JP2565499Y2 - Endoscope connection cord - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connection cord for an endoscope, which is also called a universal cord or a flexible portion of a light guide.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, an endoscope is provided with an insertion portion inserted into a body cavity or the like and a connection cord connected to a light source device or the like in a main body operation portion. Among the components constituting these endoscopes, the condition that the connection cord must have is that the connection cord has flexibility, can reliably protect members such as a light guide inserted therein, and has a small diameter. Must be lightweight. For this purpose, the connection cord is provided with strength and shape retention as a structure by a spiral tube formed by spirally winding a metal strip such as stainless steel, and the spiral tube has a predetermined number of metal wires. And a flexible tube formed by covering the outer surface of the braid with a soft resin such as urethane resin or rubber by a molding means or the like. A member such as a light guide is inserted into the flexible tube, and a connector for connection to a light source device or the like is connected to a distal end portion thereof. Here, in order to make the connecting cord thinner, lighter and more flexible, the spiral tube is usually formed of a single layer wound in a certain direction.

[0003] With the above configuration, the entire connection cord has flexibility and shape retention. Also,
In order to prevent the hardness from suddenly changing at the connection part to the main body operation part and the connection part to the connector part in this connection cord, stress is concentrated on the part and breakage or deformation is prevented. , A so-called cover rubber made of an elastic member such as rubber.

[0004]

However, there is a possibility that a considerably large load may be partially applied to the connection cord. In the case of an optical endoscope, since the surgeon must always keep the eyepiece in the eyepiece state, the main body operation unit is held at a certain fixed position, that is, at the position of the surgeon's eye level. However, an excessive bending force sometimes acts on a continuous portion between the main body operation unit and the connection cord. However, in the case of an electronic endoscope, since the operation is performed with the main body operation unit being directed to a free position and direction, an extremely large bending force acts between the main body operation unit and the connection cord. Probability is high. As described above, although the continuous portion is reinforced by the cover rubber, the cover rubber cannot provide sufficient strength, and the root portion of the connection cord may be broken or deformed. Extremely high.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and problems of the prior art. The purpose of the present invention is to make the connection cord without increasing the diameter or weight. It is intended to ensure protection from breakage, deformation and the like.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve the above object, the communication side where Karasho of the present invention is to the manipulation section of the flexible tube
A metal helical tube for reinforcement that extends over a certain length is provided.
Metal helical tube has a base end fixed to the main body operation section.
It is characterized in that the tip side is a free end .

[0007]

By adopting such a structure, the strength and shape retention of the connecting portion of the flexible tube, which is most subjected to the bending force during operation, to the main body operating portion of the flexible tube are improved, and it is possible to break the cable. Can be protected from deformation or deformation. Also, the tip side of the metal spiral tube for reinforcement is
The end of the metal spiral tube for reinforcement
The hardness does not change significantly.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows the entire configuration of an endoscope. FIG. 1 shows a solid-state imaging device and a so-called electronic endoscope that displays a subject image on a monitor device based on signals from the solid-state imaging device as an observation system for observing the inside of a body cavity or the like. However, it goes without saying that an optical endoscope for observing a subject can be configured by providing an image guide and making eye contact with the eyepiece.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body operation unit,
Reference numeral 2 denotes an insertion portion to be inserted into a body cavity or the like, and reference numeral 3 denotes a connection cord. The insertion portion 2 is composed of a distal end hard portion 2a, an angle portion 2b, and a flexible portion 2c from the distal end side, and is mostly a flexible portion 2c, and the flexible portion 2c is freely bent in any direction. . The angle portion 2b can be curved in a desired direction and angle so that the distal end hard portion 2a can be directed in a desired direction. Further, an illumination window, an observation window, and the like are provided in the distal end hard portion 2a, an emission end of the light guide faces the illumination window, and an imaging optical system is provided in the observation window. A solid-state image sensor is arranged at an image forming position in the image forming optical system.

The signal cable connected to the light guide and the solid-state image sensor described above is inserted from the insertion section 2 through the main body operation section 1 into the connection cord 3. The connection cord 3 is branched into two near the distal end, and a light source connector 5 connected to the light source device 4 is provided at one distal end.
And an electrical connector 7 connected to a processor 6 for processing a video signal is provided at the tip of the other portion.

A light guide and a signal cable are inserted through the connection cord 3, and when operating the main body operation unit 1, the connection cord 3 follows the movement of the main body operation unit 1 and freely moves. It must have good shape retention, crush resistance, etc., and a soft structure. Further, when the main body operation part 1 is gripped, a part of the load of the connection cord 3 is applied to the hand for gripping the main body operation part 1, so that it is necessary to reduce the weight and the diameter. From the above, the flexible tube 8 which is the main body of the connection cord 3 has the configuration shown in FIG. That is, the innermost layer is provided with a spiral tube 10 formed by spirally winding a metal strip such as stainless steel at a predetermined pitch, and the spiral tube 10 has a predetermined length of a metal wire such as a stainless steel thread. The braided body 11 braided with the number and the predetermined number of hits is covered, and the braided body 1
1, a skin layer 12 made of a soft resin such as urethane resin or rubber or the like is laminated by molding means or the like. Therefore,
The strength of shape retention and crush resistance of the connection cord 3 is determined by the spiral tube 10.
The spiral tube 1 is secured by a braided body 11.
0 and the outer skin layer 12 are protected. The spiral tube 10 has a single layer from the viewpoint of weight reduction and diameter reduction.

By the way, during operation of the endoscope, the main body operation section 1 can be moved as appropriate, but at this time, a bending force is applied to a portion of the connection cord 3 connected to the main body operation section 1. become. Since the main body operation section 1 is made of a hard member and the connection cord 3 is made of a soft member, stress is concentrated on a portion where the connection cord 3 is connected to the main body operation section 1 and breakage or breakage occurs. Since there is a possibility of deformation or the like, the cover rubber 13 fixed to the connection portion of the main body operation unit 1 to the connection cord 3 surrounds the position near the end of the connection cord 3 and the cover rubber 13 The thickness of the portion of the connection cord 3 surrounded by the cover rubber 13 is continuously changed by continuously reducing the thickness toward the distal end. Thereby, the protection of the root portion of the connection cord 3 is achieved to some extent.

However, especially in the case of an electronic endoscope, it is not necessary to always hold the main body operating section 1 at the level of the surgeon's eyes unlike an optical endoscope. When the main body operation unit 1 is lowered while a part of the body rests on the bed for patient, for example, the connection cord 3 is extremely bent as shown by a virtual line in FIG. As a result, the connection cord 3 cannot be sufficiently protected only by the action of the cover rubber 13 described above, and the root portion thereof is deformed or, in extreme cases, broken. Therefore, in the present invention, a reinforcing spiral tube 14 is provided to further reinforce the root portion of the connection cord 3.

The reinforcing helical tube 14 is interposed between the helical tube 10 and the braided body 11, and extends from a portion of the base 15 for connecting the connection cord 3 to the main body operation unit 1, from the cover rubber 13.
Is extended forward by a predetermined length from the distal end portion of.
One end of the reinforcing spiral tube 14 is fixed to the base 15 together with the spiral tube 10 by means such as soldering.
By making the other end free, this part also has a structure that bends to some extent. Here, the reinforcing helical tube 1
4 is, as is apparent from FIG.
About half of that. As a result, the inner diameter of the connection cord 3 through which the light guide or the like is inserted is not changed, and the outer diameter is hardly swelled. Absent. Further, since the reinforcing helical tube 14 is provided only at the portion of the base of the connection cord 3 where reinforcement is required, the connection cord 3 hardly becomes heavy. Further, although the reinforcing helical tube 14 is thinned as described above, the strength is improved by widening the width of the helical tube 14 to about twice the helical tube 10. The winding direction of the reinforcing spiral tube 14 is
The direction is opposite to the winding direction of the spiral tube 10.

With the above configuration, the hardness of the connection cord 3 near the portion connected to the main body operating portion 1 increases from the portion where the reinforcing helical tube 14 is located, and the cover rubber 13 surrounds the portion. The rigidity at the bent portion is further improved, so that the strength against bending is remarkably improved. Even if a bending force acts on the portion connected to the main body operating portion 1 at a considerably large angle, the shape retaining property and the durability are sufficiently improved. It retains crushability and does not break or deform. Moreover, since the reinforcing helical tube 14 is provided only in a small portion in the vicinity of the portion connected to the main body operating portion 1, flexibility is not lost as a whole, and the weight and the outer diameter are almost the same. There is no operability. The reinforcing helical tube 14 is fixed to the base 15, but the distal end portion is in a free state, so that the portion provided with the reinforcing helical tube 14 does not lose its flexibility. Further, not only the above-described bending force but also a torsional force may be applied to the connection cord 3. When the spiral tube 10 is twisted, it expands and contracts, but the reinforcing spiral tube 14 is connected to the spiral tube 10. By winding in the opposite direction, expansion and contraction of the spiral tube 10 can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the reinforcing helical tube is provided on the side of the connection cord connected to the main body operation portion. However, the same reinforcing helical tube is provided on the light source connector and the electric connector side. Can also be provided. Also,
Although the reinforcing helical tube is configured to be interposed between the helical tube and the braided body, it may be provided inside the helical tube.
Further, the reinforcing helical tube does not have to extend to the front of the position where the cover rubber surrounds the flexible tube.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the connection cord is provided with a predetermined length from the side where the flexible tube is connected to the main body operation section.
Since a metal spiral tube for reinforcement is provided in the length part,
The strength of the end of this connection cord can be improved,
Breakage or deformation due to bending can be reliably prevented, the teeth
The metal helical tube for reinforcement is connected to the operation section of the main body.
Whether a certain base end is fixed and the front end is free
In addition, the part to which the metal helical tube for reinforcement is attached also maintains flexibility.
And the part where this reinforcing metal helical tube is provided.
Hardness does not change suddenly between
It works .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an endoscope.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, in which a connection cord connected to a main body operation unit is omitted, with a member inserted therein being omitted.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a spiral tube and a reinforcing spiral tube.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body operation part 3 Connection cord 5 Light source connector 7 Electric connector 8 Flexible tube 10 Spiral tube 11 Braided body 12 Outer layer 13 Cover rubber 14 Reinforcing spiral tube

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A flexible tube for covering a metal helical tube with a braided body, further laminating a skin layer on the braided body, and allowing a member such as a light guide to pass therethrough, one end of which is connected to the main body operation unit. The other end is connected to a connector for connection to a light source device or the like, and at least a connection side of the flexible tube to the main body operation unit, a connection cord of an endoscope equipped with a cover rubber, from the communication side where to the main body operation portion of the flexible tube
A metal helical tube for reinforcement extending over a predetermined length is provided.
The heavy metal helical tube has a proximal end connected to the main body operation section.
A connection cord for an endoscope, wherein the connection cord is fixed and a distal end side is a free end . 2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing metal spiral tube is formed thinner and wider than the metal spiral tube, and the winding direction is reversed. Connection cord. 3. The metal helical tube for reinforcement has a length from a side connected to the main body operation section to a position forward of a tip end of the cover rubber. Endoscope connection cord.