JPS631850B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an endoscope having a structure for cleaning the outer surface of an observation window by spraying fluid thereon.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an endoscope, the observation window provided at the tip of the insertion section is easily contaminated by dirt and the like in the body cavity when the endoscope is introduced into the body cavity, which has the drawback of hindering normal observation. In order to deal with this, a jet nozzle is provided near the observation window, and cleaning water is sprayed from the jet nozzle toward the outer surface of the observation window for cleaning.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, even when cleaning water is sprayed from a jet nozzle toward the outer surface of the observation window, it is not possible to spray the water sufficiently over the entire outer surface of the observation window, often resulting in only partial cleaning. In addition, particularly in recent years, endoscopes with wide observation windows are increasingly being used in order to widen the observation field of view. For these reasons, it is strongly desired to thoroughly clean the outer surface of the observation window over a wide area.

Furthermore, the conventional means of spraying cleaning water from a jet nozzle has the disadvantage that after cleaning, a portion of the cleaning water tends to remain as water droplets on the outer surface of the observation window, impeding good observation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to be able to sufficiently clean the outer surface of the observation window over a wide range, and to clean the outer surface of the observation window after cleaning. To provide an endoscope that can ensure good observation by leaving as few water droplets as possible, and that also ensures a liquid feeding blocking action.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

In a switching valve device that simultaneously supplies cleaning liquid and gas from respective supply sources of cleaning liquid and gas to a supply path and spouts a mixed fluid of gas and liquid from a jet nozzle, the cleaning liquid on-off valve part has a valve body in its liquid feeding valve chamber. is movably provided, and when feeding liquid, the valve body opens away from the valve hole, and when normally shutting off, it moves in the direction of closing the valve hole in response to the supply pressure of cleaning liquid. There is.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 2 is an endoscope main body, which is composed of an operating section 2, an insertion section 3, and a cable 4. The insertion section 3 has a distal end component 5 on its distal side.
is attached, and the tip surface 6 of the tip component 5 is
In addition to the observation window 7, there are provided an illumination window, a forceps opening, etc. (not shown). Further, an imaging optical system 8 is installed inside the observation window 7, and is configured to form an image of the observation field onto the distal end surface of an image guide 9 made of a bundle of optical fibers for image transmission. Further, a jet nozzle 10 is provided protrudingly near the observation window 7, and a nozzle opening 1 of the jet nozzle 10 is provided.
1 faces the observation window 7. Note that a hood 12 is attached to the outer periphery of the tip forming portion 5.

On the other hand, a supply path 13 for supplying cleaning liquid and gas to the jet nozzle 10 is provided inside the insertion section 3, and this supply path 13 is connected to the cable 4 through a switching valve device 14 installed in the operation section 2. It is connected to a liquid feeding pipe 15 and an air feeding pipe 16. The liquid sending pipe 15 is connected to a cleaning liquid supply source 17 provided separately from the endoscope body 1. Further, the air supply pipe 16 is connected to a gas supply source 19 provided within the power supply section 18 . That is, a connector 20 is provided at the tip of the cable 4, and can be detachably attached to the power supply section 18. When the connector 20 is attached to the power supply section 18, the air supply pipe 16 is connected to the gas supply source 19. The gas supply source 19 is, for example, an electric blower, and is operated by a switch 21.

In addition, the cleaning liquid supply source 17 is connected to the communication pipe 2
2, the liquid tank 23 is connected to the air supply pipe 16 through a pipe 2, and the liquid tank 23 is further provided with a liquid raising pipe 24 that reaches the bottom thereof.
The liquid sending pipe 15 is detachably connected to the liquid raising pipe 24. By activating the gas supply source 19, compressed gas such as air can be sent into the air supply pipe 16, and air at the same pressure can also be sent into the liquid tank 23 through the communication pipe 22 at the same time. can. Therefore, liquid tank 2
Since the cleaning liquid in 3, for example water, is under pressure,
The liquid is sent to the liquid sending pipe 15 through the liquid rising pipe 24.

The switching valve device 14 is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, in the valve body 36, an air supply valve chamber 38 and a liquid supply valve chamber 39 are formed in order from the operation button 37 side, and each of the above-mentioned valve chambers 38,
39 is penetrated by a valve operating rod 40 whose upper end is connected to the operating button 37. The air supply valve chamber 38 has a valve hole 2 that communicates with the air supply pipe 31 of the supply path 13.
5 is formed, and further communicates with an air supply pipe 16. The liquid feeding valve chamber 39 is formed with a valve hole 27 that communicates with the liquid feeding pipe 30 of the supply path 13 and also communicates with the liquid feeding pipe 15 . Furthermore, ball valves 41 and 42 are movably provided in each of the valve chambers 38 and 39, respectively. The ball valve 41 of the air supply valve chamber 38 is attached and fixed to the valve operating rod 40. The ball valve 42 of the liquid feeding valve chamber 39 is pushed up by a spring 43 and is closed. Further, a coil spring 44 is attached to the outer periphery of the inner part of the operation button 37 on the valve operation rod 40, and this coil spring 44 causes the operation button 37 to
7 is designed to protrude outward. Normally, the valve holes 25 and 27 of the valve chambers 38 and 39 are respectively closed by ball valves 41 and 42, so that air and liquid are not sent to the supply path 13 side.
Therefore, when the operation button 37 of the valve operating rod 40 is pushed, first, only the ball valve 41 of the air supply valve chamber 38 is lowered, and only the valve hole 25 of the air supply valve chamber 38 is opened. Air can be supplied to the air pipe 31 and the gas can be ejected from the ejection nozzle 10. At this time, the tip of the valve operating rod 40 is connected to the liquid feeding valve chamber 3.
It does not hit the ball valve 42 of No. 9, therefore, its liquid feeding valve chamber 39 is in a closed state.

Therefore, when the valve operating rod 40 is further pushed down,
It hits the ball valve 42 of the liquid feeding valve chamber 39 and pushes down. Therefore, the valve holes 25 and 2 of each valve chamber 38 and 39
6 are both open, and air and liquid can be sent to the liquid feeding pipe 30 and the air feeding pipe 31 of the supply path 13, respectively.

The supply liquid 13 consists of a liquid feeding pipe 30 and an air feeding pipe 31 up to just before the tip component 5, and the liquid feeding pipe 30 and the air feeding pipe 3 at the tip side.
1 is connected to one mixing supply pipe 32. In other words, the mixed supply pipe 32 is adapted to supply the cleaning liquid and gas supplied by the liquid sending pipe 30 and the liquid sending pipe 31 to the jet nozzle 10.

In addition, a constant pressure valve 34 is provided in the middle of the air supply side such as the air supply pipe 16 and the communication pipe 22 on the cable 4 side, for example, at all or part of the positions indicated by a, b, and c in FIG. It is designed to release dangerous pressure above a certain level.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, connect the connector 20 of the cable 4 to the power supply section 18.
The air supply pipe 16 on the cable 4 side is connected to a gas supply source 19, and the liquid supply pipe 15 on the cable 4 side is connected to a cleaning liquid supply source 17. Therefore, when the switch 21 of the gas supply source 19 is turned on, the gas supply source 19 is activated, and compressed gas is supplied to the switching valve device 14 through the air supply pipe 16.
However, since the valve hole 25 of the air supply valve chamber 38 is closed by the ball valve 41, it is not sent into the air supply pipe 31. At the same time, the compressed gas is passed through the communication pipe 22 to the liquid tank 23.
The cleaning liquid in the liquid tank 23 is sent to the liquid raising pipe 24 and the liquid sending pipe 15.
However, since the ball valve 42 is normally lifted up by the coil spring 43 and the cleaning fluid supply pressure to close the valve hole 27, the cleaning fluid stops at the switching valve device 14 and is not fed into the supply path 13.
In other words, neither air nor liquid is supplied to the supply path 13 under normal conditions.

On the other hand, when injecting gas into the body cavity to inflate the body cavity in order to maintain an observation distance from the insertion portion 3 of the endoscope within the body cavity, the valve operation rod 40 is pushed in one step by pressing the operation button 37. However, the air supply valve chamber 3
The valve hole 25 of No. 8 is opened, and gas is sent into the jet nozzle 10 through the air supply pipe 31 of the supply path 13. Then, gas is ejected from the ejection nozzle 10 into the body cavity, causing the inside of the body cavity to swell. Note that, at this time, the valve hole 27 of the liquid feeding valve chamber 39 remains blocked by the ball valve 42. Therefore, liquid is not sent on the liquid sending pipe 30 side.
In other words, the cleaning liquid only reaches the switching valve device 14, and the flow toward the supply liquid 13 is blocked.

On the other hand, when the outer surface of the observation window 7 of the insertion section 3 becomes dirty with mucus in the body cavity, which may impede observation or photography, it is necessary to clean the outer surface of the observation window 7. When performing this cleaning work,
As shown in FIG. 1, press the operation button 37 firmly.
Keep it pressed down. However, the ball valve 42
is pushed in by the valve operating rod 40 to open the valve hole 27. Thereby, the cleaning liquid can be sent to the liquid sending pipe 30 on the supply path 13 side. The cleaning liquid fed into the liquid feeding pipe 30 joins the gas fed through the air feeding pipe 31 in the mixing supply pipe 32 to form a mixed fluid that flows from the jet nozzle 10 to the outer surface of the observation window 7. Blow out towards the person. The mixed fluid ejected at this time is widely diffused as shown in FIG. 3, and the entire outer surface of the observation window 7 can be sufficiently cleaned.

Note that when the operation button 37 is released, it returns to its original state due to the biasing force of the coil springs 43 and 44, and enters a standby state in which neither gas nor mixed fluid is ejected.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention uses a mixed fluid of liquid and gas as the cleaning fluid from a jet nozzle that sprays the cleaning fluid toward the outer surface of the observation window. Since the mixed fluid has a diffusion effect, the observation window can be sufficiently cleaned over a wide area. Therefore, sufficiently good cleaning is possible even with a wide observation window on the outer surface.

Furthermore, if only liquid is used as the cleaning fluid, the spreading direction of the fluid jetted from the jet nozzle will be greatly influenced by the shape of the nozzle opening, etc., but the present invention uses the above-mentioned mixed fluid with a diffusion effect as the cleaning fluid. Therefore, the entire outer surface of the observation window can be sufficiently cleaned without being affected by differences in the shape of the nozzle opening of the jet nozzle.

In addition, since it uses a mixed fluid of liquid and gas,
Since air is also fed at the same time as the liquid is fed, the liquid is not fed into the air passage. Therefore, no water droplets remain in the air supply passage. Therefore, when air is supplied after supplying the mixed fluid, water droplets are not attached to the outer surface of the observation window, and good observation can be ensured.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing the main part configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the tip of the present invention. . 3... Insertion part, 7... Observation window, 10... Spray nozzle, 13... Supply path, 14... Switching valve device,
17...Cleaning liquid supply source, 19...Gas supply source, 27...Valve hole, 42...Ball valve.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An observation window provided in the insertion section, a jet nozzle provided in the insertion section facing the outer surface of the observation window, a supply path formed in the insertion section and communicating with the jet nozzle, and a switching operation. Connecting each supply source of cleaning liquid and gas to this supply path, and simultaneously supplying the cleaning liquid and gas to the supply path,
a switching valve device for spouting a mixed fluid of gas and liquid from the spouting nozzle onto the outer surface of the observation window; the cleaning fluid opening/closing valve portion of the switching valve device is connected to a cleaning fluid supply source and is connected to the cleaning fluid supply source through the valve hole; A valve chamber for liquid feeding is provided which is connected to the supply path, and the valve hole is moved to a position where the valve hole is opened and liquid is fed by a switching operation means, and when normally shut off, the valve chamber is provided in the valve chamber. An endoscope comprising a movable valve body that is biased by an elastic member and moves in a direction to close the valve hole.