JPS6224215A - Fiberscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute an observation by executing an illumination by an image guide, by providing a light leading-in part for transferring an illuminating light through the image guide, on an eyepiece part side of the image guide. CONSTITUTION:In the inside of a light leading-in part 9, an elliptical half mirror 15 is fixed so to make exactly 45 deg. against each of an axis of an image guide 1 and an axis of a light guide 12, at a position where the axis of the image guide 1 and the image of the light guide 12 are orthogonal to each other. The half mirror 15 is formed by vapor-depositing a metal such as silver, etc. to a thin and uniform thickness on one face of a very thin glass plate, and this half mirror 15 has a quality for reflecting a part of an incident light from the outside, and making a part transmit through. In this state, the half mirror 15 reflects partially an illuminating light from the light guide 12 and leads it into the image guide 1, and also makes an image light of an object to be observed, from the image guide 1 transmit through partially and transfers it to an eyepiece part 7. An illuminating device 8 converges an illuminating light generated by a light emitting part, by an illuminating lens, and leads it into the light guide 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" This invention relates to medical and industrial fiberscopes.

``Prior Art'' Single fibers of optical fibers are bundled and arranged in a regular manner to transmit optical images. That thing is an image guide.

Conventionally, various medical and industrial fiberscopes have been manufactured using such image guides.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventionally commonly used fiberscope, in which reference numeral 1 denotes an image guide. Near this image guide 1, in parallel with the image guide 1, there is provided a light guide 2 in which fibers are bundled, and both the image guide 1 and the light guide 2 are covered with the same sheath 3. .

An objective lens unit 5 having an objective lens 4 is attached to one end of the image guide l, and is configured to project an image of an observation target onto the end surface of the image guide l. Further, an eyepiece section 7 having an eyepiece lens 6 is attached to the other end of the image guide.

An illumination device 8 is connected to the end of the light guide 2 on the observer side, and the illumination device 8 is configured to introduce illumination light into the light guide 2 to illuminate the object to be observed. There is.

And, in this fiberscope, the above connection ′
The object to be observed can be observed by connecting the eye section 7 to various cameras or by directly viewing it through the eyepiece section 7.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" In the conventional fiberscope described above, the light guide 2 is provided within the same sheath 3 as the image guide 1, so there is a limit to reducing the diameter of this fiberscope. . Therefore, especially when the above-mentioned conventional fiberscope is used for medical purposes, the diameter of the fiberscope is too large to be inserted into the affected area, and the fiberscope may not be able to reach the observation target.

In addition, in the above-mentioned conventional fiber scope, since the image guide 1 and the light guide 2 are slightly separated, the range illuminated by the illumination light from the light guide 2 and the range observed through the image guide 1 are different from each other. There is a slight difference between the two.

Therefore, depending on the distance between the objective lens unit 5 and the object to be observed, there is a problem that the object to be observed cannot be sufficiently illuminated.

"Means for Solving the Problems" The fiberscope of the present invention has a light introduction section on the eyepiece side of the image guide for transmitting illumination light through the image guide, thereby increasing the diameter of the fiberscope. It is thin and allows for accurate illumination of the observation target.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the fiberscope of the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image guide having a circular cross section, which is made by regularly bundling a large number of optical fibers, and the outer periphery of the image guide 1 is covered with a sheath 3 made of flexible synthetic resin. A cylindrical objective lens portion 5 is provided at one end of the image guide 1.
is attached, and an objective lens 4 is fitted into an opening at one end of the objective lens section 5. On the other hand, the other end of the image guide 1 is inserted and fixed into the object side IO of the T-shaped light introducing section 9. One end of a light guide 12 made of a bundle of many optical fibers and having approximately the same diameter as the image guide l is inserted and fixed into the light guide side 11 of the light introduction part 9, and the other end of this light guide 12 is fixed. The section is connected to a lighting device 8. Further, the narrow end of a truncated cone-shaped eyepiece 7 is fixed to the eyepiece side 13 of the light introducing portion 9, and inside this eyepiece 7, an eyepiece 6. 6 is placed and fixed.

The above objective lens 4 is attached on the same axis as the image guide 1 so as to project an image of the observation target onto the end surface 14 of the image guide I, and the distance between the objective lens 4 and the end surface 14 of the image guide 1 is is determined in consideration of the focal length of the objective lens 4 and the distance between the objective lens 4 and the observation target.

Inside the light introduction section 9, at a position where the axis of the image guide l and the axis of the light guide 12 are perpendicular to each other,
An elliptical half mirror I5 is fixed so as to form exactly 45 degrees with each of the axis of the image guide I and the axis of the light guide 12. This half mirror-15
This half mirror 15 has the property of reflecting part of the incident light from the outside and transmitting part of it. The half mirror 15 reflects a part of the illumination light from the light guide 12 and passes through the image guide l.
At the same time, the image light of the observation target from the image guide 1 is partially transmitted through the image guide 1 and transmitted to the eyepiece section 7.

The illumination device 8 described above is provided with a light emitting section and an illumination lens (not shown) inside thereof, and is configured so that the illumination light generated by the light emitting section is converged by the illumination lens and introduced into the light guide 12.

Further, the inner surface of the light introduction section 9, the inner surface of the objective lens section 5, and the inner surface of the eyepiece section 7 are all coated with matte black to prevent diffused reflection of illumination light. Similarly, it is desirable that the surfaces of the objective lens 4 and the eyepiece 6.degree. 6 be coated with a multi-layer coating to suppress light reflection on the surfaces as much as possible.

"Operation" Next, the operation and operation of the fiberscope of this embodiment will be explained.

When the light emitting section of the illumination device 8 emits light, the illumination light is converged by the illumination lens and introduced into the light guide 12. The illumination light introduced into the light guide 12 is irradiated onto the half mirror 15 in the light introduction part 9 by the light guide I2. Since this half mirror 15 is fixed at an angle of 45° with respect to the axis of the light guide 12, a part of the illumination light irradiated onto the half mirror 15 by the light guide 12 is directed toward the light guide 12. 90'
is reflected in the direction of and introduced into the image guide 1.

Also, at this time, a part of the illumination light passes through the half mirror 15 and is absorbed by the matte black paint applied to the inner surface of the light introducing portion 9 without being reflected.

The illumination light reflected by the half mirror 15 and introduced into the image guide 1 as described above is transmitted by the image guide l to the objective lens section 5.
The light is focused by the internal objective lens 4 and irradiated onto the observation target.

Next, the objective lens 4 captures the light reflected by the observation object and projects an image of the observation object onto the end surface 14 of the image guide l. The image thus projected onto the end surface I4 is transmitted to the light introducing section 9 by the image guide I, and a part of it passes through the half mirror 15 and reaches the eyepiece section 7. and,
The image of the object to be observed thus transmitted is observed through the eyepiece lens 6.6 in the eyepiece 7 by a camera connected to the eyepiece 7 or by the naked eye.

In the fiberscope having such a configuration, since the light introduction section 9 is attached to the eyepiece section 7 side of the image guide 1, the illumination light from the illumination device 8 is introduced into the image guide I to illuminate the observation target. At the same time, the image to be observed can be observed from the eyepiece section 7. Therefore, this fiberscope can be made smaller in diameter than conventional fiberscopes that transmit illumination light to the observation target using a light guide, and is particularly useful in the medical field for observation of details that cannot be inserted with conventional fiberscopes. It can be performed.

Further, in this fiberscope, as shown in FIG. 2, the range irradiated with illumination light and the range observed from the eyepiece are approximately equal, and the object to be observed can always be illuminated accurately.

Note that the light introducing section of the fiber scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a part of the image guide I is strongly refracted, and this refraction section 16 intentionally increases the propagation loss of the image guide I, and from this refraction section 16,
It is also possible to use a light introduction section 9 that introduces illumination light from the outside into the image guide L.

"Effects of the Invention" The fiberscope of the present invention is provided with a light introduction section on the eyepiece side of the image guide for transmitting illumination light through the image guide. The object to be observed can be observed through the eye, and the outer diameter of the fiberscope can be made smaller.

Further, in this fiberscope, the range irradiated with illumination light and the range observed from the eyepiece can be made approximately equal, and therefore it is possible to accurately illuminate the observation target.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the fiber scope of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a second embodiment of the fiber scope of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a conventional fiber scope. FIG. 1... Image guide 4... Objective lens 5...
・Objective lens part 7...eyepiece part tj 9...light introduction part 11° negative

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A fiber scope having an image guide, an eyepiece section attached to one end of the image guide, and an objective lens section attached to the other end of the image guide, the eyepiece section of the image guide. A fiber scope characterized in that a light introduction section is provided on the side for transmitting illumination light through an image guide.