JPH0235281Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to an air/liquid feeding device for an endoscope for feeding fluid such as air or water into a living body cavity.

An endoscope inserts its insertion part into a living body cavity to observe, photograph, and perform treatments within this body cavity, but when performing these operations, it is necessary to create an appropriate space within the body cavity. There is. For this reason, the endoscope is equipped with an image guide fiber for observation that passes through the insertion section, as well as air and liquid supply system conduits. The above-mentioned space can be secured by sending liquid such as the liquid feed nozzle, and the observation window at the tip of the insertion portion can also be cleaned by jetting water or the like from the liquid feeding nozzle.

By the way, in the endoscope, it is desirable to ensure as large an amount of air and liquid as possible to be sent through the duct, and for this purpose, it is necessary to increase the inner diameter of the duct.

However, the insertion section conventionally has a structure in which the distal end component is connected to the distal end of the flexible tube section via the curved tube section, and due to this structure, the curved thin tube section is greatly curved when bending. , an extra protective tube is provided inside to protect the image guide fiber. Therefore, in the insertion section, the space within the curved tube section is the smallest, so even if an attempt is made to increase the diameter of the tube, it will be limited by the space within the curved tube section, and the diameter of the tube will be limited by the space within the curved tube section. There was a problem where the diameter could not be increased.

On the other hand, it may be possible to increase the diameter of the entire insertion section to ensure a large diameter of the duct, but this would cause great pain to the patient when inserting the insertion section into the patient's body cavity. There is a problem with giving
It is desirable that the diameter of the insertion portion be as small as possible.

This idea was made based on these circumstances, and its purpose is to reduce the amount of air and liquid sent through the air and liquid delivery system pipes without increasing the diameter of the insertion part. An object of the present invention is to provide an air/liquid feeding device for an endoscope that can ensure a large amount of water.

In other words, this invention uses a small-diameter tube that extends at least to a portion within the curved tube section, and a flexible tube whose outer diameter at one end is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the small-diameter tube. The flexible tube is characterized by being comprised of a large diameter tube that extends to a portion within the flexible tube section and is larger than the small diameter tube, and a connecting tube that connects the base end of the small diameter tube and the small diameter end of the large diameter tube within the flexible tube section. .

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

In the figure, 1 is the endoscope body. This endoscope body 1
consists of an operating section 2 and an insertion section 3, and a universal cord 4 is connected to the operating section 2. Also,
The insertion section 3 is formed by connecting a distal end component 7 to the distal end of a flexible tube section 5 via a curved tube section 6.
can be remotely operated by an angle operation knob (not shown) of the operation section 2.

As shown in FIG.
1. A liquid feeding nozzle 12 and a suction port 13 are provided. This suction port 13 communicates with a suction conduit 14 (see FIGS. 5 to 7) which also serves as a channel for inserting a treatment instrument, and the treatment instrument is inserted into the operating section 2.
It is designed to be inserted through the suction channel 14 from a forceps plug 15 provided in the. The suction pipe line 14 is connected to a suction source (not shown) through the universal cord 4, and 16 is a suction switching switch provided on the operating section 2.

Therefore, if the internal structure of the distal end side of the insertion portion 3 is explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7, 17 in FIG.
is the main body of the tip component 7. The main body 17 is provided with an objective lens system 18 constituting the observation window 10 and an illumination lens system (not shown) constituting the illumination windows 8 and 9, and these objective lens systems and illumination lens systems each serve as an image guide. Fiber 19 and light guide fibers 20, 2
0, respectively. These image guide fibers 19 and light guide fibers 20, 20 are respectively covered with covering tubes 21, 22 made of silicone rubber or the like.
is further covered by a protective tube 23 at least within the curved tube section 6. That is, the protective tube 23 prevents the image guide fiber 19 from breaking when the curved tube section 6 is bent. The image guide fiber 19 is guided to an eyepiece (not shown) of the operating section 2, and the light guide fibers 20, 20 are guided to a light source device (not shown) through the universal cord 4.

Further, as described above, the main body 17 of the tip component 7 is provided with the air supply nozzle 11 and the liquid supply nozzle 12, but these nozzles 11 and 12 have their nozzle openings facing the observation window 10. ing. The air supply nozzle 11 and the liquid supply nozzle 12 are connected to an air supply pipe line 24 and a liquid supply pipe line 25, respectively. The liquid-feeding conduit 25 is constructed by sequentially connecting a liquid-feeding pipe 26, a small-diameter liquid-feeding tube 27, and a large-diameter liquid-feeding tube 28 from the tip side. That is,
The liquid sending pipe 26 has a distal end connected to the main body 17 and communicated with the liquid sending nozzle 12, and a proximal end connected to the small diameter liquid sending pipe 27. This small-diameter liquid-feeding tube 27 extends at least inside the curved tube section 6, and its base end is located behind the rear end of the protective tube 23 and is connected to the large-diameter liquid-feeding tube 28. They are connected via a pipe 28. In other words, as shown in an enlarged view of this connecting portion in FIG. A fastening thread 30 is wound around the outer periphery of the liquid feeding large diameter pipe 28 to prevent it from coming off. Furthermore, as is clear from FIG. 4, the inner diameter of the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 on the connecting pipe 29 side is the same as that of the small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28.
Therefore, the inner diameter d ₁ of the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 is the same as the inner diameter d ₂ of the small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 27.
It is formed larger than the In addition,
The air supply pipe 24 also consists of an air supply pipe (not shown), an air supply small diameter pipe 31, and an air supply large diameter pipe 32, like the liquid supply pipe 25, and the inner diameter d ₃ of the air supply large diameter pipe 32 is the air supply pipe 24. It is formed larger than the inner diameter d ₄ of the small diameter tube 31 . Further, the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 and the large-diameter air-feeding pipe 32 are led to an air/liquid supply source (not shown) through the universal cord 4 similarly to the suction pipe 14, and these liquid-feeding pipes 25, Air supply and liquid supply through the air supply pipe line 24 are controlled by an air/liquid supply initial switch 33 provided in the operating section 2 .

On the other hand, the curved pipe section 6 includes a suction pipe 14, an image guide fiber 19, and a light guide fiber 2.
Node rings 34, 35, 36, etc. are connected in the axial direction to the outer circumferences of the air supply pipe 24, liquid supply pipe 25, etc.
By covering the covering rubber tube 38 through the rubber tube 7, it is configured to be bendable.

Further, the flexible tube section 5 is connected to each of the above-mentioned conduits 24, 25, 1.
A coil-shaped flex 39 is provided on the outer periphery of each of the fibers 19, 20, 20, etc., and a synthetic resin outer skin 41 is placed over the outer periphery of the flex 39 via a blade 40. This is a connecting pipe that connects the pipe section 5 and the curved pipe section 6.

Furthermore, in FIGS. 5 to 7, 43... are wires that perform the bending operation of the curved tube section 6, and 44... are guide pipes for these wires 43.... Note that the inner diameter D ₁ of the joint ring 34 shown in FIG. 5, the inner diameter D ₂ of the connecting pipe 42 shown in FIG. 6, and the inner diameter D ₃ of the flex ₃₉ shown in FIG _. ,D ₂
≦D ₃ .

In an endoscope with such a configuration, the insertion section 3 is inserted into the patient's body cavity, and the insertion section 3 is inserted into the body cavity of the patient.
Air is sent from the air supply nozzle 11 of the tip, that is, the tip component 7, to create an appropriate space within the body cavity. By illuminating the inside of the living body cavity with the illumination windows 8 and 9, the inside of the living body cavity can be observed, photographed, treated, etc. through the observation window 10, and the observation window 10 is prevented from being contaminated with dirt, etc. When visibility becomes poor, the observation window 10 can be cleaned by jetting water or the like from the liquid sending nozzle 12.

However, according to the above embodiment, the liquid feeding pipe line 2
5 and the inner diameters d ₁ , d ₃ of the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 and the large-diameter air-feeding pipe 32 in the flexible tube section 5 in the air supply pipe line 24 .
are formed to be larger than the inner diameters d ₂ and d ₄ of the small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 27 and the small-diameter air-feeding pipe 31 in the curved pipe section 6, respectively, so that the amount of liquid sent and The amount of air supplied can be increased. In other words, regarding the entire liquid sending pipe 25, the liquid sending amount in the liquid sending large diameter pipe 28 is Q ₁ and the liquid sending amount Q ₂ in the liquid sending small diameter pipe 27 is calculated from the legal measurement of fluid continuity as Q ₁ = Q ₂ , and from this, if we assume that the diameter of the insertion section 3 is the same as that of the conventional one, even if the space inside the curved tube section 6 is narrow due to the presence of the protective tube 23, etc., this There is no need to increase the inner diameter d ₂ of the small-diameter liquid-feeding tube 27 in the curved tube section 6, and only the inner diameter d ₁ of the large-diameter liquid-feeding tube 28 in the flexible tube section 5, which has a relatively large amount of extra space, is increased. This makes it possible to ensure a large amount of liquid sent from the liquid sending nozzle 12. In addition, when trying to increase the amount of liquid fed in this way,
If the flow velocity in the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 is v ₁ and the flow velocity in the small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 27 is v ₂ , then from the above law of fluid continuity, Q ₁ = {(πd ² ₁ )/4} ・v ₁ = {(πd ² ₂ )/4}・v ₂ = Q ₂ holds true, and since d ₁ > d ₂ in this case, v ₂ > v ₁
becomes. Therefore, the speed of the liquid ejected from the liquid sending nozzle 12, such as water, can be increased, so dirt, etc. attached to the observation window 10 can be washed well, and the drainage performance of the observation window 10 can also be improved. .

Conversely, when the amount of liquid sent through the liquid sending pipe 25 is the same as the conventional amount, the inner diameter d ₂ of the small diameter liquid sending pipe 27 is
In other words, since the diameter of the tube can be reduced, the diameter of the entire insertion section 3 can be reduced, and the pain caused to the patient during insertion can be alleviated.

In addition, the end of the large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 28 is connected to the small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe 27.
In addition, the small diameter end of the liquid feeding large diameter tube 28 and the base end of the liquid feeding small diameter tube 27 are connected by the connecting pipe 29 within the flexible tube section 5, so that the tubes can be easily connected to each other. When fixing, even if the connecting portion becomes thicker, it will not become thicker than the outer diameter of the large diameter liquid feeding pipe 28.

Note that the above-mentioned effects can be obtained not only in the liquid-feeding pipe 25 itself but also in the air-feeding pipe 24, which has a similar configuration to the liquid-feeding pipe 25.

As explained above, this invention connects the air and liquid supply system to a small-diameter pipe that extends at least to a portion inside the curved pipe, and the outer diameter of one end is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the small-diameter pipe. It is constructed of a large-diameter tube that extends to a portion within the flexible tube section and is larger than the small-diameter tube, and a connecting tube that connects the proximal end of the small-diameter tube and the small-diameter end of the large-diameter tube within the flexible tube section. This is what I did. Therefore, by increasing only the inner diameter of the tube in the flexible tube section, which has a relatively large amount of space, a large amount of air and liquid can be delivered without increasing the diameter of the entire insertion section.
On the other hand, if the amount of air and liquid to be fed is the same as before, various excellent effects can be achieved, such as the inner diameter of the pipe in the curved pipe section being made smaller, thereby making it possible to reduce the diameter of the entire insertion section. Moreover, since the flow velocity in the small-diameter pipe is faster than that in the large-diameter pipe, the ability to clean dirt adhering to the observation window and the ability to drain water droplets adhering to the window can be improved. Furthermore, the end of the large diameter tube is made approximately the same diameter as the small diameter tube, and the small diameter end of the large diameter tube and the proximal end of the small diameter tube are connected by a connecting tube within the flexible tube section. Even if the connecting portion becomes thicker when fixing the large-diameter pipe and the small-diameter pipe, it will not become thicker than the outer diameter of the large-diameter pipe.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of this invention, with Fig. 1 being a side view of the entire endoscope, Fig. 2 being a front view of the distal end component, Fig. 3 being a longitudinal sectional view of the distal end of the insertion section, and Fig. 4. is a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged connection pipe between a large-diameter liquid-feeding pipe and a small-diameter liquid-feeding pipe, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line in FIG. 3, and FIG. cross section,
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 3. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Endoscope main body, 3... Insertion part, 5... Flexible tube part, 6... Curved tube part, 7... Tip structure part, 24
...Air supply pipe line, 25...Liquid feed pipe line, 27...Small diameter pipe, 28...Large diameter pipe, 29...Connection pipe.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] The distal end component is connected to the distal end of the flexible tube section via a curved tube section having an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the flexible tube section, and a conduit for an air supply and liquid supply system is provided through the interior of the curved tube section. In the endoscope,
The pipe line of the air and liquid supply system has at least a small diameter pipe extending to a part inside the curved pipe part, and an outer diameter of one end having approximately the same diameter as the outside diameter of the small diameter pipe, and a pipe line extending to a part inside the flexible pipe part. Air supply for an endoscope characterized by comprising an extended large-diameter tube that is larger than the small-diameter tube, and a connecting tube that connects the proximal end of the small-diameter tube and the small-diameter end of the large-diameter tube within the flexible tube section. Liquid feeding device.