JPS60230113A - Guide tube for endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable free insertion and removal of an endoscope into and out of an engine without catching of a hook for fixing the endoscope and inspection of the inside of the engine, etc. by forming a slope to the end of a guide tube and providing a curved part to the rear of the slope. CONSTITUTION:The endoscope 1 of which the hook 10 is inserted into a channel 8 is inserted into a guide tube 11 and is put into a gas turbine engine. The endoscope is conducted toward the direction of an intended turbine blade by the tube 11. The top end of the hook 10 projecting from the endoscope 1 is hooked to the turbine blade to fix the endoscope 1 in a way as to avoid the oscillation thereof. A crack, etc. are inspected by using the observation optical system 6 in the endoscope 1. The operations consisting of removing the hook 10 from the blade and pulling the endoscope 1 together with the hook 10 while maintaining the length on the top end side of the hook 10 projecting from the top end of the endoscope 1 at about the length in the curved part 12 of the tube 11 are performed after the inspection. The endoscope 1 is pulled while the top end of the hook 10 is slid along the slope 13 at the top end of the tube 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a guide tube for an endoscope, which is used when performing an internal inspection of, for example, a gas turbine engine using an endoscope.

[Technical background of the invention and its subject] In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used not only in the medical field but also in the industrial field.

When observing or inspecting the inside of a gas turbine engine using the above endoscope, there is a hook that fixes the distal end of the endoscope insertion section inserted into the engine, and a hook that fixes the distal end of the endoscope insertion section inserted into the engine. An essential element is a guide tube to guide the turbine blade to the target turbine blade.

An endoscope using the above hook is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-78127.
As disclosed in the publication, the hook protrudes from the tip of the endoscope, so there is no problem when inserting it into the guide tube, but when removing it, the tip of the hook gets caught on the end of the guide tube and may be removed from the guide tube. cannot be pulled out. Therefore, after inspecting one engine, the endoscope is pulled out along with the guide tube, and the process of inserting the guide tube along with the guide tube into another engine is repeated.

If a guide tube and an endoscope are installed together in each engine, the operation becomes cumbersome.

Also, when pulling out the entire guide tube with the endoscope inserted, the endoscope may get caught on (or protrude from) the guide tube.
When the tip of the hook is pulled out, it tends to get caught on the surrounding blade wall surface, etc., and there is a risk of damage. For this reason, the extraction work must be done with care, and
There was a problem in that the extraction work was time-consuming. Similarly, when an endoscope with a protruding hook is inserted from the beginning and the endoscope is inserted together with the guide tube, the problem arises that the hook becomes loose and difficult to insert.

Furthermore, there is a problem in that it takes time to remove the endoscope and guide tube from the engine and then perform the process of removing the endoscope.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and it is possible to easily fix the endoscope without the hook getting caught when inspecting the inside of a gas turbine engine using a hook for fixing the endoscope. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a guide tube for an endoscope that can be freely inserted and removed.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention provides a guide tube by providing a bent portion on the distal end side and an inclined portion on the distal end surface, so that when an endoscope is pulled out, the hook is attached to the bottom by the inclined portion. The endoscope is guided to the side and the tip of the hook is guided inside the guide tube at the bent portion, so that the endoscope can be pulled out from the guide tube without being caught by the hook.

[Embodiments of the invention] Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The figure shows the first embodiment with the endoscope insertion part inserted, and FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the distal end side of the endoscope in FIG.
FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment in an enlarged manner, and FIG. 4 is shown later in order to explain the operation of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, an (industrial) endoscope 1 for inspecting the inside of a gas turbine engine, etc. includes a flexible and elongated insertion section 2 and a rear end side of the insertion section 2. It is composed of an operating section 3 having a large diameter or a large diameter, an eyepiece section 4 provided at the rear end of the operating section 3, and a light guide cable 5 extending from the side of the operating section 3.

The endoscope 1 has an observation optical system 6 and an illumination optical system 7 formed at the distal end of the insertion section 2, as shown in FIG.

The illumination optical system 7 is configured to emit illumination light (from a light source device, not shown) transmitted through the light guide cable 7 from its front end, and illuminate a range that can be observed by the observation optical system 6.

Further, the insertion section 2 of the endoscope 1 is formed with a hollow channel 8 through which a treatment instrument can be inserted, and can normally be inserted through an introduction port 9 on the side of the operating section 3. On the other hand, if the distal end of the hook 10 for fixing the endoscope cannot be inserted into the channel 8, insert it in the opposite direction, protrude its base from the insertion port 9, and hook it from the outlet side of the channel 8. The distal end side of 10 can be projected forward.

The hook 10 has a shaft portion made of an elastic member such as a tightly wound coil that exhibits a restoring force against bending, and the end of the shaft portion is used to hook onto a blade and fix the endoscope 1, for example. The mouth-shaped hook is formed with a portion 10a.

By the way, the guide tube 11 of the first embodiment, through which the endoscope 1 is inserted and guided to a desired object, is inserted through the insertion portion 2 of the endoscope 1 through which the hook 10 is inserted, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, this guide tube 11 is formed of a hollow tube with an appropriate inner diameter that allows the guide tube 11 to be shaped so that the axial direction from the tip to the appropriate length is oriented in a direction different from the rear end side. A bent portion 12 is formed by bending. Guide tube 11 with this bent portion 12 formed
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an inclined surface 13 is formed at the end of the inclined surface 13.
A long groove-shaped notch 14 is formed at the bottom.

When the endoscope inserted through the hook 10 is pulled out and the tip of the hook 10 is caught on the inclined surface 13, the inclined surface 13 is
Slide the tip of the hook 10 that is in contact with the inclined surface 13,
This is so that it can be guided to the bottom side of this inclined surface 13 (the state shown in FIG. 4(b)). Furthermore, this inclined surface 13
is formed by cutting from a direction perpendicular to a plane containing the central axis of the guide tube 11 (for example, the plane of the paper in FIG. 4). In other words, the inner side in the bending direction is the largest notch, and therefore The notch 14 formed in the bottom is provided at the inner end in the bending direction.

The notch 14 is at least wide enough to allow the tip of the hook 10 to pass through. However, the notch 14 of the lever is
This is to prevent the tip of the hook 10 guided to the bottom side of the slope 13 from getting caught when the family gift 111 is pulled out.
Due to the restoring force of the shaft of the hook 10 (inserted through the bent part 12 of the guide tube 11), the tip of the hook 10 moves from the bent inner side of the notch 14 position to the outer side of the bend (the guide tube 11 (the state shown in FIG. 4(C)).

Guide Chico 111 of the first embodiment configured in this way
The operation will be explained below.

The endoscope 1 with the hook 10 inserted into the channel 8 is inserted into the gas turbine engine (not shown) through the guide tube 11, guided toward the target turbine blade by the guide tube 11, and protruded from the endoscope 1. By hooking the tip of the hook 10 onto the turbine blade and fixing the endoscope 1 so that it does not wobble, cracks in the turbine grade etc. can be inspected using the observation optical system 6 of the internal inspection 1i1.

After the inspection, the hook 10 is removed from the blade, and in this case, as shown in FIG.
The endoscope 1 is pulled together with the hook 10 while holding the bent portion 12 at about the same length as the endoscope 1 . Then, the hook portion 10a on the distal end side of the hook 10 protruding from the endoscope 1 is often caught on the periphery of the distal end of the guide tube 11, but since this distal end is on the inclined surface 13, there is no force to pull it out. The tip of the hook 10 that is caught by this slides down the inclined surface 13 toward the bottom side, and reaches the part where the notch 14 is formed. That is, as shown in FIG. 4(b), for example, what was caught as shown by the one-dot chain line is moved to the bottom notch 14 side as shown by the solid line. When the hook 10 is guided into the notch 14, the hook 10 is pulled through the bent portion 12 of the guide tube 11, so the hook 10 is inserted into the endoscope 1.
The tip side protruding from the hook 1 is bent in the bending direction of the bending portion 12, and is constantly trying to return in the opposite direction to this bending direction due to the restoring force of the shaft portion.
When the tip of the hook 10 reaches the notch 14 and is no longer caught, the guide tube is rotated in the direction in which the bending is released as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4(C), that is, the tip of the hook 10 is rotated. 11, and the object that was caught on the inclined surface 13 of the guide tube 11 can be smoothly removed by simply pulling it out.
is stored inside.

Therefore, by further pulling the endoscope 1, the endoscope 1 can be removed from the guide tube 11 together with the hook 10.

Although the groove-shaped notch 14 is provided in the first embodiment, other shapes, such as triangular notches, may also be used, as in the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. , the end of the guide tube 21 on the side where the bent part is formed is notched to form an inclined surface 22, and the inclined surface 22 is cut out to form an inclined surface 22.
It is also possible to perform substantially the same function by forming an inclined portion (or notch) 23 with a larger inclination angle on the bottom side. Alternatively, even if only the inclined surface 13.21 is used without providing the notch 14 or the inclined portion 23, by setting the length and bending angle (bending shape) of the bent portion 12 to appropriate values, the inclined surface 13.21 can be formed. When the tip of the hook 10 moves toward the bottom side of the hook 22 while being caught, a portion slightly rearward from the tip of the hook 10 comes into contact with the inner wall surface of the bent portion 12, and the amount of hooking gradually decreases. It is also possible that the hook is disengaged midway through, and the portion of the bent portion 12 that contacts the inner wall surface moves, so that the tip end of the hook 10 is housed inside the guide tube. .

Note that the bent portion 12 and the inclined surfaces 13, 22, etc. are not limited to those formed only on one end side of the guide tube.
Those formed on both sides of the guide tube also belong to the present invention. When provided on both sides in this way, it is also possible to make them suitable for hooks having different shapes, external shapes, etc., respectively.

Further, the end on the proximal side can be made to have an inclined surface to facilitate insertion.

Incidentally, the notch 14 is not limited to the bottom, but is provided at a portion in front of the bottom so that when the engagement is released at this position, the notch 14 is stored inside the guide tube by the restoring force. You can also do that.

The hooks that can be applied to the present invention are not limited to those shown in the drawings, and can be similarly applied to hooks with different tip shapes. Further, the entire shaft portion of the hook may be made of an elastic member that recovers from bending, such as a coil, but at least the vicinity of the tip (length of about 12 or more bent portions) is formed of an elastic member. If so, the present invention can be applied.

The present invention is not limited to gas turbines, but can be widely applied to cases where blades or other members are housed in a lumen or the like, and where the blades or other members are to be hooked for observation, inspection, or repair.

In addition, the part to be bent may be formed by bending an appropriate length part on the tip side into an arc shape, or it may be formed by bending (like bending) only a part of an appropriate length from the tip with that part as a boundary. good.

Of course, there may be a plurality of bent portions.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the end of the guide tube is formed into an inclined surface, and a bent portion is provided at the rear portion of the inclined surface, so that a hook cannot be used. By simply pulling out the endoscope, the endoscope can be pulled out from the guide tube without the distal end of the hook getting caught in the guide tube. Therefore, the cumbersome and time-consuming extraction work can be completed in a short time. or,
This can be achieved at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a perspective view showing the endoscope inserted into the first embodiment, and the second figure is a perspective view showing the endoscope inserted into the first embodiment.
The figure is an enlarged perspective view of the distal end side of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the guide tube of the first embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the guide tube of the first embodiment. A sectional view showing the distal end side of the guide tube for explaining the operation of the example, No. 5
6 and 6 relate to a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the front end side of the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 5. 1... Endoscope 2... Insertion section 3... Operation section 6... Observation optical system 7... Illumination optical system 8... Channel 10... Hook 11.21... Guide Tube 12...Bending portion 13.22...Slanted surface 14...Notch 2゛3
・・・Slope part Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a guide tube for performing endoscopic examination using a fixing hook, at least one end side is provided with a bent part, and the end on the side where the bent part is formed is an inclined surface. A guide tube for an endoscope, characterized in that it is formed into a. (2) The guide tube for an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface is provided with a notch corresponding to a fixing hook at the bottom thereof.