TWI527552B - The steering structure of endoscopy - Google Patents

Description

Steering structure of endoscope

The invention relates to an endoscope pipeline structure, and in particular to a steering structure of an endoscope.

There are many types of structures for turning and bending the endoscope, for example, Taiwan's new type M400299, M384635, US No. 5,271,381, and US Pat. No. 20110090331. Among them, U.S. Patent No. 20110090331 discloses an articular lens of an endoscope including a spring and an uncompressible member inside the spring, which cannot be fixed in the spring by the compression member. Thus, if the user operates the joint lens of the endoscope to turn, since the uncompressible member is not fixed, the sensitivity in operation is poor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering structure of an endoscope by which the advancing direction of the endoscope can be arbitrarily changed to enable the endoscope to move in a limited space.

Therefore, in order to achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides a steering structure of an endoscope, the steering structure of which is connected to a cable and an image taking device. The cable has a plurality of control lines and a plurality of wires. The image taking device is a wire that connects the cable. The steering structure includes an elastic backbone, a front end connector, a plurality of joint members, and a rear end connector. The front end connector is fixed to the elastic backbone and the front ends of the control lines, and is connected to the image capturing device Set. The joint members are respectively fixed and spaced side by side on the elastic backbone. Each of the joint members includes a joint ring and a plurality of bumps, and the joint ring has a backbone perforation extending through the front and the back thereof for receiving the elastic backbone. The bumps are formed on the joint ring and are spaced side by side on the outer ring wall of the joint ring. Each of the bumps has a control line hole extending through the front and the rear thereof, and the control line holes of the bumps are sleeved on the control lines.

In order to explain in detail the technical features of the present invention, one of the following preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings, wherein:

As shown in the first figure, the first figure shows a schematic view of an endoscope of the present invention. The endoscope includes a cable 10, an image capturing device 11, and a steering structure 12. The cable 10 includes a plurality of control lines 13 and a plurality of wires (not shown). The image capturing device 11 is connected to the electric wire of the cable 10 to transmit the image captured by the image capturing device 11. The image capturing device preferably uses a lens composed of CCD or CMOS. The steering structure 12 includes an elastic backbone 14, a front end connector 15, a plurality of joint members 16, and a rear end connector 17. The elastic backbone 14 is preferably a steel cable having elasticity. The front end connector 15 is fixed to the front end of the elastic backbone 14 and the control lines 13, and is connected to the image capturing device 11 to fix the image capturing device 11. The joint members 16 are respectively fixed and spaced side by side on the elastic backbone 14 . In this embodiment, five joint members 16 are used, and each joint member 16 is equally spaced and arranged on the elastic backbone 14 . However, in practice, the number of the joint members 16 can be increased or decreased depending on the demand for use.

Please refer to the first to third figures together. The second figure shows the first picture. A perspective view of the first joint member, and a third view shows a schematic view of the steering structure 12 being turned in the first figure. Each joint member 16 includes an articular ring 18 and a plurality of lugs 19 having a backbone perforation 20 secured to the front and rear of the joint ring 18 for receiving over the elastic backbone 14. The bumps 19 are formed on the joint ring 18 and are spaced apart from each other on the outer ring wall of the joint ring 18. Each of the bumps 19 has a control wire hole 21 extending through the front and the rear thereof, and the control wire holes 21 of the bumps 19 are threaded over the control wires 13. The two adjacent bumps 19 of each joint member 16 are used to receive the wires. The rear end connector 17 is fixed to the rear end of the elastic backbone 14 and is sleeved on the control wires 13. As shown in the third figure, the operator can control the steering of the image capturing device 11 by pulling one of the control lines 13, and after releasing the pulled control line 13, the elastic backbone 14 can return to its original state by its own elastic force (as shown in the first figure).

The endoscope usually further includes an operating handle (not shown), and the other end of the cable 10 is connected to the operating handle so that the user can operate the handlebar. To achieve the purpose of tightening or relaxing the control line 13.

As shown in the fourth and fifth figures, the fourth and fifth figures respectively show enlarged schematic views of the front and rear connecting members of the steering structure of the present invention. The front and rear end connecting members 15, 17 of the steering structure respectively have an external thread section 22, 23, a backbone fixing hole 24, 25 and a plurality of through holes 26, 27, respectively. The cable 10 and the image taking device 11 are connected. The inner walls of the two bone fixing holes 24, 25 have a plurality of ring teeth that are pressed against the elastic backbone 14 to fix the front and rear connecting members 15, 17 to the elastic backbone 14 on. The through holes 26 and 27 are provided for the control lines 13 , wherein the front ends of the control lines 13 respectively have a body portion 28 and a turning portion 29 which is turned with respect to the body portion 28 , and the body portions 28 are respectively respectively Positioned in the through holes 26, the turning portions 29 are respectively located in front of the through holes 26 to stop in front of the front end connecting member 15, so that when the control lines 13 are pulled, the controls are The wire 13 does not exit the perforations 26 of the front end connector 15.

As shown in the sixth figure, the sixth figure shows a schematic view of one of the joint members in the first figure. The inner walls of the backbone perforations 20 of the joint rings 18 of the joint members 16 respectively have a plurality of ring teeth that are pressed against the elastic bones 14, so that the joint members 16 can be stably fixed to the elastic bones 14 .

As shown in the first and seventh figures, the seventh figure shows a schematic view of the steering structure in the first figure. The endoscope further includes a tight spring conduit 30 disposed between two adjacent bumps 19 of each joint member 16 and for wires passing through the cable. Two dense lines are shown in the first figure. The spring conduit 30, in the sixth figure, omits one of the tight spring conduits 30, so that the tight spring conduit 30 can be provided with one or more requirements as needed. A wire slot 31 is formed between the two adjacent bumps 19 on each of the joint members 16 for receiving the tight spring conduit 30. Thus, the wires of the cable can be protected by the tight spring conduit 30. The insulation of the wire is prevented from being damaged, but if the insulation of the wires is not affected, the dense spring conduit 30 can also be omitted. Since the tight spring guide 30 can be bent, the tight spring guide 30 can also be bent in conformity with the steering structure 12 when the steering structure 12 is bent.

10‧‧‧ Cable

11‧‧‧Image capture device

12‧‧‧Steering structure

13‧‧‧Control line

14‧‧‧Elastic backbone

15‧‧‧ front connector

16‧‧‧ joint parts

17‧‧‧Back end connector

18‧‧‧ joint ring

19‧‧‧Bumps

20‧‧‧ backbone perforation

21‧‧‧Control line hole

22, 23‧‧‧ external thread section

24, 25‧‧ ‧ backbone fixing holes

26, 27‧‧‧ perforation

28‧‧‧ Body

29‧‧‧ Turning Department

30‧‧‧tight spring conduit

The first figure shows a schematic view of an endoscope according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The second figure shows a perspective view of one of the joint members of the steering structure in the first figure.

The third figure shows a schematic view of the steering structure being turned in the first figure.

The fourth and fifth figures respectively show enlarged views of the front and rear connectors in the first figure.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing one of the joint members of the steering structure in the first figure.

The seventh figure is a partially enlarged schematic view showing the application of the close spring guide in the first figure to the steering structure.

10‧‧‧ Cable

11‧‧‧Image capture device

12‧‧‧Steering structure

13‧‧‧Control line

14‧‧‧Elastic backbone

15‧‧‧ front connector

16‧‧‧ joint parts

17‧‧‧Back end connector

30‧‧‧tight spring conduit

Claims (4)

The steering structure of the endoscope is connected to a cable and an image taking device. The cable includes a plurality of control wires and a plurality of wires. The image capturing device is connected to the wires of the cable. The steering structure includes: a front end connecting member is fixed to the front end of the elastic backbone and the control lines, and is connected to the image capturing device; a plurality of joint members are respectively fixed and spaced side by side on the elastic backbone, and each joint member includes a An articular ring and a plurality of bumps having a backbone perforation extending through the front and the back thereof for wearing over the elastic backbone, the bumps being formed on the joint ring and spaced apart from each other Each of the protrusions has a control line hole extending through the front and the rear of the ring, and the control line holes of the protrusions are sleeved on the control lines, wherein two adjacent protrusions of each joint member The blocks are configured to receive the wires; and a rear end connector is fixed to the rear end of the elastic backbone and is sleeved on the control wires. The steering structure of claim 1, wherein the front and rear connecting members respectively have an external thread segment, a backbone fixing hole and a plurality of through holes, wherein the two external thread segments are respectively screwed The cable and the image capturing device, the inner wall of the two bone fixing holes has a plurality of ring teeth, which are pressed against the elastic backbone, and the punching holes are provided for the control lines, wherein the front ends of the control lines Each has a body portion and a turning portion opposite to the body portion, the body portions are respectively located in the plurality of through holes, and the turning portions are fastened in front of the through holes to stop at the front end connecting member front. The steering structure of claim 1, wherein the inner walls of the backbone perforations of the joint rings of the joint members respectively have a plurality of ring teeth that are pressed against the elastic backbone. The steering structure of claim 1, further comprising a tight spring conduit disposed between two adjacent bumps of each joint member for threading the cable.