JPH0438803Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an endoscope observation window cleaning device for cleaning an observation window provided at the distal end of an insertion portion of an endoscope.

[Prior Art] Body fluids and other contaminants adhere to the observation window and illumination window of an endoscope, and this contaminant must be cleaned and removed. For this purpose, a cleaning device is provided. This cleaning device uses cleaning liquid,
A cleaning fluid consisting of pressurized air is used to remove the cleaning solution remaining on the surface of the observation window after cleaning, and the insertion section has a liquid feeding passage for supplying the cleaning solution and supplying pressurized air. An air supply passage is provided for the purpose. One end of these liquid supply passages and air supply passages may be connected separately to a nozzle that opens toward the observation window at the rigid tip of the insertion section, or they may be joined near the tip of the insertion section and the rigid tip may be connected to a nozzle that opens toward the observation window. In some cases, a single nozzle is provided in each section, and the combined channels are connected to the nozzle, thereby making it possible to selectively supply cleaning liquid or pressurized air.

The other ends of these liquid feeding passages and air feeding passages extend to an operating section for operating the endoscope at hand, and are connected to a flow path switching valve provided in the operating section. There is. This valve is connected to an air supply pipe connected to an air pressure source and a liquid supply pipe connected to a liquid supply tank. In order to simplify the configuration of this cleaning device and make it easier to operate, a single valve is used, and this valve is operated by the fingers of the hand holding the operating section of the endoscope, thereby allowing the device to be fed. It is possible to switch between three states: a liquid state, an air supply state, and a liquid supply/air supply stop state.

When the observation window etc. is soiled with body fluids, etc., the valve can be set to the liquid supply state to spray cleaning liquid toward the observation window to clean it, and then switch to the air supply state. , cleaning residual liquid adhering to the observation window can be removed.

However, even if air is supplied, it is not always possible to efficiently remove the residual cleaning liquid adhering to the observation window. Therefore, in order to efficiently remove this residual cleaning liquid, a structure has been known in which a suction mechanism is provided, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the observation window, and the residual cleaning liquid is suctioned and removed after the cleaning is completed. ing.

Providing an endoscope with a dedicated mechanism for suctioning residual cleaning fluid not only complicates the overall structure of the endoscope, but also requires independent operation to operate the residual cleaning fluid suction mechanism after supplying cleaning fluid. This operation becomes extremely troublesome.
Considering this point, the endoscope has a cleaning mechanism as well as
Since a suction mechanism is provided for suctioning and removing dirt such as body fluids, a structure in which this suction mechanism is also used for suctioning residual cleaning liquid is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1044/1983. It has been proposed in In other words, this known mechanism uses the suction valve provided in the operating section together with the air/liquid supply valve to perform the original suction operation of suctioning body fluids, etc., and the operation of supplying the cleaning liquid and sucking out the residual cleaning liquid after the cleaning liquid is supplied. It is configured to have two operating modes.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, if the suction mechanism for suctioning and removing body fluids etc. is used in common with the one that performs the operations for supplying cleaning liquid and suctioning the residual cleaning liquid after supply, the suction valve becomes inactive. The suction valve must be able to switch between four states: a body fluid suction state, a washing liquid supply state, and a residual washing liquid suction state, which makes the structure of the suction valve extremely complicated and makes it difficult to operate. It ends up. Here, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-1044, the suction state of the residual cleaning liquid is not set at an independent position in the suction valve, but in the middle of the stroke to displace the valve from the cleaning liquid supply state to the non-operating state. Although it is designed to be able to perform instantaneous suction operation, there are still three switching positions, and the residual cleaning liquid suction efficiency is affected by the displacement speed of the valve, so stable suction may not be possible. Furthermore, cleaning liquid can be supplied and sucked by operating the suction valve, but in order to more completely clean the observation window, pressurized air must be supplied by operating the air/liquid supply valve again. Therefore, after supplying the cleaning liquid, suctioning the remaining cleaning liquid and then supplying pressurized air cannot be performed consistently using a single valve.

The present invention was developed in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and its purpose is to have a simple structure and operation, and to eliminate the liquid remaining after cleaning around the observation window. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope cleaning device that can reliably remove waste.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a method for selectively supplying cleaning liquid and pressurized air to the distal end of the insertion section of the endoscope toward the observation window. In addition, an air/liquid feeding valve is provided in the operating section to switch between three states: liquid feeding state, air feeding state, and liquid/air feeding stop state, and the valve casing of this valve has a valve body that A negative pressure generating chamber is formed by a predetermined volume when the liquid state is displaced in the direction of cutting off liquid feeding, and a suction passage for sucking the residual liquid after liquid feeding is connected to the negative pressure generating chamber. , and is characterized in that a check valve that allows fluid to flow only in the suction direction is interposed in the middle of the suction passage.

[Function] With this configuration, by setting the valve to the liquid feeding state and supplying cleaning liquid to the observation window, after washing away body fluids and other contaminants adhering to the observation window, When the valve body is displaced to stop liquid feeding, the negative pressure generation chamber expands,
The internal pressure becomes negative and residual dirt adhering to the observation window can be removed by suction.

Normally, in order to clean the observation window by operating the air/liquid supply valve, the liquid is first turned on to flush out the dirt, and then the air supply valve is turned on to supply pressurized air. By carrying out the operation mode, three operations can be performed in succession: cleaning the observation window by sending liquid, suctioning the residual cleaning liquid, and removing the residual liquid from the observation window by supplying pressurized air.

Moreover, when switching between the liquid supply/air supply stop state and the air supply state, the air/liquid supply valve
Although the valve body is not moved, when switching from liquid supply/air supply stop state or air supply state to liquid supply state, or from liquid supply state to liquid supply/air supply stop state or air supply state,
Since the valve body slides inside the valve casing,
There is always a space whose volume changes. In the present invention, by using this variable volume chamber as a suction mechanism, it is only necessary to add the configuration of simply connecting a suction passage to this variable volume chamber, and the configuration of the suction mechanism for residual cleaning liquid is significantly simplified. Moreover, the amount of change in volume can be reliably sucked, and its operation is stable.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope has an operating section 1 that is held and operated by a person who operates the endoscope. The insertion section 2 is connected thereto, and the universal cord connected to the light source device is also connected thereto. As is well known, a light guide guided from the light source device to the distal end of the insertion tube via the universal cord and the operating section 1 is placed facing an illumination window (not shown), and Illumination light from the light source section is directed to the observation target section through an illumination window provided in the rigid distal end section 2a of the insertion section 2 via this light guide. The image of this observation target part is formed on the eyepiece part provided in the operation part 1 via an image guide from the observation window 3 provided on the rigid tip part 2a, similar to the above-mentioned illumination window, or CCD installed in hard part 2a
The image is converted into an electrical signal by a solid-state image sensing device, and transmitted to an image processing device.

Therefore, in order to smoothly observe the inside of the body, it is necessary to keep the aforementioned observation window 3 etc. clean at all times, and if contaminants such as body fluids etc. adhere to the observation window 3, the observation field of view will be impaired. This causes the inconvenience that the condition deteriorates, causing problems in examinations, diagnosis, etc. For this purpose, a nozzle 4 for jetting cleaning fluid is provided to supply cleaning fluid toward the observation window 3 provided in the hard end portion 2a of the insertion portion 2. The cleaning liquid is ejected from this nozzle 4, and pressurized air can be ejected to blow away and remove droplets adhering to the observation window 3, and the remaining cleaning liquid can also be suctioned. It's summery.

In order to supply the cleaning liquid and pressurized air to the nozzle 4 described above, the insertion section 2 is equipped with a liquid supply passage 10 and an air supply passage 11. 2 are merged at a position near the tip thereof to form a single fluid passage 12, and this fluid passage 12 communicates with the nozzle 4. Further, the other ends of the liquid feeding passage 10 and the air feeding passage 11 extend to the operating section 1 and are connected to a valve 20 provided in the operating section 1. Furthermore, this valve 20 is connected to an air supply pipe 14 from the air pump 13.
and a liquid supply pipe 16 connected to the liquid supply tank 15. Furthermore, the pressure of the air pump 13 is used in this liquid supply tank 15 to pressurize the liquid level and forcefully feed the liquid toward the liquid sending pipe 16. For this purpose, the air supply pipe 14
A tank pressurizing pipe 17 is connected in the middle of the tank pressurizing pipe 17, and the tip of this tank pressurizing pipe 17 faces above the liquid level of the liquid supply tank 15.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the overall structure of the valve 20.
As is clear from the figure, the valve 20 has a valve casing 21, and an air outlet 22 to which the air supply passage 11 is connected and an air supply pipe 14 are connected to the side surface of the valve casing 21. air inlet 2
3. A cleaning liquid inlet 24 is formed to which the liquid supply pipe 16 connected to the liquid supply tank 15 is connected, and a cleaning liquid outlet 25 to which the liquid supply passage 10 is connected is formed at the lower end of the valve casing 21. It is formed.

Inside the valve casing 21, an air inlet 23 is connected to and separated from an air outlet 22, and an air inlet 23 is connected to and separated from the air outlet 22.
A valve body 26 is slidably mounted for switching between the state in which the cleaning liquid inlet 24 and the cleaning liquid outlet 25 are opened to the atmosphere, and for connecting and separating the cleaning liquid inlet 24 and the cleaning liquid outlet 25. 26 is connected with an operation button 27 for pressing and operating it with fingers.
The valve body 26 has three land portions 26a, 26b, 26.
c, and each of these lands and the valve casing 21
The inner surface of the valve chamber 2 in the valve casing 21
8 is divided into three fluid chambers. That is,
An annular pressurized air chamber 28a is formed between the land portion 26a and the land portion 26b, and an annular liquid chamber 28a is formed between the land portion 26b and the land portion 26c.
8b is formed. Furthermore, the land portion 26c
A fluid chamber is also formed between the valve body 26 and the bottom surface of the valve casing 21, and this fluid chamber is a variable volume liquid chamber 28c whose volume expands and contracts according to the displacement of the valve body 26.
The variable volume liquid chamber 28c constitutes a negative pressure generating chamber that enters a negative pressure state when the volume is expanded.

Here, the air inlet 23 is connected to the pressurized air chamber 2 at all times.
8a, and the cleaning liquid outlet 25 is always in communication with a variable volume liquid chamber 28c. On the other hand, the air outlet 22 is configured to be switched between communicating with the pressurized air chamber 28a and being blocked from it by the land portion 26c by the movement of the valve body 26. is the liquid chamber 28
b, and a state where it is blocked by the land portion 26c. Further, within the valve body 26, a pressurized air chamber 28 is provided.
An atmosphere communication path 30 is provided for communicating with the atmosphere through an atmosphere opening 29 formed in the operation button 27, and a cleaning liquid flow path 31 is provided for communicating between the liquid chambers 28b and 28c. ing.

A spring 32 is compressed between the operation button 27 connected to the valve body 26 and the upper end 21a of the valve casing 21, and the spring 32 causes the valve body 26 to The state shown in the figure is maintained, and in this state, the air outlet 22
opens into the pressurized air chamber 28a, and the cleaning liquid inlet 24 is blocked from the liquid chamber 28b.As a result, the air inlet 22 communicates with the air outlet 22, but also communicates with the atmosphere via the atmosphere communication passage 30. Therefore, the pressurized air supplied from the air pump 13 is released to the atmosphere, and the liquid feeding passage 10 and the liquid feeding piping 16 are also cut off, resulting in a neutral state, that is, a state in which liquid feeding and air feeding are stopped.

Then, when the atmosphere opening 29 formed in the operation button 27 is closed with a finger, the pressurized air from the air pump 13 flows from the air supply pipe 14 through the air inlet 23 into the pressurized air chamber 28a, and the air outlet 22
Then, an air supply state is entered in which pressurized air is supplied to the nozzle 4 via the liquid supply passage 10 and the fluid passage 12.

Further, when the operation button 27 is pushed against the spring 32, the air outlet 2 opens as shown in FIG.
2 and the pressurized air chamber 28a, the cleaning liquid inlet 24 opens into the liquid chamber 28b, and communicates with the cleaning liquid outlet 25 via the cleaning liquid flow path 31. At this time, pressurized air from the air pump 13 is supplied from the air supply pipe 14 to the liquid supply tank 15 via the tank pressure pipe 17. As a result, the liquid supply tank 15 is pressurized, and the cleaning liquid is sequentially passed from the liquid supply pipe 16 through the cleaning liquid inlet 24, the liquid chamber 28b, the cleaning liquid flow path 31, the variable volume liquid chamber 28c, and the cleaning liquid outlet 25. The liquid is sent out to the liquid feeding passage 10 and is supplied to the nozzle 4 from the fluid supply pipe 12. Here, when moving the valve body 26 and displacing it from the liquid feeding state to the above-mentioned air feeding state or liquid feeding/air feeding stopped state,
The displacement of the switching valve body 26 is completed at the initial stage of the stroke, and even after this switching is completed, the valve body 26 moves by a predetermined stroke, and during this period, the variable volume liquid chamber 28c expands, and the variable volume liquid chamber 28c It is becoming more and more of a burden.

Next, after cleaning the observation window 3 by spouting the cleaning liquid from the nozzle 4, the cleaning liquid remaining on the surface of the observation window 3 and its surroundings is blown off using pressurized air. A suction port 33 is opened toward the observation window 3 in order to remove it by suction. As is clear from FIG.
a, one end of a suction passage 34 is connected to the suction port 33, and the other end of the suction passage 34 is connected to a liquid supply chamber 28c at a position midway in the insertion section 2. It is adapted to merge into the passageway 10. Here, if a recess is not formed around the observation window 3, the suction port 33 may be opened at a position close to the observation window 3.

A check valve 3 is provided on the downstream side of the suction passage 34 and the confluence position with the suction passage 34 of the liquid sending passage 10.
5 and 36 are provided. The check valve 35 provided in the suction passage 34 allows liquid to flow in from the suction port 33 side, but prevents liquid from flowing back toward the suction port 33 side. Further, the check valve 36 provided in the liquid feeding passage 10 allows the liquid to flow toward the nozzle 4, but is configured to prevent backflow from the nozzle 4 side.

The specific structure of the check valves 35 and 36 is as shown in FIG. 5, for example.
That is, the valve chamber 41 to which the flow passages 40a and 40b are connected at both ends is divided into two chambers 41a and 41b by a partition wall 42, and the partition wall 42 has a groove for communicating the two chambers 41a and 41b. A through hole 43 is opened. In addition, the partition wall 42 has this through hole 4.
A valve member 44 for opening and closing 3 is attached. This valve member 44 has an attachment part 44a to the partition wall 42 and a valve part 44b made of an umbrella-like flexible member that opens and closes the through hole 43.
When the pressure in the chamber a becomes higher than that in the chamber 41b, the valve member 4
The valve portion 44b of No. 4 is separated from the partition wall 42 and connected to the chamber 4 through the through hole 43, as shown by the dashed line in the figure.
Although the fluid in 1a flows to the chamber 41b side,
When the pressure becomes higher, this pressure acts on the valve portion 44b, as shown by the solid line in the figure,
b is brought into pressure contact with the partition wall 42, and as a result, communication between the chambers 41a and 41b is cut off.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

First, when performing normal operation of the endoscope, the valve 20 is held at the liquid/air supply stop position.
The air pump 13 is communicated with the atmosphere, and communication between the liquid feeding passage 10 and the liquid supply piping 16 is cut off.

Therefore, if contaminants such as body fluids are attached to the observation window 3, first push the operation button 27 of the valve 20 with the fingers of the hand holding the operation part 1, so that the liquid supply state shown in FIG. shall be. As a result, the liquid supply tank 15 is pressurized, and the cleaning liquid is supplied from the liquid supply tank 15 to the liquid supply pipe 16, the valve 20,
The liquid is supplied to the nozzle 4 via the liquid feed passage 10 and the fluid supply pipe 12, and is ejected from the nozzle 4.

In this manner, when the cleaning liquid is jetted from the nozzle 4 to wash away the contaminants from the observation window 3, the valve 20 is switched to the air supply state to remove the droplets attached to the observation window 3. Pressurized air is supplied to the nozzle 4 in order to
This can be done by releasing the pressing force on the operation button 27 while the atmospheric communication passage 30 in the operation button 27 remains closed.

As a result, the valve body 26 is slidably displaced within the valve casing 21 by the action of the spring 32, and at this time, the liquid feeding pipe 16 and the liquid feeding passage 10 are first cut off, and the liquid feeding passage is Liquid feeding towards No. 10 is stopped. Then, the volume of the variable volume liquid chamber 28c expands in accordance with the movement stroke of the valve body 26. As a result, the variable volume liquid chamber 28c becomes a burden, and a suction force acts within the liquid feeding passage 10. However, since the liquid feeding passage 10 itself is provided with a check valve 36, the cleaning liquid will not flow backward from the nozzle 4 side, but the check valve 35 provided in the middle of the suction passage 34 will prevent the cleaning liquid from flowing back in this direction. When a pressure difference occurs, the valve is opened, so the suction force due to the negative pressure generated in the variable volume liquid chamber 28c acts on the suction passage 34, and the surface of the observation window 3 and its surroundings are affected. The remaining cleaning liquid is sucked into the suction passage 34 from the suction port 33, and most of the cleaning liquid remaining here, including that in the recess 3a, is sucked into the suction passage 34.

After most of the residual cleaning liquid in the observation window 3 has been suctioned and removed in this way, the valve 20 is switched to the air supply state, and pressurized air is ejected from the nozzle 4, and the surface of the observation window 3 is It becomes possible to efficiently and reliably remove droplets slightly attached to the surface. As a result, the observation window 3 becomes extremely clean, and the observation field of view becomes extremely good.

Therefore, as described above, suction of the residual cleaning liquid can be performed by operating the valve 20 as part of the cleaning operation from supplying the cleaning liquid to supplying pressurized air, resulting in extremely good operability. . In addition, a suction passage 34 provided separately from the liquid feeding passage 10
Since the remaining cleaning liquid can be sucked out by the cleaning liquid, there is no fear that the cleaning liquid in the liquid feeding passage 10 will be contaminated.

Incidentally, the above-described cleaning of the observation window 3 may need to be repeatedly performed during one operation of the endoscope. In order to prevent this, the length of the suction passage 34 to the point where it joins the liquid supply passage 10 may be increased, and the suction passage 34 should not be connected to the liquid supply passage 10, but directly connected to the valve 20. Alternatively, the variable volume liquid chamber 28c may be opened. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the suction passage 34' is extended into the operating part 1, and a discharge part 50 is provided in the suction passage 34', and the discharge part 50 is normally closed with a lid 51. It is also possible to keep it closed and open the lid 51 as necessary to connect a liquid draining means such as a vacuum pump or a syringe.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, the liquid feeding passage 10 is not opened to the variable volume liquid chamber 28c, but is connected to the cleaning liquid outlet 25'' that opens to the liquid chamber 28b depending on the position of the valve body 26. None, and the suction passage 3 is provided with a check valve 35 in the variable volume liquid chamber 28c.
4'' is directly connected to the variable volume liquid chamber 28c.
A drain passage 60 may be connected to the drain passage 60, the other end of the drain passage 60 may be connected to a drain tank 61, and a check valve 62 may be interposed in the middle of the drain passage 60. can. In this case, there is no need to provide a cleaning liquid flow path in the valve body 26, and there is no need to provide a check valve in the liquid feeding path 10. Since the rest of the structure is the same as that shown in FIG. 2, the same or equivalent members are given the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. With this configuration as well, the cleaning liquid remaining in the observation window can be suctioned, and the liquid sucked in this way can be discharged to the drain tank 61.

[Effects of the invention] As detailed above, according to the invention, when the valve body constituting the air/liquid feeding valve switches from the liquid feeding state to the air feeding state (or the liquid feeding/air feeding stopped state), ,
Since a fluid chamber whose volume expands is created in the valve casing, this fluid chamber is used as a negative pressure generation chamber to suction and remove the residual cleaning liquid after the cleaning liquid is supplied.Therefore, a suction passage is provided in this negative pressure generation chamber. Simply connect the air and liquid supply valve, and without complicating the operation of the air and liquid supply valve, simply switch from the liquid supply state to the air supply state. The operations of removing the residual cleaning liquid by supplying air are performed continuously, and the residual cleaning liquid can be removed extremely smoothly and efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the fluid supply mechanism of an endoscope, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the valve, and FIG. Second
A sectional view of the valve showing an operating state different from that shown in the figure, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the distal end of the insertion section, Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the check valve, and Fig. 6 is a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the main part configuration showing a third embodiment of the present invention. 1... Operation section, 2... Insertion section, 5... Observation window,
8...Cleaning fluid supply nozzle, 10 liquid feeding passage, 1
1...Air supply passage, 12...Fluid supply pipe, 13...
Air pump, 14...Air supply piping, 15...Liquid supply tank, 16...Liquid supply piping, 20...Valve, 21
... Valve casing, 22 ... Air outlet, 23 ...
...Air inlet, 24...Cleaning liquid inlet, 25...
Cleaning liquid outlet, 26... Valve body, 27... Operation button, 28... Valve chamber, 28a... Chamber, 28b, 28
c...Cleaning liquid chamber, 29...Atmospheric release port, 30...
Atmospheric communication path, 31...Washing liquid channel, 33...Suction port, 34, 34', 24''...Suction passage, 35, 3
6, 62...Check valve, 60...Drain passage, 61...
...Drainage tank.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In order to selectively supply cleaning liquid and pressurized air to the distal end of the insertion section of the endoscope toward the observation window, the operating section is configured to display a liquid supply state, an air supply state, and a liquid supply and air supply stop state. The valve casing of this valve has a negative air supply valve that expands by a predetermined volume when the valve body is displaced from the liquid supply state to the direction that shuts off the liquid supply. A check valve that forms a pressure generation chamber, connects a suction passage for suctioning residual liquid after liquid delivery to the negative pressure generation chamber, and allows liquid to flow only in the suction direction in the middle of the suction passage. 1. An observation window cleaning device for an endoscope, characterized in that it is configured to include a