JPH05337078A - Endoscope image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an endoscope image pickup device maintaining the clean state and capable of being used again without being applied with an autoclave treatment. CONSTITUTION:The TV camera head main body section 11 of an exterior camera 1 is stored in a camera head cover member 12 provided with a removing mechanism, the exterior camera 1 is used on an organism, the TV camera head main body section 11 stored in the camera head cover member 12 is extracted, then the camera head cover member 12 is applied with an autoclave treatment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscopic image pickup having a detaching mechanism of an image pickup means including at least a solid-state image pickup element, and a cover member side covering the image pickup means is sterilized at high temperature and high pressure. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used in the medical field. A medical device such as an endoscope, which is particularly inserted into a living body, is in a sufficiently sterilized state so as to prevent infectious diseases. Further, after such medical equipment is used, body fluid or solid matter in the living body may adhere to the medical equipment, so after cleaning the medical equipment to remove the adhered matter, dip it in a disinfectant solution. I was trying to disinfect it.

[0003]

However, an electronic endoscope using a solid-state image pickup device as an image pickup means and an endoscope image pickup device such as an external camera can be immersed in a chemical solution or sterilized or sterilized only with a gas for sterilization. Therefore, the autoclave treatment, which is a sterilization treatment using steam exceeding 100 ° C., cannot be endured.

When a toxic substance such as a drug solution is used for the sterilization treatment, the treatment of the toxic substance becomes a problem after the sterilization treatment. Therefore, the amount of the toxic substance used has recently been reduced or used. There is a situation in which it is desired to carry out sterilization treatment using harmless steam without doing so. However, as described above, an endoscope image pickup apparatus such as an electronic endoscope using a solid-state image pickup element as an image pickup means cannot withstand an autoclave treatment using steam exceeding 100 ° C. The problem is how to make it safe again after it has been used in a living body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and keeps a part of an endoscope image pickup device, such as a solid-state image pickup device that cannot withstand autoclave treatment, in a clean state without performing autoclave treatment. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope imaging device that can be used again.

[0006]

In the endoscope imaging apparatus of the present invention, a heat-resistant cover member detachably attached to the endoscope imaging apparatus and housed inside the cover member. By providing a detachable mechanism capable of detaching and detaching the image pickup means from the endoscope image pickup device, after using the endoscope image pickup device to a living body or the like,
After taking out the imaging means housed in the cover member, the cover member can be autoclaved or discarded, and the housed member can be kept clean and reused without being autoclaved.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1A shows an external camera of the first embodiment.
FIG. 1B is an exploded view of FIG. 1A, FIG. 2 shows the head cover member in an open state and a closed state, and FIG. 3 shows a state in which the head cover member is housed in an autoclave device and sterilized.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the external camera 1 constituting the endoscope image pickup apparatus of the first embodiment is an optical endoscope 2.
It is composed of a camera head 4 that can be mounted on the eyepiece 3 of the camera and a camera cable 5 extending from the camera head 4. A connector 6 is provided at the end of the camera cable 5, and a signal processing (not shown) is performed. It can be connected to a camera control unit (abbreviated as CCU) as a means.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the camera head 4 has an optical adapter 8 having an imaging lens system 7, and a TV camera body 11 detachably attached to the optical adapter 8 and having a CCD 9 built therein. And this TV camera body 11
And a camera head cover member (simply referred to as a cover member) 12 which is detachably attached to the optical adapter 8 in a state of being housed inside and a state of being removed.

The optical adapter 8 has an imaging lens system 7 attached to a substantially ring-shaped frame body, and a knob 13 of a fixing screw with a mount opening on the front face fitted to the eyepiece 3. It can be rotated and attached to or removed from the eyepiece 3. A groove 14 is provided on the rear end of the optical adapter 8 in the optical axis direction and the circumferential direction.
The TV camera body 11 is attached to the optical adapter 8 by accommodating the projection 15 protruding inside the front surface of the V camera body 11 in this groove 14 and moving it to the groove portion in the circumferential direction at the deepest portion of the groove 14. It can be removed or removed by moving it in the opposite direction.

In the optical adapter 8, the frame portion and the imaging lens system 7 are made of a material that can withstand the autoclave process. For example, the frame portion is formed of a material that can withstand autoclave treatment, such as a metal material or a high-performance engineering plastic material that can withstand higher temperatures than ordinary plastics.

In the state shown in FIG. 1A, in which the optical adapter 8 is attached to the eyepiece 3 and the TV camera body 11 is attached to the optical adapter 8, the TV camera body 11 is shown.
An optical image transmitted to the eyepiece 3 side by an image guide (not shown) of the endoscope 2 is formed on the image pickup surface (photoelectric conversion surface) of the CCD 9 built in the camera.

The outer peripheral surface on the front side adjacent to the rear end of the optical adapter 8 has an outer diameter larger than that of the rear end.
Further, a circumferential groove 16 is formed, and in the circumferential groove 16, the protrusion 1 formed in the circumferential direction inside the front surface of the head cover member 12.
By housing 7, the head cover member 12 can be attached to the optical adapter 8.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the head cover member 12 is a semi-cylindrical member 18 obtained by dividing a cylindrical member into two in the vertical direction (longitudinal direction) on a plane passing through the diameter thereof.
Two semi-cylindrical members having a structure in which a and 18b are connected to each other by a hinge-shaped pivot member 19 and are pivoted about the pivot member 19, and a click mechanism is formed by pivoting. When the circumferential ends of 18a and 18b are overlapped, a cylindrical shape is formed as shown in FIG. 2 (b).

When the head cover member 12 is in the state shown in FIG. 2 (b), one end on the front side of the cylinder is open and the other end is a small opening that is in pressure contact with the camera curb 5. Has been The head cover member 12
Is made of materials that can withstand autoclaving, such as high-performance engineering plastic materials that can withstand higher temperatures than ordinary plastics.

The camera cable 5 extending from the TV camera body 11 can be covered with a cable cover 20a made of, for example, a high-performance engineering plastic material. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the cable cover 20a covers the connector 6 from the connection portion with the TV camera body 11,
A can be detached from the camera cable 5 by a fastener 20b provided in its longitudinal direction.

According to this first embodiment, normally, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the optical adapter 8 is attached to the eyepiece 3, the TV camera body 11 is attached to the optical adapter 8, and the head cover member 12 is attached to the optical adapter 8 in a state of covering the TV camera body 11. It is used in the state shown in FIG. After use, remove the TV camera body 11 attached to the optical adapter 8 to remove the optical adapter 8
The head cover member 12 and the cable cover 20a are housed in the autoclave device 30 as shown in FIG.

In this case, since the TV camera body 11 provided with the CCD 9 having low heat resistance is removed,
Enables autoclave processing. According to the first embodiment, if the optical adapter 8, the head cover member 12, and the cable cover 20a are made of a material that can withstand the autoclave process, the autoclave process can be easily dealt with.
In this embodiment, the head cover member 12 and the cable cover 20a can be repeatedly used.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the external camera 21 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the attachment / detachment mechanism for the optical adapter 8 and the head cover member 12 in the first embodiment is screwed, and the camera cable 5 can be attached / detached to / from the optical adapter 8.
Is unnecessary.

That is, in the optical adapter 8'of this embodiment, the male screw portion 22 is formed in the portion of the optical adapter 8 of the first embodiment in which the circumferential groove 16 is formed, and at the front end of the head cover member 12 '. A female screw portion 23 that is screwed into the male screw portion 22 is formed.

Further, in this embodiment, a detachable connector 25 is provided at the base end of the camera cable 5 to the connector receiver 24 of the TV camera body 11 '. The camera cable 5, together with the connectors 6 and 25, is made of a material that can withstand an autoclave process.

Further, in the head cover member 12 'in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, projections are radially provided on the inner side in the radial direction to prevent the TV camera body 11' from rotationally moving. .. The other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, after the external camera 21 is used, the TV camera body 11 'is removed and the optical adapter 8', the head cover member 12 ', and the cable 5 having the connectors 6 and 24 are autoclaved. To process. This embodiment has almost the same effects as the first embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an endoscope system 31 including a third embodiment of the present invention.

The endoscope system 31 includes a flexible endoscope (also referred to as a fiberscope) 32 and a camera external endoscope 34 including an external camera 33 mounted on the fiberscope 32, and the fiberscope 32. Light source device 35 for supplying illumination light to the camera, and a camera control unit (C for performing signal processing for the external camera 33).
Abbreviated as CU. ) 36 and a monitor 37 for displaying the video signal output from the CCU 36.

The fiberscope 32 has an elongated insertion portion 41, a large-diameter operation portion 42 continuously provided at the rear end of the insertion portion 41, and an eyepiece portion formed at the rear end of the operation portion 42. 43 and a light guide cable 44 extending from the side of the operation portion 42. A connector 45 provided at the end of the light guide cable 44 can be detachably connected to the light source device 35.

The insertion portion 41 has a hard tip portion 46, a bendable bending portion 47, and a flexible flexible tube portion 4 from the tip end side.
8, the bending portion 47 can be bent by operating a bending knob 49 provided on the operation portion 42. Connector 45 of the light guide cable 44
By connecting the light source device 35 to the light source device 35.
White light from a lamp (not shown)
The illumination light that has been irradiated to the end face of the light guide 51 and transmitted by the light guide 51 is emitted forward from the illumination window to which the end face on the tip end portion 46 side is attached, and illuminates a subject (not shown).

With the emitted illumination light, the illuminated object forms an optical image on the front end surface of the image guide 53 fixed to the focal plane of the objective lens 52 provided at the front end portion 46. The optical image is transmitted to the end face on the eyepiece 43 side, and the eyepiece lens 5 arranged opposite to this end face.
It is possible to magnify and observe the images through 4. A camera head body portion 33a forming the external camera 33 can be detachably attached to the eyepiece portion 43, and the camera head body portion 33a has a substantially cylindrical shape. The camera head body 33a has a cylindrical housing made of a heat-resistant material such as high-performance engineering plastic.

An imaging lens system 55 fixed to a frame 61a is attached to the camera head body 33a at a position facing the eyepiece lens 54, and the imaging lens system 55 is attached.
Thereby, an image can be formed on the photoelectric conversion surface of the CCD 56 as an image pickup device. This CCD 56 is mounted on a printed circuit board 57, and an electronic component 59 such as an IC, a capacitor and a resistor for operating the CCD 56 is mounted on a printed circuit board 58 arranged in parallel with the printed circuit board 57 to form a peripheral circuit. is doing.

The CCD 56 is fixed to a frame 61b fitted to a frame 61a to which an imaging lens system 55 is attached, and printed boards 57 and 58 are also fixed to the frame 61b via a spacer 60. Further, the connector 62a of the signal cable 62 can be detachably connected to the printed circuit board 58. This signal cable 6
2 passes through the rubber bushing 63, and the connector 62b provided at the other end can be connected to the CCU 6.

In this embodiment, the camera head body 33a
A female screw portion 66a is provided in the opening on the rear end side, and a ring-shaped lid member 67 having a male screw portion 66b is screwed onto the female screw portion 66a so that it can be detachably mounted. .. When the cover member 67 is unscrewed and removed from the camera head body 33a, the image pickup unit including the CCD 56 and the electronic component 59 mounted on the printed boards 57 and 58 mounted on the frame 61b via the spacer 60. 68 can be attached to or removed from the frame 61a. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, connect the external camera 33 with the image pickup unit 68 removed to the cable 6
Along with 2, it can be housed in an autoclave device and autoclaved.

The CCU 36 shown in FIG. 6 generates a drive signal for properly driving the CCD 56 and an electric signal output from the CCD 56 by applying this drive signal to a standard video signal (for example, NTSC video signal). The video output output from the CCU 36 is input to the monitor 37, and the subject image is displayed on the monitor 37.

According to the third embodiment, the image pickup unit 6
Since the image pickup unit 68 can be detached from the camera head main body 33a, the autoclave process can be performed by detaching the image pickup unit 68.

FIG. 8 shows the distal end side of an electronic endoscope (hereinafter referred to as an electronic scope) 71 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. A hard tip member 74 is provided at the tip of the outer tube 73 forming the insertion portion 72, and an imaging adapter 75 is detachably attached to the front surface of the tip member 74.

That is, screws are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the tip member 74 and the outer peripheral surface of the image pickup adapter 75, and the tip member 74 is provided.
With the rear surface of the imaging adapter 75 in contact with the front surface of
Both members can be connected and fixed by a connection ring 76 provided with a female screw. Exterior frame 7 forming the imaging adapter 75
An objective lens 78 is attached to an observation window provided on the front surface of the lens 7 through a lens frame 79. The lens frame 7 is formed by fitting a CCD frame 82 to which a CCD 81 constituting the image pickup unit 80 is attached to the lens frame 79.
The CCD 81 is located at the focal plane of the objective lens 78 in this state.

The CCD 81 constitutes an image pickup unit 80 which is integrated by a hybrid substrate 83 arranged on the back side thereof and a connector 84 arranged behind the hybrid substrate 83 and fixed to the CCD frame 82. ing. The signal photoelectrically converted by the CCD 81 passes through the hybrid substrate 83, and then the hybrid substrate 8
3 is transmitted to the connector 84 that is electrically connected.

Further, this signal is input to a CCU (not shown) or a video processor through a transmission cable 86 to which a connector receiver 85 connected to the connector 84 is attached. This connector receiver 85 is a tip member 74.
The connector 84 can be attached from the front or can be removed by the reverse operation. Imaging adapter 7
When the connector 84 is detached from the connector receiver 85 with the tip 5 being detached from the tip member 74, the image pickup unit 80 can be detached.

A light guide 87 is inserted into the exterior tube 73, and its tip is fixed to the tip member 74 by a pipe 88a. A lens 89a is fixed to the front end surface of the light guide 87. Imaging adapter 7
5 is also provided with a pipe 88b that fits into the pipe 88a, a short light guide 90 is also inserted through this pipe 88b, and lenses 89b and 89c are attached to both ends thereof. The two pipes 88a and 88b are fitted to each other so that illumination light can be transmitted without leakage.
At the rear end of the tip member 74, a bending piece 9 that constitutes a bending portion is formed.
1 and 91 are rotatably connected to each other in a cascade connection, and the outer side thereof is covered with an exterior tube 73.

In this embodiment, the electronic scope can be used in the connected state as shown in FIG. After use, the connection ring 76 is turned to rotate the tip member 74 to the imaging adapter 75.
The image pickup unit 80 can be detached from the image pickup adapter 75. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the image pickup adapter 75 from which the image pickup unit 80 is removed can be autoclaved together with the electronic scope body (the tip member 74 from which the image pickup adapter 75 is removed in FIG. 8).

FIG. 10 shows a modification of FIG. In this modified example, in FIG. 8, an image pickup unit 94 (or an image pickup adapter) is configured with a frame body 93 in which a lens frame 79 and a CCD frame 82 are integrated. In this structure, when autoclaving is performed, the imaging unit 94 is removed and the electronic scope body is autoclaved, and the imaging unit 94 is sterilized with EOG gas or the like. After that, the imaging unit 9
4 is attached to the electronic scope body again and used.

In this modification, the image pickup unit 94 is set to EOG.
Although the sterilization process is performed with gas or the like, since the image pickup unit 94 is small, the amount of EOG gas used for sterilization is small, and the disposal process of used EOG gas etc. does not pose a serious environmental problem, and it is suitable for disposal. It does not cost a huge amount.

FIG. 11 shows still another modification. This modification is shown in FIG. 8 in which a connector 84 and a connector receiver 85 are provided.
Is integrated so that the image pickup unit 95 shown by the alternate long and short dash line can be removed. This imaging unit 95
The rear end extends to a rear operation unit (not shown) and is detachable from the operation unit. Further, in this modification, the tip of the light guide 87 is fixed to the tip member 96 by the pipe 88, and the illumination light is emitted from the end face of this tip through the illumination lens 89c.

Next, an endoscope image pickup apparatus having a heat insulating structure and having improved heat resistance of the image pickup means by preventing heat from being transmitted to the image pickup means during autoclave processing will be described. An electronic endoscope 101 as an endoscope imaging device shown in FIG. 12 has an elongated insertion portion 102, a large-diameter operation portion 103 continuously provided at a rear end of the insertion portion 102, and a side of the operation portion 103. And a connector 105 provided at the end of the universal cable 104 can be detachably connected to a CCU (not shown).

The insertion portion 102 has a hard tip portion 106.
And a bending portion 107 and a flexible tube portion 108,
The bending portion 107 can be bent by operating the bending knob 109 provided on the operation unit 103. The tip portion 106 is configured as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b).

Tip body 106 forming tip 106
A cylindrical concave portion is formed on the front side of a, and an internal thread portion 111 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the concave portion. The base end side of the imaging unit 112 can be detachably accommodated in this recess. That is, the male screw portion 113 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the imaging unit 112 on the base end side can be screwed into the female screw portion 111 to be mounted.

The image pickup unit 112 has a main body 1
14 is formed of a substance having a low thermal conductivity into a substantially cylindrical shape, and a concave portion is formed on the front surface side thereof with rotational symmetry with respect to the central axis of the circular cylinder.
6 and CCD 117 are stored and fixed. This CCD
117 is a cable 118 via the substrate on the back side of the main body 1
It is electrically connected to a contact portion 119 provided on the back surface of 14.

In the contact portion 119, a plurality of contacts formed of a plurality of rings that are concentric around the central axis are provided on the insulating member. Then, the imaging unit 112 is attached to the front end portion 1.
When mounted in the recess of 06, the contact portion 119 protruding from the back surface of the main body portion 114 comes into contact with the contact receiving portion 120 formed by a plurality of radially spaced contacts provided in the recess portion of the tip body 106a. This contact receiving portion 120 is the cable 1
21 to the electrical contacts of the connector 105.

On the outer peripheral surface of the main body 114, there is provided a screw portion 124 to be screwed with a screw portion 123 provided on the rear end side of the transparent cover member 122, and the main body portion 1 mounted in the recessed portion.
The portion of 14 exposed from this recess is covered by the cover 122.
It can be covered with.

A packing 125 is housed in the peripheral groove of the cover 122, and the inside of the packing 125 is kept airtight. In this electronic endoscope 101, when the cover 122 is attached to the image pickup unit 112,
As shown in FIG. 3A, the image pickup unit 112 and the cover 122 do not come into contact with each other except for a portion where the screw portion 123 and the screw portion 124 are screwed together and a portion where the packing 125 is in close contact.

Therefore, the cover 122 is attached to the image pickup unit 11
2 is attached in a vacuum tank together with the image pickup unit 112 removed from the main body 106a at the tip, thereby forming a vacuum layer 127 having an excellent heat insulating function between the image pickup unit 112 and the cover 122. I am able to do so. The vacuum layer 127 prevents the CCD 117 or the like from rising to a temperature exceeding its resistance when processed by an autoclave.

FIG. 14 shows a camera-external endoscope as an endoscope image pickup device. For example, an external camera 132 that is detachably attached to the fiberscope 32 shown in FIG. 6 includes a camera head section 133 and a camera cable 134 extending from the camera head section 133. Has a connector 135 attached.

The camera head part 133 has a screw part 136.
The cover 137 is detachably attached to the cover 137, and the image pickup unit 142 can be detachably attached to the cover 137.

The cover 137 has a substantially cylindrical shape having a cylindrical storage space, one end is closed by a transparent member 138 such as a glass plate, and the other end is opened.
A screw portion 139 is provided on the inner peripheral surface. Also, this screw part 1
A packing groove 141 is accommodated by providing a circumferential groove at the back of 39. An image pickup unit 142 provided with a screw part to be screwed into the screw part 139 can be attached to the cover 137.

The image pickup unit 142 is provided with a cover glass 143, an image forming lens 144, and a CCD 145 in which a concave portion is formed in a substantially cylindrical body. The outer diameter of the image pickup unit 142 is set smaller than the inner diameter of the cover 137, and when mounted on the cover 137, most of the outer peripheral surface of the image pickup unit 142 is separated from the inner peripheral surface of the cover 137.

The front surface of the image pickup unit 142 is also covered by the cover 1.
Separated from the inside of the front surface of 37. Then, the imaging unit 14
A space around 2 is formed with a vacuum layer 146 which is maintained in a vacuum state as in the case of FIG.

The CCD 145 is electrically connected to a contact portion 148 provided on the back side of the image pickup unit 142 by a cable 147. The contact portion 148 is electrically connected to a contact receiving portion 149 provided at a position facing the camera head portion 133. The cable 150 connected to the contact receiving portion 149
Leads to connector 135. By the way, for example, the distal end portion 106 of the electronic endoscope 101 of FIG. 12 may be configured as shown in FIG.

The image pickup unit 152 is detachably attached to the tip end body 151 by screwing means. The imaging unit 152 has an objective lens 154 fixed to the lens frame, a CCD 155, and an electronic circuit board 15 inside a cylindrical frame 153 whose both end surfaces are closed by transparent glass or the like.
6, an optical communication element 157, a battery 158 for operating the CCD 155, the electronic circuit board 156 and the like are housed, and the inside of the cylindrical frame 153 is held in a vacuum.

An optical communication element 159 is also arranged on the tip end body 151 side so as to face the optical communication element 157, and the optical communication element 159 is connected to the connector 105 by a cable 160.
(See FIG. 12). According to this configuration,
Since the CCD 155 and the like are housed inside a vacuum, heat resistance during autoclave processing can be ensured. Further, the external camera 132 of FIG. 14 may be configured as shown in FIG.

In this external camera 161, the image pickup unit 163 is attachable to and detachable from the camera head frame 162 by screwing means. This image pickup unit 163 is a frame body 1 having a closed structure.
An image forming lens 166, a CCD 167, an electronic circuit board 168, an optical communication element 169, a battery 170 for operating the CCD 167 and the like are housed in the housing 65, and the inside of the frame 165 is evacuated. An optical communication element 171 for communicating with the optical communication element 169 is also arranged outside the frame body 165 facing the optical communication element 169, and the optical communication element 171 is connected to a cable 172. Also in this structure, the same mechanism as that shown in FIG. 15 is provided.

In the endoscope system 31 shown in FIG. 6, the external camera 33 has a structure in which the image pickup unit 68 can be separated and taken out, but the external camera 33 'in the endoscope system 31' shown in FIG. 17 does not separate it. So, it has a heat insulation structure so that it can be autoclaved. A frame 6 is provided inside the camera head body 33a of the external camera 33 '.
An image forming lens 55 and a CCD 56 are attached to the image forming apparatus 1, and printed boards 57 and 58 are also attached through a spacer 60.

The printed boards 57 and 58 on which the CCD 56 and the electronic component 59 are mounted are made of a heat-resistant material such as high-performance engineering plastic in a foamed plastic form and housed in a box-shaped heat insulating body 64. When the CCD 56 and the electronic component 59 are heat-sterilized,
The heat insulator 64 has a structure that prevents heat conduction from the outside to the inside of the heat insulator 64 as much as possible, that is, an adiabatic structure so that the temperature rise inside the heat insulator 64 can be prevented.
The periphery of the heat insulating body 64 is covered with a mold member 65 formed in a box shape with a high-performance engineering plastic material or the like.

In this embodiment, an uneven portion is formed on the outer surface of the heat insulator 64 to minimize the contact area with the mold member 65 as the outer housing so that the heat from the outer mold member 65 is transferred to the heat insulator 64. It is designed to prevent conduction to 64 as much as possible.

Further, in this embodiment, the frame 61 is provided with a vent hole 66a for adjusting the internal pressure, and the vent hole 66a is structured to be opened and closed by a valve 66b. That is, when the pressure difference between the inside and the outside is not large, the vent hole 66a is kept closed by the valve 66b as shown in FIG. 18A, and when the inside pressure becomes considerably higher than the outside pressure, FIG. The valve 66b opens as shown in (b). A tip portion 181 of the electronic endoscope provided with this internal pressure adjusting mechanism is shown in FIG.

An objective lens 183 is attached to the observation window provided on the outer frame 182, and the photoelectric conversion surface of the CCD 184 is arranged at the focal plane of the objective lens 183. The CCD 184 is integrated with the hybrid board 185, and the signal photoelectrically converted by the CCD 184 passes through the hybrid board 185 and the transmission cable 186 connected to the hybrid board 185 to the video processor (not shown). Is entered.

The video processor converts the output signal of the CCD 184 into a standard video signal. The exterior frame 18
A heat insulating member 187 is housed in the second heat insulating member 18.
7, the CCD 184 and the hybrid substrate 185 are covered. The heat insulating member 187 is formed of, for example, expanded polystyrene, and the thermal conductivity of the expanded polystyrene is 1/10 or less of that of the exterior frame 182. A material having a low thermal conductivity may be used instead of the expanded polystyrene.

A light guide 188 for transmitting illumination light is inserted into the exterior frame 182.
The end portion of the reference numeral 8 on the hand side is connected to a light source device (not shown), and the illumination light from this light source device is transmitted and emitted from the front end surface to the front side of the subject through the illumination lens 189. Also in this embodiment, the heat insulating member 187 covers the CCD 184 and the hybrid substrate 185. Further, the heat insulating member 187 is provided with a vent hole 190 and a valve 191 for adjusting the internal pressure, and when the internal pressure becomes high, the valve 1
91 is designed to open.

As shown in FIG. 20, a valve 193 made of a shape memory metal is attached to the vent hole 190, and the vent hole 190 is opened by bending the valve 193 as shown by the dotted line by heat during autoclave treatment. You may do it.

In the electronic endoscope 201 shown in FIG. 21, an objective lens 204 is attached to an observation window provided on an exterior frame 203 which constitutes the distal end portion 202 of the insertion portion, and a CCD 205 is provided behind it.
Are arranged. A substrate 207 on which a circuit component 206 is mounted is arranged on the back side of the CCD 205. A signal cable 208 is connected to the substrate 207, and extends to the operation unit side (not shown) behind. CCD 205
A heat insulating material 209 is arranged in a cylindrical shape around the substrate 20 and the like.
A doughnut-shaped thermal expansion member 210 is arranged at a position rearward of 7.

This thermal expansion member 210 is normally opened so as to communicate with the front and back thereof as indicated by the solid line, and during the autoclave treatment, the thermal expansion member 210 is thermally expanded and blocked on both sides as indicated by the dotted line. CCD2 located at
It is designed to prevent steam from entering the 05 side.

With this structure, it is possible to effectively prevent the characteristics of the CCD 205 and the like from being deteriorated by moisture during the autoclave treatment. It should be noted that a combination of the above-mentioned respective embodiments partially or the like also belongs to the present invention.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, at least a part of the endoscope image pickup device is housed by the cover member provided with the attachment / detachment mechanism, and the endoscope image pickup device is used for a living body or the like. After that, after taking out the housed member housed in the cover member, the cover member is autoclaved or discarded, so that the housed member is kept clean without being autoclaved, Can be used again.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a camera head cover member.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the TV camera body is removed from the first embodiment and housed in an autoclave device.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a camera head cover member.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing an endoscope system including a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an imaging unit is removed.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the distal end portion of the electronic endoscope according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the image pickup unit is removed from FIG.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the tip portion of a modified example of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the tip portion of another modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing an entire electronic endoscope having a heat insulating structure.

13 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the tip portion of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a camera external endoscope having a heat insulating structure.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the tip portion in the modification of FIG.

16 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a modified example of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram of an endoscope system including a camera external endoscope having a heat insulating structure.

FIG. 18 is a view showing an internal pressure adjusting mechanism.

FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram of a distal end portion of an electronic endoscope provided with an internal pressure adjusting mechanism.

FIG. 20 is a view showing an internal pressure adjusting mechanism.

FIG. 21 is a configuration diagram of a distal end portion of an electronic endoscope provided with a mechanism for preventing vapor from entering.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... External camera 2 ... Optical endoscope 3 ... Eyepiece 4 ... Camera head 5 ... Camera cable 6 ... Connector 7 ... Imaging lens system 8 ... Optical adapter 9 ... CCD 11 ... TV camera body 12 ... Camera Head cover member 16 ... Circumferential groove 19 ... Pivot member 20 ... Cable cover

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Mototsugu Ogawa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Shinji Yamashita 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akinobu Uchikubo 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akihiro Miyashita 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yudai Nakagawa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Issei Kobayashi 2-43 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Murata 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olin Scan Optical Industry Co., Ltd. in the (72) inventor Yamaguchi, Seiji Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Hatagaya 2-chome No. 43 No. 2 Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. in

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscopic image pickup apparatus comprising an image pickup means, a cover member which is detachably attached to the endoscopic image pickup apparatus and has heat resistance, and which can be stored inside the cover member. An endoscope image pickup device comprising: a detachable mechanism that detachably attaches and detaches an image pickup unit to and from the endoscope image pickup device.