JPH0966022A - Endosocpe bending device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the space occupied by a flexible tube section itself inside the flexible tube section as much as possible, to prevent the flexible tube section from being compressed and deformed by the traction power of a bending operation wire and to sufficiently bend a bending section. SOLUTION: This endoscope bending device for bending a bending section 3 connected to a flexible tube section 2 at an endoscope inserting part, is provided with a bending operating wire guiding tube 8 which is formed of ultraelastic alloy and arranged while being inserted into the almost full length of the flexible tube section 2, and a bending operating wire 7 which is inserted into the bending operating wire guiding tube 8 so as to freely move back and forth and connects its one end with the bending section 3, for bending the bending section 3 toward the direction of tracting by tracting its other end side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope bending apparatus for bending a bending portion provided at a tip of an insertion portion of an endoscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, the body of an endoscope is composed of an operating portion and an insertion portion which is connected to the operating portion and can be inserted into the body. The insertion portion is configured by sequentially connecting a bending portion that is driven to bend and a tip forming portion that incorporates an optical element and the like to the tip of the long flexible tube portion.

Conventionally, the bending portion provided at the distal end of the flexible tube is bent and driven by a pulling operation of an operation wire. Such a bending device includes a bending operation wire which is inserted into the flexible tube portion and one end of which is connected to a distal end of the bending portion, and a bending operation wire which is provided in the operation portion and is connected to the other end of the bending operation wire to connect the bending operation wire. It is mainly composed of an operating means for towing. Therefore, in the bending device having such a configuration, when the operating means is operated to pull the bending operation wire, the tip of the bending portion is pulled in the pulling direction by the bending operation wire, and the entire bending portion is bent. .

Incidentally, the flexible tube portion is generally a flexible tubular member formed by sequentially laminating a metal mesh tube and a resin tube on the outer circumference of a metal spiral tube. Therefore, when the bending operation wire inserted through the flexible tube portion is pulled to bend the bending portion, a compressive force acts in the longitudinal axis direction of the flexible tube portion due to the pulling operation of the bending operation wire, which causes The flexible tube portion may be compressed and deformed. In such a case, the pulling force of the bending operation wire is wasted in compressing and deforming the flexible tube portion, which causes a problem that the bending portion cannot be bent sufficiently.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, conventionally, a bending operation wire is inserted into a close-wound coil formed by closely winding a metal element wire, and the tip of the close-wound coil is provided with a flexible tube portion. Of the close-wound coil and the proximal end of the close-wound coil are fixed to the operation portion to prevent the flexible tube portion from being compressed and deformed by the tension force of the close-wound coil.

[0006]

Since the insertion portion of the endoscope needs to be inserted into the body, it is desired that the outer diameter of the insertion portion be as thin as possible. Therefore, in the field of endoscopes, conventionally, various means have been used to reduce the diameter of the insertion portion.

However, if the metal wire of the close-wound coil is thinned to reduce the outer diameter of the close-wound coil in order to reduce the diameter of the insertion part, or to make the internal component inside the insertion part thicker, The close-wound coil may lose the compressive stress due to the pulling force of the bending operation wire, the strands of the close-wound coil may be displaced from each other, and the close-wound coil may be destroyed. In other words, if the wire diameter of the close-wound coil is sufficiently large, the coil shape can be maintained even if compressive stress is applied to it, but in order to make the space occupied by other internal components in the insertion part as large as possible, If the wire diameter of the wound coil is made thin, the close-wound coil cannot resist the compressive stress due to the pulling force of the bending operation wire, and there is a possibility that the adjacent wires will be displaced and destroyed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the space occupied by the self-defense portion in the flexible tube portion as much as possible and to draw the bending operation wire. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope bending apparatus capable of preventing the flexible tube portion from being compressed and deformed by the above, and capable of sufficiently bending the bending portion.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an endoscope bending apparatus for bending a bending portion connected to a flexible tube portion of an endoscope insertion portion,
A tubular bending operation wire guide tube that is formed of a superelastic alloy and that is inserted and disposed over substantially the entire length of the flexible tube portion, and is inserted into the bending operation wire guide tube so as to be able to move forward and backward, and one end thereof is the bending portion. And a bending operation wire for bending the bending portion in that direction by pulling the other end of the bending operation wire.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of a general endoscope. As shown in the figure, the endoscope 1 has an endoscope body composed of an operating portion 1a and an inserting portion 1b, and a universal cord 29 connected to a light source device (not shown) is attached to the operating portion 1a. It is connected. Insertion part 1b
Is a long flexible tube portion 2, a bending portion 3 which is connected to the distal end of the flexible tube portion 2 and is driven to bend by a bending operation wire 7 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) described later, and a bending portion. 3 and a tip forming portion 4 provided at the tip of the optical element 3 and incorporating an optical element or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bending portion 3 is composed of a main body formed by connecting a plurality of node rings 9 via a rivet 10 so as to be rotatable in the longitudinal axis direction. It is formed by covering the elastic tube 11 made of rubber. The flexible tube portion 2 is formed by sequentially covering the outer circumference of the spiral tube 12 with the mesh tube 13 and the resin tube 14. The bending portion 3 and the flexible tube portion 2 are connected to each other by the connection mouth ring 15.

In this case, the tip of the connection mouthpiece 15 is fitted and fixed in the node ring 9a at the rearmost end of the bending portion 3, and
The base end portion is fitted and fixed in the tip end portion of the flexible tube portion 2. The proximal end portion of the elastic tube 11 of the curved portion 3 is wound and fixed by the thread 36 on the outer peripheral surface of the connection mouthpiece 15, and the adhesive 35 is applied to the fixed portion.

Further, a notch 16 for escaping the contact with the rivet 10 is provided at the tip of the connection mouth ring 15, whereby the fitting and fixing length of the bending portion 3 and the connection mouth ring 15 is shortened. I am trying to do it.

As shown in FIG. 4, the color of the elastic tube 11 which is the outer cover of the bending portion 3 and the resin tube 14 which is the outer cover of the flexible tube portion 2 are different from each other, and the appearance of the bending portion is different. The distinction between the flexible tube portion 3 and the flexible tube portion 2 is made clear. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the bending portion 3 from being accidentally gripped and being damaged when the insertion portion 1b is inserted into the body. Moreover, in order to make the distinction between the curved portion 3 and the flexible tube portion 2 apparent from the outside, it is not color-coded but FIG.
As shown in, the index 4 is placed at the boundary between the curved portion 3 and the flexible tube portion 2.
9 may be provided.

Further, on the inner surface of the base end portion of the connection mouth ring 15,
A tip end of a bending operation wire guide tube 8 which is an extremely thin tubular member formed of a superelastic alloy is fixed.
The proximal end portion of the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is fixed to the operation portion 1a.

The superelastic alloy forming the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is an alloy having a very large elastic deformation region as compared with other metals and having elastic behavior characteristics like rubber. As an example, there is a Ni-Ti alloy. Since the Ti-based superelastic alloy is difficult to be brazed with silver or soldered due to the oxide film on the surface, when the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is formed by this, it is fixed to the connection mouthpiece 15. It is necessary to perform surface treatment such as Ni plating on the outer surface portion of the bending operation wire guide tube 8.

The bending operation wire 7 is inserted into the bending operation wire guide tube 8. The bending operation wire 7 has a distal end fixed to the distal end of the bending portion 3 and a proximal end connected to a bending operation mechanism (not shown) provided in the operation portion 4, and the bending operation wire 7 is pulled by the bending operation mechanism. When operated, the bending portion 3 connected to the bending operation wire 7 is designed to perform a bending operation.

In FIG. 1, the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is shown.
Although two are provided in the upper and lower sides in the figure and can be bent in two directions by this, of course, even if four bending operation wire guide tubes 8 are provided in the upper, lower, left and right directions, they can be bent in four directions. good.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1), in addition to the bending operation wire guide tube 8 and the bending operation wire 7, an image guide fiber 24 is provided inside the insertion portion 1b. The light guide fiber 5 and the forceps channel tube 6 are inserted therethrough. The image guide fiber 24 and the light guide fiber 5 are the flexible tube portion 2
In order to reduce the occupied space inside, it is covered with protective tubes 17 and 18 made of extremely thin polyimide tubes. The light guide fiber 5 is
It is optically connected to a light source device (not shown) via a universal cord 29 (see FIG. 3), and the image guide fiber 24 is optically connected to an eyepiece 39 provided in the operation unit 1a.

On the outer surfaces of the bending portion 3 and the flexible tube portion 2, an index (for example, a white line) 1 indicating the bending direction of the bending portion 2 is provided.
One 9 is drawn along the longitudinal axis direction so that the bending direction of the bending portion 3 can be seen even after the bending portion 3 is inserted into the body cavity.

When the bending portion 3 is bent using the endoscope bending apparatus as described above, the bending operation wire 7 is operated by operating a bending operation mechanism (not shown) provided in the operation portion 1a.
Just pull the. In this case, compressive stress acts on the flexible tube portion 2 in the longitudinal axis direction. However, since the bending operation wire guide tube 8 made of a superelastic alloy is projected against the compressive stress, the flexible tube portion 2 is not compressed and deformed, and the bending portion 3 is not deformed.
There is enough bending movement. That is, the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is not a close-wound coil of metal element wire as in the conventional case,
It is a tubular member made of a super-elastic alloy, and has a sufficient flexibility, and acts as a strong projecting rod that prevents compression deformation and buckling of the flexible tube portion 2.

Further, the bending operation wire guide tube 8 can return to its original shape without buckling even if it is bent to a state where it is obviously plastically deformed if it is a steel tube or the like, and it can be restored to its original shape by compressive stress. It will not be damaged.

Further, since the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is a tubular member made of an elastic alloy, the above effect can be sufficiently exhibited even if the wall thickness thereof is extremely thin, and the wall thickness should be extremely thin. Thereby, the occupied space in the flexible tube portion 2 can be reduced, and the insertion portion 1b can be made smaller in diameter.

In order to ensure a sufficient bending ability of the bending portion 3 and to optimize the flexibility and superelasticity of the insertion portion 1b, the thickness of the bending operation wire guide tube 8 is adjusted. ,
The bending force amount of the bending operation wire guide tube 8 may be made larger than the bending force amount of the flexible tube portion 2. In this case, the insertion portion 1b can be freely changed without changing the flexibility and elasticity of the flexible tube portion.
The flexibility and elasticity of the can be set, which is very useful.

By the above-described modes, various configurations shown in the following sections can be obtained. Further, the various configurations shown in the following sections may be arbitrarily combined. 1. In an endoscope bending apparatus for bending a bending portion connected to a flexible tube portion of an endoscope insertion portion, a tubular member formed of a superelastic alloy and inserted and arranged over substantially the entire length of the flexible tube portion. Of the bending operation wire guide tube, and the bending operation wire guide tube is inserted in the bending operation wire guide tube so as to be able to move forward and backward, and one end thereof is connected to the bending portion, and the other end side is pulled to thereby bend the bending operation wire guide tube in that direction. And a bending operation wire for bending the portion, and an endoscope bending apparatus, comprising:

2. 2. The endoscope bending apparatus according to item 1, wherein the bending force amount of the bending operation wire guide tube is made larger than the bending force amount of the flexible tube portion. 3. The endoscope bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bending operation wire guide tube is subjected to surface treatment such as plating.

[0027]

As described above, according to the endoscope bending apparatus of the present invention, the space occupied by the bending apparatus can be minimized in the flexible tube portion, and the flexible tube is pulled by the pulling force of the bending operation wire. The compressive deformation of the portion can be prevented, and the bending portion can be bent sufficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a connecting portion between a bending portion of an endoscope insertion portion and a flexible tube portion.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall view of an endoscope.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a boundary portion between a bending portion and a flexible tube portion.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another example of a boundary portion between a bending portion and a flexible tube portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope, 1b ... Insertion part, 2 ... Flexible tube part, 3 ... Bending part, 7 ... Bending operation wire, 8 ... Bending operation wire guide tube.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope bending apparatus for bending a bending portion connected to a flexible tube portion of an endoscope insertion portion, wherein the bending portion is formed of a superelastic alloy and extends over substantially the entire length of the flexible tube portion. A tubular bending operation wire guide tube that is inserted and disposed, and is inserted into the bending operation wire guide tube so as to be able to move forward and backward, and one end thereof is connected to the bending portion, and the other end side is pulled and operated to thereby A bending operation wire that bends the bending portion toward the side, and the bending apparatus for endoscopes.