JPH0795997B2 - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus in which a bending portion is bent by an electric drive unit such as a motor.

[Prior Art] Generally, a bending operation mechanism for forcibly bending an insertion portion is incorporated in an endoscope. This bending operation mechanism attaches the tip of the wire inserted in the insertion portion to the tip side of the insertion portion, fixes the other end of the wire to a wire winding drum provided in the operation portion, and winds the wire winding drum. It will be done in this way. Then, by rotating the wire winding drum by an operator's hand to wind and unwind the wire, the insertion portion is forcibly curved.

By the way, in recent years, there has been provided a system in which the wire winding drum is rotationally driven by a motor or the like (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-87530).

However, it is difficult for the operator to clearly understand that the curved insertion portion abuts the body cavity wall or the duct wall (in the case of an industrial endoscope) in the method of bending drive by this electric motor. For this reason,
There was a risk of injuring the patient and damaging the endoscope.

Of course, even in the conventional one, in order to avoid this danger, when the curved insertion portion comes into contact with the wall of the body cavity, the bending operation is stopped (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-87530) or the contact is made. There is also one in which this is displayed in the visual field at the eyepiece part so that it can be known by visual field observation.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case where the bending operation is stopped when the curved insertion portion comes into contact with the wall of the body cavity, it is difficult for the operator to understand the contact itself, and quick judgment of the situation is possible. Have difficulty.

Further, in the method of displaying that the curved insertion portion has abutted against the wall of the body cavity in the visual field at the eyepiece, the operator may overlook the display portion without paying attention to the display portion. Moreover,
The operator pays attention to the observation target even when looking through the eyepiece, and there is a sufficient risk of missing the display.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the purpose thereof is to easily and clearly understand that the bending-operated insertion portion has abutted against the body cavity wall or the like, and the operator himself can immediately determine the situation. It is to provide an endoscope that can be recognized and safely operated.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is provided with an electric bending drive section controlled by a bending operation switch, and the insertion section is operated to be bent by the electric bending drive section. In an endoscope, a pressure detecting means is provided on an outer surface portion of the insertion portion for detecting pressure received by the insertion portion hitting an obstacle, and the bending operation is performed by a signal when the pressure detection means detects the pressure. And a means for vibrating the operation button of the switch.

[Operation] When the electric bending drive section is controlled and driven by the bending operation switch to bend the insertion section and the insertion section hits an obstacle such as a body cavity wall, the pressure detected by the pressure detection means from the obstacle. To detect. Then, the operation button of the bending operation switch is vibrated by the signal when the pressure detecting means detects the pressure. Therefore, the operator can immediately and accurately recognize that the insertion portion has hit an obstacle such as a body cavity wall by feeling the vibration at the fingertip and can safely perform the bending operation.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an endoscope and 2 is an endoscope electric light source device. The endoscope 1 includes an insertion section 3, an operation section 4 and a cable 5. The insertion portion 3 has a bending portion 7 that bends to change the direction of the distal end portion 6,
The bending portion 7 is bent by the bending operation mechanism 8. The bending operation mechanism 8 is provided with a wire winding drum 9 inside the operation portion 4, and a proximal end of the inserted wire 11 inserted through the inside of the insertion portion 3 is attached to the wire winding drum 9 so that the wire 11 The tip is attached to the tip 6. Then, by rotating the wire winding drum 9, the base end side portion of the wire 11 is wound around or rewound on the wire winding drum 9, and the wire 11 is pushed and pulled so that the bending portion 7 of the insertion portion 3 is removed. It is designed to be curved.

The wire winding drum 9 is driven by an electric drive unit 12 including a motor. That is, these constitute an electric bending drive section for forcibly bending the bending section 7 of the insertion section 3.

The electric drive unit 12 is controlled and driven by a bending operation switch 13 provided on the outer surface of the operation unit 3. The bending operation switch 13 is pressed by the operation button 14 to be opened / closed. The bending operation switch 13 selects the rotation direction of the wire winding drum 9 by distinguishing the type or the pressed portion.

Further, the operation button 14 of the bending operation switch 13 is provided with a vibrating section 15 composed of a piezoelectric element or the like.

In addition, the outer surface of the tip 6 of the insertion portion 3 has a tip 6
A pressure detection unit 21 is provided for detecting the pressure received when the object hits an obstacle. The pressure detectors 21 are provided at four positions, top, bottom, left and right, as shown in FIG. The structure of the pressure detecting portion 21 is configured as shown in FIG. That is, the resistor polymer layer 23 is formed on the volumer sheet 22.
The lead wires 25 and 25 are led out from the connection terminal portions 24 and 24 electrically connected to the resistor polymer layers 23, respectively. The resistor polymer layer 23 is made of a rubber sheet containing carbon,
The resistance value between the two is changed by receiving the pressure. Since the polymer sheet 22 is made of an insulating material and can be made thin, the diameter of the insertion portion 3 can be reduced. The pressure detecting unit 21 may be, for example, a force sensing resistor “FSR (Force Sensing Resistors)” (INTRLI
NK ELECTRONICS) may be used.

On the other hand, the electric drive unit 12, the bending operation switch 13, the vibration unit
15 and the pressure detection unit 21 are lead wires inserted into the endoscope 1.
The circuits 26, 27, 28, 25 are connected to the circuits in the endoscope electric light source device 2, respectively. That is, the electric drive unit 12 and the bending operation switch 13 are connected to the drive control unit 30, and the vibration unit 15
Is connected to the piezoelectric element conducting portion 31. Further, the pressure detection unit 21 is connected to the resistance value detection unit 32.

Further, a force amount setting unit 33, a comparator 34, a bending return amount setting unit 35, and a power source unit 36 are installed in the endoscope light source device 2.

Next, the operation of the endoscope device will be described. When the bending portion 7 of the insertion portion 3 is bent, the bending operation switch is pressed by pressing the operation button 14 of the bending operation switch 13 of the operation portion 4.
The electric drive unit 12 is controlled by operating 13 to drive the bending operation mechanism 8. That is, by rotating the wire winding drum 9, the base end side portion of the wire 11 is wound around the wire winding drum 9 or rewound to push and pull the wire 11 to bend the bending portion 7 of the insertion portion 3. Let them do it.

By the way, when the bending portion 7 of the insertion portion 3 is bent in the body cavity as shown in FIG. 4, when the tip portion 6 hits the wall of the body cavity, the pressure detection portion 21 detects this. That is, the resistance value changes according to the contact pressure, and this resistance value is read by the resistance value detection unit 32. This resistance value is compared with the resistance setting value preset by the force setting unit 33 by the comparator 34. Then, as a result of this comparison, when the resistance value becomes equal to or higher than a certain pressure, the piezoelectric element energizing portion 31 is driven. As a result, the vibrating section 15 composed of a piezoelectric element or the like vibrates, and the operation button 14 of the bending operation switch 13 vibrates. Therefore, the vibration is transmitted to the operator's finger pressing the operation button 14 of the bending operation switch 13, and the operator is informed of the danger. The operator immediately stops the operation of pressing the operation button 14 of the bending operation switch 13.

Simultaneously with this operation, the signal from the comparator 34 is sent to the drive control unit 30 so as to return the curve by the amount set in advance by the return amount setting unit 35, for example, the angle θ, and the electric drive unit 12 is turned on. By driving, the wire winding drum 9 is rotated in the reverse direction, and is bent by an angle θ as shown in FIG. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent unreasonable force from being applied to the body cavity wall.

It should be noted that when the insertion button 3 is in contact with the wall of the body cavity by the vibration of the operation button 14 but the operation button 14 is continuously pressed, the bending operation is stopped and the bending amount is returned by a certain amount. If the operation button 14 is still pressed afterwards, the electric drive unit 12
May be stopped, and control may be performed such that it does not operate unless the operation button 14 in the opposite curved direction is pressed.

5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, when the bending operation switch 13 is turned ON, the bending portion 7 is bent in the direction (1) and returned to the opposite direction (2) by the signal from the pressure detection unit 21 when the bending portion 7 is brought into contact with the body cavity wall, Contact the wall of the body cavity on the opposite side. At this time as well, the pressure detection unit 21 detects and controls so as to return to the intermediate position (3) of the body cavity. In this way, the central part of the lumen can be reliably observed.

For this purpose, the electric circuit is constructed as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 shows an example of a circuit for sending the change in resistance value of the pressure detecting section 21 to the piezoelectric element energizing section 31. Further, in FIG. 7, the encoder 41 detects the bending amount θ ′ in response to the signal from the pressure detection unit 21, and the calculation unit 42 returns the bending by the angle θ ′ / 2 through the drive control unit 43. This is the circuit.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, a solenoid or a shape memory alloy may be used as the electric bending driving means for the bending portion. Further, the pressure detection part may be provided at a part of the insertion part other than the tip part. Further, the bending operation may be stopped at the same time when the body cavity wall is contacted. The endoscope may be either a fiberscope or a videoscope, or may be an industrial endoscope.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the endoscope of the present invention, the bending operation switch controls the electric bending drive section to drive the insertion section, and when the insertion section is bent, the insertion section obstructs the body cavity wall or the like. When you hit
Since the pressure detection means detects the pressure received from the obstacle and the operation button of the bending operation switch is vibrated by this signal, the operator feels the vibration at the fingertip, and the insertion portion makes the insertion portion the body cavity wall. You can immediately and surely know that you have hit an obstacle such as. That is, it is possible to easily and clearly know that the insertion portion that has been operated to bend contacts the wall of the body cavity or the like, and the operator himself can immediately and accurately recognize this situation and safely operate the endoscope.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the entire endoscope apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a distal end portion of an insertion portion of the endoscope. FIGS. 3 and 4 are exploded perspective views of the pressure detecting portion, FIG. 4 is a drawing of a state in which the endoscope is used for bending, FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. Bending use state diagrams, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are circuit diagrams thereof. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope, 2 ... Electric light source device, 3 ... Insertion part, 4 ... Operation part, 7 ... Tip part, 9 ... Drum, 11 ... Wire, 13 ... Bending operation switch, 14 ... Operation button, 15 ... Excitation Department.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope in which an electric bending drive section controlled by a bending operation switch is provided, and the insertion section is bent by the electric bending drive section, the insertion section being provided on the outer surface section of the insertion section. And a means for vibrating the operation button of the bending operation switch according to a signal when the pressure detecting means detects the pressure. Endoscope device.