JP2939955B2 - Endoscope air / water supply nozzle structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air supply / water supply nozzle structure of an endoscope, and more particularly, to an air supply / water supply port formed in a hard end portion of an endoscope. Of the endoscope that injects compressed air or liquid (cleaning liquid) supplied from the camera toward the objective lens exposed at the hard tip
The present invention relates to a water supply nozzle structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an endoscope is used to perform treatment using an electric scalpel employing a return cord, when the exposed metal portion of the hard distal end touches a patient, the affected portion of the scalpel is moved from the affected area by the electric scalpel to the touched portion. There is a danger that a current may flow to cause burns or the like in places other than the affected part, and therefore, it is required to cover the hard end portion with an insulating member.

[0003] Therefore, conventionally, the distal end hard portion of the endoscope has
The metal tip rigid portion main body is covered with an insulating member such as plastic.

[0004]

However, when the distal end hard portion of the endoscope is entirely covered with an insulating member such as plastic, the air supply / air supply port attached to the air supply / water supply port of the hard end portion is provided.
When the water supply nozzle is replaced, the insulating member has to be peeled off from the rigid body at the distal end, so that there is a drawback that it is troublesome and the repairability is remarkably deteriorated.

From such a viewpoint, it is conceivable that the air / water nozzle is made of an insulating member such as plastic. However, if the air / water nozzle is made of plastic, it is made of metal in order to guarantee its strength. Since the wall thickness must be twice or more as compared with the above, there is a case where it cannot be attached to the air supply / water supply port. In addition, since the air / water nozzle is fixed at the base end connected to the air / water inlet to the main body of the distal end with a set screw or the like, if the air / water nozzle is made of plastic, There is a risk that the base end will be damaged by the set screw.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a compact air / water nozzle structure of an endoscope which has insulating properties and can be prevented from being damaged by set screws. And

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention is mounted on an air supply / water supply port formed in a rigid distal end portion of an endoscope insertion portion, and is connected to the air supply / water supply port. In the air supply / water supply nozzle structure of the endoscope in which the supplied compressed air or liquid is ejected toward the objective lens exposed at the distal end hard portion, the injection port is formed. Along with being connected, a hole formed by an air / water inlet insertion portion inserted into the air / water inlet and an exposed portion exposed to the distal end hard portion, and communicating with the air / water inlet is provided. The formed metal nozzle body and the nozzle are formed of an insulating member and are attached to the nozzle body via the guide groove, and when the nozzle is attached to the nozzle body, the ejection port is formed in a gap between the nozzle body and the exposed portion. Nose provided only outside the hard tip portion forming Gas supply and water supply nozzle structure for an endoscope, wherein the Le cap, in that it consists of.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since the nozzle body connected to the air / water supply port is made of metal, damage by the set screw can be prevented. In addition, since the exposed portion of the nozzle body exposed from the tip end hard portion is covered with the nozzle cap of the insulating member, it is compact with insulation.

On the other hand, compressed air or liquid supplied from the air supply / water supply port passes through a hole formed in the nozzle main body, from a jet port formed in a gap between the nozzle cap and the nozzle main body, to a hard tip portion. It is ejected toward the objective lens exposed to.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the air / water nozzle structure of an endoscope according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall view of an endoscope 12 having an air / water nozzle 10 to which the air / water nozzle structure of the endoscope according to the present invention is applied. In the figure, the endoscope 12 has a hand operation unit 14, an insertion unit 16 is connected to the hand operation unit 14, and a bending portion 18 is formed at the tip of the insertion unit 16. The bending portion 18 is remotely bent by turning an operation knob 20 provided on the hand operation portion 14.

The distal end of the bending portion 18 has a rigid distal end portion 22.
As shown in FIG. 2, an objective lens 24, an illumination lens 26,
28, a forceps channel 30, and the air / water supply nozzle 10 are respectively provided at predetermined positions. As shown in FIG. 3, the distal end hard portion 22 is formed by coating a rubber tube 34 on the outer periphery of a metal distal end hard portion main body 32 formed in a ring shape. In addition, the tip rigid body 3
2 has a plastic cap 36
Is fixed, and the objective lens 24,
Illumination lenses 26, 28, forceps channel 30, and windows 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 of air supply / water supply port 38 are opened as shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air / water supply nozzle 10 comprises a metal nozzle body 50 and a plastic nozzle cap 52. The nozzle body 50
Is an air / water inlet insertion portion 54 formed in a pipe shape,
The air supply / water supply pipe 56 provided in the distal end hard portion 22 is fitted to the left end in the figure to be connected to the air supply / water supply port 38 and further screwed in from the outer peripheral surface of the distal end hard portion 22. It is fixed to the air / water pipe 56 by the set screw 58. A tube 60 for supplying compressed air or liquid to the air / water pipe 56 is fixed to the right end of the air / water pipe 56 in the drawing.

As shown in FIG. 4, a guide groove 62 is formed at the lower end of both ends of the nozzle cap 52 along the shape of the nozzle cap 52. The nozzle cap 52 is attached to the nozzle main body 50 by fitting the guide groove 62 into a convex guide portion 64 formed on the peripheral edge of the nozzle main body 50 and sliding in the direction of arrow A in FIG. The exposed portion of the nozzle body 50 exposed from the nozzle can be covered.

An injection port 66 is opened at the tip of the air / water supply nozzle 10 as shown in FIG. The injection port 66 is formed by a gap 72 between the tapered surface 68 of the nozzle body 50 and the inner tapered surface 70 of the nozzle cap 52, and the compression supplied to the gap 72 from the hollow portion 74 of the air / water inlet insertion portion 54. Air or liquid is applied to the objective lens 24 (see FIG. 3).
Can be sprayed toward.

The inclination angle of the inner tapered surface 70 of the nozzle cap 52 is formed to be larger than the inclination angle of the tapered surface 68 of the nozzle body 50. Therefore, the opening area of the injection port 66 can be appropriately changed by changing the slide mounting movement amount of the nozzle cap 52 with respect to the nozzle body 50. That is, the opening area of the injection port 66 gradually increases as the nozzle cap 2 is slid in the direction of removal (the direction of arrow B) from the nozzle body 50. After adjusting the opening area of the injection port 66, the nozzle cap 52 is fixed to the distal end hard portion 22 with an adhesive 76 shown in FIG.

According to the air / water supply nozzle 10 of the endoscope configured as described above, the nozzle body 50 connected to the air / water supply port 38 is formed of a metal harder than plastic. Even if the nozzle body 50 is fixed with the screw 58, the nozzle body 50 can be prevented from being damaged by the set screw 58. In addition, the nozzle body 5 exposed from the distal end hard portion 22
Since the exposed portion of the nozzle is covered with a plastic nozzle cap 52, the air supply / water supply nozzle is more compact than the conventional air supply / water supply nozzle made of plastic. become.

On the other hand, if the amount of sliding movement of the nozzle cap 52 with respect to the nozzle body 50 is changed,
Since the opening area can be increased or decreased, the amount of compressed air blown out or the amount of liquid ejected can be adjusted. In addition, when foreign matter such as body fluid is clogged in the gap between the injection ports 66 and it is necessary to wash or replace the nozzle cap 52, only the nozzle cap 52 is removed from the exposed portion of the nozzle body 50 via the guide groove 62, The cleaning of the nozzle cap 52, the exposed portion of the nozzle body 50, and the air / water inlet insertion portion 54 can be performed, and the nozzle cap 52 can be replaced.

[0018]

As described above, according to the air supply / water supply nozzle structure of the endoscope according to the present invention, since the nozzle body connected to the air supply / water supply port is formed of metal, it is damaged by set screws. Can be prevented, and because the exposed portion of the nozzle body exposed from the hard tip portion is covered with a nozzle cap of an insulating member, it becomes compact with insulation.
Further, the nozzle cap can be removed from the exposed portion of the nozzle body via the guide groove, so that the nozzle cap, the exposed portion of the nozzle body and the air / water inlet insertion portion can be easily cleaned, and the nozzle can be easily cleaned. Cap replacement is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an endoscope to which an air / water nozzle structure of an endoscope according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a hard tip portion.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an air / water nozzle structure of the endoscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the air / water nozzle structure of the endoscope according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Air supply / water supply nozzle 12 ... Endoscope 22 ... Tip hard part 24 ... Objective lens 38 ... Air supply / water supply port 50 ... Nozzle body 52 ... Nozzle cap 56 ... Air supply / water supply pipe 58 ... Set screw 66 ... Injection mouth

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A61B 1/00-1/32

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An air supply / water supply port formed at a distal end hard portion of an endoscope insertion portion, and compressed air or liquid supplied from the air supply / water supply port is exposed to the distal end hard portion. It was at the gas supply and water supply nozzle structure for an endoscope which ejection ports are formed for ejecting toward the objective lens, is connected to the gas supply and water supply port, the gas supply and water supply
In the air supply / water supply port insertion part inserted in the mouth and the hard part at the tip
A metal nozzle body formed with an exposed portion to be exposed and having a hole communicating with the air supply / water supply port; and a guide groove formed in the nozzle body through the guide groove formed of an insulating member. The tip which forms the injection port in a gap with the exposed part when attached to the nozzle body
And a nozzle cap provided only outside the hard end portion, and a gas supply / water supply nozzle structure for an endoscope.