JPH0549082B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an optical fiber bundle for illuminating an endoscope used to observe the inside of a living body cavity or a machine, and particularly relates to an optical fiber bundle for illuminating an endoscope. The present invention relates to an improvement in the joint between the output side end of an optical fiber bundle and the tip body.

[Prior Art] Optical fiber bundles for illumination of endoscopes are easily broken and damaged when they come into direct contact with metal members, so the entire length of the bundles is covered with a protective tube. The output side end is joined to the distal end body of the endoscope and illuminates the observation field.

Conventionally, such an optical fiber bundle for illumination of an endoscope is made by first filling the output side end p of the optical fiber bundle a into a metal pipe b in the form of a ring and gluing it, as shown in FIG. 3, for example. After solidifying and shaping the pipe b with an adhesive, and then fixing the tip of the protective tube c to the rear half of the pipe b, the pipe b is inserted into the through hole e drilled in the tip body d of the endoscope. It was fixed with adhesive. In FIG. 3, f is an objective lens, and g is an optical fiber bundle for image transmission.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The optical fiber bundle for illumination of an endoscope is fixed to the tip body using an adhesive and becomes integrated with the tip body. The optical fiber bundle has an exit side end p of the optical fiber bundle a in the pipe b.
Since the adhesive was heated and cured to join the pipe b to the tip body d, the adhesive was also heated and cured when joining the pipe b to the tip body d, so the heat curing time, which required half a day each time, was doubled. This caused a long time to assemble and significantly increased manufacturing costs.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the output side end p of the optical fiber bundle a is
It is conceivable to directly insert the protective tube c into the optical fiber bundle and fix it with adhesive, but simply doing so would require the tip of the protective tube c to be directly joined around the optical fiber bundle a, as shown in FIG. However, when attempting to join them there, since the inner diameter of the protective tube c is larger than the outer diameter of the hardened portion i of the optical fiber bundle a, wrinkles j occur in the protective tube c, making it impossible to join them well. , the adhesive penetrates into the flexible portion k of the optical fiber bundle a and hardens there, causing disadvantages such as causing the optical fiber bundle a to break due to bending operations or the like.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides an optical fiber bundle for illuminating an endoscope, which requires only one bonding operation and thus has a low manufacturing cost, and in which the tip of the protective tube is securely fixed. With the goal.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The optical fiber bundle for illumination of an endoscope according to the present invention for achieving the above object will be explained based on FIG. 1 corresponding to an embodiment. The tip body 5 has a through hole 9.
is bored, and the output side end 8b is provided in the through hole 9.
An optical fiber bundle 8 is directly inserted and fixed with adhesive. A cylindrical protrusion 14 is formed on the tip body 5 so as to surround the rear opening 9a of the through hole 9, and the tip of a protective tube 15 that covers the optical fiber bundle 8 is attached to the cylindrical protrusion 14. It is characterized by a fixed part.

[Function] Since the optical fiber bundle 8 at the output side end 8b is directly inserted into the through hole 9 and bonded, the adhesive work for fixing the illumination optical fiber bundle 8 to the selection part main body 5 only needs to be done once. Therefore, the work of heating and curing the adhesive only needs to be done once.

Further, since the protective tube 15 is fixed to the cylindrical protrusion 14 formed on the tip main body 5, the adhesive used for fixing the protective tube 15 does not adhere to the illumination optical fiber bundle 8, and the cylindrical The projecting piece 14 is formed to surround the rear opening 9a of the through hole 9 and has an outer diameter close to the inner diameter of the protective tube 15, so that it is firmly fixed to the tip of the protective tube 15 without wrinkles.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of an endoscope incorporating the optical fiber bundle for illumination of the present invention, in which an operation knob provided on the operation section 1 is provided at the tip of the insertion section flexible tube 2 connected to the operation section 1. By rotating 3, a bendable curved portion 4 is connected, and a tip main body 5 is connected to the tip thereof. A connecting cord 7 having a connector 6 attached to the tip to be connected to a light source device (not shown) is connected to the operation section 1, and the entrance side end 8a of the illumination optical fiber bundle 8 is fixed to the connector 6. The output end 8b is fixed within the tip body 5.

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the tip main body 5, in which a through hole 9 is bored in the center of the axis, and the optical fiber bundle of the output side end 8b is inserted into the through hole 9. 8 is directly inserted and fixed with adhesive in a ring shape. An objective optical system consisting of an objective lens 11 and an optical fiber bundle 12 for image transmission is inserted into the inner cavity via a support cylinder 10 and fixed by adhesive.
13 is a flexible protective tube that covers the optical fiber bundle 12 for image transmission.

Reference numeral 14 indicates a cylindrical protrusion protruding from the rear end of the tip main body 5 so as to surround the rear opening 9a of the through hole 9, and the cylindrical protrusion 14 is connected to the cylindrical portion 14a. It consists of a flange-shaped portion 14b formed at its end. The outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 14a is larger than the diameter of the through hole 9 and approximately matches the inner diameter of the protective tube 15, and the optical fiber bundle 8 for illumination is inserted into the cylindrical portion 14a over its entire length. The distal end of the highly flexible protective tube 15 to be covered is glued. Reference numeral 16 denotes a thread wound around the outer periphery of the protective tube 15 to further ensure the connection.

17 to 20 are constituent members of the curved portion 4;
17... is a large number of rotatably connected joint rings, 18
1 is an operating wire whose tip is fixed to the most advanced nodal ring 17, 19 is a mesh tube that covers the outer periphery of the nodal ring, and 20 is a flexible outer skin.

The optical fiber bundle for illumination of the endoscope of this embodiment is constructed as described above, and the optical fiber bundle 8 at the output side end 8b is directly inserted into the through hole 9 of the tip body 5 and fixed by adhesive. Therefore, the adhesive work for fixing the illumination optical fiber bundle 8 to the tip body 5 only needs to be done once, and the protective tube 15 is adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical part 14a of the cylindrical protrusion. , the adhesive does not penetrate into the flexible portion 8c of the illumination optical fiber bundle 8,
Moreover, since the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 14a of the cylindrical protrusion and the inner diameter of the protective tube 15 substantially match, wrinkles etc. do not occur in the protective tube 15, and the protective tube 1
The tip of No. 5 is firmly adhered.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the illumination optical fiber bundle 8
is formed into a ring shape, and the objective lens 11 is placed inside it.
and an optical fiber bundle 12 for image transmission are inserted, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the shape of the optical fiber bundle 8 for illumination may be cylindrical or other shape.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the optical fiber bundle for endoscope illumination of the present invention,
Since the work of heating the adhesive to fix the output side end of the illumination optical fiber bundle to the tip body only needs to be done once, the time required for that work is halved, reducing manufacturing costs. Since the tip of the protective tube of the fiber bundle is firmly fixed and the adhesive does not seep into the fiber bundle when it is fixed, the optical fiber bundle for illumination will not be damaged even after repeated use, and furthermore, the illumination optical fiber bundle will not be damaged even after repeated use. Since the output end of the optical fiber bundle is not covered with a pipe, the tip structure can be made thinner to that extent to improve insertability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of an endoscope employing the optical fiber bundle for illumination of an endoscope according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a conventional optical fiber bundle for illumination of an endoscope, and FIG. The figure is a side sectional view of an optical fiber bundle for illumination of an improved endoscope. 5... Tip body, 8... Optical fiber bundle for illumination,
8b...Emission side end, 9...Through hole, 9a...Rear side opening, 14...Cylindrical projection piece, 15...Protection tube.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The optical fiber bundle at the output side end is directly inserted into a through hole drilled in the tip main body that houses the objective optical system and fixed by adhesive, and the optical fiber bundle is attached so as to surround the rear opening of the through hole. An optical fiber bundle for illuminating an endoscope, characterized in that a distal end portion of a protective tube covering the optical fiber bundle is fixed to a cylindrical protrusion formed on the distal end main body.