JP2013135729A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector for connecting transfusion tubes, capable of more reliably preventing the locked tubes from being loosed.SOLUTION: The connector including a male connector and a female connector is used to connect a first transfusion tube to a second transfusion tube. The connector has a protrusion strip portion 15 which extends crossing the thread of a male screw 13 in the male screw 13 of a female locking portion 11. The thread of the male screw 13 is chipped in a part crossing the protrusion strip portion 15, the end surfaces facing the chipped part of the thread each oppose both the side surfaces of the protrusion strip portion 15 with a predetermined width, and the thread of the protrusion strip portion 15 or the male screw 13 is made of an elastically deformable material.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector for connecting an infusion tube.

  Conventionally, as a connector for connecting an infusion tube such as a three-way stopcock or an infusion tube, a connector having a taper type and a locking function is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). The male connector constituting the connector includes a lock ring having a female screw around the male luer. The female connector includes a female luer fitted to the male luer and a male screw screwed to the female screw of the lock ring.

  The female connector and the male connector can be connected by screwing the male screw and the female screw while fitting the male luer and the female luer, and the connection can be locked. Further, in the medical instrument described in Patent Document 1, in order to prevent the lock from being loosened, a locking portion by an elastic member is provided in the vicinity of the start end portion of the thread of the male screw. When the male screw and the female screw are screwed together, the screw thread of the female screw of the lock ring rides on the engaging portion, so that the screwing of the male screw and the female screw is fixed.

JP-A-2005-466

  However, according to the conventional connector described above, the locking portion is provided in the vicinity of the tip of the male screw, and when the female screw is screwed to the male screw, the locking portion is screwed while being scraped by the female screw. Even if it is a connection, there exists a possibility that a latching | locking part may be shaved and there may be no desired effect. Further, when the infusion tube is connected again after releasing the connection of the connector, there is a possibility that a good locking prevention effect cannot be obtained because the locking portion is cut.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a connector that can more reliably prevent the lock from being loosened in view of the problems of the prior art.

  In order to achieve the above object, a connector according to the present invention includes a male connector and a female connector, and is a connector for connecting a first infusion tube and a second infusion tube, wherein the male connector has a proximal end. The male side connecting tube having a conical outer surface whose side is connected to the first infusion tube and having a diameter gradually decreasing toward the tip, and a male side that is cylindrical and held on the outer periphery of the conical outer surface, and has a female screw on the inner peripheral surface The female connector includes a female connector tube having a proximal end connected to the second infusion tube and a distal end having a conical inner surface corresponding to the conical outer surface, and a male screw corresponding to the female screw. A female-side lock portion, and a female thread of the female-side lock portion is provided with a ridge that extends across the thread of the male screw and has a height that contacts the thread of the female screw. The ridges or One of the threads of the serial female screw is characterized by being composed of a material that is elastically deformed by engagement of the male screw and the female screw.

  In this configuration, the male connector and the female connector are rotated by relatively rotating the male connector and the female connector in the direction in which the female screw and the male screw are fastened while inserting the male connector tube into the female connector tube. The side connector is connected. At this time, when the ridge portion is made of a material that is elastically deformed by the thread of the female screw, the screw thread of the female screw deforms the ridge portion against its elastic force, Slide on the top.

  When the fastening of the male screw and the female screw is completed, the thread of the female screw at the portion intersecting with the ridge is pressed by the elastic force accumulated in the ridge by elastic deformation. At this time, since the ridge portion is deformed and pressed so as to sandwich the thread of the female thread at the intersecting portion, a large frictional force is generated between the ridge portion at the intersecting portion and the thread of the female screw. . Thereby, the locked state by fastening of a male screw and a female screw is reliably maintained, and the lock | rock loosening is prevented reliably.

  On the other hand, when the female screw is made of a material that is elastically deformed, when the male connector and the female connector are connected, the thread of the female screw intersects with the protruding item of the male screw and is formed by the protruding item. It slides on the ridge while being elastically deformed. When the fastening of the male screw and the female screw is completed, the ridge portion of the portion intersecting with the female screw is pressed by the elastic force accumulated in the female screw by elastic deformation.

  At this time, since the thread of the female thread is deformed and pressed so as to sandwich the convex portion of the intersecting portion, a large frictional force is generated between the convex portion of the intersecting portion and the thread of the female screw. Thereby, similarly to the case where the ridge portion is elastically deformed, the locked state by the fastening of the male screw and the female screw is reliably maintained, and the lock is surely prevented from being loosened.

  In the present invention, the female connector is formed by a mold in which a parting line is provided on a plane passing through the central axis of the female connection pipe, and the protruding strip is formed by the parting line. It is preferable that it is provided along.

  In general, when a female connector having a male screw is formed by a mold having a parting line on a plane passing through the central axis of the infusion tube, the male screw also has a portion facing the parting line. In such a case, depending on the accuracy of the mold and the molding conditions, a step or the like may occur in the male thread portion due to die misalignment or the like.

  Here, by providing the ridges along the parting line, even if a misalignment or the like occurs, the ridges are along the parting line, so Is not affected by the parting line.

  Further, in the present invention, when the male screw and the female screw are screwed together, the surface of the ridge portion that comes into contact with the thread of the female screw first is inclined so as to face the radially outward side of the male screw. Or it may be curved.

  According to the said structure, when screwing a male screw and a female screw, when the thread of a female screw contact | abuts on a protruding item | line part, it guides along the above-mentioned inclined or curved surface first. Then, the central axis of the female screw is inclined with respect to the central axis of the male screw, and when the female screw is further advanced with respect to the male screw, the female screw passes over the protruding portion and is screwed.

  On the other hand, the force which tries to make the central axis of a male side lock part correspond with the central axis of a female side lock part by the male side connection pipe inserted in a female side connection pipe. These conflicting forces further increase the fastening force between the male screw and the female screw, so that the connection state between the male connector and the female connector can be locked so that no looseness occurs.

(A) And (b) is the front view and sectional drawing in the connection state of the connector which concern on 1st Embodiment of this invention. (A)-(d) is the front view of the male side connector of the connector of FIG. 1, the left view, the right view, and sectional drawing. (A)-(d) is the front view of the female side connector of the connector of FIG. 1, the left view, the right view, and sectional drawing. (A)-(d) is the front view of the female side connector of the connector which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention, a left view, a right view, and sectional drawing. (A)-(e) is the front view of the female side connector of the connector which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention, a left view, a right view, a top view, and sectional drawing. It is a front view at the time of the connection of the connector which concerns on 4th Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a connected state of the connector according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a front view, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view. As shown in FIG. 1, the connector 1 includes a male connector 3 to which a first infusion tube 2 is connected and a female connector 5 to which a second infusion tube 4 is connected. The first infusion tube 2 and the second infusion tube 4 can be connected by connecting the male connector 3 and the female connector 5.

  2A to 2D are a front view, a left side view, a right side view, and a sectional view of the male connector 3, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the male connector 3 includes a male side connecting pipe 6 whose proximal end side (left side in FIG. 2) is connected to the first infusion pipe 2 (see FIG. 1), and a female screw 7 on the inner peripheral surface. The male side lock part 8 which has this. The male side connecting pipe 6 has a conical outer surface 9 whose diameter gradually decreases toward the tip, on the tip side. The female screw 7 is composed of a double thread. The male side lock portion 8 has a cylindrical shape and is provided on the outer periphery of the conical outer surface 9.

  3A to 3D are a front view, a left side view, a right side view, and a cross-sectional view of the female connector 5, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, the female connector 5 includes a female coupling tube 10 whose proximal end (right side in FIG. 3) is connected to the second infusion tube 4 (see FIG. 1), a male locking portion 8, and A female side lock portion 11 that cooperates to lock the connection between the male side connector 3 and the female side connector 5 is provided.

  The female side connecting tube 10 has a conical inner surface 12 corresponding to the conical outer surface 9 (see FIG. 2) of the male side connecting tube 6 on the distal end side. The female side lock portion 11 has a male screw 13 configured as a double thread corresponding to the female screw 7 (see FIG. 2) of the male side lock portion 8.

  The male screw 13 has a ridge 15 that is located on a plane that passes through the central axis of the male screw 13, extends so as to intersect with the screw thread of the male screw 13, and has a height that contacts the screw thread of the female screw 7. , Are provided at positions symmetrical with respect to the central axis. The ridge portion 15 has a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape. That is, when the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 are screwed together, the side surface 15 a of the protruding strip portion 15 that comes into contact with the thread of the female screw 7 first is inclined in the direction facing the radially outward direction of the male screw 13.

  Therefore, when the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 are screwed together, the thread of the female screw 7 is guided along the side surface 15a. In order for this guidance to be performed satisfactorily, when the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 are screwed together, the surface of the ridge 15 on the side that first comes into contact with the thread of the female screw 7 is the radially outward side of the male screw 13. It suffices if it is inclined or curved so as to face. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape of the ridge portion 15 is not limited to a trapezoidal shape, and may be a triangular shape or a semicircular shape.

  The thread of the male screw 13 is missing at a portion intersecting the protruding line portion 15, and each end face 13 a facing the missing portion of the thread is predetermined with respect to both side surfaces of the protruding line portion 15. They are facing each other with a width d. Therefore, in the portion where the ridge portion 15 and the thread of the male screw 13 intersect, a groove 16 is formed between both side surfaces of the ridge portion 15 and each end surface 13a of the thread. The groove 16 may not be provided.

  The connector 1 is made of a material in which the ridge portion 15 is elastically deformed by screwing of the male screw 13 and the female screw 7. As such a material, for example, a relatively soft material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylon is preferable. Therefore, when the female screw 7 and the male screw 13 are fastened to connect the male connector 3 and the female connector 5, the protruding portion 15 is elastically deformed to allow the fastening, and after the fastening, The thread of the female screw 7 is pressed by the elastic force accumulated by the elastic deformation.

  The female connector 5 may be made of a hard material such as polycarbonate, and the male connector 3 may be made of a material in which the thread of the female screw 7 is elastically deformed by screwing of the male screw 13 and the female screw 7. In this case, when the female screw 7 and the male screw 13 are fastened, the female screw 7 is elastically deformed to allow the fastening, and after the fastening, the thread of the female screw 7 is projected by the elastic force accumulated by the elastic deformation. The part 15 is pressed.

  The female connector 5 is formed by a mold having a parting line on a plane passing through the central axis of the female connection pipe 10. And the convex line part 15 is provided along this parting line.

  In this configuration, in order to connect the male connector 3 and the female connector 5, the female screw 7 and the male screw 13 are fastened while the conical inner surface 12 of the male connecting tube 6 is inserted into the conical inner surface 12 of the female connecting tube 10. The male connector 3 and the female connector 5 are rotated relative to each other in the direction to be performed. At this time, when the ridge 15 is elastically deformable, the thread of the female screw 7 intersects the ridge 15 of the male screw 13 and deforms the ridge 15 against its elastic force. Slide on the strip 15.

  When the fastening of the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 is completed, the conical outer surface 9 of the male connecting tube 6 is fitted to the conical inner surface 12 of the female connecting tube 10, and the connection between the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 is established. At the same time, the locking of the connection is completed. Then, the thread of the female screw 7 at the portion intersecting the ridge 15 is pressed by the elastic force accumulated in the ridge 15 by elastic deformation.

  This pressing is performed by deforming the ridge 15 and sandwiching the thread of the female screw 7 at the intersecting portion, so that a large friction is generated between the ridge 15 at the intersecting portion and the thread of the female screw 7. Power is generated. Therefore, the locked state by the male side lock part 8 and the female side lock part 11 is maintained reliably after that.

  Further, when this connection and locking are performed, when the thread of the female screw 7 comes into contact with the ridge 15, first, it is guided along the side surface 15 a of the trapezoid ridge 15. Then, the central axis of the female screw 7 is inclined with respect to the central axis of the male screw 13, and when the female screw 7 is further advanced with respect to the male screw 13, the female screw 7 passes over the protruding portion 15 and is screwed.

  On the other hand, by the male side connection pipe 6 inserted into the female side connection pipe 10, a force is applied to make the central axis of the male side lock part 8 coincide with the central axis of the female side lock part 11. These conflicting forces further increase the fastening force between the male screw 13 and the female screw 7. Thereby, the connection state of the male side connector 3 and the female side connector 5 is locked so that a looseness may not arise.

  Note that, when the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 are fastened, the ridge portion 15 is elastically deformed, so that the connection of the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 and the release of the connection can be repeated several times.

  On the other hand, when the female screw 7 is made of a material that can be elastically deformed and the female connector 5 is made of a hard material, when the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 are fastened, the thread of the female screw 7 is the ridge of the male screw 13. It slides on the ridge 15 while crossing the portion 15 and being elastically deformed by the ridge 15. When the fastening of the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 is completed, the ridge 15 of the portion intersecting the female screw 7 is pressed by the elastic force accumulated in the female screw 7 due to elastic deformation.

  At this time, the female screw 7 is deformed and pressed so as to sandwich the protruding portion 15 at the intersecting portion, so that a large frictional force is generated between the protruding portion 15 and the female screw 7 at the intersecting portion. Thereby, the locked state by the fastening of the external thread 13 and the internal thread 7 is reliably maintained similarly to the case where the ridge 15 is elastically deformed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the male screw 13 of the female-side lock unit 11 is located on the surface passing through the axis of the male screw 13 and extends so as to intersect the thread of the male screw 13. Since the strip portion 15 is provided, the connection between the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 can be reliably locked and the locked state can be maintained.

  Further, the female connector 5 is formed by a mold having a parting line on a plane passing through the central axis of the female connecting pipe 10, and the ridge 15 is provided along the parting line. Therefore, the moldability can be improved.

  That is, in general, when the female connector having a male screw is molded by a mold having a parting line on a plane passing through the central axis of the infusion tube, the male screw portion also has a portion facing the parting line. is there. In such a case, depending on the accuracy of the mold and the molding conditions, a step or the like may occur in the male thread portion due to die misalignment or the like.

  Here, by providing the ridges 15 along the parting line, even if a misalignment or the like occurs, the ridges 15 are along the parting line. Is not affected by the parting line.

  Further, by forming the convex section 15 in a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape, the side surface 15a of the convex section 15 on the side that comes into first contact with the thread of the female thread 7 when the male screw 13 and the female thread 7 are screwed together is formed. Since the male screw 13 is inclined in the direction facing the radially outward direction, the fastening force between the male screw and the female screw can be further increased.

  4A to 4D are a front view, a left side view, a right side view, and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of the female connector of the connector according to the second embodiment of the present invention. This female side connector 45 is different from the female side connector 5 of the first embodiment in which the number of convex strips 15 is two in that it has a female side lock portion 41 having four convex strips 15. . About another point, it is the same as that of the case of 1st Embodiment. The four ridge portions 15 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the female side lock portion 41.

  According to the second embodiment, since the number of the ridges 15 is four, the fastening force between the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 can be further increased, and the effect of preventing the lock from being loosened can be further improved.

  5A to 5E are a front view, a left side view, a right side view, a plan view, and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of the female connector of the connector according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The female connector 55 is different from the female connector 5 of the first embodiment in that a female side lock portion 57 having a flange-shaped male screw 56 is provided instead of the male screw 13. The flange-shaped male screw 56 is provided at the peripheral edge at the tip of the female-side lock portion 57.

  The flange-shaped male screw 56 intersects the ridge 15 as in the case of the male screw 13 in the first embodiment. Further, the thread of the flange-shaped male screw 56 is missing at a portion intersecting with the ridge portion 15, and each end face 56 a facing the missing portion of the thread ridge is formed on both side surfaces of the ridge portion 15. Are facing each other with a predetermined width.

  Therefore, in the portion where the ridge 15 and the thread of the flange-shaped male screw 56 intersect, a groove 58 is formed between both side surfaces of the ridge 15 and each end surface 56a of the thread. According to the third embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

  FIG. 6 is a front view when the connector according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is connected. The connector 61 is different from the connector 1 of the first embodiment in that a male side connector 63 is employed instead of the male side connector 3. The male connector 63 has a male lock portion 68 that is rotatably supported thereby. About another point, it is the same as that of the case of the connector 1, and the male side locking part 68 and the male side connector 63 are provided with the component similar to the male side locking part 8 and the male side connector 3 of 1st Embodiment.

  Accordingly, by inserting the male side connecting pipe 6 into the female side connecting pipe 10 and rotating the male side locking portion 68 in the direction in which the female screw 7 and the male screw 13 are fastened, the male side connector 63 and the female side connector 5 are connected. Can be connected and locked. In that case, the same effect as the case of 1st Embodiment can be acquired.

  At this time, as in the case of the first embodiment, the force to incline the male lock 68 with respect to the female connector 5 and the central axis of the male connector 63 with respect to the central axis of the female connector 5 The force to make them coincide with each other, and the fastening force between the male screw 13 and the female screw 7 is increased. At this time, since the male side lock part 68 is rotatably supported, the male side lock part 68 has a larger inclination θ due to the force to incline the male side lock part 68 as shown in FIG. .

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above description, the ridge 15 is located on a surface passing through the central axis of the male screw 13, but if it extends so as to intersect the thread of the male screw 13, the surface of the convex thread 15 will be , It may have a slight inclination. Specifically, for example, the ridge portion 15 may be orthogonal to the thread of the male screw 13.

  In the above description, the number of the ridges 15 is 2 and 4. However, the number of the ridges 15 is not limited to this and may be one or three.

  In the above description, the case where the first infusion tube 2 and the second infusion tube 4 are connected has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the connector of the present invention is also used for connecting a three-way stopcock, an enteral feeding tube, or the like. be able to.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Connector, 2 ... 1st infusion pipe, 3 ... Male side connector, 4 ... 2nd infusion pipe, 5 ... Female side connector, 6 ... Male side connection pipe, 7 ... Female screw, 8 ... Male side lock part, 9 ... Conical outer surface, 10 ... female side connecting pipe, 11 ... female side lock part, 12 ... conical inner surface, 13 ... male screw, 15 ... convex line part.

Claims (3)

A connector comprising a male connector and a female connector, and connecting the first infusion tube and the second infusion tube,
The male connector has a proximal end connected to the first infusion tube, a distal end is held on the outer periphery of the conical outer surface in a cylindrical shape, a male connection tube having a conical outer surface whose diameter gradually decreases toward the distal end, A male side locking portion having a female thread on the peripheral surface,
The female connector has a proximal end connected to the second infusion tube, a distal end having a female inner connecting tube having a conical inner surface corresponding to the outer cone surface, and a female locking portion having a male screw corresponding to the female screw. With
The male screw of the female-side lock portion is provided with a convex portion that extends across the thread of the male screw and has a height that comes into contact with the thread of the female screw,
One of the protruding portion and the female thread is made of a material that is elastically deformed by screwing of the male screw and the female screw. The connector according to claim 1,
The female connector is formed by a mold provided with a parting line on a plane passing through the central axis of the first infusion tube,
The connector is characterized in that the protruding line portion is provided along the parting line. The connector according to claim 1 or 2,
When the male screw and the female screw are screwed together, the surface of the protruding portion on the side that comes into contact with the female thread first is inclined or curved so as to face the radially outward side of the male screw. Characteristic connector.

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