JP4543352B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an endoscope, and more particularly to an endoscope that images an observation target portion with a solid-state imaging device built in a hard tip portion and displays the image on a display device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an endoscope using a solid-state image sensor, a large number of lead wires are incorporated to transmit a video signal from the solid-state image sensor and to apply a driving voltage to the element. This lead wire has a very fine wire diameter because it is housed in a thin insertion portion. For this reason, sufficient strength cannot be provided, and conventionally the lead wire is protected by bundling most of the lead wire with a binding means such as an insulating tape or a sleeve.
[0003]
However, since the bending portion of the insertion portion is a portion that is bent with a large curvature, there is a drawback in that resistance to the bending operation increases when the lead wire is bundled with the bending portion. For this reason, conventionally, the lead wire is kept in a non-bundled state at the curved portion. On the other hand, since many lead wires have variations in length, if the lead wire is kept in a non-bundled state at the bending portion, the shortest lead wire is disconnected when the bending portion is bent with a large curvature. There is a case.
[0004]
Therefore, the applicant of the present application, in the utility model registration application made earlier, arranges a core wire whose cutting load is larger than that of the lead wire in the bending portion, and receives the tensile force acting at the time of bending operation on the core wire, thereby It has been proposed to prevent disconnection of wires (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-40247).
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when the core wire is disconnected, the lead wire cannot be protected, and the cut core wire presses the lead wire, the light guide, and the like to cause disconnection, buckling, and the like. And since this core wire is built in the curved part, there exists a fault that a disconnection cannot be found from the outside.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an endoscope that can easily detect disconnection of a core wire.
[0007]
For the present invention, to attain the aforementioned object, it is bundling a plurality of lead wires connected to the solid-state image pickup element built in the distal end rigid portion of the insertion portion is passed through the curved portion in a non-binding state flexible portion A lead frame comprising a metal tip frame constituting the tip surface of the tip hard portion, a protective coating covering the binding portion of the lead wire, and a conductor larger than the cutting load of the lead wire. The lead wire protection unit is provided along a non-binding portion of the lead wire, and one end is fixed to a metal member assembled to the tip frame. At the same time, the other end is fixed to the tip of the protective coating, and even when the bending portion is bent, the shortest lead wire in the non-bundled portion is pulled by this bending operation. Before receiving The disconnection detecting part is attached along the binding portion of the lead wire, one end is fixed to the tip of the protective coating, and the other end is passed through the soft part. A core wire extending to the operation unit; and a disconnection detecting means for detecting a disconnection state of the core wire by detecting a conduction state between the core wire extending to the hand operation unit and the hard tip portion. An endoscope characterized by the above is provided.
[0008]
Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a conductor that is built in the insertion portion, has a distal end connected to the distal end frame, and has the other end extended to the hand operating portion, and the disconnection detecting means. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the disconnection of the core wire is detected by detecting a conduction state between the core wire and the conductive wire .
[0009]
According to the present invention, since the core wire is extended to the hand operation portion through the flexible portion, for example, by detecting the conduction state between the core wire extended to the hand operation portion and the distal end hard portion, The disconnection of the core wire can be detected without disassembling the endoscope.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an endoscope according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0011]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an endoscope to which the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, the endoscope 1 includes an insertion portion 2 inserted into a body cavity, a hand operation portion 3 for remotely operating the insertion portion 2, and a cord connection portion 4 a of the light source device 4. The universal cord 5 to be connected is a main part.
[0012]
As will be described later, the endoscope 1 has a solid-state imaging device built in the distal end hard portion 2c of the insertion portion 2, and the light source device 4 receives the video signal of the observation target portion photoelectrically converted by the solid-state imaging device. An image processing device (not shown) disposed in the image is processed and displayed on a display device 6 such as a CRT. For this reason, a cable 7 is provided along the universal cord 5 from the hand operating section 3, and the connector 8 attached to the tip of the cable 7 can be connected to the connector connecting section 4 b of the light source device 4. Yes.
[0013]
The insertion portion 2 includes a flexible portion 2a connected to the hand operation portion 3, a curved portion 2b connected to the distal end portion of the flexible portion 2a, and a distal end hard portion 2c formed at the distal end portion of the curved portion 2b. It is configured.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 2, an optical system 9 is incorporated in the distal end hard portion 2c. A right-angle prism 10 is mounted at a rear position of the optical system 9, and reflected light from the right-angle prism 10 is received by a solid-state imaging device 11 such as a CCD type or a MOS type. The solid-state imaging device 11 is mounted on a substrate 12, and a large number of drive signal transmission and video signal transmission lead wires 13 are connected to the substrate 12. The lead wire 13 is led into the cable 7 from the hand operation unit 3 through the insertion unit 2. When the connector 8 attached to the tip of the cable 7 is connected to the connector connecting portion 4 b of the light source device 4, the light source device 4 is electrically connected.
[0015]
By the way, the lead wire 13 is in a non-bundled state from the attachment portion to the base slope 12 to the curved portion 2b, and the portion on the hand operating portion 3 side from the position near the tip of the flexible portion 2a is bound to each other. Then, it is covered with a protective coating 14 made of silicon tape or the like.
[0016]
A core wire 15 made of a conductor such as a piano wire larger than the cutting load of the lead wire 13 is attached to the lead wire 13. The core wire 15 includes a lead wire protection unit 15a and a disconnection detection unit 15b.
[0017]
The lead wire protection portion 15 a is attached along the non-bundled portion of the lead wire 13, and one end thereof is fixed to the holding member 9 a of the optical system 9. The other end is fixed to a mounting portion 14 a formed at the tip of the protective coating 14. And even when the bending portion 2b is bent, the length of the lead wire 13 in the non-bundled portion is the tensile force applied to the lead wire protection portion 15a before the tensile force is received by the bending operation. It is such a size.
[0018]
On the other hand, the disconnection detection unit 15 b is attached along the binding portion of the lead wire 13, and one end is fixed to an attachment unit 14 a formed at the tip of the protective coating 14. The other end is led into the cable 7 from the hand operating portion 3 through the flexible portion 2 a and connected to the connector 8 attached to the cable 7. The disconnection detection unit 15 b is grounded to the ground of the light source device 4 when the connector 8 is connected to the connector connection unit 4 b of the light source device 4.
[0019]
By the way, the holding member 9a of the optical system 9 to which the distal end portion of the core wire 15 is fixed is made of metal, and is assembled to a metal distal end frame 16 constituting the distal end surface of the distal end rigid portion 2c. For this reason, the connector 8 to which the other end of the core wire 15 is connected and the distal end frame 16 of the distal end hard portion 2 c are electrically connected via the core wire 15.
[0020]
The operation of the endoscope 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above is as follows.
[0021]
First, the insertion portion 2 of the endoscope 1 is inserted into the body cavity, and the distal end hard portion 2c is guided to a predetermined observation target portion. And illumination light is projected from the illumination window (not shown) formed in this front-end | tip hard part 2c. The projected illumination light is reflected by the observation target part, and the reflected light is reflected by the right-angle prism 10 through the optical system 9, and is received by the solid-state imaging device 11 and converted into an electric signal. This electrical signal is transmitted to the light source device 4 via the lead wire 13, and is subjected to image processing by an image processing device built in the light source device 4 and displayed on the display device 6.
[0022]
By the way, at the time of this observation, the operator needs to bend the bending portion 2b as appropriate, and sometimes the bending portion 2b is bent with a large curvature of 90 ° or more. When the bending portion 2b is bent at such a large angle, the unbound portion of the lead wire 13 may be pulled.
[0023]
However, since this tensile force is received by the lead wire protection portion 15 a of the core wire 15 having a cutting load larger than that of the lead wire 13, no special tensile force acts on the lead wire 13. Thereby, disconnection of the lead wire 13 can be prevented.
[0024]
On the other hand, the core wire 15 itself may be disconnected due to long-term use. In this case, the disconnection of the core wire 15 is detected as follows.
[0025]
That is, since the connector 8 and the front end frame 16 are electrically connected via the core wire 15, current is passed between the connector 8 and the front end frame 16 to confirm the conductive state and check for disconnection. To detect. If the conduction state is confirmed between the connector 8 and the end frame 16, it can be determined that the lead wire protection unit 15a is not disconnected. If the conduction state cannot be confirmed, the lead wire protection unit 15a is disconnected. Can be judged.
[0026]
As described above, according to the endoscope 1 of the present embodiment, it is possible to easily detect whether the core wire 15 is broken by a tester or the like without disassembling the endoscope 1. As a result, it is possible to prevent the disconnected core wire from pressing the lead wire, the light guide, and the like to cause disconnection or buckling.
[0027]
In addition, the disconnection detection method of the core wire 15 is not limited to the thing of said embodiment, A various method can be used. For example, a conducting wire is housed in the insertion portion 2 and the tip thereof is connected to the tip frame 16. On the other hand, the other end of the conducting wire is led from the hand operation unit 3 to the cable 7 and is configured to be electrically connected to the light source device 4 via the connector 8. When the connector 8 is connected to the connector connecting portion 4b, the light source device 4 is configured to allow a current to flow between the conductive wire and the core wire via an LED or a lamp. According to this configuration, if the core wire 15 is not disconnected, the LED or the like emits light, and if the core wire 15 is disconnected, the LED or other light emission is extinguished. Therefore, the surgeon disconnects the core wire 15 depending on whether the LED or the like emits light. Can be detected. In addition, it is also possible to detect the conduction state between the conducting wire and the core wire by a detection means built in the light source device 4 and display the presence or absence of the conduction state on the display device 6.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since the core wire extends through the soft part to the hand operation part, for example, the conduction state between the core wire extended to the hand operation part and the distal end hard part is established. By detecting, disconnection of the core wire can be easily detected without disassembling the endoscope.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an endoscope. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an insertion portion.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope, 2 ... Insertion part, 2a ... Soft part, 2b ... Bending part, 2c ... Hard tip part, 4 ... Light source device, 4a ... Cord connection part, 5 ... Universal cord, 6 ... Display apparatus, 7 ... Cable, 8 ... Connector, 9 ... Optical system, 10 ... Right angle prism, 11 ... Solid imaging device, 13 ... Lead wire, 14 ... Protective coating, 14a ... Mounting portion, 15 ... Core wire, 15a ... Lead wire protection portion, 15b ... Disconnection detection unit, 16 ... tip frame

Claims (2)

In the endoscope of the plurality of lead wires connected to the built-in solid-state imaging device in the distal end rigid portion of the insertion portion is passed through the curved portion in a non-binding state was tied in the flexible portion,
A metal tip frame constituting the tip surface of the tip hard portion;
A protective coating covering the binding portion of the lead wire;
The lead wire is made of a conductor larger than the cutting load of the lead wire, and is composed of a lead wire protection part and a breakage detection part. The lead wire protection part is attached along a non-binding portion of the lead wire, and one end is Even when the other end is fixed to the tip of the protective coating and the length of the bending portion is bent, the non-bundling is fixed to a metal member assembled to the tip frame. The shortest lead wire in the portion is formed with a dimension so as to receive a tensile force before receiving the tensile force by this bending operation, and the disconnection detecting portion is attached along the binding portion of the lead wire, and one end is A core wire that is fixed to the front end of the protective coating and the other end extends to the hand operating portion through the flexible portion;
A disconnection detecting means for detecting a disconnection state of the core wire by detecting a conduction state between the core wire extending to the hand operation portion and the hard tip portion;
An endoscope characterized by comprising: The insertion portion is internally provided, and a leading end is connected to the leading end frame, and the other end includes a conductive wire extending to the hand operation portion,
The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the disconnection detecting unit detects a disconnection of the core wire by detecting a conduction state between the core wire and the conductive wire .

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