JP7519088B2 - Endoscope storage cabinet - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an endoscope storage cabinet for storing cleaned and disinfected endoscopes.

As shown in Patent Document 1, this type of endoscope storage cabinet is configured to store multiple endoscopes together in one space. This endoscope storage cabinet is configured to circulate dehumidified air through the endoscope ducts and inside the cabinet in a single closed space, promoting the drying of the endoscopes and preventing the proliferation of bacteria, thereby keeping them in a clean state.

However, in a configuration in which multiple endoscopes are stored in one space as described above, if bacteria are attached to an endoscope due to insufficient cleaning and disinfection, there is a risk that the bacteria attached to that endoscope may contaminate other endoscopes. In addition, there is a risk that the other endoscopes may be contaminated by the outside air that accompanies the insertion and removal of an endoscope.

JP 2015-205016 A

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and its main objective is to enable endoscopes to be stored properly without being contaminated by other endoscopes, and without other endoscopes being contaminated by outside air that accompanies the insertion and removal of endoscopes.

That is, the endoscope storage cabinet according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a plurality of private rooms for storing endoscopes and a plurality of doors for opening and closing the private rooms, a sterilization mechanism for individually sterilizing or disinfecting each of the plurality of private rooms, and a control unit for controlling the sterilization mechanism to selectively sterilize or disinfect the private rooms.

In such an endoscope storage cabinet, the room in which the endoscopes are stored is divided into multiple individual compartments, making it possible to prevent each endoscope from being contaminated by the other endoscopes, and also to prevent the other endoscopes from being contaminated by the outside air that accompanies the insertion and removal of the endoscopes. In addition, since the sterilization mechanism individually sterilizes or disinfects each of the multiple individual compartments, it is possible to selectively sterilize or disinfect only the individual compartments before storing the endoscopes.

In order to prevent contamination of each endoscope, it is desirable that each of the multiple private rooms be configured to store one endoscope.

In order to make it easy to increase or decrease the number of endoscopes stored in the endoscope storage cabinet in response to user requests, etc., it is desirable that the endoscope storage cabinet has a plurality of private room units each having the private room and the opening and closing door and configured to be detachable from one another, and that the number of private rooms can be increased or decreased by attaching or detaching the plurality of private room units from one another.

Furthermore, it is desirable that the endoscope storage cabinet further comprises a control unit having the control unit and an operation unit on the front side, and that the private room units are configured to be detachable on both the left and right sides of the control unit. With this configuration, it is possible to arrange the cabinet in a way that is convenient for the user according to their needs.

In order to facilitate the task of storing or removing an endoscope from a private room, it is desirable that each of the multiple private rooms is provided with a hanger section for hanging and fixing an endoscope, and a slide mechanism for moving the hanger section between a storage position located inside the private room and a removal position located outside the private room.

The endoscope storage cabinet of the present invention further includes a drying mechanism for individually drying each of the multiple private rooms, and the control unit dries the endoscope stored in the private room using the drying mechanism when the endoscope is stored in the private room, and sterilizes or disinfects the private room using the sterilization mechanism when there is no endoscope in the private room.

It is preferable that each of the plurality of closing doors is opened and closed by a foot switch or a foot sensor.
With this configuration, the door can be easily opened and closed even when the endoscope is held in the hand. Also, since there is no need to open the door by hand, it is possible to prevent the door from becoming contaminated by hands before storing the endoscope.

To improve usability for users, it is desirable for the endoscope storage cabinet to further include a display unit that displays whether each of the multiple private rooms is being dried, disinfected or sterilized, or available for use.

Since multiple endoscopes are stored, managing the storage information for each endoscope improves usability for users. For this reason, it is desirable for the endoscope storage cabinet to further include a history management unit that manages the storage information for endoscopes in the multiple private rooms.

Specifically, it is preferable that the history management unit manages information about users who have stored endoscopes in each of the multiple private rooms, and the storage time of the stored endoscopes.

In order to reduce the burden of managing endoscope information by manual input and improve usability for the user, it is desirable to further provide a reader that reads the endoscope's identification information from an identifier provided on the endoscope, and for the history management unit to manage the stored information using the endoscope's identification information read by the reader.

According to the present invention described above, each endoscope can be stored properly without being contaminated by other endoscopes.

1 is a front view showing a configuration of an endoscope storage cabinet according to an embodiment of the present invention; 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams showing an example of a drying mechanism and a sterilization mechanism of the embodiment. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing display modes of a display unit of the endoscope storage cabinet of the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration related to history management in the embodiment. FIG. 13 is a front view showing the configuration of an endoscope storage cabinet according to a modified embodiment. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a slide mechanism of an endoscope storage cabinet according to a modified embodiment. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a slide mechanism of an endoscope storage cabinet according to a modified embodiment. FIG.

The following describes an endoscope storage cabinet according to one embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

<Endoscope storage cabinet 100>
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the endoscope storage cabinet 100 of this embodiment comprises a storage cabinet main body 2 having a plurality of private rooms 2R for storing endoscopes ES, a plurality of opening/closing doors 3 for individually opening and closing each of the plurality of private rooms 2R, a drying mechanism 4 for individually drying each of the plurality of private rooms 2R, and a sterilization mechanism 5 for individually sterilizing or disinfecting each of the plurality of private rooms 2R.

The storage body 2 has multiple vertically long private rooms 2R in the horizontal direction. Each private room 2R is separated by a partition wall (not shown) that extends in the vertical direction. Although FIG. 1 shows a configuration with five private rooms 2R, the number of private rooms 2R is not limited to this. Each private room 2R is also provided with a hanger portion (not shown) for hanging and fixing an endoscope ES. In this embodiment, each private room 2R is provided with one hanger portion, and one endoscope ES is stored in one private room 2R.

An opening/closing door 3 is provided in each private room 2R. The opening/closing door 3 is configured to be opened and closed by a foot switch or foot sensor 6. The foot switch or foot sensor 6 is of a contact type or a non-contact type and is provided below the opening/closing door 3. The opening/closing door 3 is also provided with a handle 31, which can also be used to open and close the door. The opening/closing door 3 is made of glass or the like so that the interior can be seen. The opening/closing door 3 can be provided on both the front and back sides of each private room 2R to form a so-called pass box type. This allows the endoscope ES to be inserted and removed from both the front and back sides of the endoscope storage cabinet 100.

The drying mechanism 4 dries the endoscope ES stored in each private room 2R by sending clean air into each private room 2R. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the drying mechanism 4 includes an air source 41 and an air flow path 42 that connects the air source 41 to each private room 2R and sends air from the air source 41 to each private room 2R. An on-off valve 422 is provided in a branch flow path 421 connected to each private room 2R, and the private room 2R to which the air is sent is switched by opening and closing the on-off valve 422. The drying mechanism 4 is controlled by a drying control unit 71, which will be described later.

The sterilization mechanism 5 sterilizes or disinfects the inside of the private room 2R by irradiating it with ultraviolet light for a predetermined period of time. Specifically, the sterilization mechanism 5 is an ultraviolet lamp or deep ultraviolet LED provided in each private room 2R, as shown in FIG. 2. Here, it is considered that the ultraviolet lamp or deep ultraviolet LED is provided on the ceiling of the private room 2R via glass that transmits ultraviolet light. Note that the glass used for the opening and closing door 3 is one that does not transmit ultraviolet light. The lighting of this ultraviolet lamp or deep ultraviolet LED is controlled by the sterilization control unit 72, which will be described later.

The endoscope storage cabinet 100 described above is controlled by the control unit 7.

The control unit 7 has a drying control unit 71 that controls the drying mechanism 4 to dry the endoscope ES stored in the private room 2R while the endoscope ES is stored in the private room 2R. This drying control unit 71 blows air into the private room 2R in which the endoscope ES is stored for a predetermined time from the time the endoscope ES is stored. Specifically, the drying control unit 71 starts the air source 41 and opens the opening/closing valve 422 of the branch flow path 421 connected to the private room 2R in which the endoscope ES is stored. Additionally, the drying control unit 71 may blow air into the private room 2R in which the endoscope ES is stored at predetermined time intervals (periodically) while the endoscope ES is stored.

The control unit 7 also has a sterilization control unit 72 that controls the sterilization mechanism 5 to sterilize or disinfect the private room 2R when there is no endoscope ES in the private room 2R. The sterilization control unit 72 sterilizes or disinfects the private room 2R by turning on the ultraviolet lamp for a predetermined time from the time when the endoscope ES is removed from the private room 2R and the opening and closing door 3 is closed.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit main body 2 is provided with a display unit 8 that displays whether each of the multiple private rooms 2R is being dried, disinfected or sterilized, or available for use, and the control unit 7 has a display control unit 73 (see FIG. 2) that controls the display unit 8.

The display unit 8 in this embodiment is provided, for example, above the opening and closing door 3, in correspondence with each private room 2R. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the display unit 8 has an indicator lamp 81 indicating that drying is in progress, an indicator lamp 82 indicating that sterilization or disinfection is in progress, and an indicator lamp 83 indicating that the device is ready for use. The display control unit 73 turns on each of the lamps 81 to 83 to indicate whether the device is drying, disinfecting or disinfecting, or ready for use.

Here, we will explain the series of operations from storing the endoscope ES in the endoscope storage cabinet 100 to removing it.

First, the endoscope ES is cleaned and disinfected according to a predetermined procedure. Then, the cleaned and disinfected endoscope ES is placed in the endoscope storage cabinet 100. At this time, the user can open the opening and closing door 3 using the foot switch or foot sensor 6.

When the endoscope ES is stored in the private room 2R and the door 3 is closed, the drying mechanism 4 starts drying the endoscope ES. At this time, the indicator lamp 81 indicating that drying is in progress is lit. After a predetermined drying time has elapsed, the indicator lamp 81 indicating that drying is in progress is turned off, and the indicator lamp 83 indicating that the endoscope can be used is lit.

When the endoscope ES is removed from the endoscope storage cabinet 100 and the opening and closing door 3 is closed, the sterilization mechanism 5 starts sterilization or sterilization of the private room 2R. At this time, the indicator lamp 82 indicating that sterilization or sterilization is in progress lights up. After the specified sterilization time has elapsed, the indicator lamp 82 indicating that sterilization or sterilization is in progress turns off.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 7 of this embodiment further includes a history management unit 74 that manages storage information of the endoscopes ES in multiple private rooms 2R.

The history management unit 74 manages the user information of the user who stored the endoscope ES in each of the multiple private rooms 2R and the storage time of the stored endoscope ES. The management data including the user information and storage time linked by the history management unit 74 is stored in the management data storage unit 75.

Here, to facilitate management of the endoscope ES, the endoscope ES is provided with an identifier (e.g., an RFID tag) indicating the type of endoscope, etc., and the endoscope storage cabinet 100 (storage cabinet main body 2) is provided with a reader 9 that reads the identification information of the endoscope ES from the identifier of the endoscope ES. The history management unit 74 then manages the storage information using the identification information of the endoscope ES read by the reader 9. The reader 9 may be an RFID reader, a barcode reader, or the like.

Furthermore, overseas, the storage time for endoscopes ES is determined according to the type. For example, the storage time for ultrasonic bronchoscopes and duodenoscopes is 12 hours, and the storage time for other digestive endoscopes is 72 hours. For this reason, relationship data showing the relationship between the type of endoscope ES and the storage time may be stored in the management data storage unit 75, and the history management unit 74 may use the relationship data to monitor the storage time of each endoscope ES. The history management unit 74 may be configured to issue an alarm just before the storage time of each endoscope ES exceeds the storage time or when the storage time has passed. The digestive endoscopes include upper digestive endoscopes, small intestine endoscopes, and large intestine endoscopes.

<Effects of this embodiment>
According to the endoscope storage cabinet 100 of this embodiment configured as described above, the room for storing the endoscopes ES is divided into a plurality of private rooms 2R, so that each endoscope ES is less likely to be contaminated by the other endoscopes ES, and the other endoscopes ES are less likely to be contaminated by the outside air caused by taking the endoscope ES in and out. Also, since the drying mechanism 4 dries each of the plurality of private rooms 2R individually, it is possible to selectively dry only the endoscopes ES that have been cleaned, disinfected, and stored in the private rooms 2R. Furthermore, since the sterilization mechanism 5 sterilizes or sterilizes each of the plurality of private rooms 2R individually, it is possible to selectively sterilize or sterilize only the private rooms 2R before storing the endoscope ES.

<Other Modified Embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

For example, in the above embodiment, one endoscope ES is stored in one private room 2R, but two or more endoscopes ES may be stored in one private room.

In addition, the storage body 2 in the above embodiment was a single unit having multiple private rooms 2R, but as shown in FIG. 5, it may have multiple private room units 2U each having a private room 2R and an opening/closing door 3 and configured to be detachable from one another, and the number of private rooms 2R may be increased or decreased by detaching the multiple private room units 2U from one another.

Specifically, the private room unit 2U has a private room 2R that houses an endoscope ES, an opening/closing door 3 that opens and closes the private room 2R, and a duct chamber 2D that is formed at the top of the private room 2R and constitutes an air flow path 42 that sends air from an air source 41 to the private room 2R. By connecting these private room units 2U, the duct chambers 2D of each private room unit 2U are connected to each other. In addition, the duct chamber 2D is also used to connect electrical circuits. Note that each private room unit 2U may be made into a so-called pass box type by providing the opening/closing door 3 on both the front and back sides of each private room 2R. This allows the endoscope ES to be taken in and out from both the front and back sides of the endoscope storage cabinet 100.

A control unit 2C is connected to one side of the private room unit 2U, and includes a control unit 7, a display unit 8, a reader 9, and a touch panel display (operation unit) 10. The display unit 8, the reader 9, and a touch panel display (operation unit) 10 are provided on the front side of the control unit 2C, and the private room unit 2U is detachably attached to the left and right sides of the control unit 2C. In addition, the control unit 2C is provided with a pump, which is an air source 41. Reference symbol 2A is an air filter 2A provided at an intake port for taking in air from outside the cabinet to be sent to each private room 2R. In addition, the control unit 2C is provided with an air purifier (not shown). Reference symbol 2B is an air filter provided at an intake port for taking in air from outside the cabinet, and reference symbol 2F is a fan that blows air from the air purifier to the outside of the cabinet.

Also, as shown in FIG. 6, each of the multiple private rooms 2R may be provided with a hanger section 11 for hanging and fixing the endoscope ES, and a slide mechanism 12 for moving the hanger section 11 between a storage position X located inside the private room 2R and a removal position Y located outside the private room 2R. Here, the slide mechanism 12 has a rail 121 provided on the private room side, for example, on the side wall of the private room 2R, and a slider 122 that slides along the rail 121. The hanger section 11 is provided on the slider 122.

As shown in FIG. 7, this slide mechanism 12 may be configured such that a pair of upper and lower rails 121 are provided on the private room side, and a flat slider 122 slides along the rails 121. A hanger section 11 may be provided on the upper portion of this flat slider 122, and a hook section 13 may be provided below the hanger section 11 to allow the endoscope ES to snake, for example, in an S-shape, thereby reducing the storage dimensions (height dimensions).

The reader 9 may be provided on the front of the storage body 2, or in each private room 2R, and may be configured to read the identifier of the endoscope ES at the same time as storing the endoscope ES in the private room 2R.

Furthermore, the display unit 8 is not limited to the configuration of the indicator lamps 81-83, and may be configured to display each state on a display. Also, each private room 2R may be provided with lighting units of three colors, for example, red, green, and yellow, and the color of the lighting from the lighting units may be changed depending on the state of the private room. This allows the state of the private room to be visually confirmed by the color seen through the glass window provided in the opening and closing door 3.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the opening and closing door 3 is opened by a foot switch or foot sensor 6, but the opening and closing door 3 may be unlocked or opened by holding an identifier such as an IC tag provided on the endoscope ES over the reader 9 and having it recognized, without using a foot switch or foot sensor 6.

In addition, various modifications and combinations of the embodiments may be made as long as they do not go against the spirit of the present invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100... endoscope storage cabinet ES... endoscope 2... storage cabinet main body 2R... private room 2U... private room unit 2C... control unit 3... open/close door 4... drying mechanism 5... sterilization mechanism 6... foot switch or foot sensor 7... control unit 74... history management unit 8... display unit 9... reader

Claims (10)

a plurality of individual rooms for storing endoscopes and a plurality of doors for opening and closing the individual rooms;
A sterilization mechanism for individually sterilizing or disinfecting each of the plurality of individual compartments;
and a control unit that controls the sterilization mechanism to selectively sterilize or disinfect a private room for storing the endoscope,
The system includes a plurality of individual room units each having the individual room and the opening/closing door and configured to be detachable from one another,
A control unit having the control unit and an operation unit on a front surface thereof is further provided.
An endoscope storage cabinet , wherein the private room unit is configured to be detachably attached to the control unit . The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1 , wherein the private room units are configured to be detachable from both the left and right sides of the control unit. 3. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of private rooms is configured to store one endoscope. 4. An endoscope storage cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each of the plurality of private compartments is provided with a hanger portion for hanging and fixing an endoscope, and a sliding mechanism for moving the hanger portion between a storage position located inside the private compartment and a removal position located outside the private compartment. Further, a drying mechanism is provided for individually drying each of the plurality of individual compartments,
5. An endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the control unit dries an endoscope stored in the private room using the drying mechanism when the endoscope is stored in the private room, and disinfects or sterilizes the private room using the sterilization mechanism when no endoscope is present in the private room. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of opening and closing doors is opened and closed by a foot switch or a foot sensor. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1 , further comprising a display unit that displays whether each of the plurality of private compartments is being dried, sterilized or disinfected, or available for use. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 1 , further comprising a history management unit that manages storage times of the endoscopes in the plurality of private rooms. 9. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 8 , wherein the history management unit manages information on users who have stored endoscopes in each of the plurality of private rooms and storage times of the stored endoscopes. a reader for reading identification information of the endoscope from an identifier provided on the endoscope;
10. The endoscope storage cabinet according to claim 8 , wherein the history management unit manages storage time by using identification information of the endoscope read by the reader.