JPS6243525Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a pipe switching valve for an endoscope that switches pipes for air supply, water supply, suction, gas supply, etc.

Generally, when observing the inside of a living body cavity using an endoscope, it is necessary to pump air in order to inflate the body cavity to some extent. Further, if mucus adheres to the observation window, the observation field of view will be obstructed, but in order to remove this mucus, it is necessary to clean the observation window by supplying water and air to the observation window. Furthermore, it is necessary to have a function of sucking mucus inside the body cavity and a gas supply function of sending inert gas into the body cavity. These actions are performed by switching the respective ducts formed within the endoscope using a duct switching valve.

However, conventional pipe switching valves have been implemented in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1983-34638 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 54-154588 for switching air and water supply, in Publication Utility Model Publication No. 52-16149 for switching suction, and in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-16149 for switching gas supply. As is known from the application No. 54-44091, all of these conventional devices consist of a piston and a cylinder, and a spring member for return biasing is wrapped around the outer periphery of the piston. . Therefore, the area around the outer circumference of the piston has an extremely complex structure.
Therefore, it cannot be easily disassembled and reassembled. moreover,
It has recently become particularly important to thoroughly clean this area from the standpoint of preventing nosocomial infections such as hepatitis B transmitted through endoscopy, but as mentioned above, it has an extremely complex structure. Therefore, cleaning it is difficult. For example, the spring member for biasing the return must be carefully cleaned with a brush or the like, which requires a great deal of effort. Even so, there may be cases where this is not sufficient in practice, and this poses a problem in preventing nosocomial infections.

This invention was made with attention to the above circumstances,
The object is to provide a sanitary endoscope line switching valve which is easy to clean and which prevents the biasing member for returning the piston from becoming contaminated.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an endoscope 1, which includes a hand control section 2.
An insertion portion 3 is connected to the insertion portion 3, and a conduit consisting of a tube or a channel, which will be described later, is inserted into this interior. Each of these conduits is connected to the hand control unit 2.
The pipes can be switched by various pipe switching valves installed in the pipes. What is shown in FIG. 1 is an air/water supply switching valve 4 that selectively connects an air supply tube 5 and a water supply tube 6 to an air/water supply tube 7. The bottom of the cylinder 8 is hermetically closed by a bottom member 10, which will be described later. The bottom member 10 has a large diameter portion 11 that is slidably inserted into the cylinder 8 at one end thereof, and a collar 12 that abuts and locks against the edge of the cylinder 8 at the other end. It is made up of. The bottom member 10 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 11 is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the cylinder 8, and is press-fitted into the cylinder 8 to ensure airtightness. It's becoming like that. Further, the bottom member 10 is urged to be pushed into the cylinder 8 by a return urging member, for example, a coil spring 13, provided outside the cylinder 8 in the hand operation section 2. That is, the coil spring 13 is interposed between the wall 14 inside the hand-operated unit 2 and the bottom member 10 thereof, and a part of the coil spring 13 is inserted into the storage hole 15 formed in the bottom member 10. It's in there. As shown in FIG. 1, the bottom member 10 is usually kept at a standby position where the collar 12 contacts the cylinder 8 by being biased by the coil spring 13. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, when pushed by the piston 9, the collar 12 is pushed down to a position where it touches the wall portion 14.

On the other hand, the piston 9 is formed with a leak hole 16 passing through its center, and further has a finger rest part 17 formed at its outer end, and a first large diameter part 18 and a first communication groove from the outer end side. 19, a second large-diameter portion 20 and a second communication groove 21 are sequentially formed. Then, it is fitted into the cylinder 8 from the outside, and is kept on standby at a position where the insertion side tip touches the bottom member 10. Note that the wall of the second communication groove 21 has a second
A communication hole 2 that communicates the communication groove 21 with the leak hole 16
2 is formed.

In addition, in the standby state, the cylinder 8 has an air supply tube 5 at a position facing the second communication groove 21.
The air and water supply tube 7 is connected to the first communication groove 19, and the water supply tube 6 is connected to a position facing the first communication groove 19. Further, the other end of the air tube 5 is connected to the air pump 23, and the other end of the water tube 6 is connected to water in the water tank 24. Moreover, the air supply pump 23 is connected to the air supply tube 5
It is designed to be connected to the upper space of the water supply tank 24 using a part of the water supply tank 24. In addition, the tip of the air and water tube 7 is connected to a nozzle 2 provided at the tip of the insertion section 3.
5. Note that this nozzle 25 is directed toward the surface of an observation window (not shown).

Here, the operation of the air/water supply switching valve 4 will be described. First, in the standby state shown in FIG. 1, the air supply tube 5 communicates with the outside through the second communication groove 21, the communication hole 22, and the leak hole 16.
Air from the air pump 23 side is discharged to the outside. At this time, it also communicates with the air/water supply tube 7, but the air resistance on this side is extremely large, so air is not supplied. Further, the water supply tube 6 and the air and water supply tube 7 are the second part of the piston 9.
It is blocked by the large diameter portion 20 of. In other words,
In this standby state, neither air nor water is supplied.

Next, when air is to be supplied, the leak hole 16 is closed by placing a finger on the finger contact portion 17 of the piston 9. This blocks the release of air, so that air flows toward the air/water supply tube 7 and can be supplied from the nozzle 25.

When water is to be supplied, the piston 9 is pushed in while the leak hole 16 is closed with a finger from the air supply state. As a result, the bottom member 10 is pushed in against the restoring force of the coil spring 13, and the collar 12 comes into contact with the wall portion 14 and stops in the state shown in FIG. 2. That is, the space between the air supply tube 5 and the air and water supply tube 7 is blocked by the second large diameter portion 20, and the leak hole 16 is closed with a finger. Then, only the water supply tube 6 and the air and water supply tube 7 communicate with each other through the first communication groove 19. Therefore, the air pressure from the air pump 23 side is applied to the water tank 24 and pressurizes the water, so water can be fed through the water tube 6, the first communication groove 19, and the air and water tube 7. .

Further, after this, if the finger is released, the bottom member 10 and the piston 9 automatically return to the original standby state shown in FIG. 1 due to the biasing force of the coil spring 13.

When cleaning the air/water supply switching valve 4, the piston 9 is first pulled out and each is cleaned with running water or a brush. At this time, since the piston 9 is not surrounded by a biasing member or the like, this can be done easily and quickly. Further, the inside of the cylinder 8 may be cleaned by inserting a brush or the like and pushing the bottom member 10 thereinto.

On the other hand, the one shown in Fig. 3 is a forceps channel 30.
When performing suction through the suction tube 31, the suction switching valve 32 switches communication between the suction tube 31 and its forceps channel 30. This suction switching valve 32
Basically, it consists of a cylinder 33, a piston 34, a bottom member 35, and a coil spring 36, the same as that of the air/water supply switching valve 4. A suction tube 31 leading to a suction pump 37 and a communication tube 38 leading to a forceps channel 30 are connected to the cylinder 33, respectively. Further, the piston 34 is provided with a communication notch 40 that always communicates the leak hole 39 with the suction tube 31, and a communication hole 41 that communicates the communication tube 38 with the leak hole 39 during pushing.

In the standby state shown in FIG. 3, outside air is sucked through the leak hole 39, the communication notch 40 and the suction tube 31,
is blocked by the piston 34, so no suction takes place.

Therefore, when performing suction, the piston 34 is pushed in while blocking the leak hole 39 with a finger, and when the bottom member 35 is brought into contact with the wall 14, the communication hole 41 communicates with the communication tube 38. Therefore, suction can be performed from the forceps channel 30 through the communication tube 38, the communication hole 41, the leak hole 39, the communication notch 40, and the suction tube 38. Note that since the forceps insertion port 42 of the forceps channel 30 is closed with a plug (not shown), air can be sucked only from the forceps port on the distal end side without being suctioned from the plug.

Further, when the finger is released from the piston 34, the piston 34 and the bottom member 35 automatically return to the standby state shown in FIG. 3 due to the biasing force of the coil spring 36.

The suction switching valve 32 can be cleaned in the same manner as the air/water supply switching valve 4 by removing the piston 34.

In addition, the one shown in Fig. 4 is the gas supply switching valve 5.
0, which interrupts or connects the gas supply tube 52 that communicates with the gas cylinder 51. This gas supply switching valve 50 is constructed by fitting a piston 54 into a cylinder 53, and furthermore, a bottom member 55 is provided at the bottom of the cylinder 53 and is made of an airtight diaphragm type or rubber leg type elastic membrane.
is airtightly glued and fixed. In addition, a coil spring 56 as a return biasing member is installed on the outside of the cylinder 53 in the hand-held operation unit 2 and interposed between the wall portion 14 and the bottom member 55. A dish-shaped protection member 57 is attached and fixed to the center of the outer surface of the bottom member 55, and the coil spring 56 is received by this protection member 57.

Further, the piston 54 does not have a leak hole as in the above example, but has a communication groove 58 formed on its circumferential surface, and in the standby state shown in FIG. Gastube 52
It has become possible to block out In this state, there is no leakage and the gas is completely shut off, and no gas is fed.

On the other hand, when feeding gas, as shown in FIG. 5, while extending the bottom member 55, the piston 54 is pushed in until the protective member 57 hits the wall 14, and the gas feeding tube 52 is communicated with the gas feeding tube 52 through the communication groove 58.
Note that when you release your finger, the piston 54 automatically returns to its original standby position due to the biasing force of the coil spring 56.

When cleaning the gas supply switching valve 50, the piston 54 can be removed and the cleaning can be carried out in the same manner as described above. At this time, since the bottom of the cylinder 53 is closed by the bottom member 55, the cleaning water does not enter the hand-held operating section 2. Further, in this case, since the bottom member 55 is formed in the shape of an elastic membrane, there is no sliding part between the bottom member and the cylinder 53, which makes cleaning easier.

Note that in the present invention, it is not necessary to use a spring to return the piston, and other elastic members may be used. It may also be used as a biasing member to return to its original state using its own elasticity.

As explained above, in the pipe line switching valve of the present invention, a piston is inserted into a cylinder whose bottom is closed by a bottom member, and a return biasing member that biases the piston is inserted into the cylinder within an endoscope. It is installed outside the cylinder and biases the piston via the bottom member. Therefore, the biasing member is isolated, so to speak, and is not contaminated.
In other words, there is no need to disassemble the biasing member during cleaning. In addition, the surroundings of the piston are simplified accordingly,
The piston and cylinder can be cleaned very easily and reliably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the endoscope and the air/water switching valve, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the air/water switching valve during operation, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the switching valve for suction, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the switching valve for gas feeding, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the switching valve for gas feeding during operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Endoscope, 4...Air and water supply switching valve, 5...Air supply tube, 6...Water supply tube, 7...Air and water supply tube, 8...Cylinder, 9...Piston, 10...Bottom member, 13...Coil spring , 30... Forceps channel, 31... Suction tube, 32... Suction switching valve, 33... Cylinder, 34... Piston, 35... Bottom member, 36... Coil spring, 38... Communication tube,
50... gas supply switching valve, 51... gas cylinder, 5
2... Gas supply tube, 53... Cylinder, 54... Piston, 55... Bottom member, 56... Coil spring, 57
...Protection member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A pipe switching valve for an endoscope that is composed of a piston and a cylinder and is operated to switch pipes; 1. A conduit switching valve for an endoscope, characterized in that it comprises a piston, and a return biasing member installed on the outside of a cylinder in the endoscope and biasing the piston via the bottom member. (2) The conduit switching valve for an endoscope according to claim 1, characterized in that an elastic membrane is used as the bottom member.