JP2015002805A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope which prevents damage of optical lens and breakage of optical lens caused when an insertion part tip surface frontally collides with an observation object while the insertion part is moved to the deep part.SOLUTION: An endoscope 10 is an endoscope to directly view and observe the front of the insertion part in an insertion direction and includes: a tip surface 21 orthogonal to an insertion part longitudinal axis 10a which is set at the distal end of the endoscope 10; at least a pair of observation slant faces 22, 23 arranged with the tip surface 21 in between and slanted with respect to the tip surface 21; and imaging units 30B, 30C which have observation windows 31 set respectively in the observation slant faces 22, 23 and an optic axis 30a inclined to the insertion part longitudinal axis 10a.

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope that observes the front of an insertion portion in the insertion direction.

  Endoscopes are used in the medical field, industrial field, and the like. The endoscope has an elongated insertion portion that is inserted into a portion to be examined. In a direct-view endoscope that observes the insertion portion forward in the insertion direction, an observation window, an illumination window, an air / water supply nozzle, and the like are provided on the distal end surface orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the insertion portion.

  In the direct-view endoscope described above, the distal end surface of the insertion portion may hit the observation target surface during insertion, and the observation window or the illumination window may be damaged, or the observation window or the illumination window may be damaged. .

  In order to solve this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses an endoscope apparatus in which a convex portion for protecting the first lens of the super-wide-angle objective optical system is provided on the distal end surface of the distal optical adapter. Further, Patent Document 2 shows a distal end portion of an endoscope that can prevent breakage of a cover lens with an air supply nozzle and a water supply nozzle without arranging special parts on the distal end portion main body. .

  According to the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the observation target is a flat surface, the problem that the lens is in contact with the observation target due to the convex portion or the nozzle and the lens is damaged or broken is solved.

JP 2003-167203 A JP-A-10-192225

  However, the observation target is not limited to a flat surface, and may have irregularities. When the observation target has irregularities, when the insertion part is moved toward the deep part, the lens on the distal end surface of the insertion part collides frontally with the protruding convex part of the observation target, so that the lens is damaged. Alternatively, the lens may be damaged.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and damage to the optical lens caused by a frontal collision of the distal end surface of the insertion portion with the observation target during the movement of moving the insertion portion toward the deep portion and the optical lens. An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that prevents damage to the endoscope.

  An endoscope according to an aspect of the present invention is an endoscope that directly observes the front in the insertion direction of the endoscope insertion portion, with respect to an insertion portion longitudinal axis that is disposed at the forefront of the endoscope insertion portion. A distal end surface orthogonal to the distal end surface, at least a pair of observation inclined surfaces inclined with respect to the distal end surface provided across the distal end surface, and an observation window disposed on each of the observation inclined surfaces, An imaging unit having an optical axis inclined with respect to the hand axis.

  According to the present invention, an endoscope that prevents damage to an optical lens and damage to an optical lens caused by a frontal collision of the distal end surface of the insertion portion with an observation target during movement for moving the insertion portion toward a deep portion is provided. realizable.

The figure explaining the composition of an endoscope Front view of endoscope tip FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line Y3-Y3 of FIG. The figure explaining the synthesized image ahead of the insertion direction displayed on a display part The figure explaining the other example of composition of an endoscope Diagram of one side of the imaging circuit board on which the CMOS that constitutes the imaging unit is mounted The figure on the other side of the imaging circuit board on which the CMOS constituting the imaging unit is mounted The figure explaining the 1st board | substrate part bent by the valley fold, and the 2nd board | substrate part of the bent state Front view for explaining another configuration of the distal end portion of the endoscope Front view for explaining another configuration of the endoscope distal end portion Front view illustrating a configuration including an air / water supply nozzle at the endoscope distal end

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope apparatus 1 includes an electronic endoscope (hereinafter abbreviated as an endoscope) 10 of the present invention and an apparatus main body 50.

  The endoscope 10 includes a hard distal end portion 11 and a flexible tube portion 12 having flexibility, and is configured to be elongated. The apparatus main body 50 has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a display unit 52 is provided on a main surface 51 which is one of the surfaces having the largest area. The endoscope 10 is a so-called insertion portion that extends from, for example, the upper side surface of the apparatus main body 50 in the drawing.

A bending portion 13 is provided on the distal end side of the flexible tube portion 12 of the endoscope 10. The bending portion 13 is configured to bend in two directions, for example, up and down.
On the main surface 51 of the apparatus main body 50, in addition to the power switch 53, various switches indicated by reference numerals 54, 55, 56 and the like are provided. Reference numeral 54 is a bending operation switch, reference numeral 54u is an upper bending operation switch, and reference numeral 54d is a lower bending operation switch. The switch 55 is an image recording switch, for example, and the switch 56 is an image still switch, for example.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the distal end portion 11 is provided with a distal end surface 21 and a pair of observation slopes 22 and 23. The pair of observation slopes 22 and 23 are provided with the front end surface 21 interposed therebetween, and are inclined with respect to the front end surface 21.

  An observation window 31 is provided on each of the observation slopes 22 and 23, and an illumination window 14 is provided on the distal end surface 21. The surface of the illumination window 14 is provided so as not to protrude from the distal end surface 21 and is recessed in a predetermined dimension and proximal end. The illumination window 14 and the observation window 31 are optical lenses.

  The bending portion 13 includes a bending portion piece set (not shown) in which a distal bending piece, a plurality of vertical bending pieces, and a proximal bending piece are rotatably connected. The tip bending piece 13f shown in FIG. 3 is the most advanced piece constituting the bending portion piece set, and is integrally fixed to the peripheral step portion 20a of the hard tip rigid portion 20 constituting the tip portion 11.

  The bending portion 13 includes a mesh tube (not shown) that covers the bending portion piece set and a curved rubber (not shown) that further covers the mesh tube. The distal bending piece 13f is fixed with a distal end portion of an upper bending wire and a distal end portion of a lower bending wire (not shown) at predetermined positions. The upper bending wire and the lower bending wire are pulled and loosened in accordance with the operation of the bending operation switches 54u and 54d. The bending portion 13 may be configured to bend in four directions, up, down, left, and right.

The tip portion 11 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The distal end surface 21 is the most distal plane of the endoscope 10 and is a surface orthogonal to the insertion portion longitudinal axis 10a. For example, the light guide fiber bundle has a front surface facing the proximal end (not shown) of the illumination window 14 provided on the front surface 21 or a light emitting element, for example, an LED.

On the other hand, the observation inclined surfaces 22 and 23 are inclined surfaces inclined at an angle θ1 with respect to the distal end surface 21.
The distal end hard portion 20 is formed with a pair of imaging unit arrangement through holes 24. The central axis 24a of the imaging unit arrangement through hole 24 is inclined at an angle θ2 with respect to the insertion portion longitudinal axis 10a. The imaging unit 30 is fixedly installed in the imaging unit arrangement through hole 24. That is, the optical axis 30a of the imaging unit 30 fixed to the distal end hard portion 20 is configured to be inclined at an angle θ2 with respect to the insertion portion longitudinal axis 10a. The optical axes 30 a of the imaging units 30 fixed to the pair of imaging unit arrangement through holes 24 intersect with each other in the endoscope 10.

  The imaging unit 30 is mainly configured by including an objective optical unit 32 including an observation window 31, for example, a CCD 33 that is an imaging element, and an imaging circuit board 34.

  The objective optical unit 32 includes a lens frame 35, an observation window 31 disposed in the lens frame 35, a plurality of optical lenses 36, and a diaphragm (not shown). The observation window 31 is arranged on the observation inclined surfaces 22 and 23 without protruding from the distal end surface 21 in the insertion portion insertion direction.

  The CCD 33 is fixed to the element frame 39 via a glass lid 37 and a cover glass 38. For example, the element frame 39 is externally fitted on the lens frame 35, and after adjusting the focus, the element frame 39 is integrally bonded and fixed by soldering or the like.

The CCD 33 is mounted by, for example, die bonding, and is electrically connected to the imaging circuit board 34 via an Au wire. A plurality of electronic components such as resistors and capacitors (not shown) are mounted on the imaging circuit board 34. In addition, a plurality of contacts (not shown) are provided on the imaging circuit board 34, and a plurality of signal lines inserted into an imaging cable (not shown) are electrically connected to each contact.
The imaging cable is extended from the base end portion of the imaging unit 30 and led out into the apparatus main body 50.

  The observation range of the endoscope 10 described above is a range indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, for example, a viewing angle of 160 degrees. This observation range includes the first observation image range 30Ba of the first imaging unit 30B fixed to one observation slope 22 and the second observation of the second imaging unit 30C fixed to the other observation slope 23. And an image range 30Ca.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the display unit 52 is a combination of the first image 52 b that is the observation image of the first imaging unit 30 </ b> B and the second image 52 c that is the observation image of the second imaging unit 30 </ b> C. A composite image 52A forward in the direction is displayed.

  Reference numeral 52d denotes an overlapping portion, which is indicated by cross hatching. The overlapping part 52d is a part where a part of the first image 52b and a part of the second image 52c overlap. The first observation image range 30Ba of the first imaging unit 30B and the second observation image range 30Ca of the second imaging unit 30C intersect with each other on the insertion portion longitudinal axis 10a line ahead of the insertion portion in the insertion direction from the distal end surface 21. . In other words, a predetermined distance between a part of the first observation image range 30Ba of the first imaging unit 30B and a part of the second observation image range 30Ca of the second imaging unit 30C forward from the distal end surface 21 in the insertion portion insertion direction. The angle of view of the imaging unit 30 and the angle θ2 at which the optical axis 30a of the imaging unit 30 intersects the insertion portion longitudinal axis 10a are set in advance so as to intersect at a spaced position.

  The subject light incident from the observation window 31 of the first imaging unit 30B forms an image on the light receiving surface of the CCD 33 of the first imaging unit 30B, and the subject light incident from the observation window 31 of the second imaging unit 30C is second An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the CCD 33 of the imaging unit 30C.

  The subject light imaged on the CCD 33 of the first imaging unit 30B is photoelectrically converted into an electrical signal, transmitted to an image processing device (not shown) in the apparatus main body 50, and imaged on the CCD 33 of the second imaging unit 30C. The photoelectrically converted electrical signal is transmitted to the image processing apparatus in the apparatus main body 50.

  The electrical signal transmitted from the CCD 33 of the first imaging unit 30B and the electrical signal transmitted from the CCD 33 of the second imaging unit 30C are processed by the image processing device so that the composite image 52A is displayed on the display unit 52. It has become.

  According to the endoscope 10 configured as described above, when the endoscope 10 is pushed toward the deep part, the image of the CCD 33 and the second imaging unit 30C constituting the first imaging unit 30B are displayed on the display unit 52. A synthesized image 52A obtained by synthesizing the image of the CCD 33 constituting the image can be displayed and good observation can be performed.

  When the endoscope 10 is pushed toward the deep part, even if the distal end surface 21 collides with the observation target part, the observation window 31 of the first imaging unit 30B is one observation slope. 22, the observation window 31 of the second imaging unit 30C is provided on the other observation slope 23. For this reason, the trouble that the front end surface 21 collides with the observation target part and the observation window 31 is damaged and the trouble that the observation window 31 is damaged can be solved.

Note that the imaging unit constituting unit 40 may be used instead of the imaging unit 30 used in the endoscope 10.
Another configuration example of the endoscope 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, the imaging unit constituting unit 40 of the present embodiment is mainly configured by including a pair of imaging units 41 corresponding to the first imaging unit 30 </ b> B and the second imaging unit 30 </ b> C, and an imaging circuit board 42. ing. Each imaging unit 41 includes an objective optical unit 43, an imaging optical unit 44, and, for example, a CMOS 45 that is an imaging element.

  The objective optical unit 43 includes an objective lens frame 43a, one or a plurality of optical lenses 43b fixed to the objective lens frame 43a, and a diaphragm (not shown). In the present embodiment, the distal end surface of the objective lens frame 43a is disposed in contact with the proximal end surface of the observation window 46 to constitute an imaging optical system.

The imaging optical unit 44 includes an element frame 44a and a cover glass 44b fixed to the element frame 44a. The imaging surface of the CMOS 45 is integrally fixed to the base end surface of the cover glass 44b.
In the present embodiment, the element frame 44a is, for example, externally disposed on the objective lens frame 43a, and then is fixed integrally with an adhesive or solder after performing focus adjustment.

  The imaging circuit board 42 is a flexible board and is shaped as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. Specifically, the imaging circuit board 42 includes a first board part 42A and a pair of second board parts 42B1 and 42B2.

  The pair of second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 are extended from both side portions of the front end side end surface 42c of the first substrate portion 42A. The second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 are elongated and band-shaped deformable portions, and are configured to be able to be bent and torsionally deformed with a predetermined width dimension and a predetermined length dimension.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the first board portion 42A of the imaging circuit board 42 includes, for example, an electronic component mounting area on one surface side, and a plurality of electronic components 42d such as resistors and capacitors are mounted thereon. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6B, an imaging element mounting region is provided on, for example, the other surface side of the extended end portions of the second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 of the imaging circuit substrate 42, and the CMOS 45 is mounted. The second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 are provided with wiring (not shown) for connecting the CMOS 45 and the electronic component 42d.

The imaging surface 45a of the CMOS 45 is arranged in the same direction in the imaging element mounting area of the second substrate unit 42B1 and the imaging element mounting area of the second substrate unit 42B2.
Note that a plurality of contact portions (not shown) and a plurality of wirings (not shown) are provided on the front and back surfaces of the imaging circuit board 42.

 Moreover, the code | symbol 42E of FIG. 6A is a valley fold line. The valley fold line 42E is provided on the extended line of the long side facing the second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2. According to this configuration, both side portions of the first substrate portion 42A are bent along the valley fold line 42E as shown in FIG.

 By folding both side portions of the first substrate portion 42A along the valley fold line 42E, one surface of the second substrate portion 42B1 protruding from the end surface 42c of the first substrate portion 42A and the other second substrate portion 42B2. This is a positional relationship facing one surface. The pair of elongated second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 can be bent as shown in the drawing, and can be twisted although not shown.

As shown in FIG. 5, the objective optics of the image pickup unit 41 in which the CMOS 45 is mounted on one second substrate portion 42B1 in one predetermined position of the pair of image pickup unit arrangement through holes 24 provided in the distal end hard portion 20B. The part 4 is bonded and fixed, and the objective optical unit 4 of the imaging unit 41 in which the CMOS 45 is mounted on the other second substrate 8B2 is bonded and fixed to a predetermined position of the other imaging unit arrangement through-hole 24. An endoscope 10 similar to that described above is configured.
Other configurations are the same as those of the above-described embodiment, and the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

As described above, the imaging unit constituting unit 40 is provided with the second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 that are elongated and band-shaped deformable portions and can be bent and twisted. Therefore, the second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 are deformed regardless of whether the central axis of the imaging unit arrangement through-hole 24 is at an angle θ2 with respect to the insertion portion longitudinal axis, and the pair of imaging units 41 are respectively It can arrange | position in the through-hole 24 for image pick-up unit arrangement | positioning.
Other operations and effects are the same as those of the above-described embodiment. In the embodiment described above, the imaging circuit board 42 is a flexible board. However, the second substrate portions 42B1 and 42B2 may be flexible substrates.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a configuration in which, for example, illumination windows 15a and 15b are provided in addition to the observation window 31 on one observation slope 22 and the other observation slope 23 without providing the illumination window 14 on the tip surface 21. It may be.

According to this configuration, when the endoscope 10 is pushed toward the deep part, the observation window 31 and the illumination windows 15a and 15b are damaged when the distal end surface 21 collides with the observation target part. And the malfunction that the observation window 31 and illumination window 15a, 15b are damaged can be eliminated.
Although the illumination windows 15a and 15b are provided on the observation slopes 22 and 23 in addition to the observation window 31, the number of illumination windows provided on the observation slopes 22 and 23 may be one.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, in addition to the observation slopes 22 and 23, a pair of illumination window slopes 25 and 26 are provided with the front end face 21 interposed therebetween, and the illumination window slopes 25 and 26 are respectively illuminated. The window 16 may be arranged.

According to this configuration, when the distal end surface 21 collides with the observation target part, it is possible to eliminate the problem that the observation window 31 and the illumination window 16 are damaged and the problem that the observation window 31 and the illumination window 16 are damaged. .
In addition to the illumination window 16, an observation window 31 may be further provided on the illumination window inclined surfaces 25 and 26.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 10, an air / water supply nozzle 27 that ejects fluid for removing dirt and the like attached to the windows 14, 31 and the like at the center may be provided on the distal end surface 21. The air / water supply nozzle 27 is configured to protrude from the distal end surface 21 in a predetermined height in the insertion portion insertion direction.

  According to this structure, a favorable observation visual field can be ensured by spraying water, air, or the like from the ejection port 28 of the air / water feeding nozzle 27 onto the surfaces of the windows 14 and 31 to remove dirt. In addition, the lighting window 14 may be damaged due to the insertion portion insertion direction side of the air / water feeding nozzle 27 contacting the observation target portion before the tip surface 21 collides with the observation target portion. It is possible to reduce the problem of breakage.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope apparatus 10 ... Endoscope 10a ... Insertion part longitudinal axis 11 ... Tip part 12 ... Flexible tube part 13 ... Bending part 13f ... Tip bending piece 14, 15a, 15b, 16 ... Illumination window
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Hard tip part 20a ... Peripheral step part 21 ... Tip surface 22, 23 ... Oblique slope 24 ... Through-hole 24a for imaging unit arrangement | positioning ... Center axis 25, 26 ... Illuminated window inclined surface 27 ... Air supply / water supply nozzle 28 ... Jet port 30 ... Imaging unit 30B ... First imaging unit 30Ba ... First observation image range 30C ... Second imaging unit 30Ca ... Second observation image range 30a ... Optical axis 31 ... Observation window 32 ... Objective optical unit 33 ... CCD 34 ... Imaging circuit board 35 ... lens frame 36 ... optical lens 37 ... glass lid 38 ... cover glass 39 ... element frame 40 ... imaging unit constituting unit 41 ... imaging unit 42 ... imaging circuit board 42A ... first board part 42B1, 42B2 ... second Substrate part 43 ... Objective optical part
43a ... Objective lens frame 43b ... Optical lens 44 ... Imaging optical part 44a ... Element frame
44b ... Cover glass 45 ... CMOS 46 ... Observation window 50 ... Apparatus body 51 ... Main surface 52 ... Display part 52A ... Composite image 52b ... First image 52c ... Second image
52d ... Superimposition part 53 ... Power switch 54 ... Bending operation switch
54d ... Lower bending operation switch 54u ... Upper bending operation switch 55 ... Image recording switch 56 ... Image still switch

Claims (5)

In an endoscope that directly observes the insertion direction front of the endoscope insertion portion,
A distal end surface perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the insertion portion arranged at the forefront of the endoscope insertion portion;
At least a pair of observation slopes inclined with respect to the tip surface provided across the tip surface;
An imaging unit having an observation window arranged on each of the observation slopes, and having an optical axis inclined with respect to the insertion portion longitudinal axis;
An endoscope comprising:   The observation window provided in the first imaging unit and the observation window provided in the second imaging unit are arranged on the observation slope without protruding from the distal end surface in the insertion direction of the endoscope insertion portion. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope is characterized in that: The imaging unit includes an objective optical unit that is provided on an observation slope provided across the tip surface and constitutes an imaging optical system, and an imaging surface on which an optical image that has passed through the objective optical unit is formed. With elements,
The image pickup device is provided on each of the extended end portions of a pair of second substrate portions each formed of a flexible substrate that can be bent and twisted and deformed in a belt shape extending from the first substrate portion having an electronic component mounting region. 2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein   The part of the first observation image range of the first imaging unit provided on one observation slope and the part of the second observation image range of the second imaging unit provided on the other observation slope are the above-mentioned The endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the endoscope is superposed at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the distal end surface in the insertion direction of the endoscope insertion portion.  The endoscope according to claim 4, wherein a direct-viewing endoscope observation image obtained by combining the first observation image range and the second observation image range is displayed on a screen of a display device.

Images