WO2018012092A1 - Insertion section for endoscope, and endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

An insertion section 4 has: a distal end hard section 7; a bendable section 8 provided at the proximal end of the distal end hard section 7; and a flexible tube section 9 provided at the proximal end of the bendable section 8. A light guide 12 and a plurality of lead wires 21 are inserted through the insertion section 4. Further, within the flexible tube section 9, a plurality of tapes 22 are spirally wound around the plurality of lead wires 21 so as not to overlap each other in the axial direction of the flexible tube section 9.

Description

Endoscope insertion part and endoscope

The present invention relates to an endoscope insertion portion and an endoscope, and more particularly to an endoscope insertion portion and an endoscope in which a light guide is inserted into the insertion portion.

Endoscopes are widely used in industrial and medical fields. The endoscope has an elongated insertion portion, and the insertion portion includes a distal end rigid portion, a bending portion, and a flexible tube portion from the distal end.

The observation hard part and the illumination window are provided in the tip hard part. Reflected light from the subject illuminated by the illumination light emitted from the illumination window is received through the observation window. An endoscope image of the subject is generated from the received light and displayed on the monitor, so that the user can observe the subject.

Furthermore, the user operates the bending operation member provided in the operation unit to bend the bending unit of the insertion unit in a desired direction so as to observe a desired region of the subject, or to pipe the flexible tube unit. The distal end hard part can be observed in the back of the object to be observed by pushing it into the above.

Various signal lines and light guides are inserted into the insertion portion as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-68891.
A plurality of lead wires are also bundled, and a thin protective tape is wound and inserted into the insertion portion.

However, when the insertion part bends within the object to be observed or the bending part bends, the various signal lines and light guide move along the axial direction of the insertion part within the insertion part. When the is wound, there may be wrinkles and folds on the tape.

This is because the tape is extremely thin, so that wrinkles can easily enter and is wound in a spiral shape so as to overlap each other along the axial direction of the lead wire. It is because it does not return. Therefore, the frictional resistance between the part with the crease and the inner wall or signal cable of the insertion part, or between the part with the crease and the outer surface of the light guide increases, and only the movement of the lead wire In other words, the movement of the light guide in the insertion portion is obstructed, and in the worst case, the light guide breaks.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an endoscope insertion portion and an endoscope that prevent the light guide from being bent by making it difficult for a fold to be wound on a tape wound around a plurality of lead wires inserted into the insertion portion. The purpose is to provide.

The endoscope insertion part of 1 aspect of this invention has a front-end | tip rigid part, the bending part provided in the base end of the said front-end | tip rigid part, and the flexible tube part provided in the base end of the said bending part. An endoscope insertion portion, wherein a light guide inserted into the endoscope insertion portion, a plurality of lead wires inserted into the endoscope insertion portion, and the flexible tube in the flexible tube portion And one or a plurality of tapes wound around the plurality of lead wires so as not to overlap in the axial direction.

The endoscope according to one aspect of the present invention has the endoscope insertion portion of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the endoscope apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a typical block diagram of the insertion part concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of a pair of lead wire by which the adhesive tape was wound concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 3. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the crack of the adhesive tape wound around the lead wire. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state of a pair of lead wire in which the adhesive tape which has a crease part in the insertion part was wound, a light guide, and a signal line part. It is typical sectional drawing along the axial direction of a pair of lead wire for demonstrating the effect | action of a pair of lead wire wound with the adhesive tape concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the example when the lead wire will be in the state pinched | interposed between the cable for imaging parts, and a light guide concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which a part of the lead wire is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable and the light guide according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a typical block diagram of the insertion part which shows the state by which the adhesive tape is wound also by the part penetrated in the bending part concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a side view of a pair of lead wires in which a plurality of adhesive tapes according to an embodiment of the present invention are provided separately along the axial direction of the pair of lead wires. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 11.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the drawings used for the following description, the scale of each component is made different in order to make each component recognizable on the drawing. It is not limited only to the quantity of the component described in (1), the shape of the component, the ratio of the size of the component, and the relative positional relationship of each component.

(Configuration of endoscope device)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope apparatus 1 includes an endoscope 2 and a device main body 3 connected to the endoscope 2.
The endoscope 2 includes an elongated and flexible insertion portion 4, an operation portion 5 connected to a proximal end portion of the insertion portion 4, and a universal cable 6 extending from the operation portion 5. It is configured.

In the insertion portion 4, a distal end rigid portion 7, a bending portion 8, and a long flexible tube portion 9 are connected in order from the distal end side of the insertion portion 4, and a proximal end portion of the flexible tube portion 9 is inserted. The operation unit 5 is connected to the.
Here, the flexible tube portion 9 is connected and fixed to the operation portion 5, but may be detachable from the operation portion 5.

That is, the insertion portion 4 includes an end rigid portion 7, a bending portion 8 provided at the proximal end of the distal end rigid portion 7, and a flexible tube portion 9 provided at the proximal end of the bending portion 8. Configure the insertion section. A light guide, a signal cable, and a plurality of lead wires are inserted into the insertion portion 4 as will be described later.

An optical adapter 10 can be attached to the tip rigid portion 7 as indicated by an arrow A. The optical adapter 10 is detachably attached to the distal end rigid portion 7. Since there are various types of optical adapter 10, the optical adapter 10 has a built-in type identification resistor 10a (see FIG. 2).

The bending portion 8 can be bent in, for example, four directions, up, down, left, and right, by operating a joystick 5 a provided in the operation portion 5. In addition to the joystick 5a, the operation unit 5 is also provided with various switches for instructing a photographing operation by an imaging element (not shown) provided in the distal end rigid portion 7.

The apparatus main body 3 has, for example, a box shape, and a monitor that displays an endoscopic image captured by the endoscope 2 is provided on the exterior housing.

(Configuration of insertion part)
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the insertion portion 4.

An imaging unit 7 a including an objective optical system and an imaging element is provided and fixed in the distal end rigid unit 7 of the insertion unit 4.
An imaging unit cable 11 including a power supply line and a signal line for the imaging unit 7 a, a light guide 12, and a pair of lead wires 21 are inserted in the insertion unit 4. The pair of lead wires 21 are identification resistance wires for supplying power to the type identification resistor 10 a of the optical adapter 10.

The imaging unit cable 11 includes a power line, a driving signal, and a signal line for supplying an imaging signal to the imaging unit 7a. The distal end of the imaging unit cable 11 is connected to the imaging element and circuit of the imaging unit 7a. The base end of the imaging unit cable 11 is connected to various circuits in the apparatus main body 3 via the operation unit 5 and the universal cable 6.

The light guide 12 is made of an optical fiber bundle. The distal end of the light guide 12 is disposed and fixed on the rear side of the illumination window in the distal end rigid portion 7. The proximal end of the light guide 12 is connected to the light source in the apparatus main body 3 via the operation unit 5 and the universal cable 6.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a pair of lead wires wound with an adhesive tape. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. FIG. 4 shows a cross section of a pair of lead wires wound with an adhesive tape. In FIG. 4, the adhesive tape 22 is wound around the outer peripheral portions of the pair of lead wires 21, but may be wound around the outer peripheral portions of three or more lead wires.

Each lead wire 21 has one or a plurality of metal wires such as conductive copper, and one or a plurality of metal wires 21a are covered with an insulating resin 21b.
As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of lead wires 21 are bundled, and the adhesive tape 22 is spirally wound around the pair of lead wires 21. The adhesive tape 22 is a tape for protecting the pair of lead wires 21. The adhesive tape 22 is wound around a pair of lead wires 21 with a single tape.

That is, one adhesive tape 22 is spirally wound around a plurality (here, two) of lead wires 21 in the flexible tube portion 9 so as not to overlap in the axial direction of the flexible tube 9. . More specifically, one adhesive tape 22 is wound around the plurality of lead wires 21 in a spiral shape so as not to overlap along the axial direction of the bundled (two in this case) lead wires 21. Has been.

The adhesive tape 22 has a thickness of several tens of microns, for example, 0.025 mm, and an adhesive is applied on one side. As shown in FIG. 4, the adhesive tape 22 is wound around the pair of lead wires 21 so that the adhesive layer 22 a is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the lead wire 21.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the adhesive tape 22 is wound adjacently so that the adhesive tape 22 wound in the direction of the axis C <b> 0 of the pair of lead wires 21 that are bundled and twisted does not overlap. The adhesive tape 22 is spirally wound around the pair of lead wires 21 along the direction of the axis C <b> 0 so that the matching adhesive tapes 22 are spaced apart from each other.
The adhesive tape 22 is wound around a pair of lead wires 21 and then cured by heat or ultraviolet rays. That is, the adhesive tape 22 is a tape that is thermally cured or cured by ultraviolet rays.

When the adhesive tape 22 is cured, as shown in FIG. 3, when the bending force is applied to the insertion portion 4 from the lateral direction of the pair of lead wires 21, the wound portion of the adhesive tape 22 is removed from the adhesive tape 22. Since it becomes harder than the part GA which is not wound, the part GA where the adhesive tape 22 is not wound becomes easy to bend.

In addition, the adhesive tape 22 is wound around a pair of lead wires 21 disposed in the flexible tube portion 9 of the insertion portion 4, but as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, the wire is not wound around the pair of lead wires 21. In other words, the adhesive tape 22 is wound only on the pair of lead wires 21 in the flexible tube portion 9.

That is, the adhesive tape 22 is wound around the portion of the plurality of lead wires 21 disposed in the flexible tube portion 9 and is not wound around the portion disposed in the bending portion 8.

(Function)
First, before explaining the operation of the present embodiment, the occurrence of a conventional tape crease will be described.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the folds of the adhesive tape wound around the lead wire. An adhesive tape 101 having a width W is wound in a spiral shape along the axis of a pair of lead wires 102 that are bundled and twisted. The adhesive tape 101 is a protective thin tape, and the wound adhesive tape 101 has an overlapping region 103 where the portions of the width d overlap as shown in FIG.

Since the adhesive tape 101 is thin, wrinkles easily enter when the insertion portion is bent, and once the wrinkles enter the adhesive tape 101, the wrinkled portion becomes a folded flange portion 104 of the adhesive tape 101.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the state of a pair of lead wires, a light guide, and a signal line portion around which a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape having a crease portion is wound in the insertion portion. In FIG. 6, the pair of lead wires 102 around which the adhesive tape 101 is wound are indicated by a single thick line.

The insertion portion 105 has a distal end rigid portion 106, a bending portion 107, and a flexible tube portion 108 from the distal end. In the insertion portion 105, a pair of lead wires 102 wound with an adhesive tape 101, a light guide 109, and a signal cable 110 for an image sensor or the like are inserted. The pair of lead wires 102 are, for example, a pair of lead wires for identifying an optical adapter attached to the tip of the tip rigid portion 106.

Since the insertion portion 105 is elongated and has a small outer diameter, the pair of lead wires 102, the light guide 109, and the signal cable 110 are disposed close to each other in the space inside the insertion portion 105. The folding hook 104 presses the side surface of the light guide 109 or the signal cable 110 or the inner wall of the insertion portion 105. For example, when the outer diameter of the insertion portion 105 is 4 mm and the inner diameter of the insertion portion 105 is 2 mm, the light guide 109 and the signal cable 110 having an outer shape of 1 mm in the insertion portion 105 and the maximum outer diameter portion are 0. A pair of 6 mm lead wires 102 is provided.

Therefore, when the light guide 109 is pressed by the folding collar 104 and the movement of the insertion portion 105 in the axial direction is hindered, the light guide 109 is axially moved when the insertion portion 105 is bent or the bending portion 107 is bent. A compressive force or tensile force is applied.

The light guide 109 is easily broken when such a compressive force is applied, and is also easily broken when a pressing force from the direction orthogonal to the axis of the light guide 109 is applied simultaneously with the pulling force.
That is, if a fold is attached to the tape wound around the plurality of lead wires, the movement along the axial direction of the insertion portion is hindered by the fold, and in the worst case, the light guide is broken.

Next, the effect | action of this Embodiment mentioned above is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 3, the adhesive tape 22 is wound around the pair of lead wires 21 in a spiral manner so as not to overlap with each other. Therefore, in the pair of lead wires 21, the portion GA where the adhesive tape 22 is not wound is easier to bend than the portion where the adhesive tape 22 is wound.

Therefore, when the insertion portion 4 is bent, the pair of lead wires 21 is not bent at the portion where the adhesive tape 22 is wound, and is bent at the portion GA where the adhesive tape 22 is not wound. It becomes difficult to stick.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view along the axial direction of a pair of lead wires for explaining the action of the pair of lead wires wound with the adhesive tape of the present embodiment.
The adhesive tape 22 is wound around the axis of the paired lead wires 21 so as not to overlap. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, the pair of lead wires 21 has a portion GA in which the adhesive tape 22 is not wound in the axial direction.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, when the bending force F is applied to the insertion portion 4 from the lateral direction of the pair of lead wires 21, the portion GA around which the adhesive tape 22 is not wound is soft. The portion GA where the wire is not wound is bent and the adhesive tape 22 is less likely to be wrinkled. As a result, it is difficult for the crease to stick to the adhesive tape 22 wound around the pair of lead wires 21.

If the adhesive tape 22 does not have a crease, the side surface of the light guide 12 or the image pickup unit cable 11 is not pressed by the crease part of the adhesive tape 22. The movement is not hindered, and the light guide 12 is prevented from being broken.

When the movement of the light guide 12 along the axial direction of the insertion portion 4 is hindered, the light guide 12 may be broken due to a compressive force applied to the light guide 12 in the axial direction. However, according to the above-described embodiment, since the adhesive tape 22 does not fold, it is difficult for the light guide 12 to be compressed in the axial direction, and as a result, the light guide 12 is prevented from being broken. become.

Also, when the movement of the light guide 12 along the axial direction of the insertion portion 4 is hindered, a tensile force may be applied to the light guide 12 in the axial direction. The light guide 12 does not break immediately when a tensile force is applied, but the light guide 12 may break when the portion where the tensile force is applied is pressed from the side. When the bending of the insertion portion 4 is repeated, the above-described lead wire may be sandwiched between the imaging portion cable 11 and the light guide 12. In such a state, the light guide 12 is axially disposed in the axial direction. When a tensile force is applied, the light guide 12 is broken.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example when the lead wire is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable and the light guide. FIG. 8 shows only the imaging unit cable 11, the light guide 12, and one lead wire 21 in the bending portion 8 for the sake of explanation.
As shown in state SS1 in FIG. 8, the imaging unit cable 11, the light guide 12, and the lead wire 21 are arranged in parallel to each other in the internal space 8 a of the bending portion 8.

Inside the bending portion 8, four wire guides 31U, 31R, 31D, and 31L for inserting bending wires for bending the bending portion 8 are provided in the vertical and horizontal directions. By operating the joystick 5a, for example, a bending wire (not shown) for bending in four directions, up, down, left and right, is pulled or relaxed. When the joystick 5a is operated so as to bend the bending portion 8 upward, the bending wire inserted through the wire guide 31U is pulled, and the bending wire inserted through the wire guide 31D is relaxed. Curve upward. Similarly, when the joystick 5a is operated so as to bend the bending portion 8 downward, left, or right, each bending wire corresponding to the bending direction is pulled or relaxed, so that the bending portion 8 is lowered, left, or left. Or it curves to the right.
For example, when the bending operation of the bending portion 8 is performed, as shown in the state SS1, the lead wire 21 may be stretched and may approach a gap between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12.

From the state SS1, for example, when the imaging unit cable 11 is rotated around the axis as indicated by the arrow B1 according to the movement of the distal end rigid portion 7, as indicated by the state SS2, the arrow is changed according to the rotation. As indicated by B <b> 2, the lead wire 21 moves and is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12.

Further, when the imaging unit cable 11 is twisted by the movement of the distal end rigid portion 7, the gap between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12 is indicated by an arrow C1 along with the rotation of the imaging unit cable 11 indicated by the arrow B1. As a result, as shown in the state SS3, the portion of the lead wire 21 sandwiched between the image pickup unit cable 11 and the light guide 12 is changed to the image pickup unit cable 11 and the light as shown by an arrow C2. In some cases, the gaps between the guides 12 may pass through.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a state in which a part of the lead wire 21 is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12.
As shown in FIG. 9, when a part of the lead wire 21 passes through the gap between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12, the lead sandwiched between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12 of the lead wire 21. The portion of the line 21 may be pressed by the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12.

The portion of the side surface of the light guide 12 that presses the lead wire 21 receives a force of pressing from the lateral direction as a reaction force of the pressing force to the lead wire 21. As described above, the light guide 12 easily breaks when it receives a tensile force along the axial direction and a force pressing from the lateral direction at the same time.

However, as described above, the pair of lead wires 21 are easily bent at a portion where the adhesive tape 22 is not wound, and the adhesive tape 22 is difficult to bend, so that the insertion guide 4 of the light guide 12 moves in the axial direction. Will not be disturbed. That is, even if a part of the lead wire 21 is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12, the light guide 12 is easy to move in the axial direction of the insertion unit 4. As a result, it is difficult for the light guide 12 to generate a tensile force along the axial direction, and the light guide 12 is not easily broken.

In the present embodiment, the adhesive tape 22 is not wound around the pair of lead wires 21 disposed in the bending portion 8. As shown in FIG. 9, even when one lead wire 21 is sandwiched between the imaging unit cable 11 and the light guide 12, the lead wire 21 around which the adhesive tape 22 is not wound is adhesive. Since the diameter is smaller than the one wound with the tape 22, the pressure force received by the light guide 12 is small.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is difficult to cause a crease on the tape wound around the plurality of lead wires inserted into the insertion portion, thereby preventing the light guide from being broken. An endoscope insertion part and an endoscope can be provided.

In the embodiment described above, the lead wire protection tape is a pair of lead wires for supplying power to the type identification resistor 10 a of the optical adapter 10, but is inserted into the insertion portion 4. It may be wound around a plurality of lead wires for other purposes. That is, the lead wire protecting tape may be wound by another lead wire inserted into the insertion portion 4.
In the above-described embodiment, the tape wound around the plurality of lead wires is cured by heat or ultraviolet light, but may not be cured by heat or ultraviolet light.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the plurality of lead wires are inserted into the bending portion 8 and the flexible tube portion 9 of the insertion portion 4 and the tape is wound around the pair of lead wires 21. However, the tape may be wound around the portion inserted into the bending portion 8.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of the insertion portion 4 showing a state in which the adhesive tape 22 is wound around a portion inserted into the bending portion 8.
As shown in FIG. 10, the adhesive tape 22 is also wound around portions of the pair of lead wires 21 that are inserted into the bending portion 8 and the flexible tube portion 9.

Even with such a configuration, it is possible to provide an endoscope insertion portion and an endoscope in which a tape that protects a plurality of lead wires inserted into the insertion portion is unlikely to be bent.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, one adhesive tape 22 is wound around the pair of lead wires 21, but a plurality of adhesive tapes 22 are separately arranged on the pair of lead wires 21. You may make it install.

FIG. 11 is a side view of a pair of lead wires in which a plurality of adhesive tapes 22 are provided apart from each other along the axial direction of the pair of lead wires 21. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

That is, a plurality of tapes 22 are wound apart from each other along the axial direction of the bundled lead wires 21.
Each tape in FIG. 11 may also be cured by heat or ultraviolet rays.

Furthermore, the plurality of tapes of FIG. 11 may be wound only on the plurality of lead wires in the flexible tube portion, or may be wound on the plurality of lead wires in the bending portion 8. .
As shown in FIG. 11, even if one adhesive tape 22 is not wound in a spiral shape, a plurality of adhesive tapes 22 are separately separated and provided along the axial direction of a pair of lead wires 21. May be.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

This application is filed on the basis of the priority claim of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-138731 filed in Japan on July 13, 2016. The above disclosure is included in the present specification and claims. Shall be quoted.

Claims (6)

1. An endoscope insertion portion having a distal end rigid portion, a bending portion provided at a proximal end of the distal end rigid portion, and a flexible tube portion provided at a proximal end of the bending portion,
   A light guide inserted into the endoscope insertion portion;
   A plurality of lead wires inserted into the endoscope insertion portion;
   An endoscope insertion portion comprising: one or a plurality of tapes wound around the plurality of lead wires so as not to overlap in the axial direction of the flexible tube in the flexible tube portion .
2. The one or more tapes are wound around the plurality of lead wires in a spiral shape along the axial direction of the plurality of lead wires bundled. Endoscope insertion part.
3. The endoscope insertion portion according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of tapes are wound apart from each other along an axial direction of the bundled lead wires.
4. 2. The endoscope insertion portion according to claim 1, wherein the one or more tapes are heat-cured or ultraviolet-cured tapes.
5. The one or more tapes are wound around a portion of the plurality of lead wires disposed in the flexible tube portion, and are not wound around a portion disposed in the bending portion. The endoscope insertion portion according to claim 1.
6. An endoscope having the endoscope insertion portion according to claim 1.

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