JPH06319685A - Flexible tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a flexible tube relatively slender in diameter and having air chambers and a passage for a curve mechanism utilizing the pressure of gas. CONSTITUTION:The insertion section 2 of an endoscope has a curved section 7 at its tip section. The curved section 7 is formed with an elastic tube, and it has four air chambers 10 in it. The air chambers 10 are partitioned by a tip hard section 8 and connecting members 9. One pressure tube 11 connected to the tip hard section 8 through a through hole provided on the connecting member 9 is provided in each air chamber 10. An image guide fiber or a light guide fiber is inserted into each pressure tube 11 with a gap allowing the flow of gas. The fiber is optically coupled with a lens provided on the tip hard section 8. Air feed holes 14 connecting the inside and the air chamber 10 are provided on the pressure tube 11. The space formed with the inside of the pressure tube 11 and the air chamber 10 is kept airtight.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible tube used for an endoscope or a catheter for observing the inside of a body cavity such as a gas tube.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A flexible tube has an elastically deformable tip portion generally called a bending portion. Various mechanisms are known as a mechanism for bending the bending portion, and one of them is one utilizing the pressure of fluid such as gas. The bending mechanism utilizing the pressure of this fluid has a plurality of air chambers provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction,
And means for appropriately feeding gas into a predetermined air chamber. When it is desired to bend the curved portion in a certain direction, gas is sent into the air chamber located on the side opposite to that direction. If the gas supply is continued as it is, the internal pressure increases and the air chamber expands. As a result, the bending portion bends in the direction opposite to the side where the expanded air chamber is located.

[0003]

A flexible tube having a smaller diameter is preferable in view of ease of insertion and freedom in a body cavity and the inside of the tube. However, in the flexible tube using the bending mechanism utilizing the pressure of the gas described above, since the flow path for feeding the gas is provided for each air chamber,
The current situation is that the diameter is thicker. It is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible tube having a relatively small diameter, which includes an air chamber and a flow path for a bending mechanism that utilizes gas pressure.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a bending portion made of an elastically deformable material, an air chamber partially provided in the bending portion in the circumferential direction thereof, and a gas for feeding the air chamber. In the flexible tube having the channel and the channel for inserting the built-in object, the channel and the channel are configured by a common channel.

[0005]

The built-in components are light guide fibers and image guide fibers, and these are housed in the conduit communicating with the air chamber, and the space consisting of the conduit and the air chamber is kept airtight. The gas is supplied to the air chamber through a gap between the pipe and the built-in object. As described above, in the flexible tube of the present invention, the channel for sending the gas to the air chamber and the channel for passing the built-in object are provided.
Since the common flexible pipe corresponds to the channel of the normal flexible pipe, it is possible to obtain the flexible pipe having the gas passage with the normal thickness.

[0006]

Embodiments Next, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. First, an endoscope apparatus using the flexible tube of the present invention will be described as a first embodiment with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope device 1 has an insertion portion 2 (flexible tube), an operation portion 3, a universal cord 4, a light source 5 and a control device 6. The insertion portion 2 is manufactured in the shape of a tube having a circular cross section, and has a curved portion 7 at its tip.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bending portion 7 has a tip hard portion 8 at its tip and a connecting member 9 at its base. As shown in FIG. 3, the bending portion 7 is formed of an elastic tube, and has four air chambers 10 having a fan-shaped cross section inside thereof. Both ends of the air chamber 10 have a hard tip 8
Is restricted by the connecting member 9 and the joint is kept airtight.

As shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 9 has a total of four through holes formed one at a position corresponding to each air chamber 10. As can be seen from FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, each of the air chambers 10 is provided with one pressurizing tube 11 that passes through the through hole of the connecting member 9 and reaches the tip hard portion 8. The through hole of the connecting member 9 and the outer circumference of the pressure tube 11 are hermetically joined. Of the four pressure tubes 11, one has an image guide fiber 13 and the other two have a light guide fiber 12.
However, they are passing through with a gap through which gas can flow. Light guide fiber 12 and image guide fiber 13
Has its tip airtightly fixed to the rigid tip portion 8 and is optically coupled to the lens provided in the rigid tip portion 8. The pressure tube 11 is provided with an air supply hole 14 near the tip, and the air chamber 10 and the internal space of the pressure tube 11 are connected via the air supply hole 14.

The pressurizing tube 11 passes through the inside of the insertion portion 2, the operating portion 3 and the universal cord 4 and is connected to a directional control valve (not shown) provided in the control device 6. The directional control valve includes a pressure tube 1 from an air cylinder (not shown).
It controls the flow rate of the air sent to the inside of 1.
The light guide fiber 12 is connected to the light source 5, and the image guide fiber 13 is connected to the eyepiece. The operation unit 3 includes a bending switch 1 for determining a bending direction.
5 is provided on the side surface. This bending switch 15
Is electrically connected to a control circuit that controls the directional control valve.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
In the following, a case where the bending portion 7 is bent downward in FIG. 2 will be described as an example. When a predetermined switch of the bending switch 15 is pressed to bend the bending portion 7 downward, the control circuit inside the control device 6 controls the directional control valve connected to the upper pressurizing tube 11 so as to control the air cylinder. The compressed air inside is sent to the upper pressure tube 11. The compressed air reaches the tip through the gap formed between the inside of the pressure tube 11 and the fiber 12 or 13, and flows into the air chamber 10 from the air supply hole 14. When the compressed air flows in, the air chamber 10 expands as shown in FIG. Due to the expansion of the air chamber 10, the bending portion 7 has its upper side lengthened accordingly and bends downward as a whole.

As described above, as a flow path for sending the compressed air to the air chamber 10, the inner wall of the pressurizing tube 11 and the fiber 12 are provided.
Or, since the gap formed between the two is used, the insertion portion 2 (flexible tube) is configured to be thinner than a flexible tube provided with a separate flow path for sending air to the air chamber.

Although the endoscope apparatus using the flexible tube of the present invention has been described in the embodiment, the flexible tube of the present invention may be used for other apparatuses, for example, a catheter as shown in FIG. . Subsequently, as a second embodiment, a bending portion having a structure different from that of the bending portion described in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

As shown in FIG. 7, the bending portion of this embodiment is
The configuration is very similar to the curved portion described in the first embodiment. In the figure, the members already described in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. The difference from the curved portion of the first embodiment is that orifices 16a and 16b are provided inside the air chamber 10 so as to divide it into three equal parts. For convenience of explanation, the air chamber 1 divided by the orifice 16
The respective portions of 0 are referred to as an air chamber portion 10a, an air chamber portion 10b, and an air chamber portion 10c from the tip side.

Next, the operation will be described by taking as an example the case where the bending portion 7 is bent downward as in the first embodiment. In FIG. 7, when the bending switch is operated to send compressed air to the upper pressure tube 11, the compressed air is supplied to the air supply hole 1
4 and flows into the air chamber 10 (air chamber portion 10a).
The compressed air that has flowed into the air chamber portion 10a is the orifice 16
The flow velocity is weakened by and flows into the air chamber portion 10b. The flow velocity of the air flowing into the air chamber portion 10b is further weakened by the orifice 16b and flows into the air chamber portion 10c. Therefore,
Initially, as shown in FIG. 8A, only the air chamber portion 10a expands. Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, the air chamber portion 10b is expanded following the air chamber portion 10a. At this time,
Since the air is not sufficiently sent into the air chamber portion 10c, it has not expanded yet. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8C, the air chamber portion 10a expands following the air chamber portion 10a and the air chamber portion 10b.

In the present embodiment, the bending portion can be made thin similarly to the first embodiment, and the air chamber 10 is divided into three equal parts by the orifices 16a and 16b, so that the bending angle can be finely adjusted easily. .

Finally, as a third embodiment, a curved portion having a different structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. As shown in FIG. 9, the bending portion of this embodiment has a structure very similar to that of the bending portion described in the first embodiment. In the figure, the members already described in the above-described embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals.
In this embodiment, the regulating member 17 made of non-expandable fiber such as polyester fiber or aromatic polyamide fiber (Kepler) or ultrafine metal fiber is spirally embedded inside the elastic tube of the curved portion 7.

In FIG. 9, when compressed air is sent to the upper pressure tube 11 to bend the bending portion 7 downward as in the first embodiment, the compressed air passes through the air supply hole 14 and the air chamber 1
0, and the air chamber 10 tries to expand. But,
The elastic tube does not expand in the radial direction because the regulating member 17 is embedded inside. Therefore, the air chamber 10
Extends in the axial direction and therefore the bend 7 bends downwards.

In this embodiment, the curved portion can be made thin similarly to the first embodiment, and when compressed air is fed into the air chamber 10, the air chamber 10 expands only in the axial direction and expands in the radial direction. Since it does not, the bending portion 7 does not become thick even when bent.

[0020]

According to the present invention, since the flow path for sending the gas to the air chamber and the channel for passing the built-in object are constituted by a common conduit, the diameter of the gas is relatively small. Thus, a flexible tube having an air chamber and a flow path for a bending mechanism utilizing the pressure can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire endoscope apparatus using a flexible tube according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross section of the curved portion shown in FIG. 1 taken along a plane including a central axis.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cross section of the curved portion shown in FIG. 1 taken along a plane perpendicular to the central axis.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a cross section of the connection member shown in FIG. 2 taken along a plane perpendicular to the central axis.

5 is a view showing a cross section taken along a plane including the central axis in a state where the bending portion shown in FIG. 1 is bent.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an entire catheter using the flexible tube of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a cross section of the curved portion of the second embodiment of the present invention, taken along a plane including the central axis.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a state when the bending portion in FIG. 7 is bent.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a cross section of a curved portion of a third embodiment of the present invention, taken along a plane including the central axis.

10 is a view showing a cross section taken along a plane including the central axis in a state where the bending portion shown in FIG. 9 is bent.

[Explanation of symbols]

7 ... Bending part, 10 ... Air chamber, 11 ... Pressurizing tube, 14
... air vents.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasuo Hirata 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Hiroki Moriyama 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A bending portion made of an elastically deformable material, an air chamber partially provided in the bending portion in the circumferential direction thereof, a flow path for feeding gas to the air chamber, and a built-in object. A flexible tube having a channel for insertion, wherein the flow channel and the channel are formed by a common channel.