JPH06175040A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an endoscope capable of incorporating more internals relatively compared with the outer diameter of the tip of the endoscope. CONSTITUTION:An optical adaptor 7 consisting of a lengthy insertion part provided with a tip part 6 on which an illumination optical system 12 and an objective optical system 13 are provided, an adaptor main body 23 on which an optical system to change an angle of visibility or a visual field direction is provided, and a connection ring 18 on the rear terminal side inner peripheral plane of which a female screw 17 engaging with male screws 16a, 16b provided on the outer peripheral plane of the tip part 6, and a projection 21 formed in accordance with a recessed part 30 on the tip outer peripheral plane of the connection ring 18 are provided, and an engaging state where the connection ring 18 is prevented from being extracted from the adaptor main body 23 can be held by hanging the projection 21 on the recessed part 30.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to endoscopes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, endoscopes have come to be widely used not only in the medical field but also in the industrial field. This endoscope has a visual field direction,
There is one that allows you to change the viewing angle. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-137221 discloses a first conventional example in which a viewing direction and a viewing angle are changed by attaching and detaching an adapter to the tip as shown in FIG. The adapter 71 passes the setscrew (or connection ring) 73 from the front of the setscrew (or connection ring) connecting member 72, and the set screw inner peripheral projection 74 on the inner periphery of the front end of the setscrew 73 and the setscrew connecting member 72.
The set screw connecting member projection 75 on the outer periphery of the rear end is caught, and is engaged with the female screw 77 and the male screw 78 of the set screw connecting member 72 on the inner periphery of the rear end of the adapter body 76 to connect the adapter side 71. Make up.

A knurl 79 is cut on the outer periphery of the set screw 73 to prevent slippage. On the side of the endoscope, male screws 81 that engage with female screws 80 provided on the inner periphery of the rear end of the set screw 73 are provided on the outer periphery of the distal end 82 of the endoscope at two positions, front and rear.

The set screw 73 is inserted into the endoscope tip 82, and when the male screw 81 on the front side is reached, the set screw 73 is rotated and engaged. When it is rotated further, the engagement is released,
When the female screw 80 is further pushed in and the female screw 80 reaches the male screw 81 on the rear side, the set screw 73 is further rotated to engage and the desired objective / illumination optical system is established (not shown).

No. 62-38616 (Actual fair 4-3)
No. 4499) discloses a second conventional example as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the visual field direction and the visual field angle can be changed by attaching and detaching the adapter 71 to and from the endoscope distal end 82.

A groove 85 is cut at a position corresponding to the front end of the set screw 73 on the outer peripheral surface of the endoscope tip 82, and a catching portion 86 for engaging with the set screw 73 is formed. Set screw 73
The inner diameter of is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the endoscope tip 82 except for the tip side, and the inner diameter of the tip side is slightly smaller than that.
A hook portion 87 corresponding to the second hook portion 86 is formed.

Further, the tip of the set screw 73 has a plurality of slits 88 in the axial direction. Further, a male screw 89 is cut on the outer periphery of the front end of the set screw 73. Also, set screw 7
3. A knurl 90 is cut on the outer periphery of the rear end.

When the set screw 73 is passed from the distal end side of the endoscope 82 from the distal end side, the distal end side of the set screw 73 is deformed in the outer diameter direction, and when the catch portion 86 comes to the corresponding position of the catch portion 87, the stop screw 73 is stopped. The screw 73 is in a state as shown in FIG. 8 and cannot be pulled out forward. The adapter body 76 has female threads 91 at the rear end and two locations behind the inner peripheral surface in the middle thereof, and engages with the male threads 92 of the set screw 73.

The adapter 71 is inserted into the distal end 82 of the endoscope and engaged, and the set screw 73 is rotated to engage the female screw 91 on the rear side of the adapter 71 and the male screw 92 of the set screw 73, and further set screw. Rotation of 73 disengages. When the adapter 71 is further pushed in and the set screw 73 is rotated, the female screw 91 on the front side and the male screw 9 of the set screw 73 are rotated.
2 is engaged, the state shown in FIG. 8 is established, and the desired objective / illumination optical system is established (not shown). A peripheral groove is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the adapter body 76, and the O-ring 94 for watertightness is formed.
Is stored.

[0010]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the first and second conventional examples shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, Dout: outer diameter of set screw, or adapter body, outer diameter of tip of endoscope, Dmin: endoscope The smallest outer diameter of the tip is represented by symbolizing each wall thickness as follows: tr: knurl wall thickness, 0.35 mm ts: screw thread wall thickness, 0.2 mm th: step wall thickness , 0.2 mm to: thickness of normal portion, 0.15 mm t n: thickness under screw portion, 0.2 mm cl: clearance, 0.15 mm. In this case, the minimum wall thickness of each part varies depending on the material, but is approximately the above value for stainless steel.

First, with respect to the first conventional example, when subscripts as shown in FIG. 7 are used, Dmin is determined as follows. Dmin = Dout-2 * tr1-2 * ts1-2 * cl-2 *
th1-2 * cl-2 * ts2-2 * tn1-2 * cl = Dout-2 * (th1 + tn1 + tr1 + ts1 + ts2 + 3 *
cl) Therefore, the maximum Dmin is (Dout-2.6) mm.

Therefore, the smallest outer diameter Dmi at the tip of the endoscope is obtained.
n is much smaller than the outside diameter of the set screw. The amount of built-in objects such as the image guide and light guide of the endoscope is limited by the outer diameter of the endoscope tip. As a result, in the first conventional example, the built-in amount is set screw or adapter body, Compared to the outer diameter of the tip of the mirror, it can be inserted in a much smaller amount.

Next, the case of the second conventional example will be described. In this conventional example, when the suffix is defined as shown in FIG. 8, the smallest outer diameter Dmin of the endoscope tip is determined by a strict method among the following two conditions (expressions). Condition (Expression) 1 Dmin = Dout-2 * to1-2 * ts3-2 * cl-2 *
to2-2 * cl-2 * th2-2 * cl = Dout-2 * (th2 + to1 + to2 + ts3 + 3 * cl) Condition (expression) 2 Dmin = Dout-2 * tr2-2 * cl-2 * th2-2 *
cl = Dout-2 * (th2 + th2 + 2 * cl) When the minimum value is put in each wall thickness, Dmin becomes (Dout-1.7) mm at the maximum.

Therefore, the smallest outer diameter Dmi at the tip of the endoscope is obtained.
n is considerably smaller than the outside diameter of the set screw. First
In the same manner as the conventional example (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-137221), the amount of a built-in object such as an image guide and a light guide of the endoscope is limited by the outer diameter of the endoscope tip, and as a result, the conventional technique is used. Then, the built-in amount can be set to a much smaller amount than the set screw or the outer diameter of the adapter body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, in which the smallest outer diameter of the endoscope tip is the adapter body,
Alternatively, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope in which a set screw (connection ring) and an outer diameter of a tip of the endoscope are not so small, and as a result, many built-in objects of the endoscope can be incorporated.

[0016]

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] An adapter main body provided with an elongated insertion portion having a distal end portion provided with an illumination optical system and an objective optical system, and an optical system for changing a viewing angle or a viewing direction. And an optical adapter comprising a connecting ring formed on the inner peripheral surface of the rear end side with a female screw that is screwed into a male screw provided on the outer peripheral surface of the tip portion, and formed on the inner peripheral surface of the rear end of the adapter body. By providing a concave portion and a convex portion formed on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end of the connecting ring corresponding to the concave portion and engaging with the concave portion, the convex portion is hooked in the concave portion to form the connecting ring and the adapter. It is possible to hold the main body in an engaged state so as not to come off, and to screw the female screw on the inner peripheral side of the rear end of the connection ring to the male screw of the tip end to attach the optical adapter to the tip end. In this case, it is not necessary to make the smallest outer diameter of the endoscope tip much smaller than the outer diameter of the adapter body, the set screw (connection ring), or the tip of the endoscope. Many can be built in.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the endoscope of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows the tip of the endoscope and an adapter attached to this tip. Is shown in cross section, FIG. 3 shows the connecting ring, and FIG. 4 shows the deformed connecting ring.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope 1 of the first embodiment is flexible and has an elongated insertion portion 2 and a wide width portion formed at the rear end of the insertion portion 2. The operation section 3, the eyepiece section 4 formed at the rear end of the operation section 3, the light guide cable 5 extending from the side of the operation section 3, and the tip section formed at the tip of the insertion section 2. An optical adapter (hereinafter simply referred to as an adapter) 7 that is detachably attached to the device 6 and that can change the viewing direction and change the viewing angle.

The insertion portion 2 includes a hard tip portion 6, a curved portion 8 formed at the rear end of the tip portion 6, and a long flexible tube portion 9 formed at the rear end of the curved portion 8. The bending portion 8 can be bent by performing an operation of rotating the bending operation knob 10 provided on the operation portion 3.

A light guide 11 is inserted into the insertion portion 2 as shown in FIG.
Is inserted through the light guide cable 5 extended from
It can be connected to a light source device (not shown), transmits illumination light supplied from the light source device, and is emitted forward from the distal end surface fixed to the distal end portion 6 of the insertion portion 2 via the illumination optical system 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, an objective optical system 13 is attached to the tip end portion 6 adjacent to the illumination optical system 12 via a frame body 14. The tip end surface of the image guide 15 is attached via the objective optical system 13. Connect the statue to. The image of the front end face is transmitted to the rear end face of the image guide 15 and can be magnified and observed with the naked eye through an eyepiece lens (not shown) facing the rear end face.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the adapter 7 mounted on the tip portion 6, female threads 17 which are screwed into male threads 16a and 16b formed at two positions on the outer peripheral surface of the tip portion 6 are formed on the inner peripheral surface. It has a connecting ring 18 formed at the rear end.

A slot 19 is formed on the tip side of the ring-shaped connecting ring 18 made of metal or plastic, and a projection 21 is formed on the tip side of the connecting ring 18 so as to project radially outward. Also, this connection ring 1
A knurl 22 having a non-slip function is formed on the rear side of the outer peripheral surface of 8 to facilitate a turning operation when attaching / detaching to / from the tip 6.

The adapter body 23 is connected to the tip side of the connection ring 18. Inside the adapter body 23, an adapter illumination optical system 24 is attached so as to face the illumination optical system 12, and an adapter objective optical system 25 that faces the objective optical system 13 and changes, for example, a viewing angle is provided with the spacing rings 26, 2.
It is attached via 7.

A projection 28 is formed on the outer peripheral surface on the rear side of the spacing ring 26 so as to project radially outward, and a step portion 29 that engages with the projection 28 is formed on the corresponding inner peripheral surface of the adapter body 23.
Are formed. In this way, the spacing ring 26 is prevented from falling off.

A concave portion 30 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the rear end side of the adapter body 23, and a projection 31 is formed on the rear end side of the concave portion 30 so as to project inwardly in a radius direction. The protrusion 21 is housed and the protrusion 21 and the protrusion 31 are caught, the connection ring 18 and the adapter body 23 are kept in the engaged state, and the other is prevented from coming off.

A peripheral groove is formed in front of the recess 30.
The O-ring 32 is housed to secure the watertightness between the endoscope tip 6 and the adapter 7 and prevent moisture from entering the internal optical system side.

Pushing the connection ring 18 from the rear of the adapter body 23 in which the adapter illumination optical system 24 and the adapter objective optical system 25 are incorporated to set the engagement state in which the adapter body 23 and the connection ring 18 are not disengaged. You can do it.

That is, as shown in FIG.
When the connection ring 18 shown in FIG. 2 is pushed in, until the protrusion 21 on the outer periphery of the connection ring 18 and the protrusion 31 on the adapter body 23 face each other, that is, until the protrusion 21 is housed in the recess 30 as shown in FIG. The slot 19 formed on the tip side of the connection ring 18 elastically deforms in the inner diameter direction as shown by the solid line in FIG. When they come to opposite positions, they return to the shape shown by the dotted line.

When the shape returns to the shape shown by the dotted line, the projection 21 on the outer periphery of the connecting ring 18 and the adapter body 23
As shown in FIG. 2, the side projections 31 are engaged with each other, and in this state, one side does not come out from the other side. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

(1) Attachment / Detachment of Adapter 7: The adapter 7 is pushed into the endoscope distal end portion 6 to be engaged therewith, and the connecting ring 18 is rotated to rotate the connecting ring 18 to the front male screw 16 of the endoscope distal end portion 6.
When a is engaged with the female screw 17 of the connection ring 18, and the connection ring 18 is further rotated, the engagement is released. When the adapter 7 is further pushed in and the connecting ring 18 is rotated, the male screw 16b on the rear side and the female screw 17 of the connecting ring 18 are engaged, and the mounting state of FIG. 2 is obtained. To remove it, reverse the procedure.

(2) Regarding the function of preventing the adapter 7 from falling off: There are two patterns for the adapter 7 to fall off during use. First, the engagement between the female screw 17 of the connecting ring 18 and the male screw 16b on the rear side of the two portions of the endoscope distal end portion 6 must first be released. From that state, the adapter 7 must move axially forward.

In this state, a gap is formed between the adapter 7 and the endoscope tip portion 6, so that the observation optical system becomes abnormal.
The illumination light enters the observation optical system, causing flare, and you notice something unusual.

Furthermore, the female screw 17 and the front male screw 16a
However, it is possible to prevent the abnormal state from the state before the disengagement from the abnormal state leading to the disengagement.

The other pattern is when the connection ring 18 and the adapter body 23 are broken. Therefore, the falling off of the adapter 7 in this embodiment is almost the same as the conventional example of JP-A-1-137221 and JP-B-62-38616 (JP-B-4-34499).

On the other hand, the effects of this embodiment are as follows. First, consider the outer diameter of the endoscope distal end portion 6. In this embodiment, the smallest outer diameter Dmin of the endoscope tip 6 is
Using the above symbols and the symbols shown in FIG.
Determined by the stricter of the two conditions (expressions).

Dmin = Dout-2 * tr3-2 * ts4-2 * cl = Dout-2 * (tr3 + ts4 + cl) Dmin = Dout-2 * ts3-2 * cl-2 * th3-2 *
cl-2 * to4-2 * cl = Dout-2 * (th3 + to3 + to4 + 3 * cl) When the minimum wall thickness is entered, Dmin is maximum (Dout-1.3) mm.

Therefore, the size can be increased by 1.3 mm as compared with the first conventional example. It can be increased by 0.4 mm as compared with the second conventional example. The smallest outer diameter of the endoscope distal end portion is not so small as compared with the outer diameters of the adapter body and the endoscope distal end portion, and as a result, it becomes possible to incorporate many internal components of the endoscope.

Incidentally, the second conventional example is different from the first conventional example in that
The smallest outer diameter Dmin at the tip of the endoscope can be increased, but there are the following problems.

The second conventional example, that is, the actual development of Sho 62-386.
In No. 16 (Jun-Bei 4-34499), when the adapter 71 is used without being attached, the set screw 73 may fall off when the distal end side of the set screw 73 is entirely deformed in the outer peripheral direction. Therefore, the first embodiment has a structure in which the tip parts are less likely to come off than the second conventional example. In both medical and industrial applications, the loss of the leading edge parts leads to a serious accident, and therefore the structure of the first embodiment is superior to that of the second conventional example.

Also, in terms of the length of the knurl 22, it will be described below that the first embodiment can be made longer than the second conventional example and is excellent. In FIG. 8, the O-ring 9
L1 from the wall behind 4 to the rear end of set screw 73
Then, the length L2 before the knurl 90 escapes 95
In addition, three times the length of the male screw 92 is required. Outer diameter D
When out is around φ8 mm, L2 requires around 4 mm.

In FIG. 2, if the lengths from the rear wall of the O-ring 32 to the rear end of the connecting ring 18 and the front of the knurl 22 are L3 and L4, respectively, the length L4 is the connecting ring in the first embodiment. In addition to the 18 outer peripheral projections 21, the length of the slot 19 is required. When the outer diameter Dout is about 8 mm, L4 needs to be about 2.5 mm.

From the above, the length of the knurls 94 and 22 is L
L2, L4 subtracted from 1, L3, L
If L1 and L3 are equal, the knurled wheel 22 of the first embodiment
Since the length can be increased by about 1.5 mm, it becomes easy to operate (turn).

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, an adapter objective optical system 25 provided in the adapter body 23 in the second embodiment.
Is used as a spacer ring 26, and the spacer ring 26 holds one lens of the adapter objective optical system 25.

A caulking groove 36 is formed on the rear end surface of the spacing ring 26.
In addition, a male screw 37 is cut on the outer peripheral surface, and a female screw 38 is also cut on the corresponding position of the adapter body 23. In front of the spacing ring 26, a plurality of brightness diaphragms 39 made of, for example, a phosphor bronze plate are inserted.

The observation optical system of the second embodiment adjusts the observation depth by adjusting the distance between the second lens and the third lens of the adapter objective optical system 25. At that time, if the desired observation depth is not obtained after the observation optical system is once assembled, a caulking tool (not shown) is inserted into the caulking groove 36 and rotated, and the spacing ring 26 is moved from the adapter body 23. remove. Further, the number of brightness diaphragms 39 is adjusted (increased or decreased) and the interval ring 26 is incorporated again to obtain a desired observation depth.

The structure of the connecting ring 18 in the second embodiment is partially different from that in the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of U-shaped slits 40 are provided in the circumferential direction on the distal end side of the connection ring 18, and cutout pieces 41 are formed.
Each notch piece 41 is bent so as to project radially outward.

When the connecting ring 18 is connected to the adapter body 23, the cutout piece 41 engages with the projection 31 of the adapter body 23 as shown in FIG. 5 to prevent the other from coming off. .

The assembling method is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the attachment / detachment of the adapter 7 in the operation of this embodiment is also the same as that of the first embodiment. Also, the effect of this embodiment is almost the same as that of the first embodiment. Furthermore, without forming a slit at the tip of the connecting ring 18, almost the same function is formed.
Therefore, since there is no slit, the deformation of the tip is small, and the component processing of the connecting ring 18 is easy.

The present invention can be applied to the case where a solid-state image pickup device such as CCD is used instead of the image guide.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, the smallest outer diameter of the endoscope tip is not so much smaller than the outer diameters of the adapter body and the endoscope tip, and as a result, the endoscope is obtained. It becomes possible to incorporate many internal components.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an endoscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a distal end portion of an insertion portion and an optical adapter attached to the distal end portion.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a connection ring.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a case where a connection ring is deformed.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a distal end portion of an insertion portion and an optical adapter attached to the distal end portion according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a connection ring.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a front end side of a first conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a tip side of a second conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope 2 ... Insertion part 3 ... Operation part 4 ... Eyepiece part 5 ... Light guide cable 6 ... Tip part 7 ... (Optical) adapter 11 ... Light guide 13 ... Objective optical system 15 ... Image guide 16a, 16b ... Male screw 17 ... Female screw 18 ... Connection ring 19 ... Slot 21 ... Protrusion 22 ... Knurl 23 ... Adapter body 25 ... Adapter objective optical system 26 ... Interval ring 30 ... Recess 31 ... Protrusion 32 ... O-ring

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An elongated insertion portion having a distal end portion provided with an illumination optical system and an objective optical system, an adapter main body provided with an optical system for changing a viewing angle or a viewing direction, and an outer peripheral surface of the distal end portion. An optical adapter including a connecting ring formed on a rear end side inner peripheral surface of a female thread to be screwed into a male screw provided on the rear end side inner peripheral surface of the adapter body; An endoscope having a convex portion formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tip of the concave portion corresponding to the concave portion and engaging with the concave portion.