JP6430739B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope, and more particularly, to a structure of a distal end portion of an insertion portion.

  In general, deposits adhering to an observation window made of an objective lens provided at the distal end of an insertion portion of an endoscope are removed by sending a liquid such as water from a nozzle disposed opposite to the observation window. Can do.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that the observation window of the objective optical system protrudes a predetermined height from the flat portion of the distal end cover disposed at the distal end of the insertion portion, and a circle around the peripheral edge of the distal end surface of the observation window. By providing an inclined part formed in a tapered shape from the peripheral part to the outside, the fluid from the air / water supply nozzle is transferred from the flat part to the entire front surface of the observation window projected through the inclined part, and There is disclosed an endoscope that can be moved from a front end surface of a projected observation window to a flat portion through an inclined portion, thereby removing adhering matter and residual water cleanly.

Japanese Patent No. 3845311

  However, if the adhesive force of the residual liquid remaining in the observation window is stronger than the force for moving the residual liquid by the fluid supplied from the air / liquid supply nozzle, the residual liquid is easily removed. Therefore, it takes time to remove the residual liquid.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to improve the residual liquid removal performance when removing the residual liquid remaining in the observation window by supplying air from the nozzle for supplying and supplying air. The purpose is to provide a mirror.

An endoscope according to an aspect of the present invention is an endoscope in which a distal end cover, an observation window, and an air / liquid feeding nozzle are provided at the distal end of an insertion portion, and the distal end cover is delivered from the nozzle. A flat portion having at least part of a surface characteristic having high affinity for liquid is provided on the tip side, and the observation window protrudes a predetermined height from the flat portion of the tip cover and has surface characteristics having high affinity for the liquid. A portion having a surface property having a high affinity for the liquid and a portion having a surface property having a low affinity between the window surface periphery of the observation window and the flat portion of the tip cover. It has a sloped part.

  According to the present invention, the window surface of the observation window is protruded by a predetermined height from the flat portion of the tip cover, and the inclined portion is provided between the periphery of the window surface of the observation window and the flat portion of the tip cover. By using at least part of the surface, the window surface of the observation window, and at least part of the inclined part as surface characteristics with high affinity for the liquid delivered from the nozzle for air / liquid feeding, for air / liquid feeding It is possible to improve the performance of removing the residual liquid when the residual liquid remaining in the observation window is removed by supplying air from the nozzle.

The perspective view which shows the whole structure of an endoscope apparatus. Front view of the distal end side of the insertion part of the endoscope AA line sectional view of FIG. Front view of the observation window showing the water supply from the nozzle Front view of the observation window showing the air supply from the nozzle Front view showing Modification 1 of the inclined portion around the observation window Front view showing modified example 2 of the inclined portion around the observation window Front view showing modified example 3 of the inclined portion around the observation window

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an endoscope apparatus having an endoscope 2 to which the present invention is applied. In the present embodiment, an endoscope apparatus 1 includes an endoscope 2 having a built-in image sensor at a distal end portion, a light source device 3 that supplies illumination light for observation to the endoscope 2, and the endoscope 2. An air / liquid feeding device 4 for sending a gas such as air or a liquid such as water, a video processor device 5 for processing various signals including an imaging signal from the endoscope 2, and an output from the video processor device 5. And a monitor 6 for receiving an image signal and displaying an image of the observation region.

  The endoscope 2 includes a long and thin insertion portion 7 to be inserted into a body cavity, an operation portion 12 connected to the proximal end side of the insertion portion 7 and also serving as a gripping portion, and a side portion of the operation portion 12 And a universal cord 17 extending from the main body. At the tip of the universal cord 17, an endoscope connector 18 for connecting to peripheral devices such as the light source device 3, the air / liquid feeding device 4, and the video processor device 5 is provided.

  The insertion portion 7 of the endoscope 2 includes a hard distal end portion 8 formed at the distal end thereof, a bending portion 9 formed at the proximal end of the distal end portion 8, and the operation portion 12 from the proximal end of the bending portion 9. And a flexible tube portion 10 having flexibility that is formed up to. In the insertion portion 7, a light guide, a signal cable, a bending operation wire, and tubes forming various channels (treatment instrument channel, air supply / liquid supply channel, suction channel) (not shown) are inserted.

  The operation unit 12 is provided with a bending operation knob 13 for bending the bending portion 9 of the insertion portion 7, an operation button 14a for air / liquid feeding, a suction button 14b, a switch 15 for various endoscope functions, and the like. ing. The bending operation knob 13 includes an up / down bending operation knob 13a for bending the bending portion 9 in the up / down direction and a left / right bending operation knob 13b for bending the bending portion 9 in the left / right direction. . A treatment instrument insertion port 16 is provided on the insertion portion 7 side of the operation portion 12. The treatment instrument insertion port 16 is an opening communicating with the treatment instrument channel, and various treatment instruments are inserted into the treatment instrument channel via the treatment instrument insertion opening 16.

  The universal cord 17 extending from the operation unit 12 is detachably connected to the light source device 3 via an endoscope connector 18 provided at an end thereof, and a channel for air supply / liquid feeding of the universal cord 17 Is connected to the air / liquid feeding device 4 via the endoscope connector 18. Furthermore, the video connector 19B of the video cable 19 is detachably connected to the endoscope connector 18, and the video cable 19 is connected to the video processor device 5 via the processor connector 19A provided at the other end. Removably connected.

  The video processor device 5 is electrically connected to a monitor 6 that displays an endoscopic image. The video processor device 5 processes the imaging signal that has been photoelectrically converted by the imaging device of the endoscope 2 and transmitted to the optimal video signal, and outputs it to the monitor 6.

  FIG. 2 is a front view of the distal end portion 8 of the endoscope 2 as viewed from the distal end side. In FIG. 2, an observation window 20 made of an objective lens is disposed on the distal end side of the distal end portion 8 in FIG. 2, and a suction channel 21 is disposed on the other lateral side. A large illumination window 22 made up of an illumination lens is arranged on the lower side, and a small illumination window 23 made up of a small illumination lens is arranged respectively. Further, adjacent to the observation window 20, an air / liquid feeding nozzle 24 for sending a gas such as air or a liquid such as water is disposed, and the discharge port 24 a of the nozzle 24 faces the observation window 20. Has been placed. A small illumination window 23 is provided adjacently obliquely below the observation window 20.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2 and shows a cross section from the nozzle 24 to the observation window 20. As shown in FIG. 3, a distal end hard member 30 is provided at the distal end portion 8, and a distal end cover 31 is covered on the distal end side of the distal end rigid member 30. Further, a bending member 32 is fitted to the rear end side of the distal end hard member 30, and a cover member 33 serving as an outer skin is covered from the rear end of the end cover 31 to the bending member 32.

  A nozzle 24 is fixed to the distal end hard member 30 via a nozzle support frame 34 on the distal end side, and a pipe 35 that forms a conduit communicating with the nozzle 24 is fitted on the rear end side. A tube 36 that forms a channel for air / liquid feeding is fitted to the pipe 35, and the distal end side of the connection pipe 37 is fitted to the rear end of the tube 36.

  The other end of the connection pipe 37 is bifurcated, and a liquid feeding tube 38 and an air feeding tube 39 are fitted. The liquid-feeding channel and the air-feeding channel by these tubes 38 and 39 are merged to form an air-feeding / liquid-feeding channel by the tube 36 and communicated with the air-feeding / liquid-feeding nozzle 24. .

  In addition, an objective lens support tube 40 is fixed to the distal end hard member 30, and a lens group such as a first lens 41 that forms the observation window 20 is disposed on the objective lens support tube 40 in order from the distal end side. Has been. An imaging unit 50 is disposed behind these lens groups. The imaging unit 50 is a unit obtained by electrically connecting a circuit board portion 54 on which a plurality of electronic components such as capacitors, resistors, and transistors are mounted to a solid-state imaging device 51 made of CMOS, CCD, or the like.

  A protective cover glass 52 is bonded to the imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device 51, and a centering cover glass 53 fixed to face the fourth lens 44 is bonded to the cover glass 52 and bonded. ing. The circuit board portion 54 is disposed on the back side (the back side of the imaging surface) of the solid-state imaging element 51 and is integrally formed with the solid-state imaging element 51 by an insulating sealing resin.

  On the other hand, on the tip side of the tip cover 31, there is a flat portion 60 that forms a reference surface, and this flat portion 60 occupies most of the tip surface of the tip portion 8. A window surface 20a serving as a tip surface of the observation window 20 protrudes from the flat portion 60 by, for example, about 0.3 mm, and the window of the observation window 20 extends from the flat portion 60 to a portion around the observation window 20. An inclined portion 61 is provided toward the surface 20a. In short, the portion around the observation window 20 of the tip cover 31 is tapered toward the outer peripheral edge of the observation window 20. When a slight gap is generated between the periphery of the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 and the inclined portion 61, the gap is filled with an adhesive or the like.

  The discharge port 24a of the air / liquid feeding nozzle 24 is installed so as to ride on the flat portion 60. Further, the suction channel 21 is opened in the flat portion 60 as shown in FIG. The large illumination window 22 and the small illumination window 23 also protrude to the same height as the observation window 20 with respect to the flat portion 60 that forms the reference plane, and an inclined wall 63 is formed at the boundary with the flat portion 60. Yes.

  Here, the adhering matter adhering to the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 can be removed by operating the air / liquid operation button 14a of the operation unit 12 and delivering a liquid such as water from the nozzle 24. it can. The liquid from the nozzle 24 is sent from the flat part 60 to the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 that protrudes through the inclined part 61, and moves from the observation window 20 to the flat part 60 through the inclined part 61 while sweeping the deposits.

  At this time, the liquid remaining on the observation window 20 can be removed by supplying air from the nozzle 24. However, when the force that the liquid remaining in the observation window 20 adheres to the observation window 20 is stronger than the force that moves the liquid by the fluid supplied from the nozzle 24, the residual liquid can be easily removed. It becomes difficult and it takes time to remove the remaining liquid.

  For this reason, the configuration of the tip 8 includes not only a shape in which the observation window 20 protrudes from the flat portion 60 of the tip cover 31, but also a portion having high and low affinity for the liquid delivered from the nozzle 24. Combine appropriately. In a portion having a high affinity for the delivery liquid, the liquid tends to gather and form a relatively large droplet, and the liquid can be drained evenly. On the contrary, in a portion having a low affinity for the delivery liquid, the liquid is relatively dispersed in small particles and is easily discharged by air supply. Therefore, discharge of the remaining liquid can be promoted by appropriately combining a portion having a high affinity for the delivery liquid and a portion having a low affinity.

  Specifically, the affinity for the delivery liquid from the nozzle 24 is set so as to be high on the window surface 20a of the observation window 20, and at least a part of the inclined portion 61 around the observation window 20 has an affinity for the delivery liquid. Set to increase the performance. Further, the tip cover 31 is also set so that the affinity for the delivery liquid is increased at least between the discharge port 24a of the nozzle 24 and the inclined portion 61 of the flat portion 60.

  Here, as water is fed from the nozzle 24, a property having high affinity for water is described as “hydrophilic”, and a property having low affinity for water is described as “hydrophobic”. For example, when using a hydrophobic resin material such as polysulfone (PSF), the tip cover 31 can be made hydrophilic by blending and forming polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). . Moreover, the observation window 20 can be made hydrophilic by forming it with a glass material containing a hydroxyl group, for example.

  The inclined portion 61 may have a hydrophilic surface characteristic as a whole, and a part having a hydrophilic surface characteristic and a part having a hydrophobic surface characteristic may be mixed. When the entire inclined portion 61 is hydrophilic, the inclined portion 61 is made hydrophilic as a part of the tip cover 31. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the inclined portion 61 has surface characteristics in which a hydrophilic portion and a hydrophobic portion are mixed.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the inclined portion 61 is divided into a plurality of sections having different surface characteristics, and hydrophilic sections 61a and hydrophobic sections 61b are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction. ing. In this case, the hydrophilic section 61a and the hydrophobic section 61b are arranged so that the boundary between them is located at the approximate center of the position facing the discharge port 24a of the nozzle 24.

  The hydrophilic section 61a of the inclined portion 61 can be formed of, for example, a resin material blended with PVP. On the other hand, the hydrophobic section 61b can be formed using a highly hydrophobic resin material such as PSF. 2 and 6 to 8, the hydrophobic section of the inclined portion 61 is illustrated as a relatively high concentration region in order to facilitate the discrimination between the hydrophilic section and the hydrophobic section. ing.

  Further, the nozzle 24 and the tube 36 forming the pipe connected to the nozzle 24 are combined so that the inner surfaces thereof are hydrophobic and hydrophilic. The nozzle 24 can be made hydrophobic by being formed of, for example, stainless steel. In addition, the tube 36 connected to the nozzle 24 has hydrophilicity by performing a modification process on the surface of the material by, for example, a plasma process even when the main body is formed of a hydrophobic resin material. Can be made.

Next, the air / water feeding action in the endoscope 2 having the distal end portion 8 having the above configuration will be described.
FIG. 4 shows a state in which water is ejected from the air / liquid feeding nozzle 24. In this case, the water supply Wf collides with the inclined portion 61 immediately after it exits from the discharge port 24 a of the nozzle 24, and the water hits the entire window surface 20 a of the observation window 20. Then, the water supply Wf over the observation window 20 converges to the same level as the width of the discharge port 24a of the nozzle 24 in the middle of going down the inclined portion 61.

  In addition, the inclined wall 63 at the periphery of the small illumination window 23 is formed along the flow of the water supply Wf, and has a shape that does not obstruct the water flow of the water supply Wf at all. The water supply Wf from the nozzle 24 spreads in the observation window 20 and then converges, so that it is difficult for water droplets to get on the illumination windows 22 and 23, and uneven illumination and fluctuation of illumination light hardly occur, and a stable light distribution is achieved. can get.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which air is supplied from the nozzle 24 by switching from water supply to air supply. When air is supplied, the air supplied from the nozzle 24 collides with the inclined portion 61 in the same manner as the water supply Wf, and once spreads over the entire window surface 20a of the observation window 20 and then passes over the window surface 20a of the observation window 20, the inclination is inclined. There is a tendency to converge when descending the part 61.

  At this time, the remaining water in the tube 36 connected to the nozzle 24 spreads easily because the inner surface of the tube is hydrophilic, and the particles are likely to increase in size, and the remaining water in the tube 36 reaches the nozzle 24 at an early stage. Since the inner surface of the nozzle 24 is hydrophobic, the residual water tends to become fine particles and easily fly by the power of air supply. For this reason, the water | moisture content in the pipe line from the tube 36 to the nozzle 24 moves to the window surface 20a of the observation window 20, without remaining in a pipe line.

  Since the observation window 20 has hydrophilic surface characteristics, the residual water Wz spreads on the window surface 20a, and the particles are likely to be large and easily move to the inclined portion 61. The inclined portion 61 is divided into a hydrophilic section 61a and a hydrophobic section 61b. Since the observation window 20 is hydrophilic, the residual water Wz gathers in the hydrophilic section 61a of the inclined section 61 and moves. It becomes easy to do. For this reason, in the inclined portion 61, the remaining water merges in the hydrophilic section 61a, and the particles further increase in size, and the speed at which the remaining water Wz descends increases. The residual water Wz descending the inclined portion 61 spreads and becomes larger due to the hydrophilicity of the flat portion 60 of the tip cover 31, and moves in a direction to leave the observation window 20 quickly.

  As described above, the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 is protruded at the distal end side of the insertion portion 7 of the endoscope 2 and the inclined portion 61 is formed around the window surface 20a. It is easy to spread over the entire window surface 20a, the water contact with the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 is good, and the unwashed body fluid and mucus adhering to the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 can be reduced.

  Further, when the water supply operation is switched to the air supply operation, the remaining water on the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 moves from the hydrophilic window surface 20a to the hydrophilic section 61a of the inclined portion 61 and moves to the tip cover 31. The remaining water hardly remains on the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 by moving to the flat portion 60. Thereby, the water drainability of the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 can be improved.

  Even if water remains in the nozzle 24 or the pipe 36 connected to the nozzle 24, it spreads on the inner surface of the hydrophilic tube and quickly reaches the nozzle 24, and fine particles are formed on the inner surface of the hydrophobic nozzle 24. It becomes easy to be aired. For this reason, the moisture in the pipe line from the tube 36 to the nozzle 24 remains in the pipe line, and it does not take time to remove.

  In this case, the arrangement of the hydrophilic section 61a and the hydrophobic section 61b of the inclined portion 61 is not limited to the arrangement of FIG. 2, but as the arrangements of the first to third modifications shown in FIGS. Also good.

  In the inclined portion 70 of Modification 1 shown in FIG. 6, a hydrophobic section 70a is disposed on the discharge port 24a side of the nozzle 24, and a hydrophilic section 70b is disposed on the opposite side of the discharge port 24a. Between the hydrophobic section 70a and the hydrophilic section 70b, the hydrophilic section 70c and the hydrophobic section 70d are arranged so that the opposite sides have opposite characteristics.

  Thereby, the backflow of the residual water to the nozzle 24 can be prevented in the hydrophobic section 70a, and the water droplets can be enlarged by joining the residual water in the hydrophilic sections 70b and 70c. As a result, it becomes possible to move the remaining water quickly.

  In addition, the inclined portion 80 of Modification 2 shown in FIG. 7 takes into consideration the imaging field of view of the solid-state imaging device 51 disposed in the back of the observation window 20. When the solid-state imaging device 51 has a horizontally long rectangular shape, the imaging field of view R in the observation window 20 is diagonally widened due to the influence of the lens group constituting the observation optical system. For this reason, the hydrophobic section 80a is disposed at a portion of the inclined portion 80 corresponding to a portion where the visual field shape of the observation window 20 is wide, and the portion of the inclined portion 80 corresponding to a portion where the visual field shape of the observation window 20 is narrow is hydrophilic. This section 80b is arranged.

  In the modified example 2 of FIG. 7, the imaging visual field has a wide imaging visual field shape, and the portion of the inclined portion 80 corresponding to the location reflected to the position away from the center of the optical axis is made hydrophobic so that the residual water is atomized. It can be moved outside, and the reflection of residual water can be reduced. In addition, the residual water can be quickly moved from the inclined portion 80 because the grains are enlarged by the residual water joining the hydrophilic portion.

  Further, the inclined portion 90 of Modification 3 shown in FIG. 8 is provided with a hydrophilic section 90a and a hydrophobic section 90b as concentric annular sections, and the one closer to the observation window 20 is made hydrophilic. The far side from the observation window 20 is made hydrophobic. In the third modification, hydrophilic portions and hydrophobic portions are alternately arranged in the radial direction, and the portion closer to the observation window 20 is hydrophilic, and the residual water on the observation window 20 is located above the inclined portion 90. The particles are gathered into the slope and go down the slope, and the particles are made finer at the hydrophobic portion at the lower part of the slope so that they can be easily moved by the flow of air.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 of the endoscope 2 protrudes from the flat portion 60 of the distal end cover 31 by a predetermined height, and the periphery of the window surface 20a of the observation window 20 and the distal end cover 31 are projected. The flat portion 60 is provided with an inclined portion 61, and at least a part of the flat portion 60 of the tip cover 31, the window surface 20 a of the observation window 20, and at least a portion of the inclined portion 61 are used for air / liquid feeding. The surface characteristics have a high affinity for the liquid delivered from the nozzle 24.

  As a result, when the residual liquid remaining in the observation window 20 is removed by air supply from the air / liquid supply nozzle 24, the residual liquid can be quickly moved from the observation window 20. As a result, the residual liquid removal performance of the observation window 20 can be improved, and the surgeon can quickly clear the field of view at the time of observation without stress.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endoscope apparatus 2 Endoscope 3 Light source apparatus 4 Air supply / liquid supply apparatus 5 Video processor apparatus 6 Monitor 7 Insertion part 8 Tip part 9 Bending part 10 Flexible pipe part 12 Operation part 13 Bending operation knob 13a Vertical bending operation knob 13b Left / right bending operation knob 14a Operation button (for air / liquid feeding)
14b Suction button 15 Switch 16 Treatment tool insertion port 17 Universal cord 18 Endoscope connector 19 Video cable 19A Processor connector 19B Video connector 20 Observation window 20a Window surface 21 Suction channel 22 Large illumination window 23 Small illumination window 24 Nozzle ( For air / liquid feeding)
24a Discharge port 30 Tip hard member 31 Tip cover 32 Curved member 33 Cover member 34 Nozzle support frame 35 Pipe 36 Tube (for air / liquid feeding)
37 Connection pipe 38 Tube (for liquid feeding)
39 Tube (for air supply)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 40 Objective lens support cylinder 41 1st lens 50 Imaging unit 51 Solid-state image sensor 52,53 Cover glass 54 Circuit board part 60 Flat part 61 Inclination part 61a Hydrophilic division 61b Hydrophobic division 63 Inclination wall 70 Inclination part 70a, 70d Hydrophobic compartment 70b, 70c Hydrophilic compartment 80 Inclined portion 80a Hydrophobic compartment 80b Hydrophilic compartment 90 Inclined portion 90a Hydrophilic compartment 90b Hydrophobic compartment

Claims (7)

In an endoscope provided with a tip cover, an observation window, and a nozzle for air / liquid feeding at the tip of the insertion portion,
The tip cover is provided with a flat portion on the tip side having at least part of a surface property having high affinity for the liquid delivered from the nozzle,
The observation window includes a window surface having a surface property that protrudes a predetermined height from the flat portion of the tip cover and has high affinity for the liquid,
Between the window surface periphery of the observation window and the flat portion of the tip cover, there is an inclined portion in which a portion having a surface property having high affinity for the liquid and a portion having a surface property having low affinity are mixed. An endoscope characterized by comprising: The nozzle has a surface characteristic on the inner surface with low affinity for the liquid.
The endoscope according to claim 1 . The pipe line disposed in the insertion portion and connected to the nozzle has a surface characteristic with high affinity for the liquid on the pipe inner surface.
The endoscope according to claim 2 . In the inclined portion, a portion having a surface property having a high affinity for the liquid and a portion having a surface property having a low affinity are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction.
The endoscope according to claim 1 . In the inclined portion, a portion having a surface property having a high affinity for the liquid and a portion having a surface property having a low affinity are alternately arranged in the radial direction.
The endoscope according to claim 1 . In the inclined portion, a portion having a surface characteristic with low affinity for the liquid is disposed to face the discharge port of the nozzle.
The endoscope according to claim 1 . The tip cover has a surface characteristic in which at least the flat portion between the discharge port of the nozzle and the inclined portion has high affinity for the liquid.
The endoscope according to claim 1 .