JPS5928938A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an endoscope, and more particularly, to an endoscope in which the distal end of the body cavity insertion portion is made of a metal material.

In an endoscope that performs high-frequency ablation while observing an affected area within a body cavity, the outer peripheral surface of the endoscope that is inserted into the body cavity is completely electrically sealed to prevent burns due to leakage of high-frequency current from the affected area within the body cavity. Must be insulated. By the way, a conventional endoscope of this type was constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the endoscope 1 mainly consists of an operating section 2 that is operated at hand outside the body cavity, and a flexible body cavity insertion section 3 that is inserted into the body cavity.

As is well known, the hand control unit 2 includes an air and water supply button 7.
．． Suction button 8. Forceps insertion port9. An eyepiece section 10°, a light source connection section 11, etc. are provided, and the body cavity insertion section 3 connected to the hand operation section 2 is arranged in the following order: from the hand operation section 3 to the flexible tube section 4.
Curved part 5. The distal end forming portions 6 are connected to each other. Functionally, the flexible body cavity insertion section 3 has a flexible tube section 4.
．． Because strength is required for the core material and the tip component 6 of the curved portion 5, a metal material that is a conductor is used. The outer circumferential surface of the curved portion 5 is covered with an electrically insulating outer skin (not shown) made of synthetic resin or synthetic rubber, and the tip component 6 is also covered with an electrically insulating tip cover 13 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). It was supposed to be covered. Furthermore, since the tip cover 13 is attached to the tip component main body 12 forming the tip component 6 by adhesive, the adhesive deteriorates due to corrosion etc. due to long-term use and repeated disinfection. , there is a risk that the tip cover may peel off from the adhesive surface and fall off.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a method has been adopted in which the tip cover] 3 is screwed and fixed to the tip component main body 12 using screws 15 and 17.

However, since the screws 15 and 17 are passed through the screw holes 14 and 16 of the tip cover 13 and screwed to the tip component main body 12, the tip cover 13 is inserted into at least the head of the screw 15 and 17, respectively. Thickness a within the range where the part does not protrude
, b, the thickness must be greater than the thickness required for electrical insulation. Therefore, the tip component 13 becomes large, which is a disadvantage for an endoscope that would be advantageous to make the diameter as small as possible.Furthermore, the processing of the parts is complicated, and the installation thereof is also troublesome. This was also a contributing factor to the cost increase.

In view of the above two points, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope in which the above-mentioned disadvantages are completely and easily overcome by coating the outer surface of the distal end component with an electrically insulating ceramic film. There is something to do.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the tip and end components of an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the configuration of the endoscope in this embodiment outside the line 6 of the distal end portion of the endoscope is configured exactly the same as the configuration of the endoscope 1 shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the flexible tube section 4 of the body cavity insertion section 3 (see FIG. 1) in the endoscope of the present invention is shown. Curved part 5
is covered with an electrically insulating and resilient outer skin 20, as in the prior art. As is well known, the main body 21 of the distal end component 6A has an endoscope observation window 23. A window hole for illumination (not shown) and a forceps entrance/exit hole 24 are respectively provided, and a tip portion of a well-known image guide 27 is fitted into a part of the rear end of the observation window hole 23. An objective lens 26 is fitted in the middle part, and a cover glass 25 forming an observation window is fitted in the tip part. As is well known, the rear end portion of the image guide 27 has the curved portion 5. It is guided through the flexible tube section 4 to the eyepiece section 10 of the hand operation section 2 . Further, the forceps entrance/exit hole 24 communicates with the forceps insertion port 9 of the hand operation section 2. A ceramic film 28 having excellent electrical insulation, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, and abrasion resistance is formed by ceramic coating on the tip surface 21a and the entire outer peripheral surface of the tip component main body 21 configured as described above. ing. This ceramic film 28 is made of zirconia, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, or zircon.

A suspension-like ceramic coating agent containing silicon dioxide as the main component is applied to the surface by dipping, spray printing, brush coating, etc., and after air drying, it is heated at 100°C for 220 minutes, which is a conventional method that requires high-temperature firing. It is obtained by surface modification similar to ceramics.

The ceramic film 28 formed in this manner firmly adheres to the entire outer surface of the tip component main body 21, and when the coating film thickness is 20 to 40 μm, the ceramic film 28 is free from cracks even under thermal shock. First, it becomes a robust coating film that does not peel off easily, and has sufficiently satisfactory electrical insulation, corrosion resistance, and chemical resistance. As the ceramic coating agent, “Ceramica C-
2oooJr Ceramica C-1300J (K, manufactured by Nichiban Research Co., Ltd.) and the like are suitable.

Next, the above-mentioned ceramic film is applied to the tip component of the endoscope, which has a well-known jet nozzle member protruding from the tip surface of the tip component body for cleaning the observation window and illumination window surface. Another coated example will be described. Incidentally, as a measure for electrically insulating the distal end component of a conventional endoscope of this type from the outside, a configuration as shown in FIG. 5 has been adopted. In addition, in FIG. 5, the components other than the tip cover, the jet nozzle member, and their related components are constructed exactly the same as the tip component 6A in FIG. 4, so the same components are designated by the same reference numerals. The explanation will be omitted. The jet nozzle member 29 is formed of a metal pipe whose tip is bent at a right angle, and its base is connected to the main body 29 provided parallel to the observation window hole 23 of the tip component main body 21. Air and water supply holes 300 penetrating the
It is fitted into the large-diameter mounting hole 33 via an insulating tube 32 made of electrically insulating material. First, the bent tip protruding from the tip surface of the tip component 6A faces the cover glass 25 of the observation window. The rear end of the air and water supply hole 30 is connected to the body cavity insertion part 3.
It is connected to an air/water supply channel (not shown) disposed in the interior (see FIG. 1), and communicates with an air/water supply port (not shown) of the hand operation section 2. A tip cover 36 similar to the tip cover 13 shown in FIG. screw 3
7 is fixed to the tip component body 21 by screwing into a screw hole 35 provided in the tip component body 21. The fixing screw 37 is attached so as not to protrude from the screw attachment hole 31, and the attachment hole 31 is closed and covered with an insulating plug 38 made of electrically insulating adhesive. With the above configuration, the tip component body 21 and the jet nozzle member 29 are electrically insulated via the insulating tube 32, and the entire surface of the tip component body 21 is covered with the tip cover. 36 for electrical insulation from the outside.

However, if such a tip cover 36 is used, the disadvantage is that the outer diameter of the tip component body 21 becomes large, as in the case of the tip cover 13 shown in FIG. 2 above. Furthermore, the jet nozzle member 29 has to be attached to the tip component main body 21 via the insulating cylinder 32, resulting in a complicated structure, which is a cause of high cost. Even in the case where the jet nozzle member 29 is provided in the tip component main body 21 in this way, the above-mentioned drawbacks can be completely and easily overcome by the present invention using the above-mentioned ceramic membrane.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6, in which the tip component provided with the jet nozzle member is coated with the ceramic film. In addition, in Fig. 6, the fifth
Components that are configured in exactly the same way as the tip component 6A in the figure are given the same -7= numerals, and their explanations will be omitted. The tip structure portion 6B in this embodiment includes the insulating tube 3 in FIG. 5 above.
2, the base of the jet nozzle member 29 is directly fitted into the mounting hole 33 connected to the tip of the air/water supply hole 30, and is firmly secured by adhesive, soldering, brazing, etc. is fixed to. The entire outer surface of the tip component main body 21 and the jet nozzle member 29 protruding from the main body 21 is coated with a ceramic film 40 similar to the ceramic film 28 in FIG. 4 above. At this time, the ceramic film 40 provides electrical insulation, water resistance, and
In addition to providing chemical resistance, the jet nozzle member 29 is adhesively pressed against the tip component body 21K to prevent it from falling off, and it also prevents water, chemical liquid, etc. from seeping into the interface between the two. ing. That is, with an extremely simple structure, the drawbacks of the conventional tip structure with an ejection nozzle of this type can be completely overcome.

FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the jet nozzle member 29 is integrally fixed to the tip component main body 21 using the ceramic film 40. In the tip structure 6B shown in FIG. 6 above, the base of the jet nozzle member 29 is fixed to the attachment hole 33 of the tip structure main body 21 with adhesive or the like, but the tip structure in this embodiment is different from the one shown in FIG. In part 6C, the above mounting hole 3
The above ceramic is applied to the inner peripheral surface of 3.

After applying a coating agent and drying at room temperature, the jet nozzle member 29 is fitted into the mounting hole 33, and a ceramic film 40 is formed in the gap between the two according to the coating method described above. Even in this case, the two are fixed with sufficient adhesive force. In addition, when using the above ceramic coating agent as a ceramic adhesive, as shown in FIG. It is also possible that the excess ceramic coating agent infiltrates the wrap 29a and hardens to form a suitable projection 34 for preventing slippage. Furthermore, for the same reason, the outer surfaces of the tip component main body 21 and the jet nozzle member 29 are formed with unevenness by sandblasting, machining, etc., and the ceramic film 4 is
Of course, the adhesion of 0 may be increased.

In the above explanation, we focused on the electrical insulation of the tip component of the endoscope, so we only talked about the formation of a ceramic film on the outer surface of the tip component body and the jet nozzle member. Of course, the above ceramic film may also be similarly formed on the inner surface of the jet nozzle member, the inner surface of the air supply channel, the inner surface of the forceps channel, etc., with the intention of preventing corrosion of the entire exposed metal part. .

As described above, according to the present invention, (1) the surfaces of the tip component main body and the jet nozzle member, which are made of a metal that is a conductor, can be made electrically insulating very easily.

(2) Parts such as the tip cover and screws for preventing the tip cover from coming off can be omitted, allowing the tip structure to have an extremely simple structure. (3) Costs can be significantly reduced by simplifying parts and manufacturing processes. (4) Due to the water resistance, chemical resistance, acid resistance, alkali resistance, wear resistance, etc. of the ceramic film, it is possible to prevent performance degradation and accidents due to corrosion and wear of the tip component body and the jet nozzle member. (5) Since the ceramic film needs to be very thin at 20 to 40 μm, it is possible to provide an endoscope with extremely significant effects such as the ability to make the outer diameter of the tip component sufficiently thin.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a side view showing an example of an endoscope, Figures 2 and 3 are
FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing an example of the distal end component of a conventional endoscope; FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the distal end component of an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIGS. 6 to 8 are enlarged sectional views of the distal end component of an endoscope showing other embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. ■...Endoscope 3...Body cavity insertion part 6
, 6A, 6B, 6C...Tip component 12.2
1・・・・・・・・・Tip component main body 28.40・
......O ceramic membrane 29...
...Ejection nozzle member = 13- shape 7 section. Sanskrit 8th Section C Procedural Amendment (Spontaneous) January 26, 1981 1. Indication of the case 1982 Patent Application No. 156876 2. Title of the invention Endoscope 3. Person making the amendment Relationship with the case Patent applicant address: 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Name (0!17) Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. 4
, Agent 5, Subject of amendment Column 6 of "Detailed Description of the Invention" of the specification, Contents of amendment (1) Next to "spray" written in line 15 of page 5 of the specification, ", ” will be added. (2) "Preventing removal" in line 17 of page 10 will be changed to "preventing removal." 201

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (11) An endoscope in which the distal end component of the body cavity insertion portion is formed of a metal material, the outer surface of the distal end component body being made of an electrically insulating ceramic film. An endoscope characterized in that a coating is formed. (2) The externally exposed surface of the jet nozzle member attached to the tip component body is coated with the ceramic film, together with the outer surface of the tip component body. The endoscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: (3) the ejection nozzle member attached to the tip component main body is adhesively fixed with the ceramic film; The endoscope described in paragraph 2.