JPH05253181A - Front end part of electronic endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the front end part of the electronic endoscope which enables the easy and inexpensive repair of a disconnected signal cable in such a case the signal cable is disconnected. CONSTITUTION:This front end part of the electronic endoscope is disposed with a solid-state image pickup element 31 in the observed image forming position of an objective optical system 13 provided within the front end of the insertion part of the electronic endoscope and is connected with a circuit board 42 connected with the signal cable 43 and the solid-state image pickup element 31 within the front end of the insertion part. This circuit board 42 and the solid-state image pickup element 31 are freely separably connected within the front end part of the endoscope.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tip portion of a so-called electronic endoscope in which a solid-state image pickup device is built in a tip portion of an insertion portion of the endoscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic endoscope, a solid-state image pickup device and a circuit board are integrally connected and connected within the tip of an insertion portion, and the solid-state image pickup device is joined to an objective optical system.
Connect the signal cable to the circuit board by soldering, etc.
All of these were constructed as one unit.

[0003]

Since the signal cable is inserted into the insertion portion of the endoscope over its entire length, it may be accidentally broken during a bending operation test during assembly.

In such a case, at the tip of the conventional electronic endoscope as described above, even if there is no abnormality in the solid-state image pickup device,
It was very uneconomical because the entire unit including the expensive solid-state image sensor had to be replaced. In addition, the entire unit including the objective optical system must be removed from the tip of the insertion portion and replaced, which requires a long repair time.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a distal end portion of an electronic endoscope which can be repaired easily and at low cost when a signal cable is broken.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the distal end portion of the electronic endoscope according to the present invention is an observation image forming position of an objective optical system provided in the distal end portion of the insertion portion of the endoscope. A solid-state image pickup device is arranged in the circuit board, and the circuit board to which a signal cable is connected and the solid-state image pickup device are connected and connected in the distal end of the insertion portion at the distal end of the electronic endoscope. It is characterized in that and are connected in a separable manner.

The solid-state image sensor may be fixed to a mounting board for mounting the solid-state image sensor, and the mounting board and the circuit board may be detachably connected and connected by a connector. You may arrange | position in the space part formed in the periphery of the said mounting substrate and the said circuit board in the front-end | tip of a part.

[0008]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. 2 is a front view of the tip of the electronic endoscope, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line I-I.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a curved portion formed at the tip of an elongated flexible tube forming an insertion portion, and a plurality of node rings 2 are rotatably connected by rivets. The outer periphery thereof is covered with a mesh tube 4 made of thin metal wires and a jacket tube 5 made of rubber.

A bending operation wire 7 which is remotely pulled.
Is inserted into the wire guide 8 projecting inwardly from each node ring 2 so as to be able to move back and forth. The tip of each bending operation wire 7 is fixed to the most advanced wire guide 8 by silver brazing. Reference numeral 9 denotes a stopper pipe that is fixed to the end of the most advanced wire guide 8 by silver brazing or the like to prevent the stopper from coming off.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a tip body connected to the tip of the bending portion 1 via a connecting tube 12, and is a metal body portion 11b.
And a head portion 11a made of an electrically insulating plastic and joined to the tip portion thereof.

The tip body 11 is on the tip side (left side in FIG. 1).
It has a circular cross-sectional shape when viewed from above, and the objective optical system 13 is built therein. The objective optical system 13 includes an objective lens group 13a including a plurality of lenses, a color correction filter 13b, a low-pass filter 13c, and a right-angle prism 1.
3d and.

The axial direction of the objective lens group 13a coincides with the axial direction of the tip end main body 11, and the object in front is the subject. The observation window 14 is formed by the most advanced lens of the objective optical system 13.

Reference numerals 15 and 16 are lens frames to which an objective lens group 13a including a cemented lens is fitted and adhered. 17 is an aperture stop. Reference numeral 18 is an O-ring for sealing. Reference numeral 20 shown in FIG. 2 denotes an illumination window, from which the illumination light transmitted through the illumination light guide fiber bundle is radiated outward to illuminate a subject in front of the tip end main body 11.
21 and 22 are air supply / water supply nozzles. 23 is the outlet of the forceps channel.

As shown in FIG. 1, a solid-state image pickup device 31 is arranged in the body portion 11b of the tip end main body 11. As the solid-state image sensor 31, for example, a CCD (charge coupled device) is used.

An image receiving surface 31a of the solid-state image pickup device 31 is formed in a square shape or a rectangular shape, and is arranged parallel to the optical axis of the objective lens group 13a.

The optical axis of the objective optical system 13 is perpendicular to the center of the image receiving surface 31a of the solid-state image pickup device 31 by the right-angle prism 13d arranged between the objective lens group 13a and the solid-state image pickup device 31. Is reflected in the right angle direction.

Right angle prism 13d and objective lens group 13a
Between the connection tube 19 and the connection tube 19 connected to the rear half of the lens frame 16.
The light-shielding mask 25, the color correction filter 13b, and the low-pass filter 13c are bonded and inserted in the inside, and the right-angle prism 13d and the low-pass filter 13c are also bonded to each other.

With such an arrangement, the image of the object on the left side of FIG.
The image is formed on the image receiving surface 31a of. The solid-state image sensor 31 is fixed to a flexible mounting substrate 41, and the image receiving surface 3
The 1a side is joined to the right-angle prism 13d.

On the other hand, a flexible circuit board 42 to which electronic parts (not shown) for performing signal processing of the solid-state image pickup device 31 are attached is fixedly connected to the tip portion of the signal cable 43 by soldering. There is.

As shown in FIG. 5, the circuit board 42 is bent in a U-shape and its periphery is covered with a shield tape 44 and an insulating tape 45, and an epoxy adhesive 60 is provided in the internal space. It is filled and hardened to prevent deformation.

In this way, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the objective optical system 13 and the solid-state image pickup device 31 are integrally formed as one unit including the mounting substrate 41, and the signal cable 43 and the circuit board 42 are integrally formed as one unit.

A terminal row 47 for transmitting electric signals is provided rearwardly at the rear end of the mounting board 41, and a terminal row 4 of the mounting board 41 is provided at the front end of the circuit board 42.
A connector 48 that is detachably engaged with 7 is arranged facing forward.

Therefore, the terminal row 4 is connected to the connector 48.
7 is connected, the solid-state image sensor 31 and the circuit board 42 are connected and connected, and the connector 48 is connected to the terminal row 47.
If you pull out, it will be separated into each unit.

The objective optical system 13 and the solid-state image sensor 3
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the unit on the first side is fixed to the tip end main body 11 by the objective fixing screw 51, and the units on the side of the circuit board 42 and the signal cable 43 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. As described above, the board fixing screw 52 is fixed to the connecting cylinder 12 via the pair of upper and lower pressing plates 46.

Therefore, when the signal cable 43 is disconnected in the assembled state as shown in FIG. 1 when manufacturing the tip portion of the electronic endoscope, the board fixing screw 52 is loosened, Signal cable 43 and circuit board 42
Connector 4 by pulling the unit of
The terminal row 47 can be removed from the terminal 8, and only the units of the signal cable 43 and the circuit board 42 can be removed and replaced.

The body of the tip body 11 and the connecting tube 12
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the space between and between the connecting cylinder 12 and the frontmost node ring 2 are connected by flat head screws, and at the time of repair, loosen the flat head screws. ,
These can be easily disassembled.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show the state before and after connecting the connector according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The mounting substrate 41 is bent so as to be substantially along the slope of the prism 13d, and the terminal row 47 is formed. The circuit board 42
The side connector 48 is also arranged so as to extend obliquely forward from the front end of the circuit board 42 in accordance therewith.

In this way, the connector 48 is attached to the mounting board 41 and the circuit board 42 in the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope.
The circuit board 42 can be miniaturized because it can be arranged in the space formed around the.

[0030]

According to the tip of the electronic endoscope of the present invention,
Since the circuit board to which the signal cable is connected and the solid-state image sensor are separably connected, when there is a break in the signal cable, etc., only the circuit board and the signal cable can be exchanged without touching the solid-state image sensor. can do.

Therefore, the cost of parts to be replaced is very low and it is economical, and since it is not necessary to remove the objective optical system, the repair time can be greatly shortened, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view (II sectional view) of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view (III-III sectional view) of the first embodiment.
Is.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view (IV-IV sectional view) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial front sectional view (VV sectional view) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a partial side view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a partial bottom view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a partial side sectional view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a partial side sectional view of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Tip Main Body 12 Connection Cylinder 13 Objective Optical System 31 Solid-state Image Sensor 41 Mounting Board 42 Circuit Board 43 Signal Cable 47 Terminal Row 48 Connector

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state image sensor is arranged at an observation image forming position of an objective optical system provided in a distal end of an insertion portion of an endoscope, and a circuit board to which a signal cable is connected and the solid-state image sensor. A distal end portion of the electronic endoscope, wherein the circuit board and the solid-state imaging device are detachably connected to each other in the distal end portion of the electronic endoscope connected and connected in the distal end of the insertion portion. 2. The solid-state image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the solid-state image pickup device is fixed to a mounting substrate for mounting the solid-state image pickup device, and the mounting substrate and the circuit board are detachably connected by a connector. The tip of an electronic endoscope. 3. The distal end portion of the electronic endoscope according to claim 2, wherein the connector is disposed in a space formed around the mounting substrate and the circuit board in the distal end of the insertion portion.