JPH0449938A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the prevention of the lowering of insertability as caused by aging and the extending of life of use by employing a cold hardening type metal whose hardness increases only by a cooling treatment as flexible member to be arranged in a medium conduit. CONSTITUTION:Medium conduit 8 is provided with a tubular cover member 11 comprising rubber, resin or the like on the outermost side thereof and a metal braid 12 and a metal spiral pipe 13 are arranged securely along the inner circumferential surface as flexible member. The braid 12 and the spiral pipe 13 comprises a cold hardening type metal which can be hardened by a cooling treatment are used yet to be hardened under a cooling treatment. When the braid 12 and the spiral pipe 13 are softened with an aging to lower the flexibility thereof, the flexibility of the medium conduit 8 lowers to worsen the insertability thereof. When the medium conduit 8 is cooled to cool the braid 12 and the spiral pipe 13 cooled to below -40 deg.C, they are hardened to improve the flexibility thereof, thereby allowing the restoration of the flexibility of the medium conduct 8. The method of hardening without heating makes the cover member 11 free from degrading by heat.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an endoscope for observing the inside of a body cavity.
In particular, the present invention relates to an endoscope capable of restoring the flexibility of a guide tube that has become soft due to aging.

(Prior art) An endoscope is equipped with a guiding tube that is introduced into a body cavity, and the guiding tube is provided with a tube-shaped covering member made of rubber, resin, etc. on the outermost side, and the inner periphery of the covering member is A metal blade formed into a tube shape as a flexible member that has flexibility along the surface,
A metal spiral tube formed in a spiral shape is arranged on the inner peripheral side thereof.

A light guide for guiding illumination light into the body cavity and an air/water supply tube for supplying air and water into the body cavity are housed on the inner peripheral surfaces of these flexible members and covering members.

When manufacturing guide tubes, the blades and helical tubes are heat-treated such as quenching to harden them and give them appropriate flexibility, and then the blades and helical tubes are placed on the inner peripheral surface of the covering member. Place it in a fixed position. Thereby, the guiding tube gains flexibility, and it becomes possible to quickly insert the guiding tube into the body cavity without any trouble.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the blades and spiral tubes in the guiding tube become soft and the flexibility decreases due to aging, the flexibility of the guiding tube decreases and insertion is difficult. Sexuality becomes worse. If the softened blades and spiral tubes are hardened by heat treatment, it is possible to increase the flexibility of the blades and spiral tubes and restore the flexibility of the guiding tube, but in this case, rubber,
The covering member made of resin or the like is also heated, which causes a problem in that the covering member deteriorates due to the heat.

Therefore, the conventional technology cannot prevent the deterioration in the insertability of the guiding tube due to the deterioration in the flexibility of the flexible member due to aging.
This method has a disadvantage in that it is not possible to extend the service life of the guide pipe.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to harden the flexible member that has become soft due to aging without deteriorating the covering member. An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that can restore the flexibility of the guide tube, prevent deterioration in insertability of the guide tube due to aging, and extend its service life.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a tube-shaped covering member is provided on the outermost side of the guiding tube introduced into the body cavity, In an endoscope in which a flexible member made of metal and having flexibility is arranged along the inner circumferential surface of the covering member, the flexible member is made of a cooling-hardening metal whose hardness increases only by cooling treatment. The present invention is characterized in that the flexible member is increased in hardness and flexibility by cooling the guiding tube whose flexibility has decreased due to aging, thereby increasing the flexibility of the guiding tube.

By using an unhardened cold-hardening metal that is not subjected to cooling treatment for the above-mentioned flexible member, and cooling the guide pipe as necessary, the hardness of this flexible member is increased and the flexibility of the guide pipe is increased. It may be increased. Furthermore, it may be possible to use a cooling-hardening metal only in a portion of the flexible member, or to partially cool the cooling-hardening metal portion of the flexible member to change the hardness and flexibility of that portion. .

(Function) In the endoscope of the present invention having the above configuration, the flexible member in the guiding tube can be hardened only by cooling treatment, so that when the flexible member becomes soft due to aging,
By cooling the guiding tube, the flexible member is hardened and its flexibility is increased, thereby restoring the flexibility of the guiding tube and preventing a decrease in insertability. Therefore, there is no need to heat the guide pipe, and the covering member of the guide pipe does not deteriorate due to heat.

(Example) Below, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. 1st
FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the structure of a part of the guide tube in an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of the endoscope according to the same embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 indicates an electronic endoscope device, which generally includes an endoscope 2, a device main body 4 to which the endoscope 2 is connected via a universal cord 3, and an image display of an examination site within a body cavity. It consists of a monitor 5 such as a CRT display. The endoscope 1 consists of an insertion section 6 that is introduced into a body cavity, and an operation section 7 provided at the proximal end of the insertion section 6 for operating the scope, and a universal cord 3 is connected to the operation section 7. .

The insertion section 6 includes a flexible guide tube (soft section) 8, an angle section 9 that is connected to the tip of the guide tube 8 and can be bent by an angle operation in the operating section 7, and an angle section. 9 and a rigid tip portion 10 connected to the tip portion of the tip portion 9. An imaging device such as a CCD and a lens system (not shown) are provided inside the rigid tip portion 1o.
An illumination window for illuminating the inspection site with illumination light and an observation window (not shown) for allowing the reflected light to enter the image pickup device are formed on the distal end surface of the probe. And universal code 3. Inside the operating section 7 and the insertion section 6, a light guide 1 for guiding illumination light generated from a light source (not shown) in the device main body 4 into the body cavity, an air/water supply tube,
A signal line or the like (not shown) is provided for transmitting and receiving signals between the image sensor and the main body 4 of the apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 1, the guiding tube 8 has rubber on the outermost side.

A tube-shaped covering member 11 made of resin or the like is provided, and a metal blade 12 and a metal spiral tube 13 as flexible members are fixedly arranged along the inner peripheral surface of the covering member 11. There is. The blade 12 is formed in a tube shape, and a spiral tube 13 formed in a spiral shape is arranged on the inner peripheral surface side of the blade 12. These blades 12 and spiral tube 13 are made of a cooling-hardening metal (material name: sub-zero hardening stainless steel, manufactured by Nippon Metal Industry Co., Ltd.) that can be hardened only by cooling treatment. It is not used in an uncured state. However, this metal has a certain degree of hardness even in an unhardened state, and the blade 12 and spiral tube 3 are given appropriate hardness and flexibility.

The internal components of the guide tube, such as the light guide, air/water tube, signal line, etc., are housed inside the spiral tube 13. The guiding tube 8 has appropriate flexibility due to the flexibility of the blade 12 and the spiral tube 13, and when introducing the insertion section 6 into the body cavity, it can be easily introduced due to this flexibility. Installation operations can be performed quickly.

After the insertion section 6 is introduced into the body cavity, illumination light is irradiated to the examination site via the light guide, and the reflected illumination light enters an objective lens (not shown) in the rigid tip section 10 and is transmitted to the imaging device. A light image is formed on top.

The image sensor converts the optical image into an electrical signal and sends this signal to the main body 4 of the apparatus via a signal line. An information processing section (not shown) in the main body 4 of the apparatus performs signal processing on this signal.

The video signal obtained by performing display processing is sent to the monitor 5,
An image of the surface condition of the inspection site is displayed on the screen of the monitor 5.

When the blade 12 and the spiral tube 13 in the guiding tube become soft and less flexible due to aging, the flexibility of the guiding tube 8 also decreases, resulting in poor insertability.

In this case, the blade 12. By hardening the spiral tube 13 to improve its flexibility, the flexibility of the guiding tube 8 can be restored. At this time, the blade 12 and the spiral tube 13 are partially cooled so that, for example, the portion of the guiding tube 8 on the operating section 7 side is hard, and the rigid tip portion 10 is
It is also possible to vary the amount of flexibility depending on the part, so that the side parts are softer. Also, blade 12. The above-mentioned metal may be used over the entire length of the spiral tube 13, but it is also possible to use it partially.

In this embodiment, when the flexibility of the guide tube 8 decreases due to aging, the blade 12 is heated without heating the guide tube 8.
．． Since the helical tube 13 can be hardened, the blade 12 and the helical tube 13 can be hardened to increase flexibility without deteriorating the covering member 11 due to heat, thereby preventing the guide tube 8 from deteriorating over time. It is possible to prevent a decrease in flexibility and insertability, and to extend the service life.

In addition, although the electronic endoscope apparatus was taken as an example in the said Example, this invention is not limited to this, For example, a fiberscope etc. are applicable. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be implemented in various modifications.

[Effects of the Invention] The endoscope of the present invention has the above configuration and function,
When the flexibility of the guide pipe decreases due to aging, the flexibility of the guide pipe can be increased by hardening the flexible member without causing deterioration of the covering member by heating. It is possible to restore the structure and prevent a decrease in insertability. Therefore, the service life of the guide tube can be extended.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the structure of a part of the guiding tube in an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of the endoscope according to the same embodiment. be. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Electronic endoscope device 2... Endoscope 6... Insertion part 8... Guide tube 9... Angle part 10... Tip rigid part 11...
Covering member 12...Blade (flexible member)] 3...
Spiral tube (flexible member)

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A tube-shaped covering member is provided on the outermost side of the guiding tube introduced into the body cavity, and a flexible member made of metal and having flexibility is arranged along the inner peripheral surface of the covering member. In the endoscope, a cooling-hardening metal whose hardness increases only through cooling treatment is used for the flexible member, and the hardness and hardness of the flexible member are increased by cooling the guide tube whose flexibility has decreased due to aging. An endoscope characterized in that the flexibility of the guiding tube is increased. (2) An unhardened cooling-hardening metal that is not subjected to cooling treatment is used for the flexible member, and if necessary, the hardness of the flexible member is increased by cooling the guide pipe, and the flexibility of the guide pipe is increased. 2. The endoscope according to claim 1, characterized in that the endoscope has improved performance. (3) The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein only a portion of the flexible member is made of a cold hardening metal. (4) The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the cooling hardening type metal portion of the flexible member is partially cooled to change the hardness and flexibility of that portion.