JPS6069621A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a structure of a tip constituting part by holding one of a solid image pickup element or a light source element, an illuminating means of a light guide fiber bundle, etc., by a holding part formed as one body with a lens part of a lens body. CONSTITUTION:A tip constituting part 1 of an endoscope is constituted on the tip of an inserting part extended out of an operating part. Also, a part continuing to the tip constituting part 1 from the operating part is covered with an outside tube 2 such as a rubber tube, etc., and the rear end of this outside tube 2 is attached to the rear end part of a cap-shaped cover 3 of the tip constituting part 1. As for this cover 3, an observing window 4 is formed on the surface side, and an illuminating window 5 is formed in the vicinity of this window 4. A cover lens 6 and a light distributing lens 7 are fitted into these observing window 4 and illuminating window 5, respectively, and a condensing lens 10 of a lens body 12 constituting a part of an image forming optical system, a solid image pickup element 9, etc. are fitted into a concave proove part 8 formed on the inside wall side of the cover 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a solid-state imaging device is disposed in the distal end component, and imaging optics that forms an internal image on the light-receiving surface of the solid-state imaging device. The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a solid-state image sensor or an illumination device is held by a lens body constituting at least a part of the system, thereby simplifying the configuration of a distal end component and facilitating assembly of the distal end component.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, medical and industrial endoscopes have been equipped with CCDs (charge-coupled devices), BBDs (bucket relay devices), etc. used as solid-state image sensors in their distal end components, making it possible to capture images inside body cavities, for example. It has been proposed that the image can be viewed as an optical signal charge and viewed while displaying a wedding image on a separate image display device to perform medical tests, surgeries, etc.

In such an endoscope, the solid-state image sensor is a square or circular chip component that has a light-receiving surface formed in the center and is surrounded by a package. For example, in a direct-viewing endoscope, this chip-shaped solid-state imaging device must be held such that the light-receiving surface is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the insertion portion including the distal end component. In addition, an imaging optical system is disposed in front of the light receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor.

As shown in Figure 1 (comparing the structure to an endoscope that uses an image fiber, in an endoscope that uses an image fiber, the image fiber is inserted through a channel member over almost the entire length of the insertion section, and the image fiber is inserted into the distal end of the endoscope. Since the image fiber is guided, the tip portion can be constructed relatively easily by further extending the channel member from the output end face of the image fiber and housing the imaging optical system within this extended channel.

However, as mentioned above, endoscopes using solid-state imaging devices require a dedicated holder to hold the chip-shaped solid-state imaging device, a dedicated holder to hold the imaging optical system, and the assembly work is cumbersome. There were some problems. In addition, electrical wiring to the electrode portion of the solid-state image sensor is troublesome.

Furthermore, the tip structure has a problem in that the diameter of the light guide ray is increased by the diameter of the channel occupied by the light guide ray and the diameter of the channel occupied by the solid-state imaging device and the holder of the imaging optical system.

As a conventional example of an endoscope having such a solid-state image sensor, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-46924 has a package that serves as a dedicated holder for the solid-state image sensor inside the cover. There is a package that is fixed and has a hole in the periphery of the package to guide a light guide fiber bundle or the like to the distal end surface. However, this conventional example has the disadvantage that the imaging optical system must be fixed and held by other means.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and eliminates the need for a dedicated holder for holding the imaging optical system and the fixed imaging device, and forms the solid-state imaging device and the imaging optical system as an integral component. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope in which the configuration of the distal end component can be simplified, the assembly work thereof can be performed easily, and the diameter of the distal end component can be reduced.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a lens body constituting at least a part of an observation optical system, and a holding part integrally molded with the lens part of the lens body is used as a solid-state image sensor, a light source element, an illumination means for a light guide fiber bundle, etc. It is designed to hold one or the other.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to illustrated embodiments. 1 to 3 are drawings relating to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the distal end component of an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a lens body used in the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a lens body having another shape. Although this embodiment will be described using a direct-viewing endoscope, it can also be applied to a side-viewing type, and may be applied to either a rigid endoscope or a flexible endoscope. This will be explained in detail below.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates the distal end component of the endoscope;
This distal end component 1 is constructed at the distal end of an insertion section extending from an operation section (not shown). The part that continues from the operating section to the tip component 1 is an outer tube 2 such as a rubber tube.
The terminal end of the outer tube 2 is attached to the rear end of the gap-shaped cover 3 of the tip component 1. This cover 3 has an observation window 4 formed on the distal end side, and an illumination window 5 adjacent to this observation window 4. A cover lens 6 and a light distribution lens 7 are fitted into the observation window 4 and the illumination window 5, respectively.

Further, the cover 3 has a concave groove 8 formed on the inner wall side, and a lens body 8 forming a part of the imaging optical system is inserted into the groove 8.
2 are fitted and fixed. This lens body 12 includes an imaging optical system such as a condenser lens 10, a solid-state image sensor 9, and a frame portion 1 that holds a light guide fiber bundle 11.
2a are integrally molded. That is, this lens body 12 is formed into a shape as shown in FIG. 2, for example. The lens body 12 shown in FIG. 2 is made of a synthetic resin such as plastic, and has two parts, a transparent part and a colored part, in the shape of a bottomed cylinder.
The color is integrally molded, and a transparent part forming the condenser lens 10 is formed at the bottom part offset from the center. Further, the bottom outer edge and side portions of the lens body 12 form a colored portion formed as a frame portion 12a of the lens body 12. This frame portion 12a holds the solid-state image sensor 9 as described later. That is, the solid-state image sensor 9 is connected to the lens body 12.
It is attached and held on the opening side end surface of the frame portion 12a by adhesive or other means. Of course, in this case, the light receiving surface 9a of the solid-state image sensor 9
In other words, it is attached so as to face the bottom of the lens body 12, that is, the condenser lens 10.

Further, the frame portion 12a of the lens body 12 is connected to the condensing lens 1.
A guide hole 13 is formed adjacent to lie 1, and
The light guide fiber bundle 11 guided from the operating section is inserted into and held in the light guide hole 13 .

The output end face of this light guide fiber bundle 11 faces the light distribution lens 7 attached to the cover 3.

Note that the lens body 12 may be provided with a guide hole for guiding a channel member such as an air/water channel or a forceps channel to the distal end side.

According to the endoscope having the above configuration, the solid-state image sensor 9 is fitted into the frame 12a of the two-color integrally molded lens body 12 and held by adhesive or other means, and the solid-state image sensor 9 is held. By inserting the lens body 12 into the cover 3 and fitting it into the groove 8, the imaging optical system and the solid-state image sensor 9 are connected to the tip component 1 at once.
can be loaded into. Then, the lie 1-guide fiber bundle 11 is inserted into the light guide hole 13 formed in the frame 12H of the lens body 12, and the light distribution lens 7 of the cover 3 is inserted.
The distal end component 1 can be easily constructed by mixing the components.

Therefore, there is no need to provide a dedicated holder for fixing the solid-state imaging device 9 to the distal end component 1 and a dedicated holder for fixing the imaging optical system to the distal end component 1. Therefore, the tube diameter of the tip component 1 is approximately equal to that of the lens body 12.
It is determined by the outer diameter of , and can be made smaller. Furthermore, the number of components of the tip component 1 is reduced, making assembly work easier.

Here, the reason why the lens body 12 is a two-color integrally molded product made of synthetic resin and the edge of the condensing lens 10, that is, the frame 12a is colored, is that the light from the light guide fiber bundle 11 is This is to prevent illumination light from entering the light receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor 9 as unnecessary light.

Note that this lens body 12 is used as another example.

Instead of being an integrally molded product, the condenser lens 10 made of glass may be fitted into a cylindrical body made of colored plastic, for example, which can block illumination light. Furthermore, as another embodiment, the lens body 12 may be integrally molded from glass, and a colored σ) film may be formed on the surface of the portion corresponding to the frame portion 12a by means such as vapor deposition. .

Further, the lens body (2) can also have a shape as shown in FIG. The lens body in Fig. 3 is approximately the condenser lens 1.
A light guide insertion portion 12b is provided protruding from a frame portion 12a having a cylinder diameter equal to the diameter of 0 in the outer circumferential direction, and a light guide hole 13 is formed in this light guide insertion portion 12b. Even with such a lens body 12, the tube diameter of the tip component 1 is approximately the same as that of the frame portion 12a and the light guide insertion portion 12.
The solid-state imaging device 9 and the imaging optical system can be configured as an integral component, and the configuration of the tip component 1 can be simplified.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of an endoscope according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the same elements as in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. This second embodiment deals with a configuration using a light source element 14 such as a light emitting diode as the illumination means. This light source element 14 is designed to emit light with a voltage of 1 voltage from a power supply device (not shown) and to irradiate the subject with the illumination light, and is attached to a lens body 12 configured in the same manner as in the first embodiment. It is being That is, lens body 1
2 is constructed by integrally molding a transparent part and a colored part in two colors, for example, into a bottomed cylindrical shape of plastic, and a transparent condensing lens 10 forming a part of the imaging optical system is installed in the center of the bottom part. , colored frame portions 12a are formed on the side portions and the bottom peripheral portion, respectively. The solid-state image sensor 9 is integrally attached to this frame portion 12b. In addition, the lens body 120 frame portion 12
A light source attachment portion 12C is provided protruding from a in the outer circumferential direction. The light source attachment part 12c is composed of a colored part and a transparent part.The transparent part constitutes the light distribution lens 7, and the colored part is configured to be fitted into a groove part 8 formed in the cover 3.

The light distributing lens 7 has a concave surface with a curvature that matches the shape of the head of the light source element 14 on the rear side, and a convex surface with a smaller curvature than the concave surface on the rear side on the front side, so that the whole constitutes a concave lens. There is.

The light source element 14 is attached so as to be pressed against the rear concave surface of the light distribution lens 7.

However, the light source element 14 can also be integrally configured with the light distribution lens 7 by adhesive or other means. Furthermore, if the illumination light from the light source element 14 leaks to the solid-state image sensor 7, the light distribution lens 7 and the light source element 14 may be made to protrude to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

In this way, the lens body 12 that integrally holds the solid-state image sensor 9 and the light source element 14 is fitted into the groove 8 in the cover 3 and housed therein. This cover 3 has a cover glass 6 on the observation window 4 on the distal end side and a cover glass 1 on the illumination window 5.
5 are attached respectively, and the rear end surface is attached to the outer tube 2.
is covered.

The solid-state image sensor 9 and the light source element 14 can be integrally held in the lens body 12, and the configuration of the tip component 1 is simplified and the assembly work thereof is facilitated. Further, the tube diameter of the tip component 1 is approximately determined by the diameter of the lens body opening, and since a dedicated holder for the light source element 14 etc. is not required, the diameter of the tip component 1 can be reduced. In the present invention, for example, the condenser lens 10, which forms at least a part of the imaging optical system, is also used as a holder for the solid-state imaging device 9, etc., thereby simplifying the configuration of the tip component 1. Note that the lens body 12 may be configured to hold only the solid-state image sensor 9, or
The solid-state image sensor 9 may be fixed by another means, and the light source element 14 or the light guide fiber bundle 11 may be integrally held.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, either the solid-state image sensor or the illumination element can be held by the lens body that forms at least a part of the imaging optical system, so the configuration of the tip component is simplified. This has the effect of making assembly work easier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the distal end component of an endoscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the shape of a lens body used in the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another shape of the lens body used in the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the distal end component of the endoscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tip structure part, 3... Cover, 8... Groove part, 9... Solid-state image sensor, 10... Condenser lens,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Light guide fiber bundle, 12... Lens body, 13... Light guide hole, 14... Light source element.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an endoscope in which a solid-state image sensor and an imaging optical system that forms an internal image on the light-receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor are disposed in the distal end component, at least a part of the imaging optical system is disposed. What is claimed is: 1. An endoscope comprising: a lens body, and a holding portion integrally formed from an outer edge of the lens portion of the lens body holds at least one of the solid-state image sensor and the illumination means. (2) The lens body is made of synthetic resin such as plastic and is a two-color integrally molded body with a transparent part and a colored part, wherein the transparent part constitutes the lens part and the colored part holds the support. 2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the colored portion blocks illumination light from a solid-state image sensor. (3) The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the lens body is integrally molded from glass, and a colored film is formed on the surface of the holding portion by vapor deposition means.