JPH05303044A - Tip part of endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent generation of a breakage of an illumination light guide fiber handle and an operation failure of a curved part, etc., by fitting and attaching a cylindrical member to the outside periphery of the rear part of the tip part main body, and forming a protective tube detaining part in the cylindrical member. CONSTITUTION:An illumination light guide fiber handle 3 is divided into the left and the right and reaches the rear along both side parts of a lens frame 4 and an element frame 7, is brought nearer to the inside in the vicinity of the rear end part of a cylindrical member 10, and arranged along a signal cable 27 in an inserting part. A protective tube 25 is formed by a soft and flexible material, for instance, like silicone rubber, etc., and in the inserting part, the illumination light guide fiber handle 3 and the signal cable 27 are covered with the same protective tube 25 extending over the overall length. Also, a protective tube detaining part 10e provided projectingly in the rear end of the cylindrical member 10 is covered with the tip of the protective tube 25 and bound firmly and fixed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distal end portion of an endoscope in which an observation visual field range is illuminated by a light guide fiber bundle for illumination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A light guide fiber bundle for illumination needs to be covered with a protective tube in the insertion portion so as not to be broken by being caught by other built-in objects or irregularities on the inner surface of the insertion portion.

In many cases, such a light guide fiber bundle for illumination is coated with the light guide fiber bundle alone, but depending on the design layout and the like, it is packaged together with the observation image transmitting means.

In such a case, if an image guide fiber bundle is used as the observation image transmitting means, as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-85215, an annular shape for locking the tip of the protective tube is used. It is conceivable that a protrusion can be formed on the rear end portion of the tip body to which the tip of the protective tube can be locked.

However, in the case of an endoscope in which a solid-state image pickup element is used as an observation image transmission means, an observation image is converted into an electric signal in the tip end main body and the image signal is transmitted by a signal cable. The cross-sectional area occupied by the solid-state image sensor is much larger than that of the image guide fiber bundle.

Therefore, there is no space in the space for forming a projection or the like for locking the protection tube at the rear end portion of the tip end main body, and the light guide fiber for illumination does not have to lock the tip end portion of the protection tube. The bundle and signal cable were simply covered with a protective tube.

[0007]

When the end portion of the protective tube is a free end, the protective tube gradually moves backward while the bending portion formed at the distal end portion of the insertion portion is repeatedly bent. The light guide fiber bundle for illumination may be exposed and broken, or the protective tubes may overlap in a bellows shape and be clogged in the bending portion, which may hinder the bending operation.

Therefore, in the present invention, the tip of the protective tube that collectively covers the observation image transmission means and the illumination light guide fiber bundle is prevented from shifting, and the illumination light guide fiber bundle is broken or the curved portion malfunctions. It is an object of the present invention to provide a distal end portion of an endoscope in which such problems do not occur.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the distal end portion of the endoscope of the present invention is for illuminating the end portion of the observation image transmitting means for transmitting an observation image and the observation visual field. The exit end of the illumination light guide fiber bundle is attached to the tip body provided at the tip of the insertion portion, and the observation image transmitting means and the illumination light guide fiber bundle are inserted into the insertion portion of the endoscope tip. In the insertion part, in the insertion part, the illumination light guide fiber bundle is covered with a protective tube together with the observation image transmitting means, and a tubular member is fitted to the rear outer periphery of the distal end part body toward the rear, A protection tube locking portion for locking the tip of the protection tube is formed in the tubular member.

The distal end portion of the endoscope of the present invention has a solid-state image sensor for converting an observation image into an electric signal and an exit end of an illumination light guide fiber bundle for illuminating an observation visual field at the insertion end. Attached to the provided tip body, the signal cable connected to the solid-state imaging device and the illumination light guide fiber bundle at the tip of the endoscope inserted into the insertion section, in the insertion section,
While covering the light guide fiber bundle for illumination together with the signal cable with a protective tube, a tubular member is fitted rearward on the outer periphery of the rear portion of the distal end body to lock the distal end of the protective tube. The protective tube locking portion is formed on the tubular member.

Further, a bendable bending portion is formed at a distal end portion of the insertion portion by remote control, and a tip end of a bending operation wire for remotely bending the bending portion is attached to the wire fixing member and the bending portion. The frontmost node ring forming the portion may be locked to the tubular member.

[0012]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 2
FIG. 3 is a front view of the tip portion of the electronic endoscope, in which the objective lens 2 is arranged in the central portion of the tip portion main body 1. The exit end faces of the illumination light guide fiber bundle 3 are arranged on the left and right sides thereof, and the observation light field illuminated by the objective lens 2 is illuminated by the illumination light emitted from the exit end faces.

3 and 1 are a side half sectional view and a plan sectional view of the tip portion of the electronic endoscope. The bending portion 11 that can be bent by remote control is formed at the tip end portion of the insertion portion formed of an elongated flexible tube, and the tip end body 1 is connected to the tip end portion of the bending portion 11 via the tubular member 10. Has been done.

Reference numeral 12 is a plurality of node rings rotatably connected by rivets 13, and a mesh tube 14 is provided on the outside thereof.
And the elastic outer tube 15 is sequentially coated,
The curved portion 11 is formed.

The tubular member 10 is, as shown in FIG.
It is formed into a stepped cylindrical shape having a diameter that is reduced in several steps toward the rear side, and the tip portion 10 a thereof is formed into a tip portion main body 1.
The tubular member 10 and the tip portion main body 1 are engaged with each other by fitting on the outer periphery of the rear end portion and by the first pin 17 shown in FIG. The first pin hole 10b shown in FIG. 4 is a hole that engages with the first pin 17.

The frontmost node ring 12a of the curved portion 11 is fitted to the latter half of the second stage portion 10c of the tubular member 10,
The second pin 18 shown in FIG.
And the frontmost node ring 12a are locked. The second pin hole 10d shown in FIG. 4 is a hole that engages with the second pin 18.

The upper and lower sides of the middle portion of the tubular member 10 are notched so that the bending operation wire 19 can pass therethrough. 20
Is a groove for pulling out the operation wire 19 to the bending portion 11 side.

Reference numeral 22 shown in FIG. 3 indicates a bending operation wire 1.
9 is a wire fixing ring having a fixed tip and is fitted to the front half of the second stage portion 10c of the tubular member 10 shown in FIG. It is fixed in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched between the step and the most advanced node ring 12a.

The rear end portion of the tubular member 10 has a protection tube locking portion 10e for locking the front end of the protection tube 25.
Is formed in an annular shape having a diameter smaller than that of the intermediate portion, and the rear end face portion is formed to slightly project like a flange.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the objective lens 2 is fixed in a lens frame 4 arranged in the tip body 1. The front outer circumference of the lens frame 4 is surrounded by the insulating member 5 exposed at the front end surface so that the metal lens frame 4 does not appear on the surface.
And the intermediate ring 6 notched in accordance with the shape of the exit end cross section of the light guide fiber bundle 3 for illumination.
Is installed.

An element frame 7 is bonded and fixed to the tip body 1 so that the element frame 7 is fitted in the rear end portion of the lens frame 4 and projects from the tip body 1 to the inside of the curved portion 11. The inner and outer surfaces of the element frame 7 are covered with a thin insulating tape. Then, on the image entrance end face of the solid-state imaging device 26 arranged in the device frame 7,
An observation image is formed by the objective lens 2, and the solid-state imaging device 2
It is converted into an electric signal by 6. 2a and 2b are a color correction filter and a low pass filter.

A signal cable 27 for transmitting a drive signal input to the solid-state image pickup device 26 and an image signal output from the solid-state image pickup device 26 is connected to the rear end portion of the solid-state image pickup device 26 and has a curved portion. It is inserted from inside 11 into the insertion portion over the entire length and arranged so as to be connected to an external video processor (not shown).

Light guide fiber bundle 3 for illumination
1, is divided into left and right parts, reaches the rear along both side parts of the lens frame 4 and the element frame 7, and is brought inward in the vicinity of the rear end part of the tubular member 10 so that the inside of the insertion part Is arranged along the signal cable 27.

The protective tube 25 is formed of a soft and flexible material such as silicon rubber, and the illumination light guide fiber bundle 3 and the signal cable 27 are the same protective tube over the entire length in the insertion portion. It is covered by 25. Then, the distal end of the protective tube 25 is covered with the protective tube locking portion 10e protrudingly provided at the rear end of the tubular member 10 so as to be bound and fixed.

FIG. 5 shows the tip portion of the electronic endoscope described above in units of units when assembled. The tip unit A fixes the tubular member 10 to the tip body 1 to which the objective lens 2, the illumination light guide fiber bundle 3, the solid-state imaging device 26, the signal cable 27 and the like are attached by the first pin 17, The protective tube 25 is formed by covering the signal cable 27 and the illumination light guide fiber bundle 3 and locking the protective tube 25 to the protective tube locking portion 10e of the tubular member 10.

At the time of assembly, next, the operation wire unit B in which the pair of bending operation wires 19 are fixed to the wire fixing ring 22 is attached to the tubular member 10, and finally the rivet 13 is attached.
The most advanced joint ring 12 of joint ring unit C connected by
The a is fitted to the tubular member 10 and fixed by the second pin 18.

The wire fixing ring 22 and the most advanced node ring 1
Concavo-convex portions 31 and 32 that engage with each other are formed on the 2a so that the wire fixing ring 22 cannot freely rotate after assembly.

The present invention is not limited to an electronic endoscope, but may be applied to an endoscope that transmits an observation image by an image guide fiber.

[0029]

According to the distal end portion of the endoscope of the present invention, even if the endoscope is such that the light guide fiber bundle for illumination and the observation image transmitting means are covered with one protective tube, the endoscope is protected. Since the tip of the tube can be fixed so that it does not move, it is possible to obtain an endoscope with excellent durability that does not break the light guide fiber bundle for illumination due to the displacement of the protective tube or malfunction of the bending part. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan cross-sectional view of a tip portion of an electronic endoscope according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the distal end portion of the electronic endoscope of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side half-sectional view of the tip of the electronic endoscope of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tubular member at the tip of the electronic endoscope of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a unit diagram of a distal end portion of the electronic endoscope of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tip part body 3 Light guide fiber bundle for illumination 10 Cylindrical member 10e Protective tube locking part 25 Protective tube 26 Solid-state image sensor 27 Signal cable (observation image transmission means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An end portion of an observation image transmitting means for transmitting an observation image and an emission end of an illumination light guide fiber bundle for illuminating an observation visual field are attached to a tip end main body provided at the tip of the insertion portion. , At the distal end of the endoscope in which the observation image transmission means and the illumination light guide fiber bundle are inserted into the insertion portion, in the insertion portion, protect the illumination light guide fiber bundle together with the observation image transmission means While covering with a tube, a tubular member was fitted rearward on the outer periphery of the rear portion of the tip body, and a protective tube locking portion for locking the tip of the protective tube was formed on the tubular member. The tip of the endoscope characterized in that. 2. A solid-state image pickup device for converting an observation image into an electric signal and an emission end of an illumination light guide fiber bundle for illuminating an observation visual field are attached to a tip end main body provided at the tip of the insertion part, and the solid-state image sensor is provided. At the distal end of the endoscope in which the signal cable connected to the image pickup device and the illumination light guide fiber bundle are inserted into the insertion portion, the illumination light guide fiber bundle is protected together with the signal cable in the insertion portion. While covering with a tube, a tubular member was fitted rearward on the outer periphery of the rear portion of the tip body, and a protective tube locking portion for locking the tip of the protective tube was formed on the tubular member. The tip of the endoscope characterized in that. 3. A wire fixing member to which a distal end portion of the insertion portion is formed with a bendable bending portion by remote control, and a tip end of a bending operation wire for remotely bending the bending portion is attached. The frontmost node ring forming the curved portion is locked to the tubular member.
The tip of the described endoscope.