JP2009053360A - Endoscope device and method of inspecting inside of piping using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope device which has sufficient flexibility and rigidity, can be inserted smoothly even into intricately-curved piping and can inspect even the intricately-curved piping over a wide range thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The endoscope device 1 includes: an endoscope body 2 configured by extending an operation section 5 to the base end of a long and flexible cylindrical insertion section 4; and a coil spring 3 formed by bending a metal wire having a diameter of about 4 mm into a coil shape having an outer diameter of about 23 mm and inner diameter of about 15 mm. Furthermore, the endoscope body 2 and the coil spring 3 are fixed in a scattered dot-like pattern at predetermined intervals by a sealant 6 having elasticity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus for photographing the inside of a pipe and monitoring the outside, and an inspection method for the inside of the pipe using the endoscope apparatus.

  In a drainage pipe installed in a power plant building or the like, sand, iron rust or the like accumulates inside and clogs, and trouble may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to inspect the inside periodically to check whether sand, iron rust, etc. are accumulated. As an apparatus for inspecting the inside of such a pipe, an endoscope apparatus is known in which a camera is installed at the tip of a hollow, long and bellows tube that can be bent freely (Patent Document 1). When inspecting the inside of a pipe using such an endoscope apparatus, a long endoscope apparatus is pushed into the inside from the opening of the pipe by hand, and the tip of the endoscope apparatus is the target. When reaching the site, the inside of the pipe is photographed by the camera at the tip of the endoscope apparatus, and the photographed image is monitored outside.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-84211

  However, in the case of the above-described conventional endoscope apparatus, since the hollow bellows tube cannot exhibit sufficient flexibility and rigidity, the pushing force by the hand is not transmitted to the tip, and the pipe is complicatedly bent. Could not reach the target site at the tip. In addition, if the bellows tube is forcibly pushed into the pipe, the bellows tube may break. In particular, drainage pipes installed in power plant buildings and the like are often bent in a complicated manner. Therefore, when inspecting such pipes, the conventional endoscope apparatus described above is very limited. Only a limited range could be inspected.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the above-described conventional endoscope apparatus, have both sufficient flexibility and rigidity, and can be smoothly inserted even in complicatedly bent pipes, An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope apparatus capable of inspecting over a wide range. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pipe inspection method capable of efficiently inspecting even a complicatedly bent pipe over a wide range.

  Among the present inventions, the invention described in claim 1 is an endoscope apparatus for photographing the inside of a pipe and monitoring it externally, which is a long endoscope main body and its endoscope The endoscope comprises a long coil spring covering the outer periphery of the main body, and the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed in a scattered manner at a predetermined interval. In addition, as an endoscope main body used for the endoscope apparatus of the present invention, various commercially available long-sized endoscopes (for example, an industrial endoscope wireless videoscope VB manufactured by RF Corporation) are preferably used. be able to.

  In the endoscope apparatus of the present invention, it is necessary that the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed in a dotted pattern at a predetermined interval. If the endoscope main body and the coil spring are not fixed at all, when the endoscope apparatus is pushed into the pipe while rotating, the difference in the twist angle between the endoscope main body and the coil spring becomes large. The mirror body may be broken. On the contrary, if the endoscope main body and the coil spring are completely fixed over the entire length, the expansion and contraction of the coil spring is suppressed, so that it cannot be pushed into the pipe smoothly. In the endoscope apparatus of the present invention, the interval at which the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed varies depending on the material and size of the endoscope main body and the coil spring, but the diameter of the endoscope main body is 9 mm or more and less than 11 mm. And when using the coil spring whose diameter of a filament is 3 mm or more and less than 5 mm and whose winding diameter (outer diameter) is 15 mm or more and less than 30 mm, it is preferable to set it as 200 mm or more and 400 mm or less.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed to each other by an elastic fixing member. In addition, as the fixing member having elasticity, a sealant made of synthetic resin or the like can be suitably used. Further, when the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed by an elastic fixing member, it is preferable that the interval between the fixed portions of the endoscope main body and the coil spring be 200 mm or more and 400 mm or less. Therefore, when the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed by the fixing member having elasticity, the fixed portion between the endoscope main body and the coil spring and the non-fixed portion excluding the fixed portion are 200 mm or more and 400 mm or less. It is preferable to be configured to alternate at intervals.

  In the invention described in claim 3, the endoscope apparatus described in claim 1 or 2 is pushed into the pipe, and the inside of the pipe is visualized by the pushed-in endoscope apparatus to be monitored externally. This is a method for inspecting the inside of piping.

  The invention described in claim 4 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the endoscope apparatus is pushed into the pipe while rotating at a predetermined rotational speed.

  In addition, in the inspection method for the inside of the pipe according to claim 4, when a wireless type endoscope is used as the endoscope main body, even when pushing with rotation of the endoscope apparatus and photographing inside the pipe are repeated, Since it is not necessary to repeatedly connect and disconnect the connection cable between the endoscope main body and the external monitor, the inside of the pipe can be inspected very efficiently.

  The endoscope device according to claim 1 is a device in which a long endoscope body and a long coil spring covering the outer periphery of the endoscope body are fixed in a scattered manner at predetermined intervals. Since it has excellent elasticity, flexibility, and rigidity, it can be smoothly pushed into a complicatedly bent pipe. In addition, even when the tube is pushed into the pipe while being rotated, the difference in the twist angle between the endoscope body and the coil spring becomes large and the endoscope body does not break off. Therefore, according to the endoscope apparatus according to the first aspect, it is possible to efficiently inspect the inside of the pipe.

  In the endoscope apparatus according to the second aspect, since the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed to each other by an elastic fixing member, sufficient elasticity and goodness are possible even at the fixing portion between the endoscope main body and the coil spring. Since it can exhibit flexibility, the indentation characteristic into the pipe (ease of insertion into the pipe) is very good.

  According to the inspection method for the inside of the pipe described in claim 3, the inside of the pipe can be efficiently inspected by smoothly pushing the endoscope apparatus into the pipe.

  According to the inspection method for the inside of the pipe described in claim 4, even if the pipe is bent in a complicated manner, the endoscope apparatus is pushed very smoothly into the pipe to inspect the inside of the pipe very efficiently. be able to.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention and an inspection method for the inside of a pipe using the endoscope apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of endoscope apparatus]
FIG. 1 shows an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention with a part omitted, and the endoscope apparatus 1 has a long shape capable of transmitting video information to an external monitor in a wireless manner. The endoscope main body 2 and a coil spring 3 that covers the endoscope main body 2 are configured.

  The endoscope body 2 includes a long cylindrical insertion portion 4 having flexibility, and an operation portion 5 extending at the base end of the insertion portion 4. The insertion portion 4 is formed by a hollow bellows tube, has a diameter of about 10 mm, and has a length of about 15 m. The distal end of the insertion unit 4 is provided with an imaging unit (not shown) having an objective optical system and a solid-state imaging device, and a light irradiation unit (not shown) for irradiating the object with light. Yes. In addition, the operation unit 5 transmits various types of switches (not shown) for operating the imaging unit and the light irradiation unit provided in the insertion unit 4, and video information captured by the imaging unit to an external monitor. Transmitting means (not shown) is provided. A lead wire (not shown) that connects the imaging unit at the tip, the light irradiation unit, and the switch of the operation unit 5 is provided inside the hollow bellows tube constituting the insertion unit 4. The endoscope main body 2 forms an image of an object illuminated by the light emitted from the light irradiating unit with the objective optical system, converts the optical image into video information with the imaging unit, and converts the converted video information into the video information. The data can be transmitted to an external monitor by the transmission means.

  In addition, a long cylindrical coil spring 3 is covered outside the insertion portion 4 of the endoscope body 1. The coil spring 3 is formed by bending an iron strip having a diameter of about 4 mm into a coil shape having an outer diameter of about 23 mm and an inner diameter of about 15 mm. Further, the endoscope body 2 is designed to be slightly longer than the insertion portion 4 of the endoscope body 2, and the coil spring 3 is only about 20 mm at the distal end portion of the endoscope body 1 as shown in FIG. It is in a state of protruding forward. The coil spring 3 is so-called “pitch winding (a wound state in which the wound rings are separated from each other)”, and when compressive stress is applied in the axial direction, the coil spring 3 contracts in the longitudinal direction and is subjected to bending stress. In this case, it is curved, but is restored to a straight line due to its rigidity.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope body 2 and the coil spring 3 are fixed (adhered) with a synthetic resin sealant (Chemedine Silicone Sealant 8060 Pro) 6 every about 300 mm. Further, the length of the bonded portion between the endoscope body 2 and the coil spring 3 by the sealant 6 is adjusted to about 300 mm in all bonded portions. FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the bonded portion with the sealant 6. In the bonded portion, the gap between the endoscope body 2 and the coil spring 3 is filled with the sealant 6. In addition, the filled sealant 6 is in a state of oozing from between the steel strips of the coil spring 3 to the outside. Moreover, the filled sealant 6 has elasticity and flexibility although it exhibits an adhesive force between the endoscope body 2 and the coil spring 3.

[Inspection of piping inside using endoscope device]
When the state of the inside of the pipe is inspected using the endoscope apparatus 1 configured as described above, the coil spring 3 is gripped and pushed inward from the opening of the pipe in order from the tip. The endoscope apparatus 1 is deformed in accordance with the bent shape of the pipe as the coil spring 3 having elasticity freely expands and contracts. On the other hand, due to the rigidity of the coil spring 3, the pushing force is transmitted to the tip portion without being attenuated. Therefore, even if the pipe is bent in a complicated manner, the endoscope body 2 integrated with the coil spring 3 can be smoothly pushed into the pipe. Then, after the distal end of the endoscope apparatus 1 has reached the target site, the operation unit 5 of the endoscope main body 2 is operated to perform piping using the distal end imaging unit and light irradiation unit. The internal state is photographed, and the photographed image is displayed on an external monitor.

  In addition, when pushing the endoscope apparatus 1 into the pipe, the pipe is rotated while rotating at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 600 rpm) using a commercially available rotation apparatus (for example, a rigid cleaning pipe manufactured by Rigid Corporation). It is also possible to push in. As described above, when the endoscope apparatus 1 is pushed into the pipe while rotating at a predetermined rotational speed, it can be pushed into the pipe more smoothly, and the inside of the pipe can be inspected extremely efficiently. it can.

  As described above, the endoscope apparatus 1 includes a long endoscope main body 2 and a long coil spring 3 that covers the outer periphery of the endoscope main body 2, and the endoscope main body 2 and the coil spring 3 include the endoscope main body 2 and the coil spring 3. Since it is fixed in the form of dots at predetermined intervals and has sufficient elasticity, flexibility and rigidity, it can be smoothly pushed into a complicatedly bent pipe. In addition, even when the endoscope apparatus 1 is pushed into the pipe while rotating, the difference in the twist angle between the endoscope main body 2 and the coil spring 3 becomes large, and the endoscope main body 2 is broken. This does not happen. Therefore, according to the endoscope apparatus 1, the inside of piping can be inspected efficiently.

  In the endoscope apparatus 1, the endoscope main body 2 and the coil spring 3 are fixed by an elastic fixing member, so that sufficient elasticity is possible even at the fixing portion between the endoscope main body 2 and the coil spring 3. Since it can exhibit flexibility, the indentation characteristic into the pipe (ease of insertion into the pipe) is very good.

  The configuration of the endoscope apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the aspect of the above-described embodiment, and the configuration of the endoscope body, coil spring, etc., such as shape, structure, material, size, etc. It can change suitably in the range which does not deviate from the meaning. Further, the configuration of the inspection method inside the pipe using the endoscope apparatus is not limited to the aspect of the above embodiment, and the configuration such as the rotation speed of the endoscope apparatus is appropriately changed as necessary. can do.

  For example, the adhesive for bonding the endoscope main body and the coil spring is not limited to the sealant, and can be changed to another adhesive. Further, the interval at which the endoscope body and the coil spring are bonded and fixed is not limited to 300 mm as in the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed according to the flexibility and strength of the endoscope body and the coil spring.

  Further, the endoscope apparatus is not limited to the one in which the long endoscope main body is covered with the long coil spring as in the above-described embodiment, and the endoscope main body having a predetermined length has the same length. It is also possible to change to a unit in which a plurality of units covered with coil springs are connected. When such a configuration is adopted, the operability of the endoscope apparatus is further improved. In other words, if the endoscope device is an integral type in which the long endoscope body is covered with a long coil spring, the uninserted portion is swung when it is pushed into the pipe while rotating, so the endoscope device rotates. It is necessary to adjust the speed so that the speed does not become too high. However, as described above, if a configuration in which multiple units are connected is used, the next unit is connected with the previous unit pushed in to some extent. By doing so, it is possible to prevent a situation where the uninserted portion is swung. When the endoscope apparatus is of the connection type as described above, it is possible to adopt a connection structure as shown in FIG. In the endoscope apparatus of FIG. 4, coil spring couplings 11 are fixed to the end edges of the units 10, 10 having a predetermined length, and the endoscope main body 2 is placed inside the coil couplings 11. A wiring cable coupling 13 for connecting the wiring cable 12 is provided. And in the state which joined the coil spring couplings 11 and 11, the units 10 and 10 can be connected by joining the wiring cable couplings 13 and 13 inside those coil spring couplings 11 and 11. FIG. It is like that. As described above, when the endoscope apparatus is of the connection type, it is preferable to adjust the length of each unit to 3 m to 7 m because the operability becomes very good.

  The endoscope apparatus according to the present invention can be suitably used as an apparatus for inspecting the inside of various pipes. The inspection method for the inside of the pipe according to the present invention can be suitably used as a method for efficiently inspecting the inside of various pipes.

It is explanatory drawing which abbreviate | omits and shows a part of endoscope apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the front-end | tip part of an endoscope apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the AA line cross section in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a change of an endoscope apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  1 .... Endoscope device 2. Endoscope body 3 .... Coil spring 6 .... Sealant.

Claims (4)

An endoscope device for photographing the inside of a pipe and monitoring it outside,
The endoscope body is composed of a long endoscope body and a long coil spring that covers the outer periphery of the endoscope body, and the endoscope body and the coil spring are fixed in a dotted pattern at predetermined intervals. An endoscope apparatus characterized by comprising:   The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope main body and the coil spring are fixed by an elastic fixing member.   Inspection of the inside of a pipe characterized in that the endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 is pushed into a pipe, the inside of the pipe is photographed and monitored outside by the pushed-in endoscope apparatus. Method.   The inspection method for the inside of a pipe according to claim 3, wherein the endoscope apparatus is pushed into the pipe while rotating at a predetermined rotation speed.

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