JP6013147B2 - Conversion adapter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a conversion adapter for connecting a first male connector attached to a first infusion tube and a second male connector attached to a second infusion tube.

  Conventionally, as a connector for connecting an enteral nutrition administration set and an enteral nutrition catheter downstream thereof (patient side), a male connector attached to the enteral nutrition administration set and a female attached to the enteral nutrition catheter A device provided with a connector is widely and generally used (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The female connector on the enteral feeding catheter side described in Patent Document 1 has a plurality of ring-shaped convex portions on a tapered inner wall. As a result, this female connector ensures good sealing performance not only for the standard size male connector on the enteral nutrition set side but also for various size male connectors slightly different from the standard size. Can be connected.

JP 2002-200145 A

  By the way, the international standard about the connector used for enteral nutrition therapy is expected to be newly set. According to this, as a connector on the enteral feeding catheter side, a hard male connector having a female screw for locking around the tapered portion is expected to be adopted. That is, according to the new standard, unlike the conventional case, the male connector is used for the enteral feeding catheter on the downstream side (patient side).

  Even after the setting of such a new standard, a certain period of time is required until the connector of the new standard spreads widely. During this time, the conventional connector is also used in parallel. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the male connector on the conventional enteral nutrition administration set side could be connected to the new standard male connector. It would also be more convenient if the conventional male connector connectable to the new standard male connector could include various male connectors with different dimensions or shapes.

  However, in order to connect a conventionally used male connector on the enteral nutrition administration set side to a male connector of a new standard, it is necessary to use a conversion adapter that converts one male connector into a female connector. As described above, such a conversion adapter is desired to be compatible with various male connectors having different dimensions or shapes for conventional enteral nutrition administration sets. On the other hand, it is necessary to provide the conversion adapter with a female screw having a strength capable of withstanding a tightening torque when fastened to the female screw of the new standard hard male connector.

  In order to achieve this, it is also conceivable to employ the tapered inner wall described in Patent Document 1 as a connecting means to the male connector on the enteral nutrition administration set side in the conversion adapter. However, according to this, since it is necessary to provide a some ring-shaped convex part in the inner wall of a conversion adapter, a structure becomes complicated.

  On the other hand, as a connection means to the male connector on the enteral nutrition administration set side in the conversion adapter, one made of a soft material that can accommodate male connectors of various sizes is adopted, and to the hard male connector on the enteral nutrition catheter side It is conceivable to use a hard material as the connecting means. However, according to this, since it is necessary to use two parts with different materials when manufacturing the conversion adapter, it is disadvantageous in terms of manufacturing cost.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a conversion adapter having a simple configuration capable of connecting a hard male connector having a female screw for locking and various male connectors having different sizes and shapes in view of the problems of the prior art. It is in.

  The conversion adapter of the present invention is a conversion adapter for connecting a first male connector attached to the first infusion tube and a second male connector attached to the second infusion tube, wherein the first male connector is A first connecting pipe having a first conical outer surface whose diameter gradually decreases toward a front end; and a lock portion having a cylindrical inner wall provided with a female screw on the outer periphery of the first conical outer surface, the front end side being open. The two male connector includes a second connecting pipe having a second conical outer surface whose diameter gradually decreases toward the front end, and the conversion adapter includes a connecting pipe that connects the first connecting pipe and the second connecting pipe, The connecting pipe has a first conical inner surface corresponding to the first conical outer surface of the first male connector and an end side portion having a male screw corresponding to the female screw of the locking portion, and a second conical outer surface of the second male connector. The other end having a second conical inner surface corresponding to And the other end side portion is more flexible than the one end side portion so as to have flexibility to accommodate various second male connectors having different shapes or dimensions. It is characterized by its thin wall thickness.

  In the present invention, when connecting the first infusion tube and the second infusion tube, the first conical inner surface of the conversion adapter is fitted to the first conical outer surface of the first male connector attached to the first infusion tube. The conversion adapter is fixed to the first male connector by fastening the male screw of the conversion adapter to the female screw of the first male connector.

  At this time, even when the first male connector is formed of a hard material, the male screw of the conversion adapter has an appropriate strength by using an appropriate semi-hard material as a resin material constituting the conversion adapter. In addition, since the one end side portion of the connecting pipe has sufficient strength to support the male screw due to its appropriate thickness, the male screw of the conversion adapter and the female screw of the first male connector can be fastened without any problem. Done.

  Thereafter, the second male connector is fixed to the conversion adapter by fitting the second conical outer surface of the second male connector to the second conical inner surface of the conversion adapter. At this time, the other end side portion having the second conical inner surface of the conversion adapter is thinner than the one end side portion having the male screw and the first conical inner surface, so that the adapter adapts flexibly to the second conical outer surface of the second male connector. The fitting is performed while deforming.

  For this reason, the second conical inner surface and the second conical outer surface fit well in close contact even when there are some differences in size and shape. Thereby, the space between the second conical inner surface and the second conical outer surface is reliably sealed.

  Thus, since the conversion adapter is thinner than the one end side portion so that the other end side portion is flexible enough to accommodate various second male connectors, the conversion adapter has an appropriate strength that can be fastened to the female screw of the first male connector. In addition, it is possible to have both flexibility and compatibility with various second male connectors having different sizes and shapes.

  Therefore, the conversion adapter can appropriately cope with the case where the hard first male connector is applied to the enteral feeding catheter, and various second males having different sizes and shapes of the conventional enteral feeding set. It can also handle connectors. In addition, the conversion adapter does not have a complicated configuration, and the entire connecting pipe is formed of the same resin material, so that it can be easily integrally formed by injection molding.

  Compared to the case where the conversion adapter is formed as two separate parts, the part fixed to the male connector having a hard female screw and the part fitted to the male connector of various sizes. Since it is simple and it is not necessary to assemble two parts, it is advantageous in terms of manufacturing cost and can be made compact.

  In the present invention, the thickness of the other end portion may be 60 to 70 [%] of the thickness of the one end portion. Specifically, by setting the ratio of the thickness of the other end side portion to the one end side portion to such a value, the conversion adapter can be adapted to various second male connectors having different shapes or dimensions. And strength capable of supporting the first male connector.

  In the present invention, the resin material may have an elastic modulus of 150 to 2000 [MPa]. By forming the conversion adapter using a resin material having such an elastic modulus, flexibility that can be used for various second male connectors having different shapes or dimensions and strength that can be used for the first male connector can be easily achieved. be able to.

  In the present invention, the thread width of the male screw of the connecting pipe may be thicker than the thickness of the other end portion so that the male screw has sufficient strength to fasten the male screw to the female screw of the lock portion. . According to this, by appropriately setting the difference between the screw width of the male screw and the thickness of the other end portion, the strength required for the male screw and the flexibility required for the other end portion can be easily ensured. be able to.

  In the present invention, the thickness of the other end portion may be 60 to 70 [%] of the screw width. Specifically, by setting the ratio of the screw width of the male screw to the thickness of the other end side portion to this value, the strength required for the male screw and the flexibility required for the other end side portion are It can be secured easily.

  In the present invention, the connecting pipe may include a ridge along the axial direction on an outer surface of the other end portion. According to this, the intensity | strength of the part is securable by providing a protruding item | line in the required part in the other end side part of a connection pipe. Further, when fixing the conversion adapter to the first male connector, by attaching a finger to the ridge, the male screw of the conversion adapter can be easily fastened to the female screw of the first male connector.

It is a figure which shows a mode that a connector is connected with the conversion adapter which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, (a) is before a connection, (b) shows the state after a connection. It is sectional drawing of the 1st male connector to which the conversion adapter of FIG. 1 is applied. It is a front view of the conversion adapter of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the conversion adapter of FIG. It is a side view of the conversion adapter which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the conversion adapter 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a first male connector 3 attached to the first infusion tube 2 and a first infusion tube 4 attached to the second infusion tube 4. The second male connector 5 is interposed between the first male connector 3 and the second male connector 5.

  When this connection is made, the first infusion tube 2 and the second infusion tube 4 are connected via the first male connector 3, the conversion adapter 1, and the second male connector 5, as shown in FIG. The Examples of the first infusion tube 2 and the second infusion tube 4 include enteral feeding catheters used for enteral nutrition therapy and enteral feeding set tubes.

  In the following description, regarding the first male connector 3, “front end” and “rear end” mean the end of the conversion adapter 1 and the opposite end, respectively. Similarly, regarding the second male connector 5, “front end” and “rear end” mean the end of the conversion adapter 1 and the opposite end, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the first male connector 3 is provided with a first connecting pipe 7 provided with a first conical outer surface 6 whose diameter gradually decreases toward the front end, and a cylindrical female screw 8 provided with a front end opened. And a lock portion 9 having an inner wall on the outer periphery of the first conical outer surface 6. The end portion of the first infusion tube 2 (see FIG. 1) is fitted and fixed to the inner wall on the rear end side of the first connection tube 7. The rear end portion of the lock portion 9 is fixed to the outer periphery of the first connection pipe 7.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the second male connector 5 includes a second connection pipe 11 provided with a second conical outer surface 10 whose diameter gradually decreases toward the front end. The second infusion tube 4 is fitted and fixed to the rear end side of the second connection tube 11. The second conical outer surface 10 is provided with a plurality of step portions. The stepped portion ensures a reliable sealing between the second male connector 5 and the conversion adapter 1 when the second male connector 5 is fixed to the conversion adapter 1.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the conversion adapter 1 includes a first connection pipe 7 (see FIG. 2) of the first male connector 3 and a second connection pipe 11 (see FIG. 1) of the second male connector 5. A connecting pipe 12 to be connected is provided.

  The connecting pipe 12 has a first conical inner surface 13 corresponding to the first conical outer surface 6 (see FIG. 2) of the first male connector 3 and a male screw 14 corresponding to the female screw 8 (see FIG. 2) of the lock portion 9. The one end side part 15 and the other end side part 17 which has the 2nd cone inner surface 16 corresponding to the 2nd cone outer surface 10 (refer FIG. 1) of the 2nd male connector 5 are provided.

  The conversion adapter 1 is integrally formed by injection molding or the like using the same resin material as a whole. As the resin material, a semi-rigid material is used in order to impart appropriate strength and flexibility to the one end side portion 15 and the other end side portion 17, respectively. Specifically, a material having an elastic modulus of 150 to 2000 [MPa] such as polypropylene and polyethylene is used.

  When the male screw 14 of the first male connector 3 and the male screw 14 of the conversion adapter 1 are fastened to the female screw 8, one screw thread can get over or destroy the other screw thread. It is required to have a moderate strength so that there is no.

  Specifically, according to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard, it is necessary to withstand a tightening torque of 0.15 [Nm]. For this reason, the male screw 14 is formed so that the screw width W is maximized within a possible range while adopting a form conforming to a standard such as ISO594-2.

  In addition, various second male connectors 5 having different dimensions and shapes may be connected to the conversion adapter 1. For this reason, the 2nd conical inner surface 16 of the conversion adapter 1 needs to have the softness | flexibility which can fit closely corresponding to the 2nd conical outer surface 10 of the various 2nd male connectors 5. FIG. In order to provide this flexibility, the thickness T of the other end portion 17 of the connecting pipe 12 is thinner than the thickness t of the one end portion 15.

  Specifically, when the conversion adapter 1 is formed of the above-described resin material, for example, the screw width W that is the width of the hem portion of the male screw 14 is 1.0 [mm], and the thickness t of the one end portion 15 is 1.0 [mm], and the thickness T of the other end portion 17 is about 0.6 to 0.7 [mm].

  In this case, there is a difference of 0.3 to 0.4 [mm] between the screw width W of the male screw 14 or the thickness t of the one end portion 15 and the thickness T of the other end portion 17. . In other words, the value of the thickness T corresponds to 60 to 70 [%] of the value of the screw width W or the thickness t. Thereby, the appropriate intensity | strength of the male screw 14 and the one end side part 15 which supports this, and the appropriate softness | flexibility of the other end side part 17 are ensured.

  In this configuration, when the first infusion tube 2 and the second infusion tube 4 are connected, the first end of the conversion adapter 1 is connected to the first conical outer surface 6 of the first male connector 3 attached to the first infusion tube. The male screw 14 of the conversion adapter 1 is fastened to the female screw 8 of the first male connector 3 while the inner surface 13 of one cone is fitted. When the fitting and fastening are completed, the conversion adapter 1 is fixed to the first male connector 3.

  At this time, since the male screw 14 of the conversion adapter 1 has an appropriate strength due to the above-described resin material and the above-described screw width W and thickness t constituting the conversion adapter 1, the male screw 14 and the first male screw of the connecting pipe 12 are provided. The screwing of the connector 3 with the female screw 8 is performed without any trouble.

  Thereafter, the second male connector 5 is fixed to the conversion adapter 1 by fitting the second conical outer surface 10 of the second male connector 5 to the second conical inner surface 16 of the conversion adapter 1. At this time, the thickness T of the other end side portion 17 of the conversion adapter 1 having the second conical inner surface 16 is thinner than the screw width W of the male screw 14 and the thickness t of the one end side portion 15, and has an appropriate flexibility. Thus, the second conical outer surface 10 is fitted to the second conical inner surface 16 while flexibly deforming and fitting. Thereby, the feeling at the time of fitting equivalent to the case where the other end side part 17 is comprised with a soft material is provided with respect to an operator via a fingertip.

  For this reason, even when there is a slight difference in size and shape between the second conical inner surface 16 and the second conical outer surface 10, they both fit well in close contact with each other and are not likely to leak or come off. Join securely. Thereby, the 1st male connector 3 and the 2nd male connector 5 will be in the state connected via the conversion adapter 1, and the connection of the 1st infusion tube 2 and the 2nd infusion tube 4 is established.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the conversion adapter 1 can cope with the hardness to be properly screwed into the female screw 8 of the first male connector 3 and the second male connector 5 having various sizes and shapes. Combined with flexibility. Therefore, even when the hard first male connector 3 is applied as the connector on the enteral feeding catheter side, this can be dealt with, and various second and different sizes and shapes on the enteral feeding set side. The male connector 5 can also be supported.

  Moreover, since the conversion adapter 1 does not have a complicated structure and the whole connecting pipe 12 is formed of the same resin material, it can be easily integrally formed by injection molding.

  In addition, the portion fixed to the first male connector 3 and the portion fitted to the second male connector 5 are formed as two separate parts using a material suitable for each hardness or strength. Compared with the conversion adapter manufactured by assembling, the conversion adapter 1 is easy to mold and does not require two parts to be assembled. Therefore, the conversion adapter 1 is advantageous in terms of manufacturing cost and can be configured compactly.

  FIG. 5 is a side view of the conversion adapter according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the conversion adapter 21 includes two ribs 22 as ridges along the axial direction of the connecting pipe 12 on the outer surface of the other end portion 17 of the connecting pipe 12.

  According to this, by providing the rib 22 at a necessary portion in the other end portion 17, the strength of that portion can be ensured. Further, when fixing the conversion adapter 21 to the first male connector 3, the male screw 14 of the conversion adapter 21 can be easily fastened to the female screw 8 of the first male connector 3 by attaching a finger to the rib 22. Can do. About another point, it is the same as that of the case of the conversion adapter 1 of 1st Embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 21 ... Conversion adapter, 2 ... 1st infusion pipe, 3 ... 1st male connector, 4 ... 2nd infusion pipe, 5 ... 2nd male connector, 6 ... 1st cone outer surface, 7 ... 1st connection pipe, 8 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Female screw, 9 ... Lock part, 10 ... 2nd cone outer surface, 11 ... 2nd connection pipe, 12 ... Connection pipe, 13 ... 1st cone inner surface, 14 ... Male screw, 15 ... One end side part, 16 ... 2nd Conical inner surface, 17 ... other end side part, 22 ... rib (projection).

Claims (6)

A conversion adapter that connects a first male connector attached to the first infusion tube and a second male connector attached to the second infusion tube,
The first male connector has a first connecting pipe having a first conical outer surface whose diameter gradually decreases toward the front end, and a cylindrical inner wall provided with a female screw provided on the outer periphery of the first conical outer surface. With
The second male connector includes a second connection pipe having a second conical outer surface whose diameter gradually decreases toward the front end,
The conversion adapter includes a connecting pipe that connects the first connecting pipe and the second connecting pipe,
The connecting pipe includes a first conical inner surface corresponding to the first conical outer surface of the first male connector and an end side portion having a male screw corresponding to the female screw of the locking portion, and a second cone of the second male connector. The other end side portion having a second conical inner surface corresponding to the outer surface, the whole is formed of the same resin material, and the other end side portion can correspond to various second male connectors having different shapes or dimensions. A conversion adapter characterized in that the adapter is thinner than the one end side portion so as to have flexibility.   The thickness of the said other end side part is 60-70 [%] of the thickness of the said one end side part, The conversion adapter of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The conversion adapter according to claim 1, wherein the resin material has an elastic modulus of 150 to 2000 [MPa].   The screw width of the male screw of the connecting pipe is thicker than the thickness of the other end portion so that the male screw has sufficient strength to fasten the male screw to the female screw of the lock portion. The conversion adapter of any one of 1-3.   The thickness of the said other end side part is 60-70 [%] of the said screw width, The conversion adapter of Claim 4 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said connection pipe equips the outer surface of the said other end part with the protruding item | line along the axial direction, The conversion adapter of any one of Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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