JPH02135313A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent optical fibers from damage due to bending by providing an endoscope with holding members positioning a light guide in the central part of the inside of an endoscope tube. CONSTITUTION:A rigid part 2 is provided in the leading edge of the endoscope 1, the edge of the rigid part 2 is connected to the leading edge of a bending part 3, i.e., flexibly connected ten and more connecting rings 13. In the bending part 3, the light guide 11 comprises by covering the plural number of optical fibers 8 with a soft casing 9, and is positioned in the central part of the inside of the tube in a scope transmitting part 7 by the light guide holding members 12. Consequently, even though the scope transmitting part 7 is bent, the light guide 11 is hold in almost the central part of the inside of the endoscope tube, and the light guide 11 is prevented from being moved to the inner peripheral part, where it is every probably broken when it is pressed by other tubes or bended. Thus, the optical fiber 8 is prevented from damage due to bending.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an endoscopic scope in which a light guide is disposed in a tube to guide illumination light from a light source to the distal end of the scope. The present invention relates to an improvement in the arrangement technology of the light guide.

(Prior Art) As is well known, there are two types of endoscopes: fiberscope type and electronic type.

The general structure of both is an endoscopic scope and a device main body. It is composed of a hand-held operation section that has various operation command functions for the guide section. A bendable curved portion is provided near the distal end of the endoscope, so that the distal end of the scope can be turned vertically and horizontally toward the observation site.

Furthermore, in any type of endoscope, a water supply tube communicating with the main body of the device is provided in the pipe of the scope guiding part.
An air supply tube, a forceps channel, etc. are disposed through the endoscope along its length. In electronic endoscopes, a signal line for transmitting image signals obtained by imaging at the distal end of the scope to the main body of the apparatus is disposed in the endoscope tube together with the tube and the like. ... In addition, in order to illuminate the observation site in the dark body cavity, a light guide made of multiple optical fibers covered with a soft jacket is placed inside the endoscope tube along with the above tubes, etc. ing. The optical fiber of this light guide is more rigid than the contents inside the tube and easily breaks, so it is recommended to apply a release agent to the surface of the optical fiber and store it inside a soft jacket. It is being

As is well known, the diameter of the scope guiding part containing such contents is reduced in order to alleviate the pain of the subject. Since it is necessary to prevent damage to the tube, the contents are arranged within the tube with the necessary voids.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, if the tube contains the necessary voids and the contents are arranged so as to be randomly movable within the tube, the scope guide part, especially the curved part, When the light guide is bent at a large angle, the light guide may be pressed by other air or water supply tubes, etc., or may be moved to the inner side of the curved part, where the degree of bending is greater due to this pressure. When this kind of pressure and movement toward the inner part occurs, the angle at which some of the optical fiber strands among the several optical fiber strands in the soft jacket curve becomes much larger than the others. There was a risk that this optical fiber wire would be damaged, such as being broken.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that can prevent W (W) of an optical fiber strand due to curvature.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, in the present invention, the illumination light from the light source is The present invention provides an endoscopic scope that guides the light guide to the distal end of the scope, which is provided with a holding member for arranging the light guide in the center of the scope conduit.

(Function) According to the configuration that takes such measures, the following effects are achieved. That is, due to the holding member, at least within the scope conduit in which this holding member is provided,
No matter how curved the scope guiding section is, the light guide remains approximately centered within the endoscopic scope channel.
This prevents the light guide from receiving pressure or other interference from other tubes, etc., and from moving the light guide to the inner periphery, where the bending angle is more likely to break than the outer periphery when curved. Damage to the optical fiber can be prevented.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the endoscope according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of an electronic endoscope to which the endoscope according to the present invention is applied.

In this figure, the tip of an endoscope 1 is provided with a rigid part 2 to which an image blocking lens, an objective lens, etc. are attached, and the base end of this rigid part 2 has more than ten nodal rings, which will be described later. The tips of the curved portion 3, which is formed by connecting the curved portions so as to be curved, are connected. The proximal end of this curved portion 3 is connected to the tip of a flexible portion 4 made of a flexible tube, and the proximal end of this flexible portion 4 is further connected to an operating portion 5 . and the rigid portion 2° curved portion 3. The scope guiding part 7 made of the flexible part 4 is
It can be inserted into the body cavity of a subject.

In the curved portion 3, as shown in the first cross-sectional view,
A light guide 11 made of a large number of optical fiber strands 8 covered with a soft jacket 9 is disposed in the center of the scope guide section 7 conduit by a light guide holding member 12.

This light guide holding member 12 is provided inside a plurality of node rings 13 as shown in FIG.
2a and a transition portion 12b disposed between the node ring 13. Here, the node ring 13 is connected to the inside of the scope guiding part 7 so as to be able to be bent sequentially by a caulking pin 13a, and a guide part 16 (not shown in FIG. 3) for guiding the angle wire 14 is provided inside the joint ring 13. By pulling this angle wire 14 by manipulating the operating section 5, the interval between the joint rings 13 is shortened in a desired direction, up, down, left, and right, and the curved section 3 is curved. Note that the light guide holding member 12 is not limited to being attached to the node ring 13 and provided only in the curved portion 3 in this manner, but may be provided in the scope guiding portion 7 other than the curved portion 3.

Two spaces 1 are formed between such a node ring 13 and the light guide holding member 12, and are represented by approximately semicircles in FIG.
7a and 17b, necessary tubes and wires are disposed so as to pass through from the scope guide section 7 to the working section 5. That is, the space 17a is provided with a large number of signal lines 18 for transmitting image signals from the image sensor to the main body of the apparatus, and the space 17b is provided with a forceps channel 21 for performing a biopsy, etc., and a rigid section. An air supply tube 22 that conducts air and water to be sent toward the objective lens provided on the two end faces. A water supply tube 20 and the like are provided. In addition,
The arrangement of the containers and wires in each space 17a and 17b is not limited to the above-mentioned distribution, but can be appropriately distributed according to the diameter of the containers and wires.

In addition, instead of holding the light guide 11 almost at the center of the scope guiding part 7 as in the above embodiments, the fourth As shown in the figure, it may be arranged somewhat closer to the peripheral side than the center. In other words, in this light guide holding member 26, the transition portion 2 that holds the cylindrical portion 26a is
The guide 16 is arranged so that only the guide 16 exists in one of the spaces formed by the guide 6b.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the light guide holding member 12 or the light guide holding member 26 moves the light guide 11 to the center of the tube in the curved part 3 of the scope guide part 7 which is frequently curved and has a large curve angle. At least in this curved part 3, there is no interference from other tubes, etc., and when it is bent, it is prevented from being pushed toward the inner part by other tubes etc. and being damaged. In addition, since the optical fiber 8 is not bent at a larger angle than other tubes/wires, damage to the optical fiber 8 is greatly reduced compared to damage in conventional light guides, and the light guide 1! The lifespan of can be extended.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, by providing an endoscope with a holding member for arranging a light guide in the center of the endoscopic scope conduit, at least a scope provided with this holding member is provided. Inside the pipeline,
If the light guide is subject to interference such as pressure from other tips, etc., or is bent, the light guide may be moved to the inner part of the curved part where the bending angle is more likely to break than the part closer to the outer periphery. Therefore, damage to the optical fiber due to bending can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a curved part showing an embodiment of an endoscope according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic appearance of an embodiment of an endoscope to which the present invention is applicable. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of a node ring provided with a light guide holding member, and FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a curved portion showing an embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and another embodiment. . 3...Curved part 7...Scope guiding part 8
... Optical fiber wire 11 ... Light guide 12a
...Cylindrical part 12b...Transfer part 12...Light guide holding member 13...Node ring fee I presentation person 1: 13 2l' EI+: male 1 Figure 2 section 13 12b Transfer section Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an endoscope that guides illumination light from a light source to the distal end of the scope by a light guide made of a plurality of optical fibers bundled together, the light guide is disposed in the center of the scope conduit. An endoscope characterized by comprising a member.