JPH0664239B2 - Fiberscope swing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fiberscope swinging apparatus for swinging an objective head to remotely control an observation direction in a fiberscope.

[Conventional technology]

The places where the fiberscopes for industrial use are used are often in the environment of high temperature, radiation atmosphere, etc., and it is difficult for human eyes and industrial TV cameras to approach from the viewpoint of safety. In order to expand the observation range of the fiberscope in such an environment, it is necessary to perform an operation of bending the flexible portion near the tip of the fiberscope by hand operation, that is, a swinging operation. Conventionally, in medical endoscopes and some industrial fiberscopes, a mechanism for bending by a wire has been devised. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this conventional mechanism has two wires 3 ... Connected in the vicinity of the objective head 2 at the tip of the fiberscope body 1 to form a set of two wires 2 which are perpendicular to each other. Each set is wound around one drum 4, 4 and by rotating the knob 5 at hand attached to the drum 4, one set of wires 3 wound around the drum 4
Is a mechanism for pulling one side and loosening the other side to obtain a moment for bending the tip.

As shown in FIG. 4, the details of the curved portion are such that a large number of node rings 7 ... Are connected side by side with the pivots 6 ...
The wire 3 is passed through the hole 7a formed in each node ring 7, and when tension is applied to one side of one set of wires 3, the node ring 7 is centered around the pivot 6 by the tension and the node ring 7 is The fiberscope body 1 is inclined at an angle with respect to the heart, and the fiberscope body 1 is curved along the inclination.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional swinging device, since a large number of node rings 7 ... Are connected via the pivots 6 ..., the structure is complicated and the entire diameter must be large. Moreover, there is a problem that it takes time to assemble. Further, it is necessary to operate the wire 3 also when returning the objective head 2 to the initial position, and there is a problem that the use operation is troublesome.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, a plurality of tubular direction fixing guides are externally inserted at intervals in the image fiber main body, and the pulling wire is inserted through one or more pulling wire insertion holes fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the direction fixing guide. The solution to this problem was to mount it inside a coil spring. [Operation] By adopting such a structure, the internal structure can be simplified and each component can be downsized. The entire diameter can be reduced, and the assembly is easy. Further, the elastic restoring force of the coil spring exerts a force for always returning the whole to a linear shape, which facilitates the operation for returning the objective head to the initial position.

〔Example〕

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of a swinging device for a fiberscope according to the present invention, in which reference numeral 11 is an image fiber main body. The image fiber main body 11 is a normal bundle type image fiber formed by bundling a large number of optical fibers or a fusion-integrated type image fiber sharing a clad, and one end thereof is connected to the objective head 12. The objective head 12 includes an objective lens 13 and a substantially cylindrical lens cell 14 that fixes one end of the objective lens 13 and the image fiber main body 11.

A plurality of direction fixing guides 15 ... Are externally fitted and fixed to the image fiber main body 11 at predetermined intervals. The direction fixing guide 15 is a cylindrical body having a thick outer appearance, and the image fiber main body 11 is inserted into a center hole of the cylindrical body. Further, on the outer peripheral surface of the direction fixed guide 15, a pair of pulling wire insertion holes 16, 16 penetrating the guide 15 along the longitudinal direction thereof are formed. The pulling wire insertion holes 16 and 16 are formed at symmetrical positions with respect to the center hole of the direction fixing guide 15. Also,
These direction fixing guides 15 ...
The positions are determined so that 16 ... Are aligned on a straight line, and are externally fitted to the image fiber main body 11.

Then, the pulling wire insertion holes 16 of these direction fixed guides 15
A pair of two pulling wires 17, 17 are continuously passed through the inside of each of the insides. These traction wires 17,17
One end of each of the
The other end is guided to a swinging operation means (not shown).

Further, the image fiber main body 11 on which the direction fixing guides 15 through which the pulling wires 17, 17 are passed is externally fitted is mounted in a coil spring 18 made of stainless steel or the like. The coil spring 18 has an inner diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of the direction fixing guides 15 ...
The coil spring 18 and the direction fixing guide 15 are attached in a state of being in close contact with each other. Also, coil spring
One end of 18 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the lens cell 14 of the objective head 12.

In the swinging device having such a structure, the pulling wire 1
When the coils 7, 17 are not pulled, the elastic restoring force of the coil spring 18 maintains the initial position in a straight line. Then, if one of the pulling wires 17 is pulled by operating the swinging operation means and the other pulling wire 17 is loosened or brought into a free state, the whole of the pulling side is pulled against the elastic restoring force of the coil spring 18. Curved in the direction of the wire 17, the objective head 12
Will shake his head in this direction. When returning from the swinging position to the initial position, the wire 17 on the pulling side is
If is loosened, it can be automatically returned by the elastic restoring force of the coil spring 18. Further, by changing the axial length of the direction fixing guide 15 and the length of the interval between them, it is possible to take various curved states. That is, since the portion where the direction fixing guide 15 is present is not curved, but only the portion between the direction fixing guides 15 is curved, the pulling of the pulling wire 17 results in a complicated curve, not a simple arc-shaped curve, By changing the length of the direction-fixing guide 15 and its interval, a more complicated bending method can be adopted.

In the embodiment described above, the direction fixing guides 15 ... Are formed with two sets of pulling wire insertion holes 16 ... And two sets of pulling wires 17, 17 are passed through. Form the pulling wire insertion holes 16 ...
It is also possible to swing the objective head 12 in all directions by passing the set of pulling wires 17 into two directions in which the objective head 12 swings at right angles. Further, since the objective head 12 can be automatically returned to the initial position by the elastic restoring force of the coil spring 18 as described above, in principle, one pulling wire 17 is used.
It is possible to swing the objective head 12 only by providing.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the swinging device for a fiberscope of the present invention is an image in which a plurality of tubular direction fixing guides having one or more pulling wire insertion holes formed in the outer peripheral portion are externally fitted at intervals. The fiber main body is inserted and fixed in the coil spring, and one or more pulling wires having one end fixed to the objective head of the image fiber main body are inserted into the pulling wire insertion holes of the direction fixing guide. Is simple, the diameter can be reduced, and it is easy to assemble. Further, since the elastic restoring force of the coil spring can be used, the swinging operation can be simply performed. Further, it is possible to obtain an effect that the swinging state can be a curved state having a complicated shape.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 show an example of the swinging device of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 2 is II-II of FIG.
Line sectional views, FIGS. 3 and 4 show a conventional swinging device, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part of FIG. 11 …… Image fiber body, 15 …… Direction fixing guide, 16 …… Pulling wire insertion hole, 17 …… Pulling wire, 18 …… Coil spring.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Kurihara 13-6 Fujimi-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo KNTE Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-59-11826 (JP, A) JP-A-59-11827 (JP, A) JP-A-60-253428 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image fiber main body fitted with a plurality of tubular direction fixing guides having one or more pulling wire insertion holes formed on the outer peripheral portion thereof at intervals, and inserted and fixed in a coil spring, A swinging device for a fiberscope, wherein one or more pulling wires, one end of which is fixed to an objective head of the image fiber main body, are inserted into a pulling wire insertion hole of the direction fixing guide.