JP5006706B2 - Endoscope bending device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope bending apparatus.

There are various types of bending devices for endoscopes, but a drive in which the proximal ends of a pair of operation wires whose distal ends are connected to the vicinity of the distal end of the bending portion is arranged in the operation portion so as to be freely rotatable by an external operation. A device in which a slack remover that is coupled to a pulley and absorbs slack generated in the operation wire when the operation wire is pushed out by the rotation of the drive pulley is disposed in the operation portion is widely used ( For example, Patent Document 1).
Shoko 51-43030

  FIG. 6 shows the operation of the bending apparatus for an endoscope described in Patent Document 1. The slack removers 92a and 92b respectively provided in the middle of the pair of operation wires 91a and 91b are provided in the operation unit 90. The slack generated in the operation wire 91b on the side pushed out by the rotation operation of the drive pulley 93 is simply absorbed.

  Therefore, the operation wire 91b on the slack side operates so that the portion closer to the tip than the slack remover 92b occupying 90% or more of the total length is pulled by the bending operation of the bending portion 101 provided on the tip side of the insertion portion 100. To do.

  As a result, in addition to the pulling force for bending the bending portion 101, the pulling-side operation wire 91 b acts on the pulling-side operation wire 91 b from the bending portion 101 side. When being pulled, a large tension is applied to the operation wire 91a on the pulling side, for example, by being rubbed against the corner of the wire guide 102 in the bending portion 101.

  Therefore, fraying or the like of the wire occurs on the operation wire 91a on the pulling side, and the operation wire 91a is caught on a member that contacts the operation wire 91a.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a bending device for an endoscope that can reduce the tension of an operation wire on a pulling side and prevent occurrence of defects such as fraying of a wire, malfunction due to the wire, and disconnection. And

  In order to achieve the above object, an endoscope bending apparatus according to the present invention includes a bending portion provided in the vicinity of the distal end of the insertion portion so as to be bent by remote operation, and an operation portion coupled to the proximal end of the insertion portion. A pair of operations in which the drive pulley is rotatably arranged by an external operation, and the distal end is connected to the vicinity of the distal end of the bending portion and the proximal end is connected to the driving pulley. Each of the pair of operation wires in the operation portion so as to absorb slack generated in the operation wire when one of the wire and the pair of operation wires is pushed out from the proximal end side to the distal end side by the rotational operation of the drive pulley. An endoscopic bending device including a slack remover that is inserted and connected to an intermediate portion of the middle part of the flexible slender connecting member having both ends connected to two slack removers in the operation unit Loose part The slack remover, which is bent back along the reversing guide member provided at the position on the distal end side from the remover and is inserted and connected to the operation wire pulled by the drive pulley, moves in the proximal direction, The slack remover is pulled by the connecting member so as to move in the distal direction.

  The connecting member may be a wire member or a leaf spring member. The reversing guide member may be formed of a rotatable pulley, and the reversing guide member may be biased in the distal direction by a spring. In addition, tension adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the connecting member may be provided.

  According to the present invention, when the slack remover inserted and connected to the operation wire pulled by the drive pulley moves in the proximal direction, the other slack remover is pulled by the connecting member and moves in the distal direction. By doing so, the operation wire on the slack side is sent out to the tip side, and the force for pulling the operation wire on the slack side is not applied to the operation wire on the tow side, so the tension on the operation wire on the tow side is reduced, It is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects such as fraying of the wire, malfunction due to it, and disconnection.

  A bending portion provided in the vicinity of the distal end of the insertion portion so as to be bent by remote operation, a drive pulley that is rotatably disposed on the operation portion connected to the proximal end of the insertion portion by an external operation, and from within the bending portion A pair of operation wires that are inserted through the insertion portion, the distal end is connected to the vicinity of the distal end of the bending portion, and the proximal end is connected to the drive pulley, and one of the pair of operation wires is proximal to the rotation side of the drive pulley An endoscope comprising a slack remover that is inserted and connected to a middle portion of each of the pair of operation wires in the operation portion so as to absorb the slack that occurs in the operation wire during the operation that is pushed out from the distal end to the distal end. In the mirror bending apparatus, in the operation portion, an intermediate portion of a flexible elongated connecting member whose both ends are connected to two relaxation removers is disposed along a reversing guide member provided at a position closer to the distal end than the relaxation remover. The slack remover that is inserted and connected to the operation wire pulled by the drive pulley moves in the proximal direction, and the other slack remover is pulled by the connecting member and moves in the distal direction. Like that.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of the endoscope, and the bending portion 2 formed at the distal end portion of the flexible insertion portion 1 is operated remotely from the operation portion 10 connected to the proximal end of the insertion portion 1. Bend by. A distal end body 3 in which an observation window or the like (not shown) is arranged is connected to the distal end of the bending portion 2. In all cases, in this case, the lower side in FIG. 2 is the front end side and the upper side is the base end side.

  In the operation unit 10, bending operation knobs 11UD and 11RL for performing an operation of bending the bending unit 2 are rotatably arranged. Among them, the up / down bending operation knob 11UD bends the bending portion 2 upward and downward (right and left in FIG. 2), and the left / right bending operation knob 11RL moves the bending portion 2 in the left / right direction ( 2 is bent in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface), and the bending portion 2 can be bent in an arbitrary direction by an arbitrary angle by appropriately rotating both the bending operation knobs 11UD and 11RL. .

  From the bending portion 2 to the insertion portion 1, a total of four operation wires for each of the up, down, left, and right directions pulled by rotating the bending operation knobs 11UD and 11RL are inserted through the entire length. The proximal end of the wire is drawn into the operation unit 10. FIG. 2 shows the upward operation wire 12U and the downward operation wire 12D.

  FIG. 1 shows a bending device. Although only a mechanism for bending in the vertical direction is shown in FIG. 1, a mechanism for bending in the horizontal direction is also configured in the same manner, and is arranged so as to overlap with the mechanism for bending in the vertical direction.

  In the bending portion 2 formed by connecting a plurality of known joint pieces and the like so as to be rotatable, wire guides 4 through which the operation wires 12U and 12D are inserted and guided are provided in the inner peripheral portion at appropriate intervals. The tips of the wires 12U and 12D are fixedly connected near the tip of the bending portion 2.

  A wire guide tube 5 for inserting and guiding the operation wires 12U and 12D individually is inserted and disposed in the insertion portion 1. The wire guide tube 5 is formed of a flexible member that is not compressed in the axial direction, such as a tightly wound coil pipe.

  The distal end of the wire guide tube 5 is fixed near the rear end of the bending portion 2. Further, the proximal end 5 a of the wire guide tube 5 is fixed in the operation unit 10, and the proximal ends of the operation wires 12 U and 12 D are drawn into the operation unit 10 from there.

  Reference numeral 15 denotes a drive pulley that is rotatably arranged in the operation unit 10 so as to be driven to rotate by the up / down bending operation knob 11UD, and the base end portions 12U ′ and 12D ′ of the operation wires 12U and 12D are wound around the drive pulley. Connected to the connected state. Note that the base end portions 12U ′ and 12D ′ of the operation wires 12U and 12D are partially fixed to the drive pulley 15, and by the rotation of the drive pulley 15, one is pulled by the drive pulley 15 and the other is the drive pulley 15 Move so that it is pushed out from.

  13U and 13D are known in the operation unit 10 so as to absorb slack generated in the operation wires 12U and 12D when one of the operation wires 12U and 12D is pushed out by the rotation of the drive pulley 15. It is a relaxation remover.

  The operation wires 12U and 12D are respectively in a state in which the base end portions 12U 'and 12D' connected to the drive pulley 15 are separated from the front side portions of the relaxation removers 13U and 13D with an axial distance therebetween. It has become.

  The stoppers 131U and 131D fixed to the distal ends of the wires on the base end portions 12U ′ and 12D ′ side are loosely moved in the slack remover main bodies 132U and 132D formed in a cylindrical shape, so that the operation wires 12U , 12D is absorbed. The relaxation remover main bodies 132U and 132D are connected to the proximal ends of the operation wires 12U and 12D on the front side.

  Note that the operation wires 12U and 12D may be wires having diameters larger than the base end portions 12U ′ and 12D ′ in order to improve durability. 14U and 14D are stoppers that regulate the pulling stroke of the operation wires 12U and 12D.

  Reference numeral 17 denotes a flexible elongated connecting member made of a wire-like member such as a stranded wire, and one end of the connecting member 17 is connected to the tip of one slack remover 13U and the other end is It is connected to the tip of the other slack remover 13D. The connecting member 17 may be formed of a leaf spring-like member.

  A reversing guide formed in a smooth U-shape convex toward the distal end at a position slightly on the distal end side from the two relaxation removers 13U and 13D and between the two operation wires 12U and 12D. The member 18 is arranged in a state of being fixed in the operation portion 10, and the intermediate portion of the connecting member 17 is bent back to the proximal side in a U shape with no slack along the surface of the reverse guide member 18. Has been.

  As a result, when the relaxation remover 13D inserted and connected to the operation wire 12D pulled by the drive pulley 15 moves in the proximal direction (upward in FIG. 1), the other relaxation remover 13U is pulled by the connecting member 17. As a result, the operation wire 12U on the slack side is pushed into the wire guide tube 5 within the operation portion 10.

  Therefore, since the force for pulling the slack-side operation wire 12U does not act on the pull-side operation wire 12D, the tension of the pull-side operation wire 12D is reduced compared to the conventional case, and the operation wires 12U, 12D It is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects such as fraying of the wire, malfunction due to it, and disconnection.

  Further, since most of the slackness of the slack side operation wire 12U is eliminated by the operation of the connecting member 17, the slack removal devices 13U and 13D can be miniaturized and the entire operation unit 10 can be configured compactly. Will improve.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said Example, For example, as FIG. 3 shows, you may form the inversion guide member 18 with a rotatable pulley. In this way, the frictional resistance generated with the operation of the connecting member 17 is reduced, and the tension of the pulling operation wire 12D can be further reduced.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the reversing guide member 18 may be urged in the distal direction by a compression coil spring 19 or the like. If comprised in this way, since the operation | movement which the tension | tensile_strength removal device 13U inserted and connected by the operation wire 12U of the slack side will not be pulled with the connection member 17 will not generate | occur | produce, operation | movement is always performed smoothly.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the reversing guide member 18 may be fixed to the operation unit 10 with a fixing screw 20 or the like at an arbitrary position moved substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the operation wires 12U and 12D. . By doing in this way, the tension | tensile_strength of the connection member 17 can be adjusted and operation | movement can be made smooth. In addition, it is good also as a tension | tensile_strength adjustment means similar so that the connection position of the connection member 17 with respect to the relaxation | elimination removers 13U and 13D can be adjusted.

It is front sectional drawing of the bending apparatus of the endoscope of 1st Example of this invention. It is a front view of the endoscope of the 1st example of the present invention. It is a partial block diagram of the bending apparatus of the endoscope of the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial block diagram of the bending apparatus of the endoscope of the third embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial block diagram of the bending apparatus of the endoscope of the 4th example of the present invention. It is front sectional drawing of the bending apparatus of the conventional endoscope.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insertion part 2 Bending part 10 Operation part 12U, 12D Operation wire 13U, 13D Relaxation remover 15 Drive pulley 17 Connecting member 18 Reverse guide member 19 Compression coil spring 20 Fixing screw (tension adjustment means)

Claims (6)

A bending portion provided near the distal end of the insertion portion so as to be bent by remote operation;
A drive pulley that is rotatably arranged by an external operation on an operation unit connected to a base end of the insertion unit;
Is inserted and arranged over the insertion portion from the curved portion, and a pair of operation wires whose tip proximal end being coupled near the distal end of the curved portion is connected to the drive pulley,
A wire guide tube provided so as to individually guide and guide each operation wire in the insertion portion, and a proximal end fixed to the operation portion;
When one of the pair of operation wires is pushed from the proximal end side to the distal end side by the rotation operation of the drive pulley, the pair of operation wires in the operation portion is absorbed so as to absorb slack generated in the operation wire. A slack remover inserted and connected to the middle part of each ,
Each of the operation wires is in a state where the proximal end portion connected to the drive pulley is separated from the distal end portion on the further side in the relaxation remover with an interval in the axial direction. The looseness generated in the operation wire is absorbed by the distal end of the proximal end portion floating in the relaxation remover, and the proximal end of the distal end portion is connected to the relaxation remover in a non-moving state,
Within the operating unit, back bent along the reverse guide member having both ends provided at an intermediate portion located on the distal end side than the relaxation remover of elongated connecting member having flexibility, which is coupled to the two relaxation remover Being
When the pulling side slack remover inserted and connected to the operation wire pulled by the drive pulley moves in the proximal direction, the other slack remover is pulled by the connecting member and moves in the distal direction. A bending device for an endoscope, wherein the distal end side portion of the operation wire connected to the relaxation remover is pushed into the wire guide tube from the other relaxation remover side .   The endoscope bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member is a wire-like member.   The endoscope bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member is a leaf spring-like member.   The bending apparatus for an endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reversing guide member is formed by a rotatable pulley.   The bending apparatus for an endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reversing guide member is biased in a distal direction by a spring.   The bending apparatus for an endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising tension adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the connecting member.

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