JPS60221718A - Fiber scope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily assemble the long-sized fiber scope even with a deforming member which has a large degree of freedom of motion by connecting a resonance circuit as a heating means for the deforming member made of a shape memory alloy. CONSTITUTION:The deforming member 16 made of the shape memory alloy is incorporated in the elastic main body of the fiber scope 10 in which an image fiber 20 is incorporated, and the resonance circuit consisting of a capacitor 28, coil 29, and variable frequency oscillator 27 is connected thereto. The motion of the tip of the fiber scope 10 is controlled by selecting the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 27. Consequently, the large-sized fiber scope 10 is easily assembled even with the deforming member 16 which has a large degree of freedom of motion.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial Application Field This invention is a fiberscope that uses an image fiber that bundles a large number of fibers in an aligned state and directly transmits an image, and in particular uses a shape memory alloy. This invention relates to a fiberscope whose distal end portion can be freely bent or expanded/contracted.

(b) Conventional technology In fiberscopes using image fibers, for example, in gastric endoscopes, the imaging section at the tip is bent by external operation to change the direction, or the focal length of the optical system is changed. They often need to be stretched lengthwise to fit. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. The image fiber 1 was bent by a manipulation wire 4 inserted through the image fiber 2.

A fiberscope with the above configuration has two joint rings.
There is a disadvantage that it becomes thicker due to the use of wire 4.
Since the frictional force is accumulated as the length increases, the controllable distance is within 2 to several meters, and there is a drawback that it cannot be used with fiberscopes longer than that.

On the other hand, recently, a new manufacturing method for image fibers has been developed, making it possible to manufacture extremely thin and long fiberscopes.However, in order to expand the field of application, the above-mentioned drawbacks have been eliminated and new fiberscopes have been developed. There is a need to develop suitable tip drive means.

In order to solve this problem, a configuration has been devised in which a deformable member made of a shape memory alloy is attached to a fiberscope main body into which an image fiber is inserted, and a heating means is provided on the deformable member.

The conventional example shown in FIG. 2 is a fiberscope equipped with bending means at the tip. As shown in FIG. 3, this fiberscope 10 includes an image transmission section 12 made of an image fiber and an illumination light transmission section 13 parallel to the image transmission section 12 made of an image fiber in the inside of a fiberscope body 11 made of a heat insulating material. They are integrated into one body, and a drug feed hole 14+ and a forceps insertion hole 15 are provided in parallel with these holes. In addition, four linear deformable members 16 are provided at a portion near the outer peripheral wall of the main body 11, each spaced apart from the center by 90 degrees in the circumferential direction.
are integrated in parallel with each of the above parts. These deformable members 16 are made of a shape memory alloy having a composition such as Au-Cd or In-T1, and in FIG. 3, the pair of left and right deformable members 16 have a wire connection 17 at their tips (see FIG. 2). and switch 1
8 is connected in series to the DC power supply 19,
When the switch 18 is turned on, the deformable member 16 generates heat due to its own electrical resistance. In addition, a pair of upper and lower deformable members 16
are also connected in series to other DC power supplies 19 in the same way.

As a heating means for the deformable members 16, as shown in FIG.
6' may be placed along the line, and the above-mentioned DC power source 19 may be connected to each of these.

The pair of left and right deformable members 16 bend upward at room temperature as indicated by arrow a, and when the transformation temperature is reached by heating, they bend downward to their memorized shape, and when they return to room temperature again. It has the property of curving upward. Further, the pair of upper and lower deformable members 16 have the property of deforming as in the above case, as indicated by the arrows.

The deformation force of these deformation members 16 is configured to exert a force larger than the bending strength of the image fibers of the main body 11° image transmission section 12 and illumination light transmission section 18, and the other pair of deformation members 16 that are not energized. Ru.

Therefore, when the switch 18 is closed, the pair of deformable members 16
When heated, the fiberscope IO deforms, for example, as shown by the dashed line in FIG.

Further, the amount of deformation can be freely determined depending on the magnitude of the load applied to the deformable member 16 at room temperature.

In the configuration example described above, a linear deformable member 16 is incorporated in the length direction of the fiber scope main body 11, so that the fiber scope 10 is curved in the radial direction.
Another embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is one in which the distal end of the fiberscope 1O can be expanded and contracted in the length direction.

That is, a stretchable cylinder 22 is fixed to the tip of a fiberscope main body 21 in which an image fiber 20 is incorporated, a lens holder 28 is fixed to the tip of the cylinder 22, and a lens 24 is attached to the holder 23. ing.

A spiral deformable member 25 is integrally incorporated inside the elastic cylinder 22. The deformable member 25 is made of a shape memory alloy formed into a pipe shape, into which a resistance heating wire 26 such as a nichrome wire is inserted. The deformable member 25 is in a longitudinally elongated state at room temperature and has the property of contracting when heated.

Therefore, when the deformable member 25 is heated by energization,
By changing the distance d between the lens 24 and the image fiber 20, the focus and distance of the lens 24 can be adjusted.

In addition, instead of the above-mentioned elastic cylinder 22, this cylinder itself can be formed into a bellows-shaped cylinder using a shape memory alloy, and the above-mentioned method can also be achieved by incorporating or running a resistance heating wire into the cylinder. As in the case, the tip of the fiberscope 10 can be expanded and contracted in the length direction.

In this configuration example, a deformable member made of a shape memory alloy is attached to the fiber scope body, and the deformable member is provided with a heating means, so that the diameter of the fiber scope does not increase and the deformable member is Since it can be controlled electrically, it has the effect of making the control distance much longer than conventional mechanical control. However, since a DC power source is used, the degree of freedom of movement of the tip is limited to 2.
Requires twice as many lead wires. 1 as the lead wire decrease;
By using one side of the pair of lead wires, the number of lead wires can be increased by one more than the degree of freedom of movement of the tip portion. However, as the degree of freedom of movement increases, the number of lead wires increases, making it difficult to assemble the fiberscope.

(C) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the purpose, this invention attaches a deformable member made of a shape memory alloy to the fiberscope body into which an image fiber is inserted. In this configuration, the heating means for the deformable member is improved.

B) Embodiment The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is an application of the present invention to the conventional example shown in FIG. Figure 7 shows the electrical circuit.

R1+R2 in the figure is the deformed part @16 made of shape memory alloy in FIGS. 2 to 4, and 6, or the resistance heating wire 1
6' is shown. A capacitor 28 and a coil 29 are connected in series to each deformable member 16 or resistance heating wire 16', and a part in which the above circuits are connected in parallel is attached to the tip of a ζ-fiberscope. A variable frequency oscillator 27 is prepared for control at hand, and is connected to the tip with a pair of lead wires 30.

When the output voltage of the oscillator 27 is expressed by v == Vsin (ωt) (1) ω: the oscillation angular frequency of the power supply, the power consumed by R1 is, and when ], the power consumed by R1 is reaches its maximum and generates heat. On the other hand, so that L2 C2 LIC1...Ken...(4)
If L2eCs is taken, the impedance of the series circuit of Lw+Cs+Rs becomes high, and the current flowing through this series circuit is small, so the heat generation in RB is small.

Therefore, by selecting the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 27, it is possible to control the movement of the fiberscope tip.

Also, the resistance heat generation in Figure 5! By connecting a capacitor and a coil in series to &26, it is possible to control the expansion and contraction movement in the same way as the tip.

Further, by closing each heating circuit and taking in electromagnetic energy from the outside through resonance, lead wires can be made unnecessary.

(e) Effects As described above, the present invention is capable of controlling the movement of the tip of a fiberscope by connecting a resonant circuit as a heating means for the deformable member of a fiberscope equipped with a deformable member made of a shape memory alloy. By simply changing the oscillation frequency of the oscillator, there may be only one pair of lead wires or no lead wires. This makes it easy to assemble even long fiberscopes with a large degree of freedom of movement.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional image fiber bending mechanism, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional fiber scope using a shape memory alloy, Fig. 8 is a sectional view thereof, and Fig. 4 is a modification thereof. A cross-sectional view, FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional example for other motions. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a fiber scope showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating its motion control. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Fiber scope, 11... Fiber scope main body, 12... Image transmission part, 16... Deformable member, 16'... Resistance heating wire, 17... Connection, 19...
・DC power supply, 20... Image fiber, 21...
Fiberscope main body, 22... Cylindrical body, 25... Deformable member, 26... Resistance heating wire, 27... Oscillator, 2
8... Capacitor, 29... Coil 1.30...
· Lead. Official 1st figure B

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a fiberscope in which an image fiber is inserted and a deformable member made of a shape memory alloy is attached, a heating means for the deformable member, a heating circuit in which a resonant circuit is connected to the heating means, and an AC oscillator as a heating power source are used. A fiberscope characterized in that it is used. (2) The fiberscope according to claim 1, wherein the resonant circuit is a series resonant circuit and is connected in series to the heating means. (3) A fiber scope according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the deformable members are attached, and the resonant frequencies of the resonant circuits of each or a part of the heating circuit are set to different values. . (4) Claim 2, characterized in that a plurality of deformable member heating circuits connected to the resonant circuits are connected in parallel.
．． The fiberscope described in item 8.