JPH0817766B2 - Angle part of endoscope - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an angle portion of an endoscope which constitutes a part of an insertion portion of the endoscope.

[Prior Art] Generally, as shown in FIG. 4, an endoscope is constructed by connecting a body operation portion 1 with an insertion portion 2 to be inserted into the body of a patient or the like. The insertion portion 2 has a flexible portion 2a in the most part from the side where the insertion portion 2 is connected to the main body operation portion 2, and an angle portion 2b and a distal end hard portion 2c are sequentially connected to the tip of the flexible portion 2a. . The distal end hard portion 2c is provided with an illumination window, an observation window, a treatment tool lead-out port for leading out a treatment tool such as forceps, and the like. The angle portion 2b is provided to guide the distal end hard portion 2c along the insertion path, and to change the observation field of view at the site where observation and treatment are to be performed. It can be bent by remote control from 1. For this purpose, the main body operation unit 1 is provided with a knob 3 for operating an angle, and the knob 3 is operated by a finger or the like of a hand holding the main body operation unit 1 to be inserted into the insertion unit 2. By pushing and pulling the angle operation wire, it is possible to bend the angle operation wire up and down (or up and down, left and right) as shown by a virtual line.

Here, when the above-described angle operation is performed, the entire angle portion is bent with a substantially constant curvature. For example, when it is desired to change the observation field of view in a narrow cavity, it is shown in FIG. As described above, it is preferable that the tip side portion of the angle portion bends at a sharp angle. Various proposals have been made to meet such demands. Among them, as a typical one, use a plurality of types in which the shape of the angle ring that constitutes the angle part is changed, and increase the pivot range of the angle ring on the side connected to the hard tip part, There is a structure in which the pivoting range is gradually narrowed toward the connecting side of, and the tip end side portion of the angle portion is sharply bent during the angle operation.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, as described above, when the curved state of the angle portion is changed by changing the shape of the angle ring forming the angle portion, the angle portion is always It has the disadvantage of being bent in the same state, making it difficult to change the observation field of view by approximately 180 ° or more, and since it requires the use of multiple types of angle rings, it increases the number of parts. However, there is a problem that the processing and assembly of this angle ring becomes troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an angle of an endoscope capable of taking a desired curved shape as needed with a simple configuration. To provide a section.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a protective net, which is mounted on a structure made of angling rings, at a part thereof in a circumferential direction to an insertion portion thereof. A structure in which a portion from the continuous portion side to a predetermined position in the axial direction is filled with a hardening material so as to have a partial change in hardness, and the bending in the direction of the area where the hardening material is provided is limited. What is done is the feature.

[Operation] In the present invention, in order to change the curved shape of the angle portion, the position where the angle portion begins to bend is changed depending on the bending direction. That is, when bending in one direction, the entire angle portion bends, and when bending in another direction, the angle portion bends by a predetermined length from the tip side, and the base end side portion bends. Even if it is not or is curved, it is slightly curved. Therefore, in order to control the curved shape of the angle portion in this manner, attention is paid to the protective net that is attached to the structure composed of the angle ring. This protective net is interposed between the angle ring, which is the structure of the angle portion, and the outer skin layer formed of a material such as silicone rubber in order to reduce the resistance at the time of insertion and also considering the cleaning property. It is provided so as to protect the outer skin layer from being sandwiched between the adjacent angle rings during the angle operation. This protective net is held in a non-fixed state not only on the angle portion but also on the outer skin layer in order to reduce the resistance during the angle operation.

With respect to the protective net having such a configuration, in a part in the circumferential direction, by hardening the hard metamorphic material in a portion from the continuous portion side to the insertion portion to the intermediate position in the axial direction, the hardening treatment is performed. I decided to do it. Here, as the hardening material, solder, rubber, resin, or the like is used, and by filling the hardening material, a specific portion of the protective net can be made harder than other portions. Therefore, when the angle operation is performed, the portion that is not hardened is curved without resistance, but the portion that is hardened is not curved or is curved at a gentle angle.

Therefore, by filling the stiffening material in the part of the angle part that is connected to the flexible part, when performing the angle operation, the connection side to the tip hard part should be curved so as to bend sharply. become. Moreover, even if the hardening treatment is performed, if rubber or resin is used as the hardening material, the hardened portion is not completely fixed,
When the operation amount of the angle operation is increased, the hardened portion also bends, and the entire angle portion bends. Therefore, by appropriately setting the pattern shape of the portion to be hardened and adjusting the filling amount of the hardening material, the angle portion can be extremely easily adjusted to have a desired curved shape. When solder is used as the hardening material, the part becomes completely hard, but depending on the pattern shape of the hardened part, in a predetermined direction, for example, when the upper part is hardened, it moves in the left-right direction. Can be curved.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The angle portion 2b provided between the flexible portion 2a and the distal end hard portion 2c in the insertion portion 2 of the endoscope is structured by sequentially pivoting metal angle rings 10a as shown in FIG. A body 10 is formed, and as shown in FIG. 2, inside the body 10, a light guide 20 and an image guide 21 (in an electronic endoscope, a signal cable is provided in place of the image guide are provided. ), A treatment instrument insertion channel 22 for inserting a forceps or other treatment instrument, and an air / water supply pipe 23 are inserted, and an angle operation wire 24 is vertically and horizontally arranged along the inner surface of the angle ring 10a. Of each of these angle operation wires 24 provided in each pair,
When a pair of upper and lower objects is pushed and pulled, the angle portion 2b bends in the vertical direction, and when a pair of left and right objects is pushed and pulled, the angle portion 2b bends to the left and right. A protective net 11 formed by knitting metal fibers is covered on the outside of the structure 10, and the protective net 11 is also provided.
An outer skin layer formed by forming silicone rubber or the like, which constitutes the outermost layer, into a tube shape is packaged on the outside.

The hardened portion 13 is formed on a part of the protection net 11 described above. As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 3, the hardened portion 13 extends over a predetermined length in the upper portion of the angle portion 2b from the side where the flexible portion 2a is connected to the middle portion in the axial direction. In the deployed state,
It has an almost semi-elliptical shape. The hardened portion 13 is formed by filling, for example, solder, rubber, resin or the like, and the hardened portion 13 is harder than other portions.

By configuring the angle portion 2b in this way, when the angle knob 3 is operated and the angle operation wire 24 is pushed and pulled, the angle portion 2b bends. The part on the end side where the hardened part 13 is not provided is bent, but the part on the base end side where the hardened part 13 is provided is not bent, that is, the bendable part of the angle part 2b is limited to a part on the tip side. The angle part 2b
Only the tip end portion of B is curved, and only the tip end portion is curved, as indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. Therefore,
This is effective when changing the observation field of view in a narrow cavity or the like.

When rubber or resin is used as the hardening material, the hardened portion 13 increases in hardness, but is not completely fixed, so that the push-pull amount of the angle operation wire 24 is further increased. Then, the hardened portion 13 is also curved, and the entire angle portion 2b is curved as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to change the field of view greatly, such as 180 ° or more.

On the other hand, when solder is used as the hardening material, the hardening portion 13
Is almost completely solidified, but as described above, by making the pattern shape into a substantially semi-elliptical shape,
Although the bending is restricted in the vertical direction, the entire angle portion 2c is bent in the horizontal direction.

As described above, the protective net 11 in the angle portion 2b
Of the above, the angle ring has a very simple structure in which a hardened portion 13 is formed by hardening a predetermined area.
Angle part 2b can be used without changing the shape of 10a.
The curved shape of can be set. Then, by appropriately adjusting the type of the hardened material, the pattern shape of the hardened portion 13, and the filling amount of the hardened material, it is possible to obtain an optimum curved shape according to the purpose.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, a portion of the protective net in the circumferential direction is partially filled with the hardening material in a portion from the side of the continuous portion to the insertion portion to a predetermined position in the axial direction. By increasing the number of parts, such as using multiple types of angle rings, by configuring the hardened material to have a change in hardness and limiting the bending in the direction of the part where the hardening material is provided. With a very simple structure, it is possible to change the portion where the bending starts substantially depending on the bending direction of the angle portion. For example, in a wide body cavity, the entire angle portion is bent in a bendable direction. By doing so, the angle part can be moved largely to direct the distal end hard part in a desired direction, and in a narrow part such as in the cavity, the angle part is bent in a direction in which the bending is restricted. By doing so, the amount of movement of the angle portion is limited so as to be small, and there is an effect that an operation such as changing an observation visual field becomes possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of an angle portion in an insertion portion,
2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of the endoscope, and FIG. 5 is a preferable angle portion in a narrow cavity. It is explanatory drawing which shows a curved shape. 1: body operation part, 2: insertion part, 2a: flexible part, 2b: angle part,
2c: Tip hard part, 10: constituent body, 10a: angle ring, 11:
Protective net, 12: skin layer, 13: hardened part, 24: angle operation wire.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A protective net is attached to a structure, which is interposed between a flexible portion and a hard distal end portion of an insertion portion of an endoscope, and in which angle rings are pivotally attached to each other. In the angle portion formed by externally providing a skin layer on the protective net, the protective net has a portion in the circumferential direction, and the protective net has an axial direction from the continuous portion side to the insertion portion. The part up to the predetermined position is filled with a hardening material so that the hardness is partially changed, and the bending in the direction of the part where the hardening material is provided is limited. Angle part of the endoscope.