed in Patent Document 1, since there is no mechanism for attaching and fixing wires between the pulleys, the operation of attaching the wires is particularly difficult.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and by previously caulking the plate material into two, the wire can be easily formed into a ring shape, and a fixing portion for the wire formed into a ring shape is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic probe in which a wire can be easily attached between pulleys by fixing to a swing pulley and fixing the other of the ring-shaped wires to a drive pulley.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an insertion portion that is inserted into a body cavity and a grip portion that is held by an operator outside the body cavity are configured. The grip portion includes an ultrasonic transducer. A motor for generating power for swinging the motor, and the insertion portion is connected to a rotation shaft of the motor, and is connected to the first power transmission means for transmitting the power and the first power transmission means. A drive unit that rotates by the transmitted power; a cable-shaped second power transmission unit that transmits the power generated by the rotation of the drive unit; and the ultrasonic transducer. The swinging means for swinging the ultrasonic vibrator by the power generated by the rotation of the driving means transmitted through the power transmission means and the second power transmission means are fixed to the self and fixed. Said second First fixing means for fixing to the swinging means together with the power transmission means, and a second fixing means for fixing the other end of the second power transmission means fixed to the first fixing means to the driving means. An ultrasonic probe comprising two fixing means, wherein the first fixing means is configured such that a part of the second power transmission means is folded in half with a plate material, and the second power transmission means An ultrasonic probe is provided in which a ring is fixed to itself. With this configuration, the second power transmission means (wire) can be easily formed into a ring shape by caulking in advance with a plate material, and the ring-shaped wire can be formed into the first fixing means (fixing portion). ) Is fixed to the swinging means (swinging pulley) and the other of the ring-shaped wire is fixed to the driving means (driving pulley), so that the wire can be easily attached between the pulleys.

  Further, the first fixing means in the ultrasonic probe of the present invention is divided among a fold portion when the plate material is crimped in two and the plate material divided at the fold line. The other plate member is provided with a hole portion, and the second power transmission means is passed through the hole portion of the fold portion from the hole portion of the one of the divided plate materials and caulked in two. It is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. With this configuration, the process of caulking the wire to the plate material can be facilitated, and the wire can be prevented from slipping or coming off from the fixed portion.

  Further, in the ultrasonic probe of the present invention, it is a preferable aspect of the present invention that the means for fixing the first fixing means to the swinging means is screwing. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress the opening and closing of the plate material that has been crimped into two, and to reduce the sliding and unplugging of the wire from the fixed portion.

  The ultrasonic probe of the present invention has the above-described configuration, and can be easily formed into a ring shape by previously caulking the plate material into two, and the fixing portion of the ring-shaped wire is shaken. By fixing to the moving pulley and fixing the other of the ring-shaped wires to the driving pulley, the wires can be easily attached between the pulleys.

  Hereinafter, an ultrasonic probe according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4E. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic probe according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration in the distal end portion of the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a plate material that forms a fixing portion in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a wire passed through a hole portion of a plate material forming a fixing portion in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a wire formed into a ring shape by a fixing portion in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3D is a diagram illustrating screw holes provided in the fixing portion of the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3E is a diagram showing the plate surface side of the fixing portion in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a fixing portion having a ring-shaped wire in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a swing pulley in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4C is a diagram showing a fixed portion coupled to the swing pulley in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4D is a diagram illustrating another example of the swing pulley in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4E is a diagram showing a fixed portion coupled to another example of a swing pulley in the ultrasonic probe according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, an ultrasonic probe according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasound probe includes a grip portion 1 held by an operator and an insertion portion 2 including a distal end portion 3 inserted into a body cavity (not shown). The grip unit 1 is provided with a motor 5 that generates power for swinging the ultrasonic transducer 4.

  The insertion portion 2 has a shaft 10 that is connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 5 and transmits power, and is connected to the shaft 10 in the base portion 3a of the distal end portion 3 that constitutes a part of the insertion portion 2, and is transmitted. The drive pulley 6 that is rotated by the motive power applied, the wire 8 that transmits the power generated by the rotation of the drive pulley 6, and the rotating shaft 9 of the ultrasonic vibrator 4 are attached, and the wire 8 that is hung on the intermediate pulleys 13 and 14 is attached. The both ends of the swing pulley 7 and the wire 8 for swinging the ultrasonic vibrator 4 by the power generated by the rotation of the drive pulley 6 transmitted through the plate 8 are crimped (closely contacted) with a plate material 18 to be described later. The fixing portion 11, the wire 8 that is formed into a ring shape by the fixing portion 11 is fixed to the swing pulley 7 via the fixing portion 11, and the other end facing the one end of the fixed wire 8 is fixed to the drive pulley 6. Twelve rocks Mechanism is provided. The fixing part 12 is a fixing means such as a screw type.

  Details of the ultrasonic probe configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4E. An operator can hold the grip portion 1 outside the body cavity and insert the insertion portion 2 into the body cavity. Then, the ultrasonic probe rotates (rotates) the driving pulley 6 connected to the shaft 10 by the motor 5, and the rotational movement of the driving pulley 6 is shaken by the wire 8 via the intermediate pulleys 13 and 14. This is transmitted to the moving pulley 7 to cause the ultrasonic transducer 4 to swing around the rotating shaft 9. If a stepping motor is used for the motor 5, the position angle of the ultrasonic transducer 4 can be detected from the number of pulse inputs to the motor 5 and the pulley diameter ratio of the drive pulley 6 and the swing pulley 7. Further, when the encoder 5 a is attached to the motor 5, it can be detected by the detection angle of the encoder 5 a and the pulley diameter ratio of the drive pulley 6 and the swing pulley 7. In addition, in FIG.1 and FIG.2, illustration of a bearing etc. is abbreviate | omitted. Moreover, the case where the axial direction of the drive pulley 6 and the axial direction of the swing pulley 7 are orthogonal to each other is shown.

  Also, there may be a plurality of intermediate pulleys 13 and 14 shown in FIGS. 2 shows a case where a tension mechanism 15 is installed on the intermediate pulley 14. The tension mechanism 15 pulls the intermediate pulley 14 in the direction of the arrow 16 in FIG. You can remove the slack and apply tension at the same time. The tension mechanism 15 may have a spring. In FIG. 2, the intermediate pulleys 13 and 14 are shown one by one, but an intermediate pulley (not shown) which is a pair of these is installed on the back side in the same manner as the intermediate pulleys 13 and 14. Similarly, a wire 8 is laid. As shown in FIG. 4D, the drive pulley 6 and the swing pulley 7 may have a circumferential groove 23 around which the wire 8 is laid.

  Here, a method of making the wire 8 into a ring shape using the plate material 18 like the fixing portion 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3E. As shown in FIG. 3A, a hole portion 19 is provided in one plate 18b of the plate material 18 folded in half along the dotted line, and a hole portion 20 is provided at a position to be a folded portion of the fold. At this time, there may be a plurality of holes 20. FIG. 3A shows a case where the hole 19 is in the center of the plate 18b. 3A, first, as shown in FIG. 3B, the wire 8 is passed from the one plate surface 18a side of the plate 18b through the hole 19 to the hole 20.

  Next, the plate 8 is folded in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3B, so that the wire 8 can be formed in a ring shape by the fixing portion 11 in which the plate 18 is folded in the manner shown in FIG. 3C. . Further, as shown in FIG. 3D, screw holes 21 for attachment are formed in the plate material 18, and the end portions of the excess wires 8 coming out of the hole portions 20 are cut. In this way, the ring-shaped wire 8 drawn out from the hole 19 of the plate surface 18a as shown in FIG. 3E can be easily processed. The plate material 18 is preferably a metal material such as aluminum, brass or stainless steel. Moreover, the screw hole 21 may be processed into the plate material 18 in advance, or a plurality of screw holes 21 may be provided.

  Moreover, by being comprised in this way, the distance by which the wire 8 is crushed with the plate material 18 can be increased, and it can reduce that the wire 8 begins to slide out from the plate material 18, and pulls out. Further, since the wire 8 that has come out of the hole portion 19 is taken out from the plate surface 18 a that is fixed to the swing pulley 7, the wire 8 can be fixed in close contact with the swing pulley 7 and pulled out from the plate material 18. Further, the lifting and slipping of the wire 8 from the swing pulley 7 can be reduced. Further, since the wire 8 is passed from the hole portion 19 to the hole portion 20 on the side surface of the fixed portion 11, the wire 8 does not hang over the region A surrounded by the broken line shown in FIG. Space can be provided.

  Next, a method of fixing the wire 8 to the swing pulley 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4E. As shown in FIG. 4A, the fixing portion 11 provided with the ring-shaped wire 8 by caulking the plate material 18 in half is the plate surface 18a from which the wire 8 is drawn out from the hole portion 19, and is shown in FIG. 4B. Such contact is made in contact with the cut portion 22 provided on the swing pulley 7 and is fixed by a screw 17 or the like as shown in FIG. 4C. Thereby, since the half-folded plate material 18 is pressed so that it may be closed (opening is suppressed), it can reduce that the wire 8 slips or slips out. A plurality of screws 17 may be provided. In this way, by pulling out the wire 8 from the hole 19 in the plate surface 18a fixed in contact with the swing pulley 7, the wire 8 can be fixed in close contact with the swing pulley 7, and the swing pulley 7 of the wire 8 can be fixed. It is possible to reduce lifting and slipping with respect to. Further, as shown in FIG. 4D, when there is a groove 23 around which the wire 8 runs over the circumference of the swing pulley 7, the plate surface 18 a of the plate material 18 is placed on the swing pulley so that the wire 8 fits the groove 23. 7 is fixed to the cut portion 22 (FIG. 4E). Further, the fixed positional relationship between the fixing unit 11 and the above-described fixing unit 12 can be configured even if they are interchanged. In the embodiment of the present invention, only the mode in which the plate material 18 is folded in half has been described. However, the plate material 18 is not limited to being folded in half unless the wire 8 slips or falls off.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the wire 8 can be easily formed into a ring shape by caulking the plate material 18 in advance, and the fixing portion 11 including the wire 8 formed into a ring shape is provided. The wire 8 can be easily attached between the pulleys by fixing to the swing pulley 7 and fixing the other end opposite to one end of the fixed wire 8 to the drive pulley 6. Moreover, it can reduce that the wire 8 slips from the fixing | fixed part 11, or comes out.

  In the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, the wire can be easily formed into a ring shape by previously caulking the plate material into two, and the fixing portion of the ring-shaped wire is fixed to the swing pulley. By fixing the other ring-shaped wire to the drive pulley, it is possible to easily attach the wire between the pulleys, so insert an ultrasonic transducer into the body cavity and irradiate the living body with ultrasonic waves. This is useful for ultrasonic probes that receive echo signals.

Schematic which shows the structure of the ultrasound probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention Schematic which shows the structure in the front-end | tip part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the plate material which forms the fixing | fixed part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the wire passed through the hole part of the plate material which forms the fixing | fixed part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the wire made circular by the fixing | fixed part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the screw hole provided in the fixing | fixed part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the plate surface side of the fixing | fixed part in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the fixing | fixed part which has the ring-shaped wire in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the oscillation pulley in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the fixing | fixed part couple | bonded with the oscillation pulley in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows another example of the swing pulley in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the fixing | fixed part couple | bonded with the rocking pulley of another example in the ultrasonic probe which concerns on embodiment of this invention. Schematic diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ultrasonic probe

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Grip part 2 Insertion part 3 Tip part 3a Base part 4 Ultrasonic vibrator 5 Motor 5a Encoder 6 Drive pulley (drive means)
7 Swing pulley (swing means)
8 wire (second power transmission means)
9 Rotating shaft 10 Shaft (first power transmission means)
11 Fixing part (first fixing means)
12 fixing part (second fixing means)
13, 14 Intermediate pulley 15 Tension mechanism 16 Arrow 17 Screw 18 Plate material 18a Plate surface 18b Plate 19, 20 Hole 21 Screw hole 22 Cut part 23 Groove 100 Wire drive mechanism 102 Drive pulley

Claims (3)

An insertion portion that is inserted into the body cavity and a grip portion that is held by the operator outside the body cavity;
The grip portion includes a motor that generates power for swinging the ultrasonic vibrator,
The insertion portion is connected to a rotation shaft of the motor, and first power transmission means for transmitting the power.
Drive means connected to the first power transmission means and rotated by the transmitted power;
Cable-shaped second power transmission means for transmitting the power generated by the rotation of the driving means;
A swinging means for swinging the ultrasonic vibrator by the power generated by the rotation of the driving means attached to the ultrasonic vibrator and transmitted via the second power transmission means;
First fixing means for fixing the second power transmission means to itself and fixing the second power transmission means to the swinging means together with the fixed second power transmission means;
An ultrasonic probe comprising: a second fixing means for fixing the other end of the second power transmission means fixed to the first fixing means to the driving means;
The ultrasonic probe having a configuration in which the first fixing means is configured such that a part of the second power transmission means is folded in half with a plate material, and the second power transmission means is fixed in a ring shape. The first fixing means includes a hole in a fold portion when the plate material is caulked in half and one of the divided plate materials among the plate materials divided at the fold line. ,
2. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein the second power transmission means is passed through the hole portion of the divided one plate material from the hole portion to the hole portion of the fold portion and is crimped in two. . The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for fixing the first fixing means to the swinging means is screwing.