JP3012467B2 - Apparatus and method for welding catheter tube - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for preparing a catheter tube to be inserted into a human body, such as an organ such as a heart or a kidney, or an arterial blood vessel. And a welding method for a catheter tube.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent recent medical treatment sites, diagnosis, treatment, and the like using a catheter tube are performed on organs such as the heart and kidneys, or inside the human body such as blood vessels, and the effectiveness is improved.

In this method of diagnosis and treatment using a catheter tube, a very thin tubular catheter tube having a certain elasticity is inserted into a blood vessel such as an elbow vein from the tip and moved inside the blood vessel to be diagnosed. It sends the tip to an organ such as the heart to perform diagnosis, treatment, etc. For example, it is widely used to transport contrast fluid such as barium for imaging inside the organ, measure the internal pressure of the circulatory system, or collect blood samples. It is used for diagnosis and treatment of internal organs of the human body.

Here, such a catheter tube widely used for various diagnoses and treatments is directly inserted into a blood vessel or the like, moves inside the blood vessel, and directly touches an organ such as a heart. Therefore, it is necessary to form the tip part round and to make it extremely soft so that the human body is never damaged.

On the other hand, the main body of the tube must have a certain degree of hardness so that it can move in a blood vessel or change the direction of the tube tip. Furthermore, if such a very flexible distal end portion is directly connected to a main body portion having a certain hardness, the difference in hardness between the two becomes extremely large, and the distal end tube may be bent at the joint portion.

For this reason, a conventional general catheter tube is composed of a nylon-based main tube having a certain hardness, a very soft distal tube attached to the distal end of the main tube, and both of these tubes. And an intermediate tube having a hardness about the middle of the above, and the intermediate tube is interposed between the main tube and the distal tube to be attached, thereby preventing the distal tube from bending.

As described above, such a catheter tube has an extremely small diameter (about 0.5 m / m) so that it can be inserted into a blood vessel. Since the technique is required and the technique is to be inserted into a human body, a defect in joining the tubes is not allowed. For this reason, conventionally, the joining of the catheter tubes has been performed manually by a skilled person. That is, each catheter tube was handmade.

Hereinafter, such a conventional general method of joining catheter tubes will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
In the bonding step 0, first, the distal end tube 101 cut into a predetermined size is penetrated into the core rod 200, and is brought into contact with the shoulder of the large diameter portion 200a at the back end in the insertion direction of the core rod 200. Thereafter, the tube is sequentially inserted into the core rod 200 in the order of the intermediate tube 102 and the main tube 103.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the end of the intermediate tube 102 is connected to the end of the distal tube 101, and the end of the main tube 103 is connected to the end of the intermediate tube 102.
Each of the tubes 101, 102, and 103 is press-fitted and joined into one tube. Then, each tube 10
Each of the tubes 10 that are formed into a single state by moving the forming tube 104 made of a material having a higher heat shrinkage and a higher heat welding temperature than 1, 102, and 103
1, 102 and 103 are covered from the outside.

In this state, heating is performed by blowing hot air of about 200 ° C. to 240 ° C. from the outside of the forming tube 104 using a drier or the like. Thereby, each tube 101,
As shown in FIG. 5 (c), the tubes 102 and 103 are welded in a state where the outside thereof is uniformly pressed by the forming tube 104, and the joined portions are also formed of the tubes 101, 102 and 103.
And the entire diameter of the catheter tube is integrally formed with the same diameter. At this time, the tubes 101, 102, 103 and the forming tube 104 are not welded at the temperature of the hot air.

At this time, in order to heat the entire tube evenly, the tubes are welded while rotating the entire core rod 200 around the axis. After the welding, after the heat is cooled, the forming tube 104 and the core rod 200 are removed from the welded catheter tube 100. Thereby, the joining operation of the catheter tube 100 is completed. Currently, all of these operations are performed manually by skilled processors.

[0012]

However, in the method of joining catheter tubes as described above, since all are performed manually, it takes about 15 minutes on average for welding each of the catheter tubes. I have. In recent medical and welfare fields, the demand for catheter tubes for imaging has increased rapidly with the advancement of treatments.
There was a problem that it could not keep up with the growing demand.

[0013] Further, such manual preparation of the catheter tube varies depending on the operator who prepares the heating time, the heating temperature, and the rotation speed. However, there was also a problem that it was not constant. Furthermore, the molding tube 1
When the tube 04 shrinks, air remains between the tubes 101, 102, and 103 and the molding tube 104, and the remaining air and the outer peripheral surface of the corresponding tube swell, resulting in a problem that the quality is significantly reduced. (The state indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 5C). Since these are used by inserting them into the human body, they have been extremely serious problems, particularly for catheter tubes which are required to have stable and advanced quality.

As described above, the manual preparation of a catheter tube, which is currently generally performed, is extremely inefficient and the quality is unstable. Therefore, the preparation of a tube by an automatic machine is required from inside and outside the industry. He was strongly aspired.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the problems of the prior art, and aims at automation of heating and welding of a catheter tube, shortening of processing time, high quality, and stability. It is an object of the present invention to provide a welding device and a welding method for a catheter tube which are to be manufactured.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, a catheter tube welding apparatus according to the present invention supports a plurality of types of tubes forming a catheter tube and a forming tube covering the outer periphery of the plurality of types of tubes. A core rod to be formed, rotating means for applying a rotational force to the tube via the core rod, and a range including a joint of the plurality of types of tubes covered by the forming tube.
A heater for blowing hot air from the outer circumference of use tubes, Kate provided with the hot air supply unit for supplying hot air to the heater
A welding device for a tell tube, wherein the heater is
A through-hole for penetrating the tube and connected to this through-hole
A rotatable middle cylinder having a groove, and an outer periphery of the middle cylinder
The rotatable support for the middle cylinder at
Hot air from the supply section is supplied to the groove of the middle cylinder via a hot air path
The outer cylinder is provided .

Further, the catheter tube welding method of the present invention provides a plurality of types of tubes for forming a catheter tube.
And a molding tube for covering the outer periphery of these plural types of tubes.
A core rod for supporting the tube and the tube through the core rod.
Rotating means for applying a rotating force to the tube;
Range including the joint of the plurality of types of tubes covered with a tube.
In turn from one side to the other in synchronization with the rotation of the tube
Move and blow hot air from the outer circumference of the molding tube
And a hot air supply unit for supplying hot air to the heater.
Using a catheter tube welding device equipped with
A method of welding a satellite tube, comprising:
Area covered with the tube and including the joint of the plurality of types of tubes
Is heated from one side of this range to the other side,
Form tubes in order from one side of the range to the other side
There is a method of contracting .

[0018]

According to the above-described apparatus for welding a catheter tube and a welding method, a plurality of types of tubes and a core rod penetrating a formed tube covering the tubes are rotated, and the heating is moved (and rotated) in synchronization with the rotation. By blowing hot air on the outer periphery of the tube with the machine, a high quality and stable catheter tube can be produced in a short time.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. First, an embodiment of a catheter tube welding device will be described. FIG. 1 is a front view of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a main part of FIG. FIG. 1 shows a state where the core rod is not attached, and FIG. 2 shows a state where the core rod is attached. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a base, and a chuck 2 rotatable in connection with a rotation motor 3 is provided on the left side of the front. As shown in FIG. 2, the chuck 2 has a hole 2a into which the large-diameter portion 200a of the core rod 200 is inserted, a stopper 2b disposed at the far end of the hole 2a, and a spring plunger disposed orthogonal to the hole 2a. 2c is provided for positioning and gripping the core rod 200 inserted into the hole 2a in the longitudinal direction.

At substantially the center of the base 1, a heater 4 is provided. The heater 4 includes a hot-air blowing pipe 41 having a through-hole 42 on the same axis as the hole 2 a of the chuck 2, and a hot-air supply unit 45 for supplying hot air to the hot-air blowing pipe 41.

More specifically, the hot air blow-out tube 41 is
2 has a through-hole 42 located on the same axis as the hole 2a of the chuck 2 through which the through-hole 0 extends, and a middle cylinder 41a having a flange at the right end in FIG.
An outer cylinder 41b is supported so that the middle cylinder 41a can rotate. A groove 43 is provided on the outer periphery of the body of the middle cylinder 41a, and the groove 43 has a spiral shape as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, a hot air passage 44 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 41b on the side connected to the nozzle 45a, and the hot air from the hot air supply unit 45 is supplied to the groove of the middle cylinder 41a. The hot air supply unit 45 is blown into the through hole 42 through 43 (not shown in FIG. 1). Hot air supply unit 4
The nozzle 5 has a heater and a fan (not shown) together with the nozzle 45a, and supplies hot air heated to an arbitrary temperature to the nozzle 45a.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hot air supply section 45 can move the nozzle 45a along the longitudinal direction of the core rod 200. That is, the nozzle support 45b is connected to the motor 4
The screw 6 is screwed with the rotating ball screw 47 to move at a predetermined speed. Thereby, the nozzle 45
The outer cylinder 41b of the heating device 4 connected to the tip of “a” also moves, and the middle cylinder 41a also moves with the outer cylinder 41b.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a rotating unit for rotating the middle cylinder 41a of the heater 4, and has a rotating body 53 to which rotation is transmitted from a motor 51 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotating body 53 can be rotated only in the bearing 54 so that the through hole 54 is located on the same axis as the chuck hole 2 a of the chuck 2 and the through hole 42 of the heater 4. It is supported by.

The rotating body 53 has two pins 55 projecting from the side adjacent to the heater 4 at an interval of 180 degrees. The pins 55 are connected to the flange portion of the middle cylinder 41a shown in FIG. Is engaged with the notch 48 formed in the groove. Therefore, when the rotating body 53 rotates, the rotation is transmitted to the middle cylinder 41a of the heater 4 via the pin 55, and the middle cylinder 41a rotates. Accordingly, the middle cylinder 41a is moved along the longitudinal direction of the core rod 200 by the outer cylinder 41b, and is rotated around the core rod 200 by the rotating body 53.

A disk 56 is attached to the rotating body 53 concentrically with the rotating body 53, and the photo sensor 57 detects a mark or a slit on the disk 56 to determine the operating origin of the middle cylinder 41a. That is, the starting position of the groove 43 formed in the middle cylinder 41a is detected.

1 and 2, reference numeral 6 denotes the core rod 2.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a core rod restraining portion for preventing blurring at the time of rotation. In FIG.
It is a support part that supports 00.

As shown in FIG. 1, an operation panel 8 is provided above the base 1. The operation panel 8 includes a power switch of the device, switches 81 and knobs for controlling the operation, stop and rotation speed of each of the motors 3, 46 and 51, and controlling the temperature and the amount of hot air supplied from the hot air supply unit 45. 82 are provided. In addition, the chuck 2 and the middle cylinder 41a (the rotator 53) may be operated by a timer. Therefore, the operation panel 8 is also provided with a knob 83 for setting the timer.

Next, a method for welding a catheter tube using the apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) and FIG.
This will be described with reference to (a) to (c). The tip tube 101, the intermediate tube 102, and the main tube 103 penetrate the core rod 200, respectively.
1. The work of press-fitting the end of the intermediate tube 102 to one end and the end of the main tube 103 to the end of the intermediate tube 102 to join the tubes 101, 102, and 103 into one tube. , Then each tube 10
By moving the forming tube 104 made of a material having a higher heat shrinkage and a higher heat welding temperature than 1, 102 and 103,
Each tube 101, which is joined to form a single tube,
Cover 102 and 103 from outside. These operations are the same as those in the related art (FIGS. 5A and 5B).

Next, the large-diameter portion 200a of the core rod 200 is inserted into the hole 2a of the chuck 2 and positioned in the longitudinal direction by the stopper 2b, and is gripped by the spring plunger 2. In addition, the rear end side of the core rod 200 is suppressed by the core rod suppressing part 6, and the tube body 103 is supported by the support part 7.

In this state, the rotation motor 3 of the chuck 2, the motor 51 of the middle cylinder 41 a, and the motor 4 of the hot air supply section 45
6 is rotated at an arbitrary speed. At this time, each operation can be given a certain temporal relevance by using a timer. For example, the middle cylinder 41a is rotated and moved with a predetermined time delay after the rotation of the chuck 2. In addition,
When the middle cylinder 41a starts rotating, the photo sensor 57
And the disk 56, the positioning of the middle cylinder 41a to the operating origin is automatically performed in advance.

That is, the chuck 2 is rotated and the core rod 20 is rotated.
When 0 (each of the tubes 101, 102, 103 and 104) starts rotating, after a while, the rotating body 53 of the rotating unit 5 also starts rotating and rotates the middle cylinder 41a. At this time, the rotation direction of the middle cylinder 41a is the same as that of the chuck 2 (core bar 200), and the rotation speed is lower than that of the chuck 2 (core bar 200). The motor 46 starts rotating almost simultaneously with the rotation of the middle cylinder 41a or with a delay of a predetermined time, and the hot air supply unit 45 starts moving rightward in FIG. The range in which the heater 4 moves is substantially the same as the length of the forming tube 104.

By the rotation of the core rod 200 and the rotation and movement of the middle cylinder 41a, hot air is sequentially supplied from the spiral groove 43 in the rightward direction in FIG. . The hot air at this time is blown only from the portion of the spiral groove 43 that overlaps the hot air path 44, so that it has a spot shape. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4A, the outer periphery of the molding tube 104 is sequentially heated and shrunk from the distal tube 101 side toward the main tube 103 side. At the same time, the joint between the distal tube 101 and the intermediate tube 102 and the joint between the intermediate tube 102 and the main tube 103 are welded, and the outer periphery thereof is the tubes 101, 102, 1
03 has the same diameter as the outside diameter.

From the tip tube 101 side, the main tube 1
By performing the heating operation on the 03 side once or a plurality of times, the catheter tube 100 having the same diameter is formed over the entirety where the distal tube 101, the intermediate tube 102, and the main tube 103 are integrated (FIG. 4B).

Thereafter, the rotation of the chuck 2 and the rotation and movement of the middle cylinder 41a of the heater 4 are stopped, the core rod 200 is removed from the chuck 2, and the through-hole 42 of the heater 4 and the through-hole of the rotating body 53 are removed. Pull it out and remove it from the core bar holder 6. In this state, the core rod 200 is pulled out from the catheter tube 100 (FIG. 4B), and the forming tube 104 is pulled out to complete the catheter tube 100. According to this method, one catheter tube can be welded in about 70 seconds.

The catheter tube welding apparatus of the present invention and the welding method using this apparatus are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but include various embodiments within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to welding of a catheter tube using two or more types of intermediate tubes or a catheter tube not using an intermediate tube.

[0037]

As described above, according to the catheter tube welding apparatus and the welding method of the present invention, the welding of the catheter tube can be easily performed in a short time by automating the welding of the catheter tube. The tubes are of good quality and stable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a catheter tube welding apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional plan view of a main part of a catheter tube welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention with a core rod attached.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a middle cylinder in one embodiment of the catheter tube welding device of the present invention.

[4] (a) ~ (c) are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the present invention the catheter tube welding method.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a conventional catheter tube welding method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 base 2 chuck 4 heater 41a middle cylinder 41b outer cylinder 42 through hole 43 groove 44 hot air path 45 hot air supply section 45a nozzle 45b nozzle support section 5 rotating section 53 rotating body 55 pin 8 operation panel

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A core rod for supporting a plurality of types of tubes forming a catheter tube and a forming tube covering the outer circumference of the plurality of types of tubes, and a rotation for applying a rotational force to the tubes via the core rod. Means, a heater that blows hot air from the outer periphery of the forming tube to a range including the joint portion of the plurality of types of tubes covered by the forming tube, and a hot air supply unit that supplies hot air to the heater. Is a catheter tube welding device equipped with
And the heater is connected to a through-hole through which the tube passes, and the through-hole is connected to the through-hole.
A rotatable middle cylinder with a groove that forms
At the outer circumference, the middle cylinder is rotatably supported, and
Hot air from the hot air supply unit is passed through the hot air path to the groove of the middle cylinder.
Welding device of the catheter tube, characterized in that example Bei the outer cylinder supplying. 2. A plurality of types forming a catheter tube
Tubes and the outer circumference of these multiple types of tubes
A core rod that supports the forming tube, and through this core rod
Rotating means for applying a rotating force to the tube;
Of the plurality of types of tubes covered with a tube for use
In the range including one from the other in synchronization with the rotation of the tube
Side, and hot air flows from the outer periphery of the molding tube.
Heating machine to blow and hot air to supply hot air to this heating machine
Using a catheter tube welding device equipped with a supply section
A method of welding a catheter tube, wherein the plurality of types of tubes are covered with the molding tube.
Move the area including the joint from one side of this area to the other side.
And heat the molding tube from one side of the range to the other side.
And welding the catheter tube sequentially .