JPH1014861A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate poor performance of curving such as warping-up and enhance the operating easiness and effectiveness by lessening the dislocation of each wire receptacle in the curving direction near a treatment tool inserting channel without enlarging the diameter of a coelom inserting part, in particular its curving part. SOLUTION: There are two joint pieces 28 in a curving part 7, in one of which wire receptacles 35 are fixed approx. in the vertical direction and to the left and right 4, and in the other, wire receptacles 35 are fixed approx. in the vertical direction, and they are coupled in an appropriate arrangement. A treatment tool inserting channel 27 is inserted in the space left below within the insertion part 2, and in the curving part 4, is accommodated between the lower and left-hand wire receptacles 35 and the inner surfaces of the joint pieces 28. The outside diameters of the lower and left-hand wire receptacles 35 should be smaller than those of the upper and right-hand wire receptacles 35.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope, and more particularly, to an endoscope characterized by a wire receiving portion of an operation wire provided on a curved portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, by inserting an elongated insertion portion into a body cavity, an organ in the body cavity can be observed, and if necessary, various treatments can be performed using a treatment tool inserted into a treatment tool insertion channel. Endoscopes are widely used.

[0003] As such an endoscope, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. Sho 60-3 is known.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2903 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-38325 are known.

In the former, in order to obtain a curved structure in which the outer diameter of the treatment tool insertion channel is increased without increasing the outer diameter of the body cavity insertion portion, the interval between the wire receivers projecting from the four inner surfaces of the joint piece is set to 90 °. The treatment instrument insertion channel is inserted and arranged in the expanded wire receiver. Here, it can be seen from the drawing that the shape (including the outer diameter) of the used wire receiver is the same at all four locations.

The latter requires a small amount of operating force when bending the endoscope bending portion, and has a large maximum bending angle among a plurality of bending directions of the bending portion in order to smoothly bend the bending portion. At least one of the wire receivers into which the operation wires corresponding to the bending directions except the bending direction are inserted is provided at a position shifted from the bending direction passing through the center of the joint piece. It can be seen from the drawing that the shape (including the outer diameter) of the wire receiver used here is the same at all four locations, up, down, left, and right.

[0006]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In both Japanese Patent Publication No. 3 and JP-A-5-38325, the interval between the wire receivers in the curved portion is not shifted by 90 °, but is shifted from the original center axis in the vertical and horizontal bending directions. In particular, in an endoscope provided with a treatment instrument insertion channel having a large outer diameter, a wire receiver close to its storage space is largely shifted (about 15 ° or more) from the original vertical and horizontal bending directions.

Here, if the displacement of the wire receiver is large, as shown in FIG. 18, when the bending portion 101 is bent downward, leftward or rightward, the bending portion 101 bends in a direction different from the direction in which it should bend. There is a possibility that the phenomenon of bending and warping may occur, which may hinder bending operability. FIG.
The deviation angle (α) between the direction in which the vehicle should bend and the actual direction in (b) is referred to as the amount of curvature warpage. If this value is large (exceeds 30 °), the bending operability is likely to be affected.

Further, even when the bending portion 101 is returned straight after being bent to the upper side of the field of view, as shown in FIG. 19, a bending portion warping phenomenon in which the bending portion 101 turns left or right without returning straight. And endoscopy could be hindered. In FIG. 19B, the value of the deviation angle (β) between the direction in which the vehicle should bend and the direction in which the vehicle should actually bend is large (3).
If the angle exceeds 0 °), the endoscopic examination is likely to be affected as in the case of the curved warpage.

Therefore, not only the upper part but also the lower part,
It is desired to reduce the deviation of the left and right wire receivers from the original vertical and horizontal bending directions without increasing the outer diameter of the body cavity insertion portion. In particular, if the lower curve warpage is large, it is necessary to use the left-right curve more, so that improvement is desired compared to the left and right directions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to reduce the amount of displacement of a wire receiver in a bending direction near a treatment instrument insertion channel without increasing the outer diameter of a body cavity insertion portion, particularly, a bending portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope with good operability by reducing the number of bending errors such as curling and rising.

[0011]

An endoscope according to the present invention is inserted into a plurality of joint pieces through a plurality of wire receivers provided on inner surfaces of a plurality of joint pieces rotatably connected to each other. In response to a plurality of operation wires, in an endoscope having a curved portion in which the plurality of joint pieces bend and a treatment instrument insertion channel inserted in the curved portion, the endoscope is provided near the treatment instrument insertion channel. The outer diameter of the wire receiver is smaller than the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided on the inner surface at another position.

[0012] In the endoscope of the present invention, the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided near the treatment tool insertion channel is
By making the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided on the inner surface at another position smaller, the inner diameter of the wire receiver in the bending direction near the treatment instrument insertion channel can be increased without increasing the outer diameter of the body cavity insertion portion, particularly the bending portion. It is possible to reduce the amount of deviation, to eliminate poor bending such as warpage, and to improve operability.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 12 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing the structure of an endoscope, and FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a distal end surface of the distal end configuration portion of the endoscope of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along the line A-B-O-C-D of FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along line JJ of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along line KK of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along line LL of FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view for explaining the operation of the bending portion of FIG. 1, and FIG. 8 is EFGB of FIG.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a section of the operation unit in FIG. 1 in the insertion axis direction, and FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a section in the insertion axis direction of the operation unit in FIG. Is an explanatory view for explaining the cleaning of the front water supply pipe line in FIG. 10, and FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a cap for closing the front water supply mouthpiece in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope 1 includes an insertion portion 2 to be inserted into a body cavity, and an operation portion 3 on a proximal end side of the insertion portion 2.
And a universal cord 5 extending from the operation unit 3 and having a connector 4 at the tip.

The insertion section 2 includes a tip section 6 having an image pickup means (for example, a CCD) (not shown), a bending section 7 connected to the tip section 6 and capable of bending up, down, left and right, and a link to the bending section 7. And a flexible tube 8 having flexibility.

The connector 4 of the universal cord 5 is connected to a video processor 9 in which a light source device (not shown) is provided, and transmits an image signal from an imaging means of the endoscope 1 to the video processor 9 via the universal cord 5. It has become.

The video processor 9 has a signal processing circuit (not shown) for processing an image signal from the endoscope 1, and the processed signal is transmitted to a monitor 10 connected to the video processor 9. An image is displayed.

The operation section 3 is provided with an operation knob 11 for remotely operating the bending section 7. Then, by operating the operation knob 11 to bend, four operation wires 12 to be described later are pulled, and the bending section 7 is operated.
Can be curved in four directions: upper (U), lower (D), left (L), and right (R).

As shown in FIG. 2, the distal end component 6 has an observation window 13, an illumination window 14, a treatment instrument insertion port 15 also serving as a suction port, and an air supply / water supply nozzle 16 for cleaning and draining the observation window 13, as shown in FIG. Further, a front water supply nozzle 17 for cleaning blood, mucus, etc. of the affected part of the subject is provided.

As shown in FIG. 8, which is a cross section of the EFGBH line in FIG. 2 in the direction of the insertion axis, an air / water supply pipe communicating with the air / water supply nozzle 16 is provided in the insertion portion 2. 18 and a front water supply pipe 19 communicating with the front water supply nozzle 17 are fixed to the distal end hard member 20 in a watertight manner by bonding or soldering, and are adjacent to each other.

Here, the air / water supply pipe 18 and the front water supply pipe 19 are brought as close as possible in order to reduce the outer diameter of the distal end as much as possible to reduce the pain of the subject. On the other hand, the projecting length of the air / water supply pipe 18 and the front water supply pipe 19 from the distal end hard member 20 is different, and the air / water supply pipe 18 is longer than the front water supply pipe 19.

First, a tubular member 21 such as a positioning tube or pipe is inserted into the air / water pipe 18, and a flexible air / water tube 22 is put on the tubular member 21 so as to abut the tubular member 21. Yes, it is fixed watertight with thread binding. Further, a heat-shrinkable tube 23 for protection is provided so as to straddle the tubular member 21 and the air / water supply tube 22.
Is fixed. The front water supply pipe 19 has a flexible front water supply tube 2 on the front side avoiding the heat-shrinkable tube 23.
4 and the heat-shrinkable tube 25 for protection are
And is fixed so as to straddle the front water supply tube 24.

As can be seen from FIG. 8, a flexible and easily breakable light guide fiber 26 connected to the illumination window 14 is located beside the shorter pipe, the front water supply pipe 19. This is because the light guide fiber 26
Is a consideration for preventing contact with a pipe which is a hard member.

The operation unit 3 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 9, the operation unit 3 includes a switch between the operation knob 11 and a remote switch 40 such as a freeze and a release.
There is a front water supply base 41 described below which communicates with the front water supply nozzle 17, and a cap 42 made of an elastic material such as rubber or elastomer, which covers when not in use, is detachably fixed thereto. 9A shows the operation unit 3 as viewed from above, and FIG. 9B shows the operation unit 3 as viewed from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 9A.

Here, the remote switch 40 is also water-tightly covered with an elastic material such as rubber or elastomer. Since the height of the cap 42 is made lower than the position where the elastic material of the remote switch 40 is pushed down to the lowest, the cap 42 is
There is no hindrance to the switch operation even if it is next to. Further, since the remote switch 40 and the cap 42 are made of the same material, the cap 42 also functions as a finger rest when the switch is not operated.

The hardness of the cap 42 is controlled by the remote switch 4.
The elastic material has a hardness equal to or less than the hardness of the elastic material 0, so that even if a finger touches the cap 42 when the switch is operated, it does not feel uncomfortable and does not feel pain.

FIG. 10 is a cross section of the operation unit 3 in the insertion axis direction.
As shown in the figure, the front water supply tube 24 is provided inside the operation unit 3 by a taper can 43 and a connection nut 44.
The front water supply tube 45 on the side is fixed to a base 46 to which it is fixed in a watertight manner.

The front water supply tube 45 is disposed in the operation section 3 so as to be smoothly bent as shown in FIG. 10, and for brushing the entire length of the pipe when the cap 42 is opened as shown in FIG. Insert the cleaning brush 47 smoothly,
It can be removed. Further, the inner surface of the connection portion between the tube and the base or the pipe is tapered or chamfered so that the cleaning brush 47 is hardly caught. Further, during the endoscope inspection or at the time of cleaning the front water supply conduit after completion of the inspection, the liquid is manually supplied using the syringe 49 via the cleaning tube 48 that can be screwed into the front water supply mouthpiece 41 and watertight. Can be insufflated.

The cap 42 has a shape as shown in FIG. 12, and is composed of a cap body 50, a fixing portion 51 around the front water supply mouthpiece 41, and a connecting portion 52 of the both, and an outer surface of the connecting portion 52. Is provided with a character portion 53 in which a symbol, a name, and the like for discrimination are described.

On the cap body 50, a finger hook 54 for facilitating opening and closing of the cap 42 protrudes on the opposite side of the connecting portion 52. Further, on the inner side, there is provided a catching portion 56 having a smaller inside diameter than the flange portion 55 which enters under the flange portion 55 (see FIG. 10) of the front water supply mouthpiece 41 and serves as a stopper. This catch 56
Has two concave portions 57 having a larger inner diameter than the other portions as shown in FIG. The recess 57 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the connecting portion 52 emerges.

That is, when the cap main body 50 is fitted in the space below the flange portion 54 of the front water supply mouthpiece 41 as shown in FIG. Dent 57
There is an advantage that the catching portion 56 is easily deformed and the amount of mounting force is reduced as compared with the case where there is no mounting portion. Further, since the concave portion 57 is provided in the direction perpendicular to the connecting portion 52, the concave portion 57 easily spreads when the outer surface of the cap main body 50 is pressed and dented with a finger, and air inside the cap 42 during cleaning and disinfection is used. Has the advantage that it is easy to come off. Further, since the finger hook portion 54 is provided only on the opposite side of the connecting portion 52, there is an advantage that even if the remote switch 40 is located beside, the operation of the switch is not obstructed.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-B-O-C-D of FIG. 2, the treatment tool insertion port 15 is made of a flexible and slippery material. For example, it is thicker (0.4 to 0.6 m) than other internal organs on which a fluororesin material is formed.
In m), the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 having a large inner diameter communicates.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of short cylindrical joint pieces 28 are alternately connected by connecting members 29 such as rivets, and a bending tube 30 configured to be freely bent is provided therein. A blade 31 and a coating tube 32 having elasticity on the outer periphery thereof are provided.

The distal end of the curved tube 30 has a cutout 33 for firmly fixing the operation wire 12 by brazing or the like. As can be seen from FIG. 4 which is a cross section taken along line JJ of FIG. 3, the notch 33 is provided at a position where the lower side and the left side are shifted with respect to the original upper, lower, left and right directions so as to avoid interference with the internal components. ing. Solid-state imaging device 34 as imaging means
The cutout 33a on the right side with the mark has less space than in the other directions, so the operating wire 1 is inserted into the cutout 33a.
After the 2 is fixed, it is crushed by caulking or the like so that the amount of protrusion toward the inside is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 5, which is a cross section taken along the line KK in FIG. 3, the joint piece 28 includes a piece having a wire receiver 35 fixed in four directions substantially up, down, left and right, and a piece having the wire receiver 35 fixed substantially in a vertical direction. The pieces are connected in an appropriate arrangement as shown in FIG.

The treatment instrument insertion channel 27 is inserted into the lower left space in the insertion section 2, and is stored between the lower and left wire receivers 35 and the inner surface of the joint piece 28 in the bending section 4. I have. Here, the outer diameter of the lower and left wire receivers 35 is smaller than the outer diameter of the upper and right wire receivers 35.

The inner diameter of the lower and left wire receivers 35 is smaller than the inner diameter of the upper and right wire receivers 35,
The thickness is the same. As a result, the clearance between the upper and right wire receivers 35 and the operation wire 12 is larger than the clearance between the lower and left wire receivers 35 and the operation wire 12, and the wear when the operation wire 12 is pulled is higher than the upper and right side. Less than. Here, the upper bending angle is set to 180 ° to 210 °, and the other bending angles are set to 90 ° to 100 °.

Changing the clearance between the wire receiver and the operation wire according to the bending direction has the following effects even in a general endoscope. In other words, for example, in the case of an endoscope for the upper gastrointestinal tract, the bending angle is twice as large in the upward direction as in the other directions, and the upward friction of the towing between the operation wire and the wire receiver is also large, Although there is a defect that the resistance of the upper operation wire is inferior to other operation wires, as in the present embodiment, the clearance between the wire receiver fixed to the plurality of joint pieces of the bending portion and the operation wire, the bending angle is reduced. By making the thing in the largest direction larger than the others, it is possible to improve the resistance of the operation wire of the bending part regardless of the bending direction without increasing the outer diameter of the insertion part including the bending part, An endoscope with excellent durability can be realized.

Next, as can be seen from FIG. 6 which is a cross section taken along line LL in FIG. 5 and FIG. 3, two light guide fibers 26 serving as an illumination system are provided in the insertion portion in order to prevent light distribution failure of the object. Further, in the case where the thickness is different, the thickness of the flexible protective tube 36 for preventing damage such as breakage in the curved portion 4 is larger in the thicker one than in the thinner one. And thin. This is because the thinner one has a smaller number and is harder to break than the thicker one because it is harder to break than the thicker one. It has been incorporated.

A signal cable 37 for transmitting and receiving signals from the solid-state image sensor 34 is also covered with a protective tube 38 like the light guide fiber 26. Further, thinner ones are used.

The thin protective tube 36 of the light guide fiber 26 has a thickness of 0.3 to 0.4 mm, the thick protective tube 36 has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.25 mm, and the protective tube 38 of the signal cable 37. Is 0.1-0.1
5 mm is set in this embodiment, and a foaming fluororesin material is used in all cases.

As can be seen from FIGS. 4 to 6 described above,
On the upper side of the operation wire 12, both the cutout portion 33 at the tip of the bending portion 4 (FIG. 4) and the wire receiver 35 at the center of the bending portion 4 (FIG. 5) fix the coil pipe 39 of the flexible tube 5 (FIG. 6)
Are also on the original upper side (directly above), but are shifted in other directions to avoid interference with the built-in components.

That is, when the original vertical and horizontal directions are set to 0 °, the lower right and left directions indicating the deviation angles from the original directions are as follows.

Direction Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Right 0 ° Down 8 ° Down 8 ° Down Left 10 ° Right 10 ° Right 15 ° Left Up 20 ° Up 12 ° Up 15 ° Here 5 and FIG. 6, it can be seen that the lower side and the left side sandwiching the treatment tool insertion channel 27 are largely shifted in FIG. 6 than in FIG. This is because the bending angle of the bending portion 4 that causes abnormal bending such as warpage is narrower than necessary to minimize the deviation angle. Coil pipe 39
Is fixed.

In the endoscope 1 of the present embodiment, when the insertion section 2 is inserted into the body cavity of the subject and a bending operation is performed, a wire receiving portion beside the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 in the bending section 4 is received. 35
Because the outer diameter of the endoscope was as close as possible to the original vertical and horizontal directions using a small outside diameter, there was little phenomenon of bending and warping when bending back to the top of the field of view and then returning straight to the endoscope. Operability is good.

That is, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 is stored (inserted) in the space between the inner surface of the joint piece 28 and the outer surface of the wire receiver 35 in the curved portion 7. Then, the outer diameter of the wire receiver 35 provided near the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 is changed to another location (for example, the upper side).
Is smaller than the outer diameter of the wire receiver 35.

Therefore, by making at least one outer diameter of the wire receiver 35 near the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 smaller than the other, the distance between the outer surfaces of the two wire receivers 35 sandwiching the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 (for example, FIG. 7, even if h1 and h2) are the same, the distance between the centers of the two wire receivers 35 can be reduced. Thereby, the deviation of the angle from the original 90 ° vertical and horizontal bending directions to the mounting portion of the wire receiver 35 can be reduced without increasing the outer diameter of the bending portion 7. As a result, it is possible to reduce a phenomenon such as a warpage that occurs when the camera is bent downward, leftward, or rightward, thereby preventing the bending operability from being affected.

According to the example shown in FIG. 7, when the conventional four wire receivers have the same outer diameter, for example, the displacement between the lower and left wire receivers is about 30 °. On the other hand, the lower and left wire receivers 35 close to the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 as used in the present embodiment are smaller than the other portions (here, the upper and right sides), so that the lower side can be displaced. It becomes 0, and the left side can be reduced to about 10 °.

If the displacement of the wire receiver 35 is close to 10 °, the warpage of the curved portion and the warpage of the curved portion when the curved portion is returned to a straight position are extremely reduced, which causes a problem in practical use. It is known from the examination in the present embodiment that there is none.

13 and 14 relate to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section near the center of a bending portion of an endoscope, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the cross section near the front-end | tip of the flexible tube connected continuously.

Since the second embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment, only different points will be described, and the same components will be denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the bending portion 7 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, the outer diameter of the wire receiver 35 is small only on the lower side, and the other is larger than that. It is fixed by such as. In addition, treatment instrument insertion channel 2
Another wire receiver 35 is also provided on the inner periphery of the joint piece 28 on the side where the wire 7 is located.
A dummy wire receiver 71 having a smaller outer diameter and not allowing the operation wire 12 to pass through is fixed to the inner periphery of the two-joint piece 28.

Here, in FIG. 13, the inner diameter of the joint piece 28 is d1, and as shown in FIG. 14, the inner diameter of the flexible tube 8 is d2.
, D1> d2. When the distance h1 from the center of the insertion portion of the joint piece 28 to the treatment tool insertion channel 27 and the distance h2 from the center of the insertion portion at the distal end of the flexible tube 8 to the treatment tool insertion channel 27 are defined as h1 <h2.
The outer diameter of the dummy wire receiver 71 is set so as to satisfy the following relationship.

In the second embodiment configured as described above, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the fixing of the dummy wire receiver 71 as the holding member to the joint piece 28 is performed by the other wire receiver 39. It can be performed by the same means as the fixing, and has the advantage that the assembly workability is good, and since there are provided two instead of one, the number of locations that come into contact with the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 increases, so that concentrated force does not work and it is hard to damage. have.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section near the center of a curved portion of an endoscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Since the third embodiment is almost the same as the second embodiment, only different points will be described, and the same components will be denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the dummy wire receiver 71 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The second embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that an inner surface convex portion 75 is formed such that a certain side is depressed closer to the center than other parts by means such as a press.

In both of the second and third embodiments, since the amount of movement of the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 when performing the bending operation is small, poor bending such as bending and warping occurs, and other built-in objects are compressed. This has the advantage that the problem of damage due to damage is unlikely to occur.

In the third embodiment, in particular, the holding member is pressed inwardly with the joint piece 28 to provide the inner convex portion 75. Therefore, the dummy wire receiver 71 is unnecessary, and the dummy wire receiver 71 is not required. It is unnecessary to fix 71, and there is an effect that it can be made cheaply.

FIGS. 16 and 17 relate to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 is a sectional view showing a section of the bending portion of the endoscope in the insertion axis direction, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows a line cross section.

Since the fourth embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment, only different points will be described, and the same components will be denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The wall thickness of the coating portion 32 of the curved portion 7 in the tube axis direction is elongated over the entire length in the middle direction between the lower side and the left side of the treatment instrument insertion channel 27 and larger than the thickness of other portions.
That is, as shown in FIG.
Assuming that T is the thickness in the middle direction between the bottom and the left where 7 is located, and t is the thickness of the other portions, T> t.
Further, the change in the thickness is smoothly made from a thin portion to a thick portion as shown in FIG. Further, the outer diameter d of the lower wire receiver 35 is smaller than the outer diameter D of the other wire receivers.

With such a configuration, in addition to the effect of the first embodiment, the curved portion 7 is bent in the vertical and horizontal directions where the connecting member 29 such as a rivet and the wire receiver 35 are normally provided. We do not want to increase the thickness of the tube 32. In the present embodiment, since the lower left side is made thick, the amount of bending force during normal use is not increased, and there is an effect that the bending of the bending portion 7 due to the inner forceps channel 27 is reduced.

Here, in the present embodiment, the thick portion is formed only in the lower left direction, but the upper, lower, left, and right directions are removed even in two directions including the upper right direction in order to reduce the curvature and warpage. Orientation may be used.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the coating tube 32 of the first embodiment may have a rear end of about 0.2 to 0 in comparison with the front end of the curved portion 7. .5m
It may be combined with one having a thickness of m so that it can be easily bent from the tip side, and this is more effective in reducing a curved warpage or a warp when returned to a straight state. In addition, it is also possible to combine the embodiments, and the wire receiver 35 and the joint piece 28 may be integrally formed instead of being separate bodies. Various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[Appendix] (Appendix 1) In response to a plurality of operation wires inserted into the plurality of joint pieces, via a plurality of wire receivers provided on the inner surface of the plurality of joint pieces rotatably connected to each other. do it,
In an endoscope having a curved portion in which the plurality of joint pieces are curved, and a treatment instrument insertion channel inserted in the curved portion, the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided near the treatment instrument insertion channel may be different. An endoscope wherein the diameter is smaller than the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided on the inner surface at the position.

(Additional Item 2) The endoscope according to additional item 1, wherein the wire receiver having a small outer diameter is arranged at least below the visual field.

(Additional Item 3) The endoscope according to Additional Item 1 or 2, wherein the wire receiver having a small outer diameter is arranged on both sides of the treatment instrument insertion channel.

(Additional Item 4) A plurality of operation wires inserted into the plurality of joint pieces are responsive to a plurality of wire receivers provided on inner surfaces of the plurality of joint pieces which are rotatably connected to each other by a connecting member. Then, in the endoscope having a curved portion in which the plurality of joint pieces bend in at least four directions, and a covering tube that covers an outer periphery of the curved portion, the covering tube is arranged in a longitudinal direction of the curved portion. An endoscope wherein the thickness in the direction in which the connecting member is not arranged is increased.

(Supplementary Note 5) The direction connected by the connecting member is up, down, left, and right with respect to the field of view, and the direction in which the thickness of the coating tube is thick is the middle of the up, down, left, and right directions. 5. The endoscope according to claim 4, wherein the direction is a direction.

(Additional Item 6) The endoscope according to Additional Item 4 or 5, wherein the thickness of the coating tube changes smoothly from a thick portion to a thin portion.

(Additional Item 7) An additional item 4, wherein the thickness direction of the thickness of the coating tube is close to a treatment instrument insertion channel inserted through the inside of the curved portion.
The endoscope according to any one of 5 or 6.

Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-357923 discloses an example in which a coating tube having a curved portion is elongated in part along the tube axis direction.

This is to prevent the covering tube from dropping between adjacent node rings to prevent piercing, and the rivet which is a connecting member of the node ring is made thicker in one direction than in the other direction.

The disadvantage of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-357923 is that the bending direction (coincident with the direction of the rivet), which is usually used frequently, is thick, so that the amount of force required for bending is large and it is difficult to bend.

Therefore, in the endoscope according to the additional item 4 or 5,
In the covering tube, by increasing the wall thickness in the direction in which the connecting member is not disposed with respect to the longitudinal direction of the bending portion, without increasing the amount of force required for bending in the bending direction that is usually frequently used. In addition, it is possible to improve the operability by eliminating a bending defect such as a curved warpage.

In the endoscope according to the additional item 6, in addition to the effect of the endoscope according to the additional item 4 or 5, by smoothly changing the wall thickness, there is no defect such as generation of a crack at a change point. It is possible to prevent the subject from being scratched when the subject passes through the pharynx.

Further, in the endoscope according to the additional item 7, in addition to the effect of the endoscope according to the additional item 4, 5 or 6, the covering tube in a direction close to the curved warpage caused by the tension of the treatment tool insertion channel is provided. Is thickened to make it difficult to bend, thereby making it easy to bend in the original up, down, left, and right directions, thereby making it possible to reduce poor bending.

(Additional Item 8) In response to a plurality of operation wires inserted into the plurality of joint pieces, via a plurality of wire receivers provided on inner surfaces of the plurality of joint pieces rotatably connected to each other. In the endoscope having a curved portion where the plurality of joint pieces are curved, a flexible tube connected to a proximal end side of the curved portion, and a treatment tool insertion channel inserted into the flexible portion and the flexible tube, A holding member is provided in the bending portion for holding the disposition position of the treatment instrument insertion channel in the bending portion relative to the distal end portion of the flexible tube, at a position closer to the center of the insertion portion including the bending portion and the flexible tube. An endoscope characterized in that:

(Additional Item 9) The endoscope according to Additional Item 8, wherein the inner diameters of the plurality of joint pieces of the bending portion are larger than the inner diameter of the flexible tube.

(Additional Item 10) The additional member is characterized in that the holding member is a wire receiver provided inside the plurality of joint pieces in close proximity to the treatment instrument insertion channel and through which the operation wire is not inserted. Or the endoscope according to 9.

(Additional Item 11) The endoscope according to additional item 10, wherein a plurality of the wire receivers through which the operation wires are not inserted are provided.

(Supplementary Item 12) The holding member is an inner surface convex portion in which a part of the joint piece is depressed toward the center for disposing the treatment tool insertion channel from the center of the insertion portion. 10. The endoscope according to additional item 8 or 9.

Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-135313
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 2-10937, an endoscope provided with a holding member for disposing a light guide at a central portion in a scope conduit to prevent the light guide from being bent due to bending. As described in the gazette, there is an endoscope provided with a movement restricting member for restricting the movement of the built-in member between the wire guides in the inner circumferential direction of the bending tube in order to inexpensively prevent the built-in member from being bent.

In both of the endoscopes disclosed in JP-A-2-135313 and JP-A-2-109537, the treatment tool insertion channel is housed not at the center of the insertion portion but around the curved portion. Generally, the treatment tool insertion channel is the thickest among the built-in curved portions, and has a large outer diameter and is difficult to bend. When the treatment tool insertion channel is stored around the inside of the curved portion, the bending operation is not performed. In this case, there is a problem in that the movement amount of the channel in the bending portion when performing the operation is large, a bending failure such as a bending warp occurs, or another built-in component is pressed and damaged.

Therefore, in the endoscope according to the additional item 8 or 9,
A holding member is provided in the bending portion for holding the position of the treatment instrument insertion channel in the bending portion with respect to the distal end portion of the flexible tube, in the bending portion and at the center of the insertion portion formed by the bending portion and the flexible tube. By doing so, even when performing a bending operation, it is possible to reduce the amount of movement of the channel within the bending portion, reduce bending defects such as bending warpage, and reduce the pressure on other built-in components to prevent damage. Make it possible.

Further, in the endoscope of the additional item 10, the additional item 8
Or, in addition to the effect of the endoscope of 9, the assembling workability of the holding member can be improved.

Further, in the endoscope according to the additional item 11 or 12, it is possible to prevent the treatment instrument insertion channel from being damaged by increasing the number of contact points between the treatment instrument insertion channel and the holding member.

(Additional Item 13) In response to a plurality of operation wires inserted into the plurality of joint pieces via a plurality of wire receivers provided inside the plurality of joint pieces rotatably connected to each other, In the endoscope having a bending portion in which a plurality of joint pieces are bent, the maximum bending angle of the bending portion in a plurality of bending directions is different, among a plurality of bending directions of the bending portion,
An endoscope, wherein a clearance between the wire receiver provided in the bending direction having the largest bending angle and the operation wire is larger than a clearance between another wire receiver and the operation wire.

In the conventional endoscope, the clearance between the wire receiver and the operation wire in all bending directions is the same regardless of the bending angle. The bending angle of a normal upper gastrointestinal endoscope is such that the upper bending direction is at least twice as large as the other bending directions, and the abrasion of the wire and the wire receiver at the time of pulling is large. Is inferior to other directions.

Therefore, in the endoscope according to attachment 13, the clearance between the wire receiver and the operation wire provided in the bending direction having the largest bending angle among the plurality of bending directions of the bending portion is changed. By increasing the clearance between the wire receiver and the operation wire, without increasing the outer diameter of the insertion portion including the bending portion, the resistance of the operation wire of the bending portion is improved regardless of the bending direction, and excellent. It is possible to realize a durable endoscope.

[0093]

As described above, according to the endoscope of the present invention, the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided in the vicinity of the treatment instrument insertion channel is made smaller than the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided on the inner surface at another position. Since the diameter is smaller than the diameter, the amount of displacement of the wire receiver in the bending direction near the treatment tool insertion channel is reduced without increasing the outer diameter of the insertion portion in the body cavity, particularly the bending portion, and bending defects such as bending and warping are caused. And the operability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a distal end surface of a distal end configuration portion of the endoscope in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along the line ABOCD of FIG. 2 in the insertion axis direction.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line JJ of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line KK of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line LL of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view for explaining the operation of the bending portion in FIG. 1;

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of the EFGBH line in FIG. 2 along the insertion axis direction.

FIG. 9 is an external view showing the external appearance of the operation unit in FIG. 1;

10 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of the operation unit in FIG. 9 in the insertion axis direction.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view for explaining the cleaning of the front water supply pipeline of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a cap for closing a front water supply mouthpiece of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing a cross section near the center of a curved portion of the endoscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

14 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section near the distal end of a flexible tube connected to the bending portion of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section near the center of a curved portion of an endoscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section in the insertion axis direction of a bending portion of an endoscope according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line MM of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a first view illustrating the operation of a bending portion of a conventional endoscope.
Illustration of

FIG. 19 is a second view illustrating the operation of the bending portion of the conventional endoscope.
Illustration of

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope 2 ... Insertion part 3 ... Operation part 4 ... Connector 5 ... Universal cord 6 ... Tip construction part 7 ... Bending part 8 ... Flexible tube 9 ... Video processor 10 ... Monitor 11 ... Operation knob 12 ... Operation wire 13 ... observation window 14 ... illumination window 15 ... treatment tool insertion port 16 ... air supply water supply nozzle 17 ... front water supply nozzle 27 ... treatment tool insertion channel 28 ... articulation piece 29 ... connecting member 30 ... curved tube 31 ... blade 32 ... coating tube 33 Reference numeral 33a: Notch portion 34: Solid-state imaging device 35: Wire receiver 36, 38 ... Protective tube 37 ... Signal cable 39 ... Coil pipe

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In response to a plurality of operation wires inserted into the plurality of joint pieces, via a plurality of wire receivers provided on inner surfaces of the plurality of joint pieces rotatably connected to each other,
In an endoscope having a curved portion in which the plurality of joint pieces are curved, and a treatment instrument insertion channel inserted in the curved portion, the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided near the treatment instrument insertion channel may be other than An endoscope wherein the diameter is smaller than the outer diameter of the wire receiver provided on the inner surface at the position.