JP7324928B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an endoscope, and more particularly to an endoscope in which an observation window, an illumination window, and a nozzle for ejecting fluid are arranged on the distal end surface of an insertion section.

An observation window for receiving subject light from a site to be observed and an illumination window for emitting illumination light to the site for observation are arranged on the distal end surface of the insertion portion of the endoscope. Further, a nozzle (also referred to as a fluid injection nozzle or an air/water supply nozzle) for injecting fluid (for example, water and air) toward the observation window is provided on the tip surface to remove deposits such as body fluids adhering to the observation window. ) is placed.

By the way, in the endoscope disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order to prevent part of the illumination light emitted from the illumination window from reflecting off the outer surface of the nozzle and entering the observation window, the outer surface of the nozzle is formed in a color with low visible light reflectance. Specifically, examples of coloring the outer surface of the nozzle with black paint, forming it with a material such as black resin, and applying black chrome plating are shown. According to this endoscope, by preventing the reflection of the illumination light on the outer surface of the nozzle as described above, it is possible to eliminate the influence of the reflection on the observed image.

Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-13822

However, the endoscope disclosed in Patent Document 1 has the following problems. That is, when the endoscope is used continuously, the paint or the like formed on the outer surface of the nozzle tends to peel off due to deterioration. In this case, it becomes impossible to sufficiently prevent the reflection of the illumination light on the outer surface of the nozzle, and the reflected light from the illumination window reflected by the outer surface of the nozzle enters the observation window, causing flare in the observed image. A good observation image cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope that can prevent flare caused by illumination light reflected by a nozzle and can obtain a good observation image. and

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an endoscope having an elongated insertion section to be inserted into the body, comprising a distal end main body disposed on the distal end side of the insertion section, the distal end main body has a tip surface, and the tip surface is provided with an observation window, an illumination window arranged around the observation window, and a nozzle having a fluid injection port opening toward the observation window, and the nozzle is provided with the illumination It has an illuminated surface to which the illumination light emitted from the window is illuminated, at least a part of the illuminated surface is composed of a scattering suppressing section configured with a mirror surface, and the scattering suppressing section is different from the observation window in which the illumination light is emitted. A directional reflecting endoscope is provided.

In one aspect of the present invention, the nozzle preferably has an open end face provided around the fluid ejection port, and at least part of the open end face is the scattering suppressor.

In one aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the scattering suppressing portion is configured by an inclined surface that is inclined with respect to the distal end surface, and that the scattering suppressing portion reflects the illumination light forward, which is the distal end side of the insertion portion.

In one aspect of the present invention, preferably, a plurality of illumination windows are provided, and the surface to be illuminated is illuminated with illumination light emitted from the illumination window closest to the nozzle among the plurality of illumination windows.

In one aspect of the present invention, the nozzle is a metal powder injection molded product, and preferably has a scattering suppressing portion that is mirror-finished on at least a portion of the outer surface of the nozzle.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of flare due to the illumination light reflected by the nozzle and to obtain a good observation image.

Overall view of an endoscope according to an embodiment 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the distal end face of the insertion section of the endoscope shown in FIG. 1; FIG. Front view of the tip surface shown in FIG. Cross-sectional view of tip portion 22 along line IV-IV in FIG. Enlarged front view of the fluid ejection port of the nozzle

An endoscope according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an endoscope 10 according to an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope 10 includes an elongated insertion portion 12 to be inserted into the subject, an operation portion 14 provided at the proximal end of the insertion portion 12, and the endoscope 10. and a universal cable 16 that connects to system components such as the light source device, processor device, and air/water supply device shown in the figure.

The insertion portion 12 has a distal end, a proximal end, and a longitudinal axis A, and includes a flexible portion 18, a curved portion 20, and a distal portion 22 in order from the proximal end toward the distal end.

The soft section 18 is flexible and can be bent in any direction along the insertion path of the insertion section 12 . The bending portion 20 can be bent vertically and horizontally by operating angle knobs 24 and 26 rotatably provided on the operating portion 14, and the direction in which the tip portion 22 faces can be changed in any desired direction. is. The distal end portion 22 also includes a distal end portion main body 30 (see FIG. 2) disposed on the distal end side of the insertion portion 12 , and the distal end portion main body 30 has a distal end surface 28 .

2 is an enlarged perspective view of the distal end portion 22, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the distal end portion 22 viewed from the direction of the longitudinal axis A (see FIG. 1). 4 is a cross-sectional view of the tip portion 22 taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tip portion 22 includes a tip portion main body 30 which is made of a hard material such as metal and holds various parts arranged in the tip portion 22, and an insulating resin material. and a tip cover 32 that covers the tip surface 30A and the tip outer peripheral surface 30B of the main body 30 . In FIG. 4, as components held by the distal end main body 30 and the distal end cover 32, a lens barrel 38 housing an observation window 34 and an optical system 36 constituting an observation portion, and an air supply connected to a nozzle 40 are shown. Distal portion 42A of water channel 42 is shown.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the distal end surface 28 is formed on the distal end side surface of the distal end cover 32 . The distal end surface 28 is configured based on a substantially circular flat surface perpendicular to the longitudinal axis A. The distal end surface 28 has an observation window 34 and two illumination windows 44 arranged around the observation window 34. 46, a treatment instrument outlet 48, and the nozzle 40 are arranged at predetermined positions. 2 and 3 indicates the center of the tip surface 28. As shown in FIG.

The observation window 34 is a constituent element of an observation section for obtaining an image of a site to be observed. Import to image guide. An image captured by this observation unit is sent to the above-described processor device as an observation image.

A circular surface 34S of the observation window 34 is formed, for example, by a flat surface and arranged perpendicular to the optical axis D of the observation section. The center of the surface 34</b>S is arranged at a position deviated from the periphery of the tip end face 28 with respect to the center C of the tip end face 28 . Note that the optical axis D is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis A.

The illumination windows 44 and 46 are constituent elements of an illumination section for illuminating the site to be observed, and illuminate the site to be observed with illumination light sent from the light source device.

The circular surfaces 44S, 46S of the illumination windows 44, 46 are for example constituted by flat surfaces and arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis A. The centers of the surfaces 44S and 46S are arranged at positions deviated from the periphery of the tip surface 28 with respect to the center C of the tip surface 28, and are arranged at positions facing each other with the surface 34S of the observation window 34 interposed therebetween. be done.

The treatment instrument lead-out port 48 communicates with the treatment instrument lead-in port 50 of the operation section 14 via a treatment instrument insertion channel (not shown) inserted through the insertion portion 12 (see FIG. 1). Accordingly, the treatment instrument introduced from the treatment instrument introduction port 50 is led out from the treatment instrument outlet port 48 through the treatment instrument insertion channel.

A suction channel (not shown) is connected to the treatment instrument insertion channel, and by operating the suction button 54 of the operation unit 14 (see FIG. 1), a suction operation from the treatment instrument outlet 48 is performed via the suction channel. is done.

The nozzle 40 is made of stainless steel, for example, and is a metal powder injection molded product (hereinafter also referred to as a metal injection nozzle) manufactured by metal injection molding (MIM). Metal powder injection molding is a method of manufacturing a metal product by mixing metal powder and a binder, performing injection molding, degreasing the binder, and then sintering the mixture. As shown in FIG. 4, the nozzle 40 manufactured by this manufacturing method has a proximal end portion 40A and a distal end portion 40B, and the shape including the proximal end portion 40A and the distal end portion 40B is L-shaped. there is

The base end portion 40A constitutes a connection portion that is connected to the tip portion 42A of the air/water supply channel 42, and is connected to the above air/water supply device via the air/water supply channel 42. As shown in FIG. The conduit 41A of the base end portion 40A has a circular cross section perpendicular to the axis of the conduit 41A. 28 at a position that is offset from the periphery of 28 and at a position closer to illumination window 46 of illumination windows 44 , 46 .

A conduit 41B of the tip portion 40B has a rectangular cross section perpendicular to the axis of the conduit 41B, and a fluid ejection port 52 opening toward the observation window 34 is formed at the tip of the conduit 41B. there is

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the fluid ejection port 52 viewed from the front.

As shown in FIG. 5, the fluid ejection port 52 is configured as a rectangular opening, similar to the cross-sectional shape of the pipeline 41B (see FIG. 4). The nozzle 40 also has a frame-shaped opening end face 58 provided around the fluid ejection port 52 . 5 close to the illumination window 46 (see FIG. 3) of the opening end face 58 constitutes the scattering suppressing portion 58A, and the left half region excluding the scattering suppressing portion 58A. The end face 58B is a satin-like surface that is the base of the nozzle 40 .

According to the endoscope 10 configured as described above, when the leak hole (not shown) formed in the air/water supply button 56 of the operation unit 14 (see FIG. 1) is closed with a finger, the air/water supply device of gas is jetted from the fluid jet port 52 of the nozzle 40 toward the surface 34 S of the observation window 34 . Then, when the air/water supply button 56 is pressed with a finger that has closed the leak hole, the cleaning liquid from the air/water supply device is ejected from the fluid ejection port 52 toward the surface 34S of the observation window 34 . As a procedure for cleaning the observation window 34, for example, cleaning liquid is ejected from the fluid ejection port 52 to remove deposits such as blood or body fluids adhering to the surface 34S of the observation window 34, and then the liquid is ejected from the fluid ejection port 52. The cleaning liquid remaining on the surface 34S of the observation window 34 and the like is removed by injecting gas.

By the way, in the endoscope 10 of the embodiment, as the diameter of the distal end portion 22 is reduced, the constituent members (the observation window 34, the nozzle 40, the illumination windows 44 and 46, and the treatment instrument outlet port 48) arranged on the distal end surface 28 are reduced. ) are placed close to each other. With such an arrangement configuration, the illumination light emitted from the illumination windows 44 and 46 reaches the nozzle 40 as the observation field of view of the observation window 34 is widened or the illumination light distribution of the illumination windows 44 and 46 is widened. easier to be irradiated. Then, the reflected light of the illumination light reflected by the nozzle 40 is incident on the observation window 34, which tends to cause flare in the observed image, making it difficult to obtain a clear observed image.

In particular, the nozzle 40 employed in the endoscope 10 of the embodiment is a metal injection nozzle, and the outer surface of the nozzle 40 is a satin-like surface. Therefore, when the illumination light emitted from the illumination windows 44 and 46 strikes the nozzle 40 , the reflected light is diffusely reflected by the outer surface (satin-like surface) of the nozzle 40 . becomes more likely to be incident on, and the above problem becomes more pronounced.

Therefore, in the endoscope 10 of the embodiment, the illumination light emitted from the illumination windows 44 and 46 on the outer surface of the nozzle 40 is prevented from flaring the observation image due to the reflected light reflected by the nozzle 40. The surface to be illuminated (hereinafter referred to as "illuminated surface") is configured by a mirror-finished scattering suppressing portion 58A, and the reflected light of the illumination light reflected by the scattering suppressing portion 58A is different from that of the observation window 34. The direction of the surface (mirror surface) that constitutes the scattering suppressing portion 58A is determined so that the light is reflected in the direction.

Specifically, in the endoscope 10 of the embodiment, as shown in FIG. A half area on one side (hereinafter referred to as a "right half area") is an area (illuminated surface) irradiated with illumination light from the illumination window 46, and a half area on the other side (hereinafter referred to as a , referred to as a “left half area”) is an area that is not irradiated with the illumination light from the illumination windows 44 and 46 . Therefore, of the opening end face 58, the left half region of the end face 58B leaves the base (pear surface) of the nozzle 40 as it is, and the end face of the right half region, which is the irradiated surface, is a scattering suppressing portion 58A configured with a mirror surface. . Then, the opening end surface 58 of the nozzle 40 is positioned at the tip so that the reflected light of the illumination light reflected by the scattering suppression portion 58A (mirror surface) is reflected forward, which is the tip side of the insertion portion 12 (see FIG. 1). It is composed of an inclined surface that is inclined with respect to the surface 28 .

Here, the opening end face 58 of the nozzle 40 will be described. As shown in FIG. It is configured as an acute-angled inclined surface inclined at θ°. As a result, the reflected light of the illumination light reflected by the scattering suppressing portion 58A is reflected forward, which is the distal end side of the insertion portion 12 (see FIG. 1), as indicated by the arrow F direction. is prevented from entering the

As described above, according to the endoscope 10 of the embodiment, the irradiated surface of the nozzle 40 is configured by the scattering suppressing portion 58A (mirror surface), and the reflected light of the illumination light irradiated to the irradiated surface is reflected through the observation window 34. are reflected in different directions so that the reflected light does not enter the observation window 34, so flare caused by the illumination light reflected by the nozzle 40 is prevented, and a good observation image can be obtained. .

In addition, it is preferable that the inclination angle (θ°) of the opening end surface 58 shown in FIG. 4 is, for example, 50° or more and 60° or less. By setting the angle to 60° or less, the reflected light of the illumination light reflected by the scattering suppressing portion 58A can be effectively reflected forward. Further, by setting the angle to 50° or more, the fluid ejected from the fluid ejection port 52 can be effectively ejected toward the observation window 34 .

In the embodiment, only the right half area of the opening end face 58 is mirror-finished. good too. Moreover, the scattering suppressing portion 58A (mirror surface) is preferably formed on the entire surface of the irradiated surface, but is not limited to this, and may be formed on at least a partial region of the irradiated surface. For example, in the preferred embodiment, the scattering suppressing portion 58A is formed in the entire right half region, but the scattering suppressing portion 58A may be formed only in part of the right half region. Even in this case, a better observation image can be obtained as compared with the configuration without the scattering suppressor 58A.

In addition, in the embodiment, as an example, an example in which the present invention is applied when a part (right half area) of the opening end surface 58 of the nozzle 40 is the surface to be irradiated has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to the case where the other part or the whole of the opening end face 58 becomes the surface to be irradiated, or the case where the part or the whole of the outer surface of the nozzle 40 other than the opening end face 58 becomes the surface to be irradiated. is possible. In either case, at least a part of the surface to be irradiated with the illumination light is made a scattering suppressing portion 58A configured with a mirror surface, and the reflected light of the illumination light is reflected by the scattering suppressing portion 58A in a direction different from that of the observation window. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of flare caused by the illumination light reflected by the nozzle 40 and obtain a good observation image.

Also, in the embodiment, the endoscope 10 including the two illumination windows 44 and 46 is illustrated, but the number of illumination windows is not limited to two, and one or three or more illumination windows may be provided. The present invention can be adopted even in an endoscope equipped with.

In the embodiment, the metal injection nozzle manufactured by metal powder injection molding was exemplified as the nozzle 40, but it is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a nozzle manufactured by bending a pipe material. can be adopted.

However, the metal injection nozzle has the advantage of being able to reduce the burden on the subject because the amount of forward projection from the tip surface 28 can be suppressed compared to the pipe material nozzle. On the other hand, since the metal injection nozzle has a satin-finished outer surface, there is a problem that flare due to irregular reflection is likely to occur as described above. Therefore, by adopting the present invention for such a metal injection nozzle, in addition to the original effect of being able to reduce the burden on the subject, the occurrence of flare caused by the illumination light reflected by the nozzle 40 can be prevented. It is possible to obtain the effect of the present invention that a good observation image can be obtained.

Although this flare occurs even when the surface 34S of the observation window 34 is flat, it is more likely to occur when the surface 34A of the observation window 34 is a convex lens.

Although the endoscope according to the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and some improvements or modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

10 Endoscope 12 Insertion section 14 Operation section 16 Universal cable 18 Flexible section 20 Bending section 22 Tip section 24 Angle knob 26 Angle knob 28 Tip surface 30 Tip body 30A Tip surface 30B Tip outer peripheral surface 32 Tip cover 34 Observation window 34S Surface 36 Optical system 38 Lens barrel 40 Nozzle 40A Base end portion 40B Distal portion 41A Pipeline 41B Pipeline 42 Air supply/water supply channel 42A Distal portion 44 Illumination window 44S Surface 46 Illumination window 46S Surface 48 Treatment instrument outlet 50 Treatment instrument inlet 52 Fluid ejection port 54 Suction button 56 Air/water supply button 58 Opening end face 58A Scattering suppressor 58B End face

Claims (5)

An endoscope having an elongated insertion section to be inserted into the body,
a distal end body disposed on the distal end side of the insertion section, the distal end body having a distal end face;
The tip surface is provided with an observation window, an illumination window arranged around the observation window, and a nozzle having a fluid injection port opened toward the observation window,
The nozzle has an illuminated surface irradiated with illumination light emitted from the illumination window,
At least part of the surface to be irradiated is composed of a scattering suppressing portion configured by a mirror surface,
The scattering suppression unit reflects the illumination light in a direction different from that of the observation window.
Endoscope. The nozzle has an open end face provided around the fluid ejection port,
At least part of the opening end face is the scattering suppressing portion,
The endoscope according to claim 1. The scattering suppressing portion is configured by an inclined surface that is inclined with respect to the tip end surface,
The scattering suppression section reflects the illumination light forward, which is the distal end side of the insertion section.
The endoscope according to claim 1 or 2. A plurality of the lighting windows are provided,
The surface to be illuminated is illuminated with illumination light emitted from an illumination window positioned closest to the nozzle among the plurality of illumination windows.
The endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The nozzle is a metal powder injection molded product,
At least part of the outer surface of the nozzle has the scattering suppression part mirror-finished,
The endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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