JPH08160315A - Curving part of endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a curving part of an endoscope which is producible at a low cost, does not break the internal organs and has durability. CONSTITUTION: This curving part 20 of the endoscope has curving members 21, 22, 23 formed to a tubular form having flexibility and axial stretchability and an operating wire 24 connected to the front end side of these curving members 21, 22, 23 and is so constituted that the curving members 21, 22, 23 are curved by pulling this operating wire 24 from behind. The front end of a channel tube 9 consisting of a material having flexibility and compression resistance is fixed to the approximately central axial line position on the front end side of the curving members 21, 22, 23 and is so fixed in the position on the rear end side of the curving members 21, 22, 23 as well so as not to move the channel tube 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bending portion of an endoscope which is arbitrarily bent by pulling an operation wire remotely.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a curved portion of an endoscope, a structure in which a plurality of node rings formed in a short tube shape are rotatably connected to adjacent node rings by rivets is widely used. Since such a structure has a large number of parts and requires a large number of steps for assembling, it has a drawback that the manufacturing cost becomes very high.

Therefore, there is a bending member using a continuous spiral tube similar to the insertion portion flexible tube, but in order to bend the bending portion by pulling the operation wire, the operation wire is pulled. It is necessary to prevent the bending portion from contracting in the axial direction.

Therefore, conventionally, when the bending portion is contracted, the image guide fiber bundle inserted therein is stretched to suppress the contraction of the bending portion (JP-A-2-224634).

[0005]

However, if the image guide fiber bundle is used to suppress the contraction of the bending portion, a large force is applied to the image guide fiber bundle each time the bending portion is bent, and the fiber is gradually broken. However, there is a problem that black dots increase in the observation screen.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a bending portion of an endoscope which can be manufactured at low cost and which is durable and does not cause damage to built-in objects.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the bending portion of the endoscope of the present invention is a bending member formed in a tubular shape having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction, The bending portion of the endoscope having an operation wire connected to the distal end side of the bending member, and bending the bending member by pulling the operation wire from the rear has flexibility. While fixing the distal end of the channel tube made of a material having high compression resistance to the substantially central axis position on the distal end side of the bending member, the channel tube is fixed so as not to move at the rear end position of the bending member. Characterize.

The channel tube may be arranged at a substantially central axis position of the bending member and fixed so as not to move at a substantially central axis position on the rear end side of the bending member.

[0009]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a bending portion 20 is connected to a distal end portion of a flexible insertion portion 10, and a distal end portion main body 1 is connected to a distal end of the bending portion 20. Has been done.

The insertion part 10 may be formed by covering the outer circumference of a metal spiral tube 11 with a mesh tube 12 braided with fine metal wires, and further covering the outer surface with a flexible polyurethane resin tube 13. It is covered with a flexible tube.

A suction port 2 is formed at the center of the tip surface of the tip body 1.
Is arranged, and the observation window 3 and the illumination window 4 are arranged outside thereof. In addition, an air / water supply port (not shown) and the like are arranged.

The objective lens 5 of the observation optical system is provided in the observation window 3.
Is fixed, and the incident end face of the image guide fiber bundle 6 is arranged at the image forming position of the observation image by the objective lens 5. A light distribution lens 7 is fixed in the illumination window 4, and the exit end of the illumination light guide fiber bundle 8 is arranged behind it.

The tip ends of the image guide fiber bundle 6 and the light guide fiber bundle 8 are fixed to the tip body 1 and are drawn from the bending portion 20 into the insertion portion 10.

Also, the suction channel tube 9 opening to the suction port 2 has its tip fixed to the tip portion main body 1, is disposed at the central axis of the bending portion 20, and is inserted into the insertion portion 10.
Has been pulled inside.

The suction channel tube 9 is made of a flexible and highly compressible material such as a thick-walled fluororesin tube, and is a liquid sucked from the suction port 2. And air are passed through. Further, it is also used as a forceps channel for inserting a treatment instrument.

The skeleton of the curved portion 20 is constituted by a spiral tube 21 formed by continuously spirally winding a metal strip such as a stainless steel strip with a constant diameter at a small interval.

A reticulated tube 22 formed by braiding metal thin wires such as stainless thin wires is coated on the outer surface of the spiral tube 21, and the outer surface is covered by an elastic rubber outer tube 23. Has been done.

In this way, the bending portion 20 is formed in the spiral tube 2
1, the mesh tube 22, and the outer tube 23 are formed into a tubular shape having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction.

The operation wires 24 are arranged at four positions, up, down, left and right, and their tips are fixed to the tip body 1. Then, in the bending portion 20, each operation wire 24 is passed through several wire guides 25 projecting inwardly on the inner peripheral surface of the spiral tube 21, and is flexible in the insertion portion 10. It is passed through a flexible guide pipe 14.

The tip portion of the guide pipe 14 has a curved portion 2
It is fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the connecting pipe 26 connecting the 0 and the insertion portion 10. The spiral tube 21 and the mesh tube 22 of the bending section 20 and the spiral tube 11 and the mesh tube 12 of the insertion section 10 are fixed to the connecting tube 26 from both sides, whereby the bending section 2 is formed.
0 and the insertion portion 10 are connected.

As shown in FIG. 2 which is a sectional view taken along line II-II, in order to fix the suction channel tube 9 to the connecting pipe 26 at the central axial position of the boundary portion between the bending portion 20 and the insertion portion 10. The channel tube fixed ring 27 of
It is integrally formed via a thin stay 28. The connecting tube 26, the channel tube fixing ring 27, and the stay 28 may be formed as separate parts, and they may be integrally connected by brazing or the like.

In this embodiment, the channel tube fixing ring 27 is formed into a circular complete ring shape, and is sized so that the suction channel tube 9 can be barely inserted. And the channel tube fixed ring 2
The suction channel tube 9 is firmly joined to the inner peripheral surface of the valve 7 so as not to move. Reference numeral 31 is an air / water channel tube for passing air or water.

The bending portion 20 of the embodiment configured as described above
When bending, the remote operation from an operation part (not shown) pulls one of the four operation wires 24 rearward, and sends out the operation wire 24 at a position facing the operation wire 24 forward.

Then, the spiral tube 21 is axially compressed on the side of the pulled operation wire 24, but at the central axis position of the bending portion 20, the central axis position of each of the front and rear end positions of the bending portion 20 is obtained. Since the suction channel tube 9 having a high compression resistance fixed so as not to move is arranged,
The entire length of the central axis of the bending portion 20 hardly expands or contracts.

As a result, the bending portion 20 bends in a smooth curve on the pulled operation wire 24 side, and the outer peripheral side is extended. Further, if two adjacent operation wires 24 of the four operation wires 24 are simultaneously pulled, the bending portion 20 bends in a compounded direction according to the pulling amount of the operation wires 24, so 360 ° is desired. Curved portion 20 in the direction of
Can be bent arbitrarily.

In the case of a two-way curved portion in which the operation wire 24 is arranged only in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 3 or 4, stainless steel is provided in the left and right walls of the suction channel tube 9, for example. The stay wire 32 made of steel single wire or stranded wire may be embedded. With this configuration, bending in the left-right direction is restricted, the directionality of bending in the up-down direction is improved, and the compression resistance is also improved.

Further, instead of disposing the suction channel tube 9 on the central axis of the curved portion 20, a channel tube for air / water supply may be disposed, and in that case, it is shown in FIG. As described above, a so-called multi-lumen tube 109 in which one tube is divided into a plurality of tubes may be used.

FIGS. 6 to 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which only one part of the tubular member 40 made of a flexible, stretchable and elastic material such as a silicone rubber tube is used. A curved member is formed.

The tubular member 40 is formed in a thick-walled tubular shape, and V-shaped grooves are alternately cut from the vertical direction. Then, as also shown in FIG. 7, a pair of upper and lower operation wires 24 are movably inserted into the wall of the tubular member 40.

Reference numeral 9 is a suction channel tube similar to that of the first embodiment, 6 and 8 are image guide fiber bundles and light guide fiber bundles, and their tip portions are integrally formed with the tubular member 40. It is fixed to the formed tip body 1.

In this embodiment, the connecting pipe 26 for connecting the bending portion 20 and the insertion portion 10 is arranged so as to be exposed on the outer peripheral surface, and a channel arranged integrally with the connecting pipe 26 at the central axis position via the stay 28. The suction channel tube 9 is inserted and fixed in the tube fixing ring 27.

Therefore, as in the first embodiment, also in this embodiment, since the total length of the central axis of the bending portion 20 hardly changes, the bending portion 20 is moved in the direction in which the operation wire 24 pulled by remote control is present. Bends smoothly.
However, it is in two directions, up and down.

As the bending member, the spiral tube 21, the mesh tube 22 and the outer tube 23 are combined as in the first embodiment, or a V-shaped notch is formed as in the second embodiment. In addition to using the flexible tubular member 40, the spiral tube 21 may be omitted from the first embodiment, and only the mesh tube 22 and the outer tube 23 may be combined.

9 to 11 show a third embodiment, FIG. 10 is a front view of the tip end main body 1, and FIG. 11 is XI-XI.
It is a cross section, and the channel tube fixing ring 27 is directly attached to the inner peripheral surface of the connecting pipe 26.

With this structure, not only the stay 28 becomes unnecessary, but the channel tube fixing ring 27 is fixed to C
It can be formed in a V shape so that the cross-sectional area is as small as possible.

As a result, as shown in the drawing, for example, two light guide fiber bundles 8 are arranged to improve the performance such as improving the brightness of illumination. Since the other points are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same portions and the description thereof will be omitted. 29 shown in FIG. 10 is an air / water supply port.

[0037]

According to the present invention, since the bending member is formed in a tubular shape having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction,
The curved part can be manufactured at a very low cost with a small number of parts and a small number of man-hours, and the tip of the channel tube made of a flexible and highly compressive material is placed at the center of the tip of the bending member. By fixing the channel tube so that it does not move even at the position on the rear end side of the bending member while being fixed at the axial position, the bending member is not compressed in the axial direction when the operation wire is pulled, so the bending portion bends smoothly. As a result, the optical fiber does not break.

By disposing the channel tube at the substantially central axis position of the bending member and fixing it at the substantially central axis position even on the rear end side of the bending member, the bending shape of the bending portion can be made into a smoother curve. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view (II-II sectional view) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of another example of the channel tube.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of still another example of the channel tube.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of still another example of the channel tube.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a front sectional view (VII-VII sectional view) of the second embodiment.
Is.

FIG. 8 is a front sectional view (VIII-VIII sectional view) of a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of a third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a front view of the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a front sectional view (XI-XI sectional view) of the third embodiment.
Is.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 channel tube 20 curved part 21 spiral tube 22 reticulated tube 23 outer tube 24 operation wire 27 channel tube fixed ring

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A bending member formed in a tubular shape having flexibility and stretchability in an axial direction, and an operation wire connected to a distal end side of the bending member, the operation wire being from the rear side. In the bending portion of the endoscope in which the bending member is bent by pulling, the distal end of the channel tube made of a material having flexibility and high compression resistance is substantially centered on the distal end side of the bending member. A bending portion of an endoscope, wherein the channel tube is fixed at an axial position and the channel tube is fixed so as not to move at a rear end position of the bending member. 2. The channel tube according to claim 1, wherein the channel tube is arranged at a substantially central axis position of the bending member and is fixed so as not to move at a substantially central axis position of a rear end side of the bending member. Curved part of the endoscope.