JPS6192650A - Electromotive endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

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

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an electric endoscope that uses a motor as a drive source to bend an insertion section.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, in order to improve the operability of bending the insertion section, endoscopes have been proposed in which the bending operation mechanism is driven by a motor to bend the insertion section (for example, -45790 Publication, JP-A-58-7
Publication No. 8635).

However, when the bending drive of the insertion section is motorized in this way, there is a problem that when performing a bending operation, the bending state of the insertion section and the magnitude of the load at that time cannot be easily perceived by the touch of the hand. As a result, the insertion tube may be curved more than necessary inside the body cavity, causing the tip of the insertion tube to press strongly against the body cavity wall.
In the case of 1 g, it was thought that the body cavity wall would be damaged, and there remained a risk. In this regard, with conventional endoscopes, the curvature of the insertion tube and the magnitude of the load at that time can be easily detected by the feel of the hand operating the angle knob, so the above-mentioned dangers have been avoided. However, there is a problem with electric endoscopes that this cannot be overcome.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an electric endoscope that can ensure safety when an abnormal load is applied during bending of the insertion section. There is a particular thing.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, the present invention provides a detection circuit that detects when it is dangerous to bend the insertion section any further from the load current of the motor that drives the insertion section, and sends a detection signal of the detection circuit within the field of view of the eyepiece. By installing a light emitting element that emits an alarm when the insertion tube is bent, when an abnormal load is applied when the insertion tube is bent, the operator is notified with a light that the current situation is dangerous, and the danger can be avoided. I am trying to make it possible.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. The first factor shows the schematic structure of the electric endoscope, and 1 is the endoscope main body. The endoscope main body 1 includes an operating section 2. Insertion part 3.
and a light guide cable, and the curved tube section 6 is constructed by pivoting a plurality of short tube-shaped joint members 8 to each other along the axial direction, and can freely bend up and down and left and right. There is. Further, in the tip member 7, an output tip 11 of a light guide 10 and an objective lens 12 are arranged a1, and an input tip 14 of an image guide 13 is arranged facing the objective lens 12. and,
The other end of the light guide 10 is guided into the light guide cable 4 through the insertion section 3 and the operating section 2, so that it can be connected to a light source device (not shown). The other end of the image guide 13 is guided through the insertion section 3 and the operation section 2 to an eyepiece 15 provided in the operation section 2, and faces an eyepiece 16 and a mask 17 built into the eyepiece 15. It is installed. That is, the front of the objective lens 12 can be seen from the eyepiece 15. An LED 18 is provided as a light emitter on the outer periphery of the mask 17 that forms the field of view of the eyepiece 15. For details, see LED18
As shown in FIG. 2, the light emitting part is mounted in a notch 17a provided on the outer periphery of the mask 17 so as to be visible from the eyepiece 15 in order to display the upper and lower positions within the field of view.

On the other hand, the operating section 2 is provided with a curved Akebono bridge 20 for remotely operating the curved tube 6 of the insertion section 3. Note that although only the vertical bending operation mechanism 20 is shown in the drawing, the left and right bending operation/operation mechanisms are also 81 Gt. □Here, bend operation mechanism 2
0, 21 is a motor that can freely rotate in forward and reverse directions;
22 is a drum, 22a is a speed reduction mechanism composed of, for example, two gears, and 23a and 23b are a pair of upper and lower operation wires.

The reduction gear 8NtR22a is interposed between the output shaft of the motor 21 and the rotating shaft of the drum 22, and the drive of the motor 21 allows the drum 22 to be rotated in forward and reverse directions under reduced rotation. Then, in addition to wrapping the proximal ends of the operating wires 23a and 23b around this drum 21 from opposite sides, each distal end side is guided into the curved tube section 6 through the insertion section 3, and each of the distal ends is connected to the most advanced joint member 8. As the drum 22 is rotated by the drive of the motor 21, one of the operation wires 23a and 23b is connected to the upper and lower parts of the drum 22.
At the same time, the other operating wire 23
a and 23b are extended so that they can be bent in the direction in which the curved tube section 6 is pulled. So, these operating wires 2
3a, 23b is electrically connected via a drive device 26 to a bending operation knob (curving operation member) 28 rotatably provided on the operating section 2, so that the operator can
) rotates the bending operation knob 28 backward by hand to gradually raise the curved tube section 6 which is in a straight state, and rotates the bending operation knob 28 forward to gradually raise the curved tube section 6. It is possible to gradually lower the In detail, the @ structure is, for example, drum 22.
In addition, a potentiometer (not shown) is provided on each rotation axis of the bending operation knob 28, and the drive device 26 compares the output voltages outputted from each potentiometer according to the amount of rotational operation, and outputs voltages to the motor 21 according to the difference. It is composed of a servo circuit that outputs a drive signal, and enables the motor 21 to be rotationally driven in accordance with the direction and amount of rotation of the bending operation knob 28. It goes without saying that when the curved pipe section 6 is in a straight line state, the curve operation knob 28 is at a neutral position in between.

On the other hand, the motor 2 of the bending operation mechanism 2o configured in this way
In addition to the drive device 26 described above, a detection circuit 30 is connected to the drive unit 1 for detecting a state in which it is dangerous to bend the insertion portion 3 any further based on the load current of the motor 21. This detection circuit 30 is built into the operating section 2, and its schematic structure is shown in FIG. 1, and its detailed structure is shown in FIG. 2.

Here, to explain the detection circuit 3o, 31 is a comparator, 32 is a current detection circuit configured by connecting the motor 21 and a resistor 33 in series, and 34 is a current detection circuit configured by connecting a resistor 35 and a Zener diode 36 in series. A reference value generation circuit 37 connected thereto is a comparison drive circuit constructed by connecting the LED 18 and the resistor 38 to the output section of the comparator 31. In addition to connecting the motor 21 and the resistor 33 to the negative side of the comparator 31, and connecting the 1 degree resistor 35 and the Zener diode 36 to the positive side of the comparator 31, each current detection circuit 32. Reference value generation circuit 34 and comparison drive circuit 37
are connected in parallel to the DC power supply 39 to form the entire structure. That is, in the current detection circuit 32, the voltage obtained from the current when the motor 21 is operating normally and the change in inductance when the motor 21 is energized but mechanically stopped (increase in load) In addition to being able to detect when it is dangerous to bend the insertion section 3 any further based on the difference in voltage, the reference value generation circuit 34
In this case, the operating timing of the LED 18 is determined using the Zener voltage V2 as a reference value. The Zener voltage V2 (reference value) input to the comparator 31 is set in advance to be larger than the voltage vI generated by the motor 21 and the resistor 33 when the motor 21 operates normally (V2 > Vt). , motor 21 normally
In addition to outputting a positive signal from the comparator 31 to prevent the LED 18 from emitting light when the motor 21 is operating, the motor 21 is mechanically stopped even though the motor 21 is applying current. Only when the voltage V1 increases), the comparator 31 outputs a negative signal to cause the LED 18 to emit light. However, when it becomes dangerous to bend the insertion section 3 any further, the LED 18 indicates the condition.
It is possible to make an H alarm by emitting light within the field of view.

When operating the bending tube section 6 of the insertion section 3 using the electric endoscope configured in this manner, the bending operation knob 28 is rotated. As a result, the output from the potentiometer (not shown) on the bending operation knob 28 side changes according to the amount of rotation from the neutral position, and the output from the potentiometer (not shown) on the drum 22 side changes. 21 will be servo driven, and the drum 22
The curved pipe portion 6 is bent by rotating and pushing and pulling the operating wires 23a and 23b. Thereafter, when the output of each potentiometer (not shown) becomes zero, the operation of the motor 21 is stopped, and the bending action of the bending tube section 6 is stopped.

Where are these electric inside? ! It has been pointed out that with two mirrors, when performing a bending operation as mentioned earlier, the magnitude of the curved load state of the insertion section 3 cannot be easily felt by the touch of the hand, and this may cause the tip of the insertion section 3 to However, according to this invention, there is a risk of pressing strongly against the body cavity wall and damaging the body cavity wall.
These dangers can be avoided.

That is, when the insertion section 3 becomes unnecessarily pale inside the body cavity and reaches a stage where danger is expected, the tip member 8 of the insertion section 3 strongly presses against the body cavity wall, increasing the amount of operating force.
The load on the motor 21, which was operating smoothly, increases.

When it becomes impossible to bend any more, motor 2
Even if a current is applied to 1, it will stop mechanically due to excessive load.

As a result, the inductance of the motor 21 becomes smaller, and as a result, the voltage v1 becomes larger than the Zener voltage V2. Thus, until now, the zener voltage v2 is
The LED 18, which was not operating because the voltage V1 on the motor 21 side was higher than the voltage v1 on the motor 21 side, was higher than the voltage V1 on the motor 21 side.
>V2), the light will be emitted within the field of view.

Therefore, the operator who looks into the field of view can see from the light emission of the LED 18 that further bending is dangerous, and can use this as a warning to prevent dangerous operations. In other words, abnormalities can be detected visually, and it is possible to prevent the user from continuing to operate the bending operation knob 28 unnecessarily.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, there is an LE in the notch of the mask.
D is provided and the LED is operated at a predetermined current value to issue an alarm, but the LED may be provided on the outer periphery of the visual field other than the notch, and
Even if an alarm is emitted using a device whose emitted light color gradually changes from one color to another depending on the operating power (load), multiple types of LEDs can be installed side by side to increase the operating power. The emitted light color may be changed depending on (negative?i'i). In addition, a control element such as a Hall element may be used to operate the light emission of the LED.

〔Effect of the invention〕 .

As explained above, according to the present invention, the operator can
The light from the light emitting body from within the field of view can be used to notify the field that further bending of the insertion section is in a dangerous state, thereby making it possible to prevent unnecessarily continuing bending operations.

Therefore, problems that arise in electric endoscopes can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the invention, and FIG.
Insertion section, 6... Curved tube section, 15... Eyepiece section, 17.
...Mask, 18...LED (light emitter), 20...
- Flexible operation mtM, 21... Motor, 28... Curved operation knob, 30... Detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an electric endoscope that uses a motor as a drive source to drive a bending operation mechanism to bend an insertion tube, a detection circuit detects when it is dangerous to bend the insertion tube any further based on the load current of the motor. What is claimed is: 1. An electric endoscope, comprising: a light emitter within the field of view of the eyepiece that receives a detection signal from the detection circuit and issues an alarm.