JP3064401B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a bending piece having an articulated structure provided at a distal end portion of an endoscope insertion portion is moved to bend the distal end portion of the endoscope. It is.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, an angle wire fixed to the distal end of an endoscope is pushed and pulled on the operation unit side, and a bending piece having an articulated structure provided at the distal end of the endoscope is moved to bend the distal end of the endoscope. Endoscopes are known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Since the conventional endoscope pushes and pulls an angle wire on the operation unit side, an angle lock mechanism is required, and when the endoscope insertion portion is elongated, the endoscope end portion can be accurately positioned. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to bend the surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problem, and its object is to eliminate the need for a conventional angle lock mechanism, and to accurately curve the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion even if the insertion portion becomes long. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope that can be operated.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention is to bend the endoscope distal end portion by moving a bending piece of an articulated structure which is provided at the distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion and connected to each other. In the endoscope, the endoscope insertion portion including the distal end portion has a moving body separate from the bending piece that receives a frictional force at a movable portion, and one end is fixed to the moving body and a voltage is applied to the moving body. A piezoelectric actuator of a rapid deformation type comprising an expanding and contracting piezoelectric element is incorporated, and the operation of the piezoelectric actuator causes a wire for driving a bending piece connected to the moving body to operate, thereby bending the distal end portion of the endoscope. It is characterized by the following.

The invention described in claim 2 is an endoscope for bending a distal end portion of an endoscope by moving a bending piece of an articulated structure connected to each other provided at a distal end portion of an endoscope insertion portion. A rapid deformation method comprising a moving body that also serves as the bending piece that receives a frictional force at a movable part, and a piezoelectric element that has one end fixed to the moving body and expands and contracts by applying a voltage to the endoscope insertion portion including And the bending piece is operated by operating the piezoelectric actuator to bend the distal end portion of the endoscope.

[Operation] According to the invention described in claim 1, when the control voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element to expand and contract the piezoelectric element, the moving body is moved by the expansion and contraction operation of the piezoelectric element and the frictional force received by the moving body. It moves, and the wire for driving the bending piece connected to the moving body is operated. As a result, the bending piece connected to the wire operates, and the distal end of the endoscope is bent.

According to the invention described in claim 2, when a control voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element to expand and contract the piezoelectric element, the moving body, that is, the moving body, The bending piece that is also used operates, and the end portion of the endoscope is bent.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a bending piece having an articulated structure incorporated in a distal end portion 3 of an endoscope insertion portion 2, and the bending piece 1 has a plurality of pieces.
1a, 1b... 1n are pivotally connected to each other by pins so that the endoscope distal end portion 3 can bend as shown in FIGS.
The angle wires 5a and 5b are bent by being pushed and pulled by the piezoelectric actuators A and B.

The actuators A and B are provided with inner holes 6a and 6b (in the distal end portion 3 of the endoscope insertion section 2) extending in the direction in which the angle wires 5a and 5b extend.
A piezoelectric actuator of a rapid deformation type, which is provided in the portion located closer to the hand side and is provided in the axial direction), and which is frictionally engaged with the inner holes 6a and 6b and is formed from a hole wall which is a movable portion. A moving body 10 having a large mass receiving frictional force, a laminated piezoelectric element 11 having one end fixed to the moving body 10 and expanding and contracting in the axial direction by application of a voltage, and fixed to the other end of the piezoelectric element 11 Inertial body having a smaller mass than the moving body 10
12 by applying a predetermined drive voltage to the piezoelectric element 11 from voltage applying means (not shown) (connected by lead wires 7a and 7b passing through the inner holes 6a and 6b), The element 11 expands and contracts in the axial direction.
Due to the inertial force of the moving body 10 and the frictional force received by the moving body 10, the moving body 10 connected by wire relatively moves in the front-rear direction.

The principle of movement of the moving body 10 is conceptually shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG.
M is the inertial body 12 having a small mass, and P is the laminated piezoelectric element 11 connecting the movable body M and the inertial body m.

First, an operation when a drive voltage having a waveform as shown in FIG. 4 is applied to the laminated piezoelectric element P to move the entire apparatus forward, that is, to the left will be described.

Before the start of the operation, the moving body M is placed on the base B and held by the static frictional force, and the piezoelectric element P is in a contracted state, as shown in the diagram on the left side of FIG. Therefore, the inertial body m is attracted by the moving body M in front and stands by.

In this state, when a high drive voltage is instantaneously applied to the piezoelectric element P to rapidly expand the piezoelectric element P, the moving body M and the inertial body m move simultaneously in opposite directions. At this time, the moving body M moves forward by a distance Δm ₁ while receiving the dynamic frictional force.

Next, the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element P is reduced relatively slowly to contract the piezoelectric element P, and the inertial body m is moved to the moving body M
Pull back to the side at a constant acceleration. At this time, the applied voltage is adjusted so that the inertial force due to the retraction of the inertial body m is smaller than the frictional force of the movable body M so that the moving body M is held stationary by the static frictional force with the base B.

When the piezoelectric element P is sufficiently contracted, the current is suddenly stopped to stop the movement of the inertial body m. When the retraction operation of the inertial body m is stopped rapidly in this way, the inertial body m collides with the moving body M, and the collision action causes the entire apparatus to overcome the static frictional force and start moving forward, and its kinetic energy is reduced. It moves and stops until it is lost by the dynamic frictional force of the moving body M. By this operation, the moving body M moves forward by a distance Δm ₂ , and the distance (Δ
m ₁ + Δm ₂ ), and by repeating this fine movement, it is possible to make a large forward movement.

On the other hand, when the moving body M moves backward, that is, moves to the right, the operation reverse to the operation pattern is performed. That is, as shown in the diagram on the right side of FIG. 3, before the operation starts, the moving body M is placed on the base B and held by the static frictional force, and the piezoelectric element P is in an extended state. Therefore, the inertial body m is separated from the moving body M ahead. From this state, the application of the high voltage to the piezoelectric element P is instantaneously erased, and the piezoelectric element P is rapidly reduced. Then, the inertial force of the inertial body m becomes relatively larger than the static friction force of the moving body M,
The moving body M and the inertial body m move simultaneously in opposite directions.
At this time, the moving body M moves backward by a distance Δm ₁ .

Next, the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element P is gradually increased to extend the piezoelectric element P, and the inertial body m is moved backward from the moving body M at a constant acceleration. Then, when the piezoelectric element P has sufficiently expanded, the movement of the inertial body m is suddenly stopped. As a result, a large inertial force is generated, and the entire apparatus starts retreating, overcoming the static friction force of the moving body M, and moves and stops until the kinetic energy of the entire apparatus is lost by the kinetic friction force of the moving body M. The operation moves the distance Δm ₂ backward, and the distance (Δm ₁ + Δm ₂ ) is obtained by this one-cycle operation.
Can be made to retreat, and by repeating this fine movement retreat, it can be made to retreat largely.

The actuators A and B incorporated in the endoscope of the present invention
Uses the above-described movement principle to relatively move the moving body 10 for pushing and pulling the angle wire back and forth, and applies a voltage to the piezoelectric elements 11 of the actuators A and B in a pattern shown in FIG. When applied, the moving body 10 for pushing and pulling the wire
Moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, one wire 5a is pulled in accordance with the amount of movement, and the other wire 5b is pushed out, and the endoscope distal end 3 is bent toward the wire pulling side as shown in FIG. Will do. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the endoscope distal end portion 3 is curved in a direction opposite to that of FIG. The use of the piezoelectric actuators A and B as described above eliminates the need for a conventional angle lock mechanism, and connects the actuators A and B to a computer to remotely bend the endoscope distal end portion 3. Becomes possible.

6 to 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is an endoscope in which a bending piece 1 having an articulated structure connected to each other provided at a distal end portion 3 of an endoscope insertion section 2 is moved to bend the distal end portion 3 of the endoscope. The bodies 1a, 1b... 1n are moving bodies 10 'which receive frictional force at the pin support connecting portions 4'. The moving bodies 10 'also serve as bending pieces, and one end is fixed to each of the moving bodies 10' and voltage is applied. A rapid-deformation type piezoelectric actuator A that performs bending operation of the bending piece 1 by a laminated piezoelectric element 11 that expands and contracts in the axial direction by an inertial body 12 having a small mass fixed to the other end of the piezoelectric element 11. , B are different. The piezoelectric element 11 is disposed at a vertical position sandwiching the pin support connecting portions 4 ', 4' of each moving body 10 'in parallel to an axis passing through the pin support connecting portions 4', 4 '. Are fixed to the one-side bent portions 10a and 10b of the moving body 10 'as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the moving body 10 in the first embodiment also serves as each of the pieces 1a, 1b... 1n of the bending piece 1, and the moving body 10 'also serving as a bending piece has friction at the pin support connecting portion 4'. When a voltage is applied in the reverse direction in the pattern shown in FIG. 8 to the piezoelectric elements 11 of the actuators A and B, the bending pieces 1a to 1n as the moving body 10 ' The endoscope 3 is turned in the direction of the arrow, and the endoscope 3 is bent by this turn. When the distal end portion 3 of the endoscope is bent in the reverse direction, a voltage may be applied so that the voltage application pattern shown in the upper and lower portions of FIG. 8 is reversed. In the case of this embodiment, as an effect other than that of the first embodiment, the driving of each of the frames 1a, 1b... 1n of the bending piece 1 is individually controlled (the rotation of each of the frames 1a, 1b. The moving direction can be changed as shown in FIG. 9), and the insertability is improved particularly when applied to a large intestine scope having a long endoscope insertion portion. Note that the same effect can be obtained by attaching the piezoelectric element 11 and the inertial body 12 to each of the pieces 1a, 1b... 1n of the bending piece 1 as shown in FIGS. FIG. 10 shows the actuators A and B.
FIG. 11 shows a modification of the second embodiment in which the orientations of the piezoelectric element 11 and the inertial body 12 are changed from those in FIG. 7, and FIG. 4A and 4B show a modified example of the second embodiment mounted in a direction perpendicular to the axis passing through (4 ').

FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 show a third embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is an endoscope in which a bending piece 1 having an articulated structure connected to each other provided at a distal end portion 3 of an endoscope insertion section 2 is moved to bend the distal end portion 3 of the endoscope. The bodies 1a, 1b... 1n are composed of a half-piece type movable body 21 which receives frictional force at the pin support connecting portion 4 ', and a half-piece type inertial body 22 which can move toward and away from the movable body 21. A pair of left and right laminated piezoelectric elements 11, which expand and contract in the axial direction by applying a voltage, are disposed between the frame half-split type moving body 21 and the inertial body 22.
The difference from the second embodiment is that one end of 11 is fixed to the moving body 21 and the other end is fixed to the inertial body 22. It should be noted that the masses of the moving body 21 and the inertial body 22 of the half-piece type are different so that the moving body 21> the inertial body 22.

In this embodiment, when a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 11 in the pattern shown in FIG. 14, the half-piece moving body 21 moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. As shown in the figure, the endoscope 3 is rotated by this rotation.
Will be curved. When bending the endoscope distal end portion 3 in the reverse direction, it is sufficient to apply a voltage so that the voltage application pattern shown in FIG. 14 is reversed. The effect of this embodiment is the same as the effect of the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 15 shows a bulging piece 1 (each piece 1a, 1b,...) Of the first embodiment in which wire receivers 50 for passing the angle wires 5a, 5b are bulged. Are formed in a bulging shape that gradually protrudes outwardly from the front and rear ends toward the center (in the direction of the arrow in the figure), and the image guide or light guide 53 is attached to the wire receiving portion 50 at the high bulging central portion of the skirt portions 51, 52. , And floats at the front and rear ends of the skirt portions 51 and 52 at the lower curved position. With such a configuration of the wire receiver 50, the sliding friction between the image guide or the light guide 53 and the wire receiving portion is reduced, and particularly, the friction is reduced to zero at the front and rear ends of the wire receiving foot portions 51 and 52. Can smoothly slide, and the guide 53 can be reliably prevented from being broken by the bending of the endoscope tip.

FIG. 16 shows the endoscope of the first embodiment described above, in which a temperature sensor 23 is provided at the distal end portion 3 of the endoscope, and the temperature sensor 23 and a temperature indicator (not shown) are connected by a lead wire 24. Thus, the surface temperature of the endoscope distal end portion 3 can be measured. The provision of such a temperature measuring means has the effect of preventing damage to the endoscope due to heat when performing treatment in a body cavity with laser light or the like or when used in a high-temperature environment for industrial inspection. Such an effect can be achieved even when the temperature sensor 23 is disposed inside the endoscope insertion section.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when a control voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element to expand and contract the piezoelectric element, the expansion and contraction operation of the piezoelectric element and the frictional force received by the moving body cause The moving body moves, and the bending piece driving wire connected to the moving body is operated. As a result, the bending piece connected to the wire operates, and the distal end of the endoscope is bent. Therefore, the conventional angle lock mechanism becomes unnecessary, and even if the endoscope insertion portion becomes long, the distal end portion can be remotely and accurately bent.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a control voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element to expand and contract the piezoelectric element, the moving body, that is, the moving body is moved by the expanding and contracting operation of the piezoelectric element and the frictional force received by the moving body. The bending piece that also serves as the body operates, and the endoscope tip is bent. Therefore, the conventional angle lock mechanism becomes unnecessary, and even if the endoscope insertion portion becomes long, the distal end portion can be remotely and accurately bent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a distal end portion of an endoscope showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are operation explanatory diagrams when the distal end portion of the endoscope is curved in different directions, 4 and 5 are operation diagrams for explaining the driving principle and waveform diagrams of voltage application patterns, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an endoscope distal end portion showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 6, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are operation explanatory views of the second embodiment related to FIG.
10 and 11 are cross-sectional views of a main part showing a modification of the second embodiment, FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of an endoscope end portion showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of an essential part of FIG. 12, FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of an operation related to FIG. 13, and FIGS.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a disclosed technology related to an embodiment; 1 ... curved piece, 1a-1n ... body, 2 ... endoscope insertion part,
3. Endoscope tip, 4, 4 '... Pin support connecting part of bending piece, 5a, 5b ... Angle wire, A, B ... Piezoelectric actuator, 10 ... Moving body, 10', 21 ... A moving body that also serves as a bending piece, 11: a piezoelectric element, 12, 22, an inertial body.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshihiko Suzuda 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside O-Limpus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yorio Matsui 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Oh-Limpus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Eiichi Fuse, Inventor 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo In-Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Katsuya Suzuki 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-58-25140 (JP, A) JP-A-60-69618 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) ) A61B 1/00-1/32 G02B 23/24

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An endoscope for bending a distal end portion of an endoscope by moving a bending piece having an articulated structure provided at the distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion, the endoscope insertion portion including the distal end portion. Incorporating a rapid deformation type piezoelectric actuator comprising a moving body separate from the bending piece receiving a frictional force at a movable portion, and a piezoelectric element having one end fixed to the moving body and expanded and contracted by application of a voltage, An endoscope characterized in that a bending piece driving wire connected to the moving body is operated by operating the piezoelectric actuator, thereby bending a distal end portion of the endoscope. 2. An endoscope for bending a distal end portion of an endoscope by moving a bending piece having an articulated structure provided at the distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion, the endoscope insertion portion including the distal end portion. A rapid-deformation type piezoelectric actuator including a moving body that also serves as the bending piece that receives a frictional force at a movable portion, and a piezoelectric element that has one end fixed to the moving body and expands and contracts by applying a voltage is incorporated. An endoscope, wherein the bending piece is operated by operating a piezoelectric actuator to bend the distal end portion of the endoscope.