JPH1199121A - Endoscope cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To clean a polluted contact part by arranging a mounting/demounting mechanism which can contact a cleaning liquid supply nozzle to a connector of its duct when the duct of an endoscope is cleaned and can separate the cleaning liquid supply nozzle from the connector of the duct when a contact part of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle and the connector of the duct is cleaned. SOLUTION: This cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70 has a nozzle main body connected to an air supply/water supply connector 46 of an endoscope. A first chuck 74 to connect the connector 46 to a nozzle main body 73 by holding the connector 46, is arranged in a tip part of the nozzle main body 73. In the first chuck, the connection with the connector 46 is released by towning operation of wires 86A and 86B, and the connector 46 is held by energizing force of a torsion spring. When a contact part of the first chuck and the connector 46 is cleaned, the connection with the connector 46 is released.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, to an air / water supply tube inserted into an endoscope.
The present invention relates to an endoscope cleaning device that connects a cleaning liquid supply nozzle of an endoscope cleaning device to a connector of a conduit such as a suction tube and supplies a cleaning liquid from the nozzle to the conduit to clean the conduit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope used for an inspection is housed in a cleaning tank of an endoscope cleaning device, and then subjected to pre-cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, and the like.
The outer surface is cleaned through a plurality of cleaning steps such as chemical disinfection and rinsing. In addition, since the conduits such as the air / water supply tube and the suction tube provided in the endoscope need to be similarly cleaned, the connectors of these conduits are connected to the cleaning liquid on the endoscope cleaning device side. The nozzle is connected to a supply nozzle, and a chemical solution or water is supplied from the nozzle to the pipe to clean the pipe.

[0003]

In the endoscope, the pipe line of the used endoscope is often contaminated at the contact portion with the nozzle for supplying the cleaning liquid. Therefore, the contact portion must also be cleaned. . FIG. 7 shows a cleaning liquid supply nozzle 1 having a large diameter.
Is a cross-sectional view in which a small-diameter air / water connector 2 is fitted and connected, and a contact portion thereof is indicated by reference numeral 3. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a case where the large-diameter air / water connector 4 is fitted and connected to the small-diameter cleaning liquid supply nozzle 1, and the contact portion thereof is indicated by reference numeral 5.

[0004] However, the conventional cleaning liquid supply nozzle 1 is provided with a connector 2 in a pipe line from the start to the end of cleaning.
4, the contact portions 3 and 5 with the connectors 2 and 4 cannot be washed. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning liquid supply nozzle of an endoscope cleaning device capable of cleaning a contact portion between a cleaning liquid supply nozzle on the endoscope cleaning device side and a conduit on the endoscope side.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a connector at one end of a conduit inserted into an endoscope is connected to a cleaning liquid supply nozzle of an endoscope cleaning device. In an endoscope cleaning apparatus for connecting and cleaning a conduit of an endoscope, when the nozzle is connected to a connector of the conduit at the time of cleaning the conduit, when the contact portion between the nozzle and the connector is cleaned. The nozzle is separated from the connector, and a detachable mechanism for cleaning the contact portion is provided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the nozzle is connected to the connector of the conduit by the attaching / detaching mechanism during the cleaning of the conduit, the conduit can be cleaned with the cleaning liquid. When cleaning the contact area with
Since the nozzle is separated from the connector by the attachment / detachment mechanism,
The contaminated contact portion can be washed with a washing solution sprayed from a nozzle.

By the way, when rinsing is performed after disinfecting a chemical,
While cleaning the contact portion with a chemical, the position of the endoscope is shifted by the force of the chemical ejected from the nozzle,
When performing the rinsing, there occurs a problem that the nozzle cannot be reconnected to the pipeline. Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when cleaning the conduit of the endoscope, the connector of the conduit of the endoscope is held by the first holding member, and the connector and the nozzle are connected. (1) When cleaning the contact portion between the holding member and the connector, the holding of the first holding member is released and the endoscope is held by the second holding member. That is, according to the present invention, when the contact portion is disinfected with the chemical solution, the endoscope is prevented from being displaced by the second holding member, so that the nozzle is surely reconnected to the pipeline when rinsing is performed. Can be.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of an endoscope cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an endoscope cleaning apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. An upper cover 14 is provided on the apparatus main body 12 of the endoscope cleaning apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, an endoscope 16
A washing tank 18 is provided for accommodating the fuel cells, and injection devices 20 and 22 are provided in the washing tank 18. The endoscope 16
The hand operation unit 24 is accommodated in the vicinity of the small ejection device 20, and the flexible portion 26 and the light guide (LG) flexible portion 28 are accommodated so as to surround the large ejection device 22. When the injection device 20 is driven in this housed state, the hand operation unit 24
Is cleaned by the cleaning liquid from the nozzle 20A, and when the injection device 22 is driven, the soft portion 26 and the LG soft portion 28
Is washed by the washing liquid from the nozzle 22A. Reference numeral 29 denotes a positioning pin for holding the cleaning posture of the endoscope 16.

Here, the endoscope 16 will be described.
The endoscope 16 includes a hand operation unit 24, a flexible unit 26, and a bending unit 3.
0, tip hard part 32, light guide (LG) soft part 2
8, an LG connector 34, and an electric signal connector 36. The hand operation section 24 includes a bending section 30.
There are provided an operation knob 38 for bending operation, an air / water supply button 40 for sending out air / water, a suction button 42 for suction, and a forceps insertion port 44 for inserting forceps.

[0010] The distal end hard portion 32 is provided with an objective lens (not shown), forceps / suction port, air / water nozzle, and an illumination window for irradiating illumination light. Are located. A forceps tube for guiding the forceps inserted from the forceps insertion port 44 of the hand operation section 24 to the forceps / suction port of the distal end hard section 32, and air or water to the air supply / water supply nozzle are provided in the flexible section 26 and the bending section 30. An air supply / water supply tube to be supplied, a light guide of an optical fiber bundle for guiding illumination light to an illumination window, and a signal cable for guiding a video signal converted by the CCD are provided.

The LG flexible section 28 is provided with an air / water supply tube, a light guide, and a signal cable.
On the way, it is branched into two paths, and one of the branched ends has L
The G connector 34 is connected, and an electric signal connector 36 is connected to the other end of the branch. The air supply / water supply tube is connected to the air supply / water supply connector 46 of the LG connector 34, the suction tube is connected to a suction connector (not shown),
The light guide is connected to the light guide terminal 48, and the signal cable is connected to the electric signal connector 36, respectively.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
An operation panel 50 and a display panel 52 are provided on the upper surface of the device. The operation panel 50 is provided with various setting buttons related to the contents of cleaning, a start button for giving an instruction to start cleaning, and the like. Further, the display panel 52 displays various contents such as the current cleaning process, the remaining time of the cleaning time, and a warning when a trouble occurs.

In the mesh-like support frame 54 forming the bottom surface of the cleaning tank 18, there are formed injection ports 56 for injecting the cleaning liquid upward. The support frame 54 is formed in a hollow shape, and washing water and air for pumping the washing water are supplied to the hollow portion. The support frame 54 is shown in FIG.
The pump 6 is connected via two supply pipes 58, 58 indicated by upper broken lines.
The pump is connected to a chemical tank and a water tank via a switching valve (not shown). When the switching valve is switched to the chemical tank and the pump 60 is driven, the chemical is sucked from the chemical tank and the outside air is sucked, and the chemical and the outside air are supplied to the supply pipe 58,
It is supplied to the space portion of the support frame 54 via 58.
As a result, the chemical solution is sprayed upward from the ejection ports 56, 56,... Of the support frame 54 over the entire space of the support frame 54, so that the chemical solution is outside the endoscope 16 in contact with the support frame 54. The surface is disinfected. When the switching valve is switched to a water tank and the pump 60 is driven, water from the water tank is ejected upward from the ejection ports 56, 56,... Of the support frame 54, and the outer surface of the endoscope 16 is exposed to water. Washed. The cleaning water spouted from the injection ports 56, 56,... Together with the cleaning water spouted from the injection devices 20 and 22 passes through a drain port 62 shown in FIG. It is discharged outside.

On the right side of the cleaning tank 18 in FIG. 2, a cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70 is provided. The nozzle device 70 is connected to the tank 60 of FIG. 1 through a supply pipe 72, and when the endoscope 16 is washed,
It is connected to the air / water connector 46 of the G connector 34. Therefore, at the time of chemical solution disinfection, the chemical solution from the chemical solution tank is supplied to the air supply / water supply tube via the supply pipe 72, the nozzle device 70, and the water supply connector 46, so that the gas supply / water supply tube is sterilized. When rinsing, the water from the water tank is supplied by the supply pipe 72 and the nozzle device 7.
0, and supplied to the air / water supply tube via the water supply connector 46, and the air / water supply tube is washed with water. 1 and 2 show only the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70 connected to the air / water supply connector 46, and the other cleaning liquid supply nozzle device connected to the suction connector is omitted. .

FIG. 3 shows the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70.
It is a perspective view of. The nozzle device 70 shown in the figure includes a nozzle body 73, a first chuck 74 (first holding member), a second chuck (second holding member) 76, an inner cylinder 78, and an outer cylinder 80.
Is the main configuration. The nozzle body 73 is a nozzle that is connected to the supply pipe 72 shown in FIG. 1 and supplies a chemical solution and water sent from the supply pipe 72 to the air / water connector 46.

The first chuck 74 holds the air / water connector 46 shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
3 is a chuck for connecting the connector 3 and the connector 46, and includes two semi-cylindrical members 74A and 74B. The semi-cylindrical member 74A is rotatably provided at the upper end of the nozzle body 73 via a hinge 82A.
It is urged to the holding position of the air / water connector 46 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 by the urging force of a torsion spring 84A provided in 2A. The semi-cylindrical member 74B has the same configuration. The semi-cylindrical member 74B is rotatably provided at the lower end of the tip of the nozzle body 73 via a hinge 82B. It is biased to the holding position of the air / water connector 46 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, one end of a wire 86A is attached to the semi-cylindrical member 74A, and the wire 86A is connected to a pulley 85 provided on the nozzle body 73.
, And is fixed to the inner cylinder 78 by a fixing member 87. As shown in FIG. 6, the semi-cylindrical member 74B has one end of a wire 86B attached thereto.
Is fixed to the inner cylinder 78 via a pulley (not shown) provided on the nozzle body 73 by a fixing member (not shown). Therefore, when the inner cylinder 78 is rotated counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG.
A, and the semi-cylindrical member 74B is pulled open by the wire 86B, respectively, and when the inner cylinder 78 is located at the position of FIG. 5 (a position rotated by 90 ° from the position of FIG. 3), The members 74A and 74B are fully opened. Thereby, the air supply / water supply connector 46 by the first chuck 74 is provided.
Is released, and each contact portion is exposed. Conversely, when the inner cylinder 78 is rotated clockwise from the position in FIG. 5 to the position in FIG. 3, the wires 86A, 86B
Is loosened, and the semi-cylindrical members 74A, 74B return to the original position by the biasing force of the torsion springs 84, 84B, whereby the air / water connector 46 is held again by the first chuck 74, and the connector 46 And the nozzle body 73 are reconnected.

On the other hand, the second chuck 76 is disposed in front of the first chuck 74, holds an intermediate portion of the air / water connector 46 as shown in FIG. 5, and feeds the air / water connector 46 as shown in FIG. The holding of the air / water supply connector 46 is released. The second chuck 76 includes two semi-cylindrical members 76A and 76B.
It is composed of The semi-cylindrical member 76A is provided at the tip of two arms 88A, 88A, and one of these arms 88A, 88A is inserted into the upper gap between the nozzle body 73 and the inner cylinder 78, and One arm 8
8A is inserted into a lower gap between the nozzle body 73 and the inner cylinder 78. Similarly, the semi-cylindrical member 76B is provided at the tip of two arms 88B, 88B, and one of these arms 88B, 88B is inserted into the upper gap between the nozzle body 73 and the inner cylinder 78. , Another arm 8
8B is inserted into the lower gap between the nozzle body 73 and the inner cylinder 78.

The two arms 88A, 88A are supported by the inner cylinder 78 via pins 90A (only one pin 90A is shown) so as to be swingable in the direction of arrow A in FIG. Also, cam pins 92A are provided at the base ends of the arms 88A and 88A.
(Only one cam pin 92A is shown), and this cam pin 92A is engaged with the cam groove 94A of the outer cylinder 80 via an opening (not shown) of the inner cylinder 78. Similarly, the two arms 88B and 88AB are supported by the inner cylinder 78 via pins 90B (only one pin 90B is shown) so as to be swingable in the direction of arrow B in FIG. Is provided with a cam pin 92B (only one cam pin 92B is shown), and this cam pin 92B is engaged with a cam groove 94B of the outer cylinder 80 via an opening (not shown) of the inner cylinder 78.
Therefore, when the inner cylinder 78 is rotated counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 3, the arms 88A, 88A are turned into the cam grooves 94A.
And the arms 88B, 88B
Swings in a direction approaching each other along the axis, and when the inner cylinder 78 is rotated by a predetermined angle, the semi-cylindrical member 76A,
76B is contacted. Thus, the air / water connector 46 is held by the second chuck 76. Conversely, when the inner cylinder 78 is rotated clockwise, the semi-cylindrical members 76A and 76B move away from each other, and when the inner cylinder 78 is at the position shown in FIG. Qi
The holding of the water supply connector 46 is completely released.

A gear 96 is provided on a part of the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 80.
The output shaft 1 of the motor 98 is connected to the gear 96.
The gear 102 attached to 00 is engaged. The motor 98 is controlled by a control device (not shown) so as to rotate the outer cylinder 80 within a range of 90 ° between the position in FIG. 3 and the position in FIG. The motor 98
After the cleaning of the chemical solution has elapsed for a predetermined time, the outer cylinder 80 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown in FIG. 5 to wait at that position until the cleaning of the chemical solution is completed. Immediately before performing the operation, the outer cylinder 80 is moved from the position of FIG.
Is controlled by the control device so as to rotate to the position.

Next, the operation of the endoscope cleaning device 10 configured as described above will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 2, after the endoscope 16 is accommodated in a predetermined position of the cleaning tank 18, the air / water connector 46 of the endoscope 16 is connected to the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device shown in FIG. The first chuck 74 is fitted and connected. Thereby, the air supply / water supply connector 46
Are held by the first chuck 74 and connected to the nozzle body 73. At this time, the semi-cylindrical member 76 of the second chuck 76
Since A and 76B are open, the semi-cylindrical members 76A and 76A
It connects to the first chuck 74 through the air / water connector 46 during 76B.

Next, after the upper lid 14 is closed, the pre-washing is started by pressing the start button. In this pre-cleaning step, the large dust adhering to the outer surface of the endoscope 16 is removed by the ejection device 2.
0, 22 and the injection ports 56, 56,... Of the support frame 54.
Removed by the water injected from the When the pre-cleaning is completed, the ultrasonic cleaning is started. In this ultrasonic cleaning step, first, water is poured into the cleaning tank 18 and the endoscope 16 is immersed in the water. Next, the endoscope 16 is ultrasonically cleaned by driving the ultrasonic vibrator provided in the cleaning tank 18 to apply the water ultrasonic vibration injected into the cleaning tank 18.

When the ultrasonic cleaning is completed, the water stored in the cleaning tank 18 is drained, and a chemical is injected from the injection devices 20, 22 and the injection ports 56, 56,. In addition to disinfecting the outer surface of the cleaning liquid 16, the air supply / water supply connector 46 is connected to the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70.
The chemical is supplied to the air / water supply tube via the, and the air / water supply tube is sterilized with the chemical.

After a predetermined period of time, the control device drives the motor 98 shown in FIG. 3 to move the outer cylinder 80 to the position shown in FIG.
From the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. This allows
Since the semi-cylindrical members 74A, 74B of the first chuck 74 are pulled open by the wires 86A, 86B, the first chuck 7
4 and the air / water connector 46 are released, and the first
The contact portions between the chuck 74 and the air / water connector 46 are exposed. In this state, since the chemical is continuously supplied from the nozzle body 73, as shown in FIG. 6, the contact portion 46A (the contact portion on the air / water connector 46 side), 75A, 75B (the semi-cylindrical member 74A). , 74B) is disinfected by the chemical. This contact part 4
At the time of disinfection of 6A, 75A, 75B, since the air / water connector 46 is held by the second chuck 76,
The position of the endoscope 16 does not shift.

When the chemical disinfection is completed, the chemical in the cleaning tank 18 is drained. Then, the control device drives the motor 98 shown in FIG. 5 to rotate the outer cylinder 80 by 90 ° from the position in FIG. 5 to the position in FIG. Thereby, the semi-cylindrical members 74A, 74B of the first chuck 74 are torsion springs 84A, 84A.
4B, the air / water connector 46 is held again by the first chuck 74, and the nozzle body 73 is closed.
To the connector 46 again. At the time of this reconnection, since the endoscope 16 has been prevented from being displaced by the second chuck 76, the nozzle body 73 is surely reconnected to the air / water connector 46.

Thereafter, water is sprayed from the spraying devices 20, 22 and the spraying ports 56, 56... Of the support frame 54 to perform rinsing, and the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70 is supplied through the air supply / water supply connector 46. Then, water is supplied to the air / water supply tube, and the air / water supply tube is washed with water. In this rinsing step, the chemical solution attached to the outer surface of the endoscope and the air / water supply tube is washed away.

When the rinsing is completed, the endoscope 16 is dried. Then, after drying, the upper lid 14 is opened, the air / water connector 46 is pulled out from the first chuck 74 of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70, and the endoscope 16 is attached to the endoscope cleaning device 10.
Remove from storage and store until next use. in this way,
In the present embodiment, when the contact portion between the air / water connector 46 and the first chuck 74 is cleaned, the first chuck 7
4 is separated from the air / water connector 46 to expose the contact portion, so that the contaminated contact portion can be washed.

In the present embodiment, only the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70 for cleaning the air / water supply tube has been described. However, the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device for cleaning the suction tube is also provided in the endoscope cleaning device 10. Since the structure of the nozzle device is the same as that of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 70, the description thereof is omitted. Further, in the present embodiment, the example in which the air / water connector 46 is connected to the nozzle body 73 via the first chuck 74 has been described. However, the air / water connector is fitted into the nozzle body and directly connected. Now, for example, the nozzle 1 shown in FIGS.
It is only necessary to provide an attachment / detachment mechanism that moves forward and backward so that can be inserted into and removed from the air / water connectors 2 and 4.

[0029]

As described above, according to the endoscope cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the nozzle can be connected to the connector of the conduit when the conduit is cleaned, and the contact portion between the nozzle and the connector can be removed. Since the detachable mechanism that can separate the nozzle from the connector during cleaning is provided, the contaminated contact portion can be cleaned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an endoscope cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the endoscope cleaning apparatus of FIG. 1 in which the endoscope is accommodated in a cleaning tank.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a cleaning liquid supply nozzle during cleaning of the air / water supply tube.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an external view of a cleaning liquid supply nozzle during cleaning of a contact portion with an air supply / water supply connector.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional connection structure between a cleaning liquid supply nozzle and an air / water supply connector.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing another connection structure between the cleaning liquid supply nozzle and the air / water connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Endoscope cleaning apparatus 12 ... Device main body 16 ... Endoscope 18 ... Cleaning tank 46 ... Air supply / water supply connector 70 ... Cleaning liquid supply nozzle device 73 ... Nozzle main body 74 ... First chuck 76 ... Second chuck 78 … Inner cylinder 80… Outer cylinder

Claims (2)

[Claims] An endoscope cleaning device for cleaning a conduit of an endoscope by connecting a connector at one end of a conduit inserted into the endoscope to a cleaning liquid supply nozzle of the endoscope cleaning device. In the apparatus, the nozzle is connected to a connector of the conduit when cleaning the conduit, and the nozzle is separated from the connector when cleaning a contact portion between the nozzle and the connector so that the contact portion can be cleaned. An endoscope cleaning device comprising a mechanism. 2. An endoscope cleaning device for connecting a connector at one end of a conduit formed inside the endoscope to a cleaning liquid supply nozzle of an endoscope cleaning device to clean the conduit of the endoscope. In the device, the nozzle is provided with an attaching / detaching mechanism including a first holding member and a second holding member capable of holding and releasing the endoscope, and for cleaning a conduit of the endoscope, The first holding member holds the connector of the conduit of the endoscope and connects the connector to the nozzle, and the second holding member releases the holding of the endoscope. When cleaning the contact portion of the conduit with the connector, the first holding member releases the holding of the endoscope, and the second holding member holds the endoscope. apparatus.