JP2007209698A - Endoscope fluid supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

A low-speed rotation of a motor for driving an endoscope pump is stabilized.
An endoscope pump 10 includes a pump unit 11, a motor 12, a switch 13, a regulator 14, a pump drive circuit 15, a CPU 16, a power supply circuit 17, and the like. The motor 12 supplies driving force to the pump unit 11. The power supply circuit 17 supplies power for rotating the motor 12. The switch 13 alternately switches on and off the power supply from the power supply circuit 17 to the motor 12. The regulator 14 adjusts the voltage applied to the motor 12. The pump drive circuit 15 outputs an ON signal for turning on the switch 13 and an OFF signal for turning it off. The pump drive circuit 15 outputs a voltage adjustment signal for causing the regulator 14 to perform voltage adjustment. The CPU 16 controls the operation of the pump drive circuit 15.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope fluid supply apparatus for supplying air and water to an endoscope.

  Conventionally, electronic endoscopes and fiberscopes are used to observe the inside of the body. In such a medical endoscope, air is supplied into the body to widen the lumen, and water is supplied into the body to clean the observation site and lens.

  For such air supply and water supply, an air / water supply pump driven by a motor has been used. In such an air / water pump, it is desirable to reduce power consumption by the motor, and for this purpose, it has been proposed to change the drive voltage applied to the motor (see Patent Document 1).

However, in order to generate the rotational force of the motor, it is necessary to apply a driving voltage of a certain value or more. For this reason, if the drive voltage is lowered to a certain value or more, the motor cannot be stably rotated, so that the air supply amount or the thrust amount cannot be lowered more than a certain level. Further, further reduction in power consumption by the motor has been demanded.
JP 2001-275944 A

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope fluid supply apparatus that can lower the air supply flow rate or the water supply flow rate than the conventional one.

  An endoscope fluid supply apparatus according to the present invention includes a fluid supply unit that supplies fluid to an endoscope by compressing the fluid, and a motor that supplies a driving force for compressing fluid to the fluid supply unit. A power supply for supplying power to the motor, a switch provided between the power supply and the motor for switching ON / OFF of the power supply to the motor, and switching the switch power ON and OFF alternately. And a control unit that maintains a continuous rotation of the motor by adjusting at least one of a certain ON period and an OFF period in which the power is turned off.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that a voltage adjustment unit provided between the power source and the motor to change the motor voltage applied to the motor is provided, and the control unit maintains the continuous rotation of the motor by adjusting the motor voltage.

  In addition, an adjustment input unit for operating the supply amount of fluid supplied to the endoscope from the outside is provided, and the control unit changes the motor rotation speed by adjusting the motor voltage according to the input to the adjustment input unit. It is preferable.

  In addition, an adjustment input unit for operating the supply amount of fluid supplied to the endoscope from the outside is provided, and the control unit adjusts at least one of the ON period and the OFF period according to the input to the adjustment input unit. It is preferable to change the rotation speed of the motor. Furthermore, it is preferable that the control unit changes the motor rotation speed by adjusting the motor voltage in accordance with the input to the adjustment input unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the minimum value of the air supply flow rate or the water supply flow rate in the endoscope fluid supply apparatus. In addition, power consumption by the motor can be reduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an external view showing a state in which an endoscope fluid supply apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied is connected to an endoscope.

  The endoscope 20 includes a main body portion 21, an insertion tube 22, and the like. The insertion tube 22 is attached so as to extend from the main body portion 21. When the endoscope 20 is used, the insertion tube 22 is inserted into the body or the like. An imaging element (not shown) such as a CCD is provided at the distal end of the insertion tube 22.

  An optical image of the subject image is received by the image sensor, and an image signal is generated. After predetermined signal processing is performed on the image signal in an endoscope processor (not shown), an image corresponding to the image signal is displayed on a monitor (not shown).

  The main body 21 is provided with an air / water supply connector 23. An air / water supply channel 24 is provided inside the insertion tube 22. The air / water supply channel 24 extends from the discharge port 24 a at the tip of the insertion tube 22 to the air / water supply connector 23 of the main body 21.

  An air supply / water supply pipe 30 is attached to the endoscope pump (endoscope fluid supply device) 10. A connector 31 is provided at the tip of the air / water pipe 30. The connector 31 and the air / water supply connector 23 are detachable, and the endoscope pump 10 and the endoscope 20 are connected by attaching both of them. By driving the endoscope pump 10, a fluid such as air or water is sent to the distal end of the insertion tube 22.

  A check valve 32 and a safety valve 33 are provided between the endoscope pump 10 and the endoscope 20. The check valve 32 prevents back flow of fluid. The safety valve 33 prevents the fluid pressure from exceeding a predetermined pressure.

  Next, the internal configuration of the endoscope pump 10 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the endoscope pump 10.

  The endoscope pump 10 includes a pump unit 11, a motor 12, a switch 13, a regulator 14, a pump drive circuit 15, a CPU 16, a power supply circuit 17, and the like.

  The pump unit 11 and the motor 12 are mechanically connected. A driving force is supplied from the motor 12 to the pump unit 11. A driving shaft (not shown) of the pump unit 11 is rotated by the driving force supplied to the pump unit 11, and a fluid such as air or water flowing from a suction port (not shown) of the pump unit 11 is compressed. The fluid is discharged from a discharge port (not shown) of the pump unit 11 by the compression. An air / water supply pipe 30 is attached to the discharge port, and the fluid is supplied to the endoscope 20 through the air / water supply pipe 30. The fluid flow rate is adjusted by adjusting the rotation speed of the motor 12.

  The motor 12 is electrically connected to the power supply circuit 17 through the regulator 14 and the switch 13. Electric power for driving the motor 12 is supplied from the power supply circuit 17. The voltage applied to the motor 12 can be adjusted by the regulator 14. Further, by switching ON / OFF of the switch 13, it is possible to switch ON / OFF of power supply to the motor 12.

  The regulator 14 and the switch 13 are each electrically connected to the pump drive circuit 15. The pump drive circuit 15 outputs an ON signal for turning on the switch 13 and an OFF signal for turning off the switch. Further, a voltage adjustment signal for adjusting the voltage in the regulator 14 is output from the pump drive circuit 15.

  The pump drive circuit 15 is electrically connected to the CPU 16. The voltage adjustment operation by the pump drive circuit 15 and the switching operation of the switch 13 are controlled by the CPU 16. The endoscope pump 10 is provided with an operation input unit (not shown) such as an adjustment dial (not shown) for adjusting the flow rate of the fluid. The operation input unit is connected to the CPU 16, and the control of the pump drive circuit 15 by the CPU 16 is executed in response to an operation input for adjusting the flow rate by the operator.

  In the endoscope pump 10 having such a configuration, the motor 12 is driven in accordance with PWM control or PAM control. That is, ON / OFF of the supplied electric power is alternately switched at high speed, and the applied voltage is adjusted to maintain the continuous rotation of the motor 12, and the rotation speed can be adjusted. Executed.

  By performing at least one of adjustment to increase the pulse width of the OFF signal, that is, the period during which the switch 13 is OFF, and adjustment to shorten the pulse width of the ON signal, that is, the period during which the switch 13 is ON, It is possible to reduce the rotational speed of 12.

  On the other hand, the number of rotations of the motor 12 can be increased by executing at least one of adjustment for shortening the pulse width of the OFF signal and adjustment for increasing the pulse width of the ON signal.

  In addition, the number of rotations of the motor 12 can be reduced by lowering the voltage applied to the motor 12. On the other hand, the rotational speed of the motor 12 can also be increased by increasing the voltage applied to the motor 12.

  When the operator inputs to increase or decrease the flow rate, the pump drive circuit 15 performs at least one of the adjustment of the pulse width of the ON signal / OFF signal and the adjustment of the voltage.

  Next, pump drive control performed by the CPU 16 and the pump drive circuit 15 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The drive control of the pump is started by turning on the power supply of the endoscope pump 10.

  In step S100, the CPU 16 receives the input value for the flow rate setting by the adjustment dial. In the next step S101, the pulse width of the ON signal / OFF signal is adjusted according to the input value to the adjustment dial, and is output to the switch 13. In addition, a voltage adjustment signal corresponding to the input value to the adjustment dial is output to the regulator 14.

  In the next step S102, it is determined whether or not the flow setting has been changed by the adjustment dial. When the flow rate setting is changed, the process proceeds to step S103. In step S103, according to the changed flow rate setting, at least one of adjustment of the pulse width of the ON signal / OFF signal and adjustment of the voltage applied to the motor 12 is performed again.

  In step S102, when the flow rate setting is not changed, or after step S103 ends, the process proceeds to step S104. In step S104, it is determined whether the power supply of the endoscope pump 10 is OFF. If the power is not turned off, the process returns to step S102, and the processes in steps S102 to S104 are repeated until the power is turned off.

  According to the endoscope fluid supply apparatus configured as described above, the water supply flow rate or the air supply flow rate can be made lower than that of the conventional endoscope fluid supply apparatus. This is because by adjusting the pulse width of the ON signal and the OFF signal while applying the minimum drive voltage to the motor 12, it is possible to rotate the motor at a lower rotational speed than in the prior art.

  Further, since the power is consumed only during the period when the switch 13 is ON, the power consumed can be reduced compared to the conventional endoscope fluid supply apparatus in which power is always supplied. It is.

  Further, by combining the adjustment of the voltage applied to the motor 12 and the adjustment of the pulse width of the ON signal / OFF signal, the rotation speed of the motor 12 can be adjusted widely. Therefore, a wide flow rate adjustment is possible.

  In this embodiment, the voltage applied to the motor can be adjusted. However, if the ON / OFF period of the motor drive can be adjusted, the motor 12 can be rotated at a stable low speed. It is. However, the range of flow rate adjustment can be widened by adjusting the voltage as described above.

  In this embodiment, the pump is used to compress the fluid. However, any mechanism that can supply the fluid to the endoscope by compressing the fluid may be used. For example, a compressor may be used.

1 is an external view showing a state where an endoscope fluid supply apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied is connected to an endoscope. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the internal structure of the pump for endoscopes. It is a flowchart for demonstrating drive control of a pump.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Endoscope pump 11 Pump part 12 Motor 13 Switch 14 Regulator 15 Pump drive circuit 16 CPU
17 Power Supply Circuit 20 Endoscope 23 Air / Water Supply Connector 24 Air / Water Supply Channel 30 Air / Water Supply Pipe 31 Connector

Claims (5)

A fluid supply unit that compresses the fluid to supply the fluid to the endoscope;
A motor for supplying a driving force for compressing the fluid to the fluid supply unit;
A power source for supplying power to the motor;
A switch provided between the power source and the motor, for switching ON / OFF of power supply to the motor;
A controller that alternately switches between ON and OFF of the power of the switch and maintains continuous rotation of the motor by adjusting at least one of an ON period in which the power is ON and an OFF period in which the power is OFF; An endoscope fluid supply apparatus comprising: Provided between the power source and the motor, comprising a voltage adjustment unit that changes the motor voltage applied to the motor,
The endoscopic fluid supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit maintains continuous rotation of the motor by adjusting the motor voltage. An adjustment input unit for operating the supply amount of the fluid supplied to the endoscope from the outside;
The fluid for an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes the rotation speed of the motor by adjusting the motor voltage in accordance with an input to the adjustment input unit. Feeding device. An adjustment input unit for operating the supply amount of the fluid supplied to the endoscope from the outside;
The said control part changes the rotation speed of the said motor by adjusting at least one of the said ON period and the said OFF period according to the input to the said adjustment input part. The Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. The fluid supply apparatus for endoscopes as described.   4. The endoscope fluid supply apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit changes the rotation speed of the motor by adjusting the motor voltage in accordance with an input to the adjustment input unit.

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