Patent Application
20140005482
The present application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-065475 filed on Mar. 24, 2011; the entire content of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an endoscope cooling apparatus.
Conventional endoscope cooling apparatuses have an air/water pumping unit provided in an operation part in order to cool the end of the endoscope, as described in, for example, patent literature 1.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2009-77762
Technical Problem
In conventional endoscope cooling apparatuses, an air/water pumping unit including a motor or the like is provided in an operation part. This tends to make the operation part large in size and very heavy in weight. The heaviness of the operation part leads to a problem of load on a user who holds the operation part during the operation.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope cooling apparatus capable of cooling the end of the endoscope without a large increase in the weight of the operation part of the endoscope.
Solution to Problem
To solve the above problem and to achieve the object, an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention has a scope part including an end part, a shaft part, and an operation part to be held, and an external device, and the scope part comprises:
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement generating part generate a rotational displacement, the displacement transmission part transmit the rotational displacement, and the displacement-to-flow converting part be connected to the second end of the first tube and the second end of the second tube to cause the cooling liquid to circulate in the first tube and the second tube in response to the rotational displacement of the predetermined part.
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement-to-flow converting part be provided at each of the second end of the first tube and the second end of the second tube, and the cooling liquid move in response to the displacement of the predetermined part.
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement-to-flow converting part perform an operation of generating a flow of the cooling liquid in the direction from the second end of the first tube to the first end of the first tube and an operation of generating a flow of the cooling liquid in the direction from the second end of the second tube to the first end of the second tube alternately and repeatedly.
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement generating part provided in the external device comprise a translational displacement generator, and the displacement transmission part cause the predetermined part of at least one displacement-to-flow converting part to displace translationally.
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the endoscope cooling apparatus comprise:
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the endoscope cooling apparatus comprise:
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement-to-flow converting part comprise a chamber having a volumetric capacity varying in response to the displacement of the predetermined part and filled with the cooling liquid.
According to a preferred mode of the present invention, it is preferred that the displacement generating part that generates the translational displacement comprise an actuator that generates a pulling force toward the rear end of the shaft part with respect to the longitudinal direction, the displacement-to-flow converting part comprise a first chamber connected to the actuator and having a volumetric capacity varying in response to the displacement of the predetermined part and a second chamber connected to a biasing spring and having a volumetric capacity varying in response to the displacement of the predetermined part, and the displacement-to-flow converting part cause the cooling liquid to move to and fro in the first tube and the second tube with to-and-fro motion of the actuator along the longitudinal direction of the shaft part.
In the endoscope cooling apparatus according to the present invention, the driving part relating to cooling is provided in an external device of the endoscope. Therefore, cooling of the end of the endoscope can be achieved without a large increase in the weight of the operation part of the endoscope. Therefore, the endoscope cooling apparatus according to the present invention is advantageous in reducing a large load due to the weight.
In the following, embodiments of the endoscope cooling apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be understood that the present invention is by no means limited by the embodiments.
The endoscope system is an observation apparatus used to observe the interior of the body of an object to be examined. An endoscope 1 is an apparatus to be inserted into the body (not shown in Figures) and has means for capturing images in the interior of the body, means for picking up living cells, and means for performing medical treatment.
An endoscope operation part 2 is adapted to be held by a user of the endoscope and provided with a mechanism for adjusting the direction of the end of the endoscope 1. The endoscope 1 is electrically and mechanically connected with a universal cord 3, a light source device 4, a video processor 35, and a monitor 36, which function in the manners described in the following.
The universal cord 3 is a cord connecting the endoscope operation part 2 and the light source device 4. The universal cord 3 is a component in which a lot of wires providing electrical and mechanical connections are arranged. The light source device 4 is a device that drives light emitted from the end of the endoscope 1. The video processor 5 is a device that performs processing of images transmitted from the endoscope 1 and synchronization and processing of circuits. The monitor 6 is used to display images captured by the endoscope 1.
The endoscope system is basically composed of an end part (rigid end part) 5, a shaft part 6, an operation part 8, a universal cord 15, and a light source device 4. A cooling part for cooling the end portion of the endoscope 1 is provided in these components. The end part 5 is provided with an illumination window 10 for illuminating light against an object to be observed.
The cooling part is made up of three cooperating portions, which include a portion that provides cooling, a portion that generates an external force for driving the cooling part, and a portion that transmits the external force to the cooling part. The portion that provides cooling is composed of a heat exchanger 9 provided in the end part 5, first and second tubes 11a, 11b provided in the shaft part 6, and a displacement-to-flow converting part 13 provided in the operation part 8.
The portion that generates an external force for driving the cooling part is composed of a displacement generating part 14 provided in the light source device 4. The portion that transmits the external force to the cooling part is composed of a displacement transmission part 7 that connects the operation part 8 and the light source device 4.
The displacement-to-flow converting part 13 is composed of syringes 16, 17. The displacement generating part 14 is composed of actuators 20, 21. The displacement transmission part 7 is composed of sheathed wires 18, 19.
Now, a water cooling system will be described. An endoscope end member 12 is arranged at the end of the endoscope 1 and houses operational components that are driven when an object to be examined is observed with the endoscope 1. The components housed therein includes, for example, an image pickup element and a light source.
The image pickup element and the light source housed therein generate heat when in operation. The heat thus generated is conducted to the endoscope end member 12 to raise the temperature of the endoscope end member 12.
In this embodiment, a system for liquid-cooling the endoscope end member 12 thus heated is provided. A heat exchanger 9 is provided in the endoscope end member 12 for the purpose of cooling. The heat exchanger 9 has a flow passage provided therein, through which cooling liquid flows. The cooling liquid is introduced in the second syringe 17.
The first sheathed wire 18 is pulled by the actuator 20 (see
The cooling liquid undergoes heat exchange as it passes through the heat exchanger 9 in the direction indicated by arrow C in
The temperature of the cooling liquid is raised by the heat exchange with the endoscope end member 12. As the cooling liquid flows in the first tube 11a in the direction indicated by arrow D in
Next, the second sheathed wire 19 is pulled by the actuator 21, whereby the piston of the second syringe 17 is pulled in the direction indicated by arrow A in
In the first embodiment, the endoscope end member 12 is cooled by the to-and-fro motion of the cooling liquid. Control of the to-and-fro motion of the cooling liquid is performed by the displacement generating part 14 provided in the light source device 4, which is an external device. Therefore, cooling of the endoscope end member 12 can be achieved without a large increase in the weight of the operation part of the endoscope.
The actuators 20, 21 may be adapted to generate a pushing force instead of a pulling force.
A second embodiment will be described with reference to
Firstly, the first sheathed wire 18 is pulled by the actuator 20 in a manner similar to the first embodiment, whereby the piston of the first syringe 16 is pulled. In consequence, the cooling liquid moves or flows from the second syringe 17 to the second tube 11b, then to the heat exchanger 9, then to the first tube 11a, and then to the first syringe 16.
As the operation of the actuator 20 stops, the biasing spring 29 exerts a force that drives the cooling liquid in the reverse direction. With the driving of the cooling liquid in opposite directions, to-and-fro motion of the cooling liquid is achieved, whereby the endoscope end member 12 is cooled.
In the second embodiment, since the number of actuators 20 is smaller than that in the first embodiment by one, the overall cost of the system can be reduced. Furthermore, the electric wiring for the actuator 20 can be reduced in half. Moreover, control of the actuator 20 can be made simpler as compared to that in the case where two actuators are used. The actuator 20 in the second embodiment maybe adapted to generate a pushing force instead of a pulling force.
A third embodiment will be described with reference to
In this embodiment, the displacement-to-flow converting part 13 does not have a sliding part, unlike with the first and second embodiments. Therefore, deterioration of the displacement-to-flow converting part with the long time use of the system and leakage of the cooling liquid with deterioration can be avoided.
If leakage of the cooling liquid occurs in the cooling part of the endoscope, it is not easy to fix it. Therefore, the displacement-to-flow converting part 13 having a construction not getting deteriorated greatly is very significant.
The way of driving the cooling liquid is the same as that in the first embodiment and will not be described to avoid redundancy.
A fourth embodiment will be described with reference to
In this embodiment, as with in the second embodiment, the number of the actuators used to drive the displacement-to-flow converting part 13 is reduced to one, allowing a reduction in the overall cost of the system. Moreover, the electric wiring for the actuator 20 can be reduced in half, and control of the actuator 20 can be made simpler as compared to that in the case where two actuators are used.
A fifth embodiment will be described with reference to
The torque rope 24 is driven by the rotational force generating part 26, and the rotational force is converted into a horizontal force by the pulley 25 and transmitted to the tube 11 to cause the cooling liquid to circulate. When the direction of flow of the cooling liquid is to be reversed, the direction of the rotational force generated by the rotational force generating part 26 is reversed.
A sixth embodiment will be described with reference to
The pulley 46 and the second wire 49 are driven by the displacement generating part 14. The second wire 49 is driven to move along the longitudinal direction of the endoscope. As the second wire 49 moves, the pulley 45 connected with the second wire 49 rotates. The pulley 45 has two pulleys having different diameters integrated together and drives the first wire 48. The first wire 48 acts on syringes 16, 17 to cause the cooling liquid to move.
The driving direction of the cooling liquid can be changed by reversing the direction of displacement generated by the displacement generating part 14. Therefore, the cooling liquid can be moved to and fro.
With the above-described arrangement, cooling of the end part of the endoscope can be achieved without a large increase in the weight of the endoscope operation part 8.
A seventh embodiment will be described with reference to
Firstly, the first pump 28a pumps air to transmit displacement to the first chamber 22. Subsequently, the cooling liquid in the first chamber 22 is moved to the second chamber 23 in the same manner as in the third embodiment, whereby cooling is performed.
In transmitting displacement to the chambers 22, 23, transmitting an external force by air pumping can reduce friction between components better than physically exerting an external force by the sheathed wires 18, 19 or the like. Moreover, air pumping tends to apply a force to the chambers 22, 23 more uniformly.
A biasing spring like the biasing spring 29 used in the second and fourth embodiments may be used as a part that transmits a displacement to the second chamber 23 instead of the second pump 28b and the fourth tube 27b, although not shown in
With the above-described arrangement, cooling of the end part of the endoscope 1 can be achieved without a large increase in the weight of the endoscope operation part 8.
Here, an example of the above-described embodiment will be described together with specific dimensions of the components. By way of example, there will be described a case in which only such a portion of the cooling liquid sealed between the end of the endoscope 1 and the operation part 8 that is in a distance range of 30 cm from the end of the endoscope 1 is driven for cooling.
In this case, the inner diameter of the first and second tubes 11a, 11b is designed to be 0.5 mm and the inner diameter of the first and second syringes 16, 17 is designed to be 5 mm. To drive the cooling liquid in the syringes 16, 17, it is necessary that the pistons in the syringes 16, 17 be pushed/pulled to move over a distance of 3 mm. Consequently, it is necessary for the actuator 20 for driving the syringes 16, 17 to have a stroke of 3 mm. If it is assumed that the flow rate of the cooling liquid is 1 ml/min, it is necessary to change the direction of driving of the cooling liquid at intervals of 3.5 seconds.
As described above, the endoscope cooling apparatus according to the present invention is useful for an endoscope system that needs cooling of the endoscope end part. In particular, it will be suitably applied to an endoscope system in which an endoscope operation part needs to be held by a hand during treatment.
1: endoscope
2, 8; endoscope operation part
3, 15: universal cord
4: light source device
5: end part
6: shaft part
7: displacement transmission part
9: heat exchanger
10: illumination window
11, 27: tube
12: endoscope end member
13: displacement-to-flow converting part
14: displacement generating part
16, 17: syringe
18, 19: sheathed wire
20, 21: actuator
22, 23: chamber
24: torque rope
25, 45, 46: pulley
26: rotational force generating part
28: pump
29: biasing spring
35: video processor
36: monitor
48, 49: wire
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-065475 | Mar 2011 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2012/050897 | Jan 2012 | US |
| Child | 14011913 | US |
