JPS63121007A - Light guide for endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve he heat resisting property of a light guide for endoscope, by providing a transparent low-heat conductive member at, at least, the light incident terminal section of the light guide. CONSTITUTION:The light incident terminal section of this light guide 1 is provided with a low-heat conductive member 5 composed of transparent silicon gel, etc., filling up the space between a cover glass 3 and optical fiber bundle 2 at the leading end section of the terminal covered with a protective tube 4. The lighting light emitted from a light source lamp 7 and converged by a reflection mirror 8 is made incident on the terminal section constituted in such way as high-temperature light, but the temperature is lowered when the light passes through the low-heat conductive member 5 and no much heat is conducted to the leading end section of the optical fiber bundle 2 at the terminal section. Therefore, the leading end section of the bundle 2 is hardly heated and the bonding agent 6 fixing the leading end section of the optical fiber bundle 2 never melts.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is directed to a light guide for an endoscope, specifically, to direct light from a light source device that has entered the light input end to the illumination light output end of the endoscope. This invention relates to an endoscope light guide that transmits data.

[Prior Art] As is well known, an endoscope light guide is disposed within a 1m20 area, as shown in FIG. 8, for example.

In the figure, numeral 21 is the main body of the operating section, 22 is the insertion section, and 23
24 is a light guide cable for connecting the operation unit main body 21 and the light source device 25; 24 is a connector for detachably connecting the light guide cable 23 to the light source device 25;
Reference numerals 26 and 27 indicate a light source lamp and a reflecting mirror disposed within the light source device 25, and 28 indicates a light guide fiber consisting of an optical fiber bundle. And light source lamp 2
The light emitted from the insertion section 22 is reflected by m27 and is converged toward the incident end surface of the light guide 28, and is projected from the distal end surface of the insertion section 22 through the light guide fiber 28 to illuminate the observation section.

The light guide fiber 28, which is an optical fiber bundle connected to the light source device 25 in this manner, has an end portion on the light incident side that becomes extremely hot due to the light heat projected from the light source device. For this reason, in order to increase the heat dissipation effect at the end of the light guide beamer on the light incident side, a heat conducting member is provided in the fiber bundle, or a heat dissipating member is provided (see Utility Model Application Publication No. 51-33441, Utility Model Application Publication No. 51-33441, Showa 50-13315
(see Publication No. 0), etc. are known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, with conventional heat dissipation means, heat resistance and heat dissipation are insufficient, and it is extremely troublesome to arrange heat conductive members uniformly, and heat dissipation is difficult. was extremely inadequate. Normally, each fiber is fixed together with a heat-resistant adhesive at the end of the optical fiber bundle that makes up the light guide, but in the case of a high-intensity light source device, conventional heat dissipation means converge on the end face of the light incident side. The heat from the light is absorbed by the adhesive, which melts and carbonizes, and the carbonization absorbs even more heat, causing problems such as damaging the light guide fiber and significantly reducing light transmittance. Ta.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope light guide in which at least the light entrance end portion has higher heat resistance than the conventional light guide, in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the light guide for an endoscope as described above. To provide light guide for use.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized in that a transparent low thermal conductive member is provided at least at the light entrance end of the light guide. .

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the light entrance end of the light guide 1 is covered with a protective tube 4, and includes a cover glass 3 and an optical fiber bundle 2 at the end of the end.
A low heat conductive member 5 made of transparent silicone gel or the like is filled between the ends of the ends. Note that the reference numeral 6 indicates an adhesive that fixes the fibers to each other at the end portions.

A light source lamp 7 is installed in the light input terminal section configured in this way.
The illumination light emitted from the reflector 8 and converged by the reflecting mirror 8 enters with high heat, but this high heat is reduced by passing through the low heat conduction member 5 and is not conducted much.
The terminal tip of the optical fiber bundle 2 is hardly heated. Therefore, the adhesive 6 that fixes the end of the optical fiber bundle 2 does not melt, and the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional light guide are solved, and the insertion The illumination light emitted from the light emitting end 22a of the portion 22 (see FIG. 8) also has the effect of reducing heat. In addition, since the low thermal conductivity member 5 made of silicone gel has high elasticity, it is possible to reduce damage to the optical fiber bundle 2 at the light input end portion, and furthermore, the rod lens 9 (to be described later) can be
(see Figure 2), an inexpensive light guide can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

The light guide 11 for an endoscope in this embodiment has a rod lens 9 disposed between the low thermal conductive member 5 and the optical fiber bundle 2 on the light guide in FIG. 1, as shown in the figure. The light guide ↓↓ configured in this way is different from the light guide 1 shown in FIG. An additional effect is that uniformly distributed illumination light can be obtained.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of a light guide for an endoscope showing a third embodiment of the present invention. This light guide IIA is simply the low thermal conductivity member 5 made of silicone gel and the rod lens 9 of the light guide 11 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. This light guide IA is obtained by replacing the cover glass 3 of the light guide 1 shown in FIG. 1 with ground glass 10, and the other components are exactly the same. By using the ground glass 10 as the cover glass in this way, the cover glass 10 diffuses the incident light in the same way as the rod lens 9 shown in FIG. can be obtained. Furthermore, the structure is simple and production costs can be reduced.

Fifth. FIG. 6 shows the fifth aspect of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a light incident end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a sixth embodiment. These light guides 11B.

11C is the above-mentioned No. 2. Light guide 11°11 in Figure 3
The cover glass 3 of the person is simply replaced with ground glass 10, and this has the effect of further diffusing and making the incident light uniform.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a seventh embodiment of the present invention. This light guide 31 does not use optical fibers, the protective tube 14 is made of Teflon resin with a refractive index of NA-1, 35, and the low heat conductive member 15 is made of a refractive index of Nn.

By using the -164 silicon gel, the incident light is repeatedly totally reflected at the interface between the two and transmitted to the light output terminal. Even if you do this, the silicone gel is a low thermal conductive material, so it will not generate high heat, and since no optical fibers are used, it will not break in the middle, and no adhesive is used, so it will not carbonize. This has the effect that the light guide can be manufactured at an extremely low cost without reducing the light transmittance.

The silicone gel used in each of the light guides for endoscopes of the present invention is a two-component heating type, has a low viscosity at the beginning of mixing, and is easy to assemble, and is different from ordinary gels. It hardens into a gel-like form through crosslinking without water, and is transparent and has excellent heat resistance. Examples of the silicone gel include Shin-Etsu Chemical KE1052. This has heat resistance of 200°C or higher.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, (1) heat resistance is significantly improved compared to this type of conventional endoscope light guide. ■Due to the high elasticity of silicone gel, damage to optical fiber bundles has been significantly reduced. ■It can be manufactured without using a rod lens, making it cheaper. (2) It can be manufactured without using an optical fiber bundle, and it can be made at a lower cost.

It can exhibit many remarkable effects such as.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
3 and 4 are cross-sectional views of the light entrance end portion of the light guide for an endoscope showing an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views of the light-incidence terminal portion, and FIGS. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a light entrance end portion of an endoscope light guide showing a seventh embodiment of the present invention. FIG. , FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an endoscope incorporating a light guide. 5.15...Low thermal conductivity material (silicon gel) light guide %8 diagram procedure amendment (voluntary) 1986 2
24th of the month

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a light guide that transmits light from a light source device that enters the light input end toward the illumination light output end of the endoscope, a transparent low heat conductive member is provided at least at the light input end. Characteristic light guide for endoscopes. (2) The light guide for an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the low thermal conductivity member is made of silicone gel.