JP4370145B2 - Capsule configured for medical use - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a capsule configured for medical use that acquires an ultrasonic tomographic image by rotating an ultrasonic transducer disposed in the capsule .

  Conventionally, an ultrasonic wave that transmits an ultrasonic signal for observation from outside or inside the body to a living tissue, receives an echo signal that is a reflection signal from the living tissue, constructs an ultrasonic tomographic image for diagnosis, and performs diagnosis A diagnostic device is used.

  In recent years, capsule endoscopes have been proposed in which capsules configured for medical use are sent into body cavities to collect information on lesions in the body cavities, or can be treated by administering a drug solution.

  Also in the field of ultrasonic observation, an ultrasonic diagnostic medical capsule is expected that can send a capsule to the small intestine where an ultrasonic probe or the like is difficult to reach and perform diagnosis or collection of a biological tissue, administration of a drug solution, and the like.

  For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-135832 discloses an ultrasonic diagnostic medical capsule (hereinafter abbreviated as an ultrasonic capsule). In this ultrasonic capsule, an ultrasonic vibrator is rotated by an ultrasonic motor disposed in the capsule, and an ultrasonic beam is emitted in a radial direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis direction (insertion direction). It is configured to obtain an image.

  In an ultrasonic capsule, an ultrasonic unit including an ultrasonic transducer, a control unit, a wireless transmission / reception unit, and the like are provided inside the capsule. Ultrasonic capsules such as water and liquid paraffin are disposed around the ultrasonic transducer. A sonic transmission medium is enclosed.

  The ultrasonic unit includes a vibrator fixing member on which an ultrasonic vibrator is disposed, a drive motor having a shaft portion that supports the vibrator fixing member, an encoder that detects rotation of the drive motor, and ultrasonic vibration. An echo signal received by the child is mainly composed of a slip ring that is transmitted via a brush (not shown).

The wireless transmission / reception unit is controlled by the control unit and transmits, for example, signals of the slip ring and the encoder to an ultrasonic observation apparatus (not shown) in a wireless manner.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-135832

  However, in the above-described ultrasonic capsule, a power source such as a drive motor, a control unit, and a wireless transmission / reception unit is used as a battery mounted in the capsule. Ultrasound capsules with this battery installed in the capsule rotate the ultrasound transducer during the body passage time (generally, it takes more than 8 hours for the capsule to be swallowed and discharged from the anus) There is a need to ensure that it continues.

  For this reason, a battery having a large capacity is mounted in the capsule. Generally, when the capacity of the battery is increased, the shape of the battery also increases. This causes a problem that the capsule is enlarged. If a small-sized battery is mounted on the capsule to prevent the capsule from becoming large, there is a risk that the battery will run out before reaching the small intestine, which is one of the observation target parts, due to insufficient capacity. .

  In order to eliminate the problems caused by these batteries, for example, a coil is provided in the capsule, and a power supply unit that generates power by electromagnetic induction by emitting electromagnetic waves from outside the body toward the capsule is provided to supply power to the drive motor and the like. An example of the configuration of the capsule endoscope configured as described above is also shown. However, this power generation by electromagnetic induction has a problem that it is difficult to obtain desired power due to attenuation of electromagnetic waves in a living body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a capsule configured for medical use in which ultrasonic observation can be continuously performed while passing through the body without disposing a battery in the capsule. I have to.

The capsule configured for medical use according to the present invention includes a capsule body, a mechanical rotation power unit that is provided on the capsule body and mechanically rotates to generate a driving force, and is provided on the capsule body. at least two shaft portions are rotated by more generated driving force to the rotational power unit is transmitted, provided in the capsule body, it generates energy by rotating in conjunction with one of the at least two shaft portions And a power storage unit that is provided in the capsule body and stores energy generated from the power generation unit.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the capsule comprised for the medical use which can continue ultrasonic observation while passing in a body, without arrange | positioning a battery in a capsule can be provided.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of an ultrasonic capsule, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a mechanical rotational power unit and an ultrasonic transducer. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a mechanical rotational power unit and an escapement speed adjusting mechanism unit.

  2A is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a mechanical rotary power unit and a configuration for transmitting power from the mechanical rotary power unit to the ultrasonic vibrator and the rotor. FIG. 2B is a mechanical rotary power unit. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the barrel wheel of a power part, a wheel train, and an escapement speed control mechanism part.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (a), an ultrasonic diagnostic capsule (hereinafter abbreviated as an ultrasonic capsule) 1 of this embodiment includes a capsule body 2, a body cover 3 having an end formed in a hemispherical shape, and vibration. A child cover 4 is provided. A so-called capsule 5 is formed by arranging the main body cover 3 and the vibrator cover 4 in a watertight and integrated manner on the capsule main body 2. The vibrator cover 4 is formed of a resin elastic body that transmits ultrasonic waves, such as high-density polyethylene and polymethylpentene having excellent ultrasonic transmission.

  Inside the capsule 5 is an ultrasonic unit 10 having an ultrasonic transducer 11 and the like, a power generation unit 6 that is power supply means, a control unit 7, a wireless transmission / reception unit 8 that performs wireless transmission to an ultrasonic observation device (not shown), An ultrasonic transducer 11 of the ultrasonic unit 10 and a mechanical rotational power unit (hereinafter abbreviated as a power unit 9) for rotating a rotor, which will be described later, constituting the power generation unit 6 are disposed. Reference numeral 60 denotes a power storage unit. The power storage unit 60 stores energy generated by the power generation unit 6.

  The ultrasonic unit 10 includes an ultrasonic transducer 11, a transducer fixing member 12 having a transducer shaft 13, an O-ring 14, a slip ring 15 that is a rotary signal transmission means, an encoder 16, and the like. The ultrasonic transducer 11 is integrally fixed to the fixing portion 17 of the transducer fixing member 12.

  The vibrator shaft 13 is pivotally supported by a shaft portion, which will be described later, by a ball bearing (not shown) provided in the slip ring 15 so as to be substantially concentric with the central axis in the longitudinal direction of the capsule 5. The O-ring 14 holds the vibrator shaft 13 and is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator shaft 13 and the inner peripheral surface of the unit arrangement hole 2a to ensure liquid tightness. An ultrasonic transmission medium 19 is injected into an internal space formed by the transducer cover 4, the capsule body 2, the unit arrangement hole 2 a, and the O-ring 14.

  An unillustrated input / output signal cable extends from the ultrasonic transducer 11. This input / output signal cable is electrically connected to a cable on the output side of the slip ring 15 via a ring portion (not shown) of the slip ring 15 and a metal brush (not shown) that is in electrical contact with the ring portion. .

  The power generation unit 6 includes a stator 62 formed, for example, in a tubular shape, around which a coil 61 is wound, and a permanent magnet 63 arranged in the inner hole of the stator 62 and configured to rotate in the vicinity of the coil 61. And a rotor 64 provided. The energy generated in the coil 61 of the power generation unit 6 is stored in the power storage unit 60 such as a power storage unit 65 such as a capacitor, an electric double layer capacitor, or a secondary battery, and supplied to the control unit 7. ing.

  The control unit 7 includes a rotation detection circuit (not shown) electrically connected to the encoder 16 that detects the rotation of the rotating ultrasonic transducer 11, and the ultrasonic transducer 11 via the slip ring 15. An ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit (not shown) for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal between them, a signal processing circuit (not shown) for processing a reception signal from the transmission / reception circuit, and an ultrasonic image signal processed by the signal processing circuit Is provided with a wireless transmission circuit (not shown) or the like that performs a predetermined process to transmit an ultrasonic image signal or the like from the wireless transmission / reception unit 8 to the ultrasonic observation apparatus.

As shown in FIGS. 2A to 3, the power unit 9 employs a mechanism of a movement of a mechanical timepiece.
As shown in the figure, the power unit 9 is mainly composed of a barrel complete 20, a train wheel 30, and an escapement speed control mechanism 40.

  The barrel 20 is mainly composed of a barrel 21 which is a cylindrical box, and a spring 22 made of metal and formed in a strip shape inside the barrel 21. A barrel gear 21 a having a predetermined pitch is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the barrel 21. Further, the mainspring 22 is disposed in a spiral shape inside the barrel 21. One end of the spring 22 is fixed to the shaft portion 21 b and the other end is fixed to the barrel 21. Therefore, the spring 22 is wound up and elastically deformed to store energy as a rotational driving force described later.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the mainspring 22 includes a winding shaft 23, and a gear train composed of a plurality of gears such as a bevel gear (not shown) and a winding force transmission gear 24a. 24 can be wound up.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the end of the winding shaft 23 is provided, for example, on the side of the capsule body 2. For example, a hole having a quadrangular cross-sectional shape is formed at the end of the winding shaft 23, and the tip of the mainspring winding jig 25 is disposed in the hole to be rotated, thereby rotating the winding shaft. 23 is rotated, and the mainspring 22 is wound up through the gear train 24.

  Further, the duration and torque of the spring 22 can be set to desired values by appropriately setting the length, width and thickness of the spring 22. Reference numeral 29 denotes an O-ring, which is in close contact with the winding shaft 23 and the capsule body 2 and maintains water tightness in the power unit 9.

The wheel train 30 is an aggregate of a plurality of gears, and is configured to transmit a restoring force when the mainspring 22 is unwound to return to the original state.
As shown in FIGS. 2A to 3, the train wheel 30 includes a plurality of gear portions such as a first gear portion 31, a second gear portion 32, and a third gear portion 33. Each gear part 31, 32, 33 is composed of small-diameter gears 31a, 32a, 33a formed with a predetermined number of teeth and large-diameter gears 31b, 32b, 33b, and these small-diameter gears 31a, 32a, 33a. The large-diameter gears 31b, 32b, and 33b are integrally provided on the shaft portions 31c, 32c, and 33c, respectively. In the present embodiment, the rotor 64 is disposed on the shaft portion 32 c provided on the second gear portion 32, and the shaft portion 33 c provided on the third gear portion 33 is interposed via the bearing 50. The vibrator shaft 13 is disposed.

  The rotational force of the barrel complete 20 is transmitted from the barrel complete gear 21a to the small diameter gear 31a of the first gear portion 31. Further, the rotational force of the first gear portion 31 is transmitted from the large diameter gear 31 b to the small diameter gear 32 a of the second gear portion 32. Further, the rotational force of the second gear portion 32 is transmitted from the large diameter gear 32 b to the small diameter gear 33 a of the third gear portion 33. In this manner, the restoring force for returning the mainspring 22 to the original state is transmitted through the gears 21a, 31a, 31b, 32a, 32b, and 33a while increasing the speed. The rotor 64 provided on the shaft portion 32c of the gear portion 32 and the vibrator shaft 13 provided on the shaft portion 33c of the third gear portion 33 are respectively rotated at a predetermined rotational speed.

  In the present embodiment, the rotor 64 is disposed on the shaft portion 32c, and the vibrator shaft 13 is disposed on the shaft portion 33c via the bearing 50. The shaft portion on which the vibrator shaft 13 is disposed is not limited to these. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which arrange | positions the vibrator | oscillator shaft 13 and the rotor 64 respectively before and behind across the gear part of the same axial part.

  The rotational force of the third gear portion 33 is transmitted from the large-diameter gear 33b to the escape gear small-diameter gear 41a provided integrally with the shaft portion 41c of the escape wheel 41 constituting the escapement adjusting mechanism portion 40. It is like that. For this reason, this escape wheel 41 is always in a rotating state unless rotation is suppressed. When the escape wheel 41 continues to rotate, the mainspring 22 in the wound state is returned to the original state, and the force stored in the mainspring 22 disappears.

  The escapement speed adjusting mechanism portion 40 controls the rotation of the shaft portion 33c regularly and adjusts so that the power of the wound spring 22 can be continuously transmitted to the wheel train 30. There are an escape wheel 41, an ankle 42 and a balance 43 formed in a substantially T shape. The balance 43 is mainly composed of a ring-shaped ceiling wheel 44 that is rotatably arranged and a hairspring 45 that applies a load so that the ceiling wheel 44 performs an amplitude motion.

  The ankle 42 is engaged with the teeth of the escape wheel 41 and the teeth of the escape wheel 41 are free so that the power of the mainspring 22 is continuously transmitted to the wheel train 30. It operates so as to switch periodically to a different state. As a result, the teeth of the escape wheel & pinion 41 are regularly advanced one by one, and the rotational operations of the shaft portion 32c, the shaft portion 33c, etc. are regularly controlled over a long period of time.

  The ankle 42 is operated by the restoring force of the mainspring 22 transmitted to the escape wheel 41 via the large-diameter gear 33 b and the small-diameter gear 41 a and the rotational direction of the top wheel 44 constituting the balance 43. Is reciprocally rotated by the action switched by the urging force of the hairspring 45, and is configured to periodically switch with respect to the teeth of the escape wheel 41.

  In this way, the train wheel 30 and the escapement speed control mechanism 40 are provided to prevent the escape wheel 41 from continuing to rotate and prevent the mainspring 22 from being unwound at a time, while keeping the gears 31, 32, 33 constant. , The force stored in the mainspring 22 is transmitted through the gear portions 31, 32, 33, and the shaft portions 32c, 33c are rotated at a predetermined rotational speed for a predetermined time. be able to.

  In the present embodiment, a configuration example in which a gear train is configured by three gear portions is shown. However, the gear train may be configured by providing less or more gear portions.

The operation of the ultrasonic capsule 1 configured as described above will be described.
First, before performing the inspection with the ultrasonic capsule 1, the mainspring 22 constituting the power unit 9 provided in the capsule 5 is wound up using the mainspring winding jig 25.

  Next, the subject is swallowed with the ultrasonic capsule 1 in a state where the mainspring 22 is rolled up together with water as an ultrasonic transmission medium. The ultrasonic capsule 1 swallowed by the subject passes through the esophagus and stomach by peristaltic movement.

  At this time, the ultrasonic transducer 11 and the rotor 64 are rotated at a predetermined rotational speed by the restoring force of the mainspring 22. As a result, the energy generated in the coil 61 of the power generation unit 6 is stored in the power storage unit 65.

  The energy stored in the power storage unit 65 is supplied to the control unit 7, and a transducer drive signal is output from the transmission / reception circuit of the control unit 7 to the ultrasonic transducer 11. This transducer drive signal is supplied to the ultrasonic transducer 11 via the slip ring 15 or the like. Then, an ultrasonic pulse is repeatedly transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 11 toward the biological tissue to perform radial scanning, and an echo signal reflected by the biological tissue is received by the ultrasonic transducer 11 so that the slip The signal is transmitted to the transmission / reception circuit via the ring 15 or the like. The received echo signal is transmitted from the transmission / reception circuit to the signal processing circuit, and is generated into an ultrasonic image signal by the signal processing circuit. This ultrasonic image signal is wirelessly transmitted to an ultrasonic observation apparatus (not shown) via the wireless transmission / reception unit 8.

  Thus, until the mainspring 22 returns to the original state, the ultrasonic transducer 11 and the rotor 64 are rotated, and an ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed on the screen of a display device (not shown) which is an external device. Is done.

  In this way, a power unit that utilizes the restoring force of the mainspring that rotates the ultrasonic vibrator is provided in the capsule, and the rotor that constitutes the power generation unit is rotated by the driving force of the power unit to supply power to the control unit and the like. By configuring the ultrasonic capsule to supply power, it is possible to realize long-term observation by rotating the ultrasonic transducer and supplying power to the control unit with the restoring force of the mainspring constituting the power unit. it can.

  When performing ultrasonic observation near the throat or esophagus with the ultrasonic capsule 1, after storing energy in the power storage unit 65 in advance, the mainspring 22 is wound up again, and ultrasonic waves are applied to the subject. Have capsule 1 swallowed.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The figure explaining the composition of an ultrasonic capsule The figure explaining the relationship between a mechanical rotary power part and an ultrasonic transducer Schematic diagram illustrating the schematic configuration of the mechanical rotary power unit and the escapement speed control mechanism

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Ultrasound capsule
6 ... Power generation section
7. Control unit
9 ... Mechanical rotational power unit 10 ... Ultrasonic unit 11 ... Ultrasonic vibrator
13 ... vibrator shaft 20 ... barrel wheel 22 ... mainspring 30 ... train wheel 32c, 33c ... shaft 40 ... escapement speed control mechanism 50 ... bearing 62 ... stator 64 ... rotor 65 ... charging unit agent patent attorney Susumu Ito

Claims (4)

A capsule body;
A mechanical rotational power unit provided in the capsule body and mechanically rotating to generate a driving force;
At least two shaft portions for rotation by the provided capsule body more generated driving force to the mechanical rotational power unit is transmitted,
A power generation unit that is provided in the capsule body and generates energy by rotating in conjunction with one of the at least two shafts;
A power storage unit that is provided in the capsule body and stores energy generated from the power generation unit;
A capsule configured for medical use. The medical use according to claim 1, further comprising a shaft that is provided integrally with the other of the at least two shaft portions and that is rotatable substantially concentrically with a central axis in the longitudinal direction of the capsule body. Configured capsule.   The capsule configured for medical use according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the power generation unit includes a stator configured by winding a coil, and a rotor including a permanent magnet rotatably disposed in the vicinity of the coil. . The mechanical rotational power unit is
A spring that is formed by being wound in a spiral shape that is a power source that rotationally drives at least one of the two shaft portions, and elastically deforms by winding up,
A wheel train that transmits a restoring force when unwinding the elastically deformed spring to the shaft portion, and rotates the shaft portion at a predetermined rotational speed;
An escapement adjusting mechanism for continuously operating the shaft portion at a constant speed by the restoring force of the mainspring transmitted through the wheel train;
The capsule configured for medical use according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by comprising:

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