JP3151302B2 - Electronic endoscope cable - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a cable of an electronic endoscope for connecting an electronic endoscope with peripheral devices such as a light source device and an external processor device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic endoscope (electronic scope) is inserted into a body to be observed, and an image captured by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) which is a solid-state image pickup device provided at the tip of the electronic endoscope is monitored. The electronic endoscope apparatus displayed above is well known, and the schematic configuration of the electronic endoscope apparatus is shown in FIG.

[0006] In FIG. 6, an electronic endoscope 1 is provided with a CCD 2 at the distal end of an insertion section, and an operation section 4 provided with an operation knob 3 and the like near the middle. This operation unit 4
Is connected to a light source device 7 via a main cable 5 and a connector 6, in which an optical fiber bundle (light guide) and a conductive wire bundle including a signal line and a power supply line are arranged. I have. A branch cable 8 of a bundle of conductive wires is provided by branching from the connector 6, and the branch cable 8 is connected to an external processor device 10 via a connector 9.

According to this electronic endoscope device, the light source device 7
The irradiation light is guided to the distal end of the electronic endoscope 1 through the optical fiber bundle in the main cable 5 from, for example, R (red), G (green), and B (blue) in a plane-sequential device. The inside of the object to be observed such as the inside of the body cavity is irradiated with the light. Then, the image of the inside of the observed body is captured by the CCD 2,
The image signal output from the CCD 2 is supplied to the external processor device 10 via signal lines provided in the main cable 5 and the branch cable 8. According to the external processor device 10, an image signal from the CCD 2 is subjected to amplification, gamma correction processing, and the like, and an image captured by the CCD 2 is displayed on a monitor (not shown) based on the processed signal. .

[0005]

However, in the conventional electronic endoscope device, when the branch cable 8 is connected to the external processor device 10, the connector 9 is not used.
When a female connector (for example, a male connector) is fitted to a predetermined position of a female connector on the side of the external processor device 10, the branch cable 8 is twisted, and there is a problem that it is difficult to connect the connector. In this case, it is conceivable to increase the length of the branch cable 8 to absorb the twist, but this is not only wasteful in cost but also disadvantageous in that the signal line becomes long. Further, in the connection portion between the branch cable 8 and the connectors 6 and 9, there is no means for finely adjusting the position in the circumferential direction at the time of assembly, and the cable 8 may be attached in a twisted state.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to facilitate the installation of a branch cable to a peripheral device and to finely adjust the circumferential position of the branch cable during assembly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable for an electronic endoscope.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a main cable provided in an electronic endoscope is connected to a peripheral device by a connector and branched from the connector. In a cable of an electronic endoscope in which a cable is connected to another peripheral device, a rotation direction is set to a connector insertion direction at a connection portion between the branch cable and the connector .
A rotation mechanism is provided to make this branch cable out of the main cable.
It is characterized in that it can be rotated at a predetermined angle in the circumferential direction . The above configuration can be applied to an electronic endoscope in which a rotation mechanism is also provided at a connection portion between the main cable and the connector so that the main cable can rotate by a predetermined angle.

[0008]

According to the above construction, the branch cable connected to the connector by the rotating mechanism is rotated by a predetermined angle in the outer circumferential direction of the main cable , so that the connector can be easily connected and the assembling operation can be easily performed. No twisting occurs in the cable.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a rotating mechanism in a cable of an electronic endoscope according to a first embodiment.
2 shows the overall configuration of the cable. First, in FIG. 2, a male connector 14 is connected to a female connector 13 formed on the light source device 12, and a main cable 15 of an electronic endoscope is connected to the male connector 14. This main cable 15
Has a length of about 1.5 m in the embodiment. An optical fiber bundle serving as a light guide and a conductive wire bundle serving as a signal line and a power supply line are provided therein.
6 is introduced into the light source device 12 as shown. A branch cable 18 is provided so as to branch from the male connector 14. The branch cable 18 has the conductive wire bundle disposed therein and has a length of about 20 to 30 cm. The branch cable 18 is connected to an external processor device 21 by connecting a rectangular male connector 19 to a female connector 20. The main cable 15 is provided with a rotation mechanism 23 at a connection portion with the connector 14, and the branch cable 18 is provided with a connector 1.
A rotation mechanism 24 is provided at a connection portion with the rotation mechanism 4.

In FIG. 1, a rotation mechanism 23 on the side of the main cable 15 passes a rotation restricting cylinder 27 made of metal (for example, aluminum) integrally mounted inside a jacket 26 and an optical fiber bundle and a conductive wire bundle. Metal (for example, brass) inner cylinders 28 and 29 are provided. The rotation restricting cylinder 27 is rotatable and slidable on the inner cylinder 29, and the outer cover 26 is rotatable and slidable on the inner cylinder 28. It is configured to be free. That is, as shown in FIG. 3 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line P-P in FIG. 1), a guide groove 30 is formed in the rotation restricting cylinder 27, while stopper pins 31 and 32 are provided in the inner cylinder 29. .
Therefore, in the embodiment, the rotation restricting cylinder 27 can rotate 90 degrees in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction on the inner cylinder 29, whereby the cable jacket (26) rotates without changing the internal member. Will be. The rotation angle can be set to 60 degrees or the like as shown in the figure by changing the positions of the stopper pins 31 and 32.

The branch cable 18 is attached to a holding portion 34 made of plastic, and a conductive wire bundle is branched from the main cable 15 in the branch cable 18. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line QQ in FIG. 1), the holding portion 34 is rotatable and slidable with respect to the inner cylinder 35, and the guide groove 36 is formed in the holding portion 34. On the other hand, the inner cylinder 35 is provided with a stopper pin 37.
Therefore, in the embodiment, as shown, the holding portion 34 can rotate on the inner cylinder 35 by about 100 degrees. The holding portion 34 has a through hole 38 in which the conductive wire bundle is disposed.
And an opening 39 is formed in the inner cylinder 35 so that the conductive wire bundle can move in accordance with the rotation of the holding portion 34.

According to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the main cable 15 is rotated in the range of 180 degrees near the rotation mechanism 23 by the rotation mechanism 23. Therefore, when observing with the electronic endoscope, the regulation of the cable rotation direction when inserting the electronic endoscope into the body to be observed (the regulation by connecting the connector) is relaxed, and the operability of the electronic endoscope itself is improved. I do. In the rotation mechanism 24 of the branch cable 18, the holding portion 34 slides on the inner cylinder 35, and can rotate in a range of 100 degrees by the guide groove 36 and the stopper pin 37.

FIG. 5 is a view of the male connector 14 of FIG. 2 as viewed from the front side. In this embodiment, the holding portion 34 rotates from the lower side to the left by about 100 degrees as shown. become. Therefore, the male connector 19 shown in FIG. 2 can be twisted and the range of movement can be expanded, and the branch cable 18 can be easily connected to the external processor device 21. In addition, the circumferential position of the branch cable 18 can be finely adjusted. At the time of assembly and connection, the male connector 19 on the external processor device 21 and the male connector 14 on the light source device 12 are attached to each other. The twist state can be eliminated.

In the above embodiment, the holding portion 34 is rotated about 100 degrees from the lower side to the left. However, the present invention is not limited to this. By changing the size of the guide groove 36 and the position of the stopper pin 37, It can be rotated left and right from below, and the amount of rotation can be 120 degrees, 180 degrees, or the like.

In the above embodiment, the main cable 15 is provided on the light source device 12 side. However, the main cable is provided on the external processor device 21 side, and the branch cable is connected to the light source device 12 side. The present invention can be applied to other configurations such as.

As described above, according to the present invention, a cable having a configuration in which a branch cable branched from a connector to which a main cable is connected is connected to another peripheral device. Insert connector into section
A rotation mechanism having a rotation direction as a rotation axis is provided so that the branch cable can be rotated by a predetermined angle in the outer circumferential direction of the main cable, so that the branch cable can be easily attached to a peripheral device. Moreover, even if the positional relationship between the external processor device and the light source device, for example, the vertical relationship changes, the device can be securely mounted. At the same time, it is possible to finely adjust the circumferential position of the cable during assembly.

Further, by providing a rotation mechanism also at the connection between the main cable and the connector, it is possible to provide a user-friendly electronic endoscope apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a rotation mechanism unit in a cable of an electronic endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an entire configuration of a cable of the electronic endoscope according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a rotation mechanism section of a main cable in FIG.
It is -P sectional drawing.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line QQ of FIG. 1 showing a configuration of a rotation mechanism of the branch cable.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the male connector of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a connection state between a conventional electronic endoscope and peripheral devices.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7, 12 ... light source device, 10, 21 ... external processor device, 14, 19 ... male connector, 15 ... main cable, 18 ... branch cable, 23, 24 ... rotation mechanism, 27 ... rotation control cylinder, 28, 29, 35 ... inner cylinder, 30, 36 ... guide groove, 31, 32, 37 ... stopper pin, 34 ... holding part.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cable for an electronic endoscope, wherein a main cable disposed in the electronic endoscope is connected to a peripheral device by a connector, and a cable branched from the connector is connected to another peripheral device. In which the direction of insertion of the connector into the connection portion between the branch cable and the connector is a rotation axis.
A rotation mechanism is provided to make this branch cable out of the main cable.
A cable for an electronic endoscope, which is rotatable by a predetermined angle in a circumferential direction . 2. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein a rotation mechanism is also provided at a connection portion between said main cable and said connector so that said main cable can rotate by a predetermined angle. Mirror cable.