This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-084427, filed Mar. 31, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an illumination lens disposed in a front end of a light guide of an endoscope, and an endoscope provided with the illumination lens disposed in a front end of a light guide.
2. Related Art
In the background art, an illumination optical system of an endoscope is typically constituted by a concave lens disposed in a front end of a light guide for guiding illumination light, so that the illumination light emitted from the light guide can be refracted outward and diffused. With such a configuration, light rays are kicked on the side face of the lens. Thus, loss in the quantity of light is comparatively large in the periphery of an irradiation field.
There has been therefore a proposal that a lens whose entrance face is formed as a convex face with positive power is disposed in a front end of a light guide (for example, see JP-A-2000-193894). With such a configuration, illumination light emitted from the light guide is once collected (refracted inward) by the lens and then diffused so that light rays can be prevented from being kicked on the side face of the lens. Thus, improvement in utilization efficiency of the illumination light can be expected.
In view of the design of the lens, however, there is a limit on wide-angle light distribution which can be obtained by the lens whose entrance face is formed as a convex face with positive power, even when the entrance face is made aspherical. The entrance face of the illumination lens described in JP-A-2000-193894 is formed as a light diffusing face in order to cancel unevenness in light distribution. According to JP-A-2000-193894, wider-angle light distribution can be expected by a diffusion effect while unevenness in the light distribution can be cancelled. However, there is a fear that the utilization efficiency of the illumination light improved by the entrance face formed as a convex face with positive power may deteriorate due to the diffusion.
In recent years, heat capacity of an endoscope has decreased with reduction in the diameter of the endoscope, and power consumption of the endoscope has increased with increase in the number of pixels in an image sensor mounted in the endoscope. It has been therefore indispensable to take measures to suppress temperature rise in a front portion of an insertion portion. Illumination light also becomes a heat source. However, the quantity of illumination light can be suppressed if the utilization efficiency of the illumination light can be improved. Thus, heat caused by the illumination light can be cut off to suppress temperature rise in the front end portion of the insertion portion.
The invention was developed in consideration of the aforementioned circumstances. An object of the invention is to improve the utilization efficiency of illumination light and achieve wider-angle light distribution in an illumination lens disposed in a front end of a light guide of an endoscope.
According to an aspect of the invention, an illumination lens to be disposed in a front end of a light guide of an endoscope includes an entrance face and an exit face. The entrance face has positive power. The exit face has positive power. The following Expression (1) is satisfied while the following Expression (2) is satisfied.
1.2<1/r1×φ<1.8, (1)
0.24<1/r2×φ<0.96, (2)
where φ [mm] is a diameter of the lens, r1 [mm] is a curvature radius of the entrance face, and r2 [mm] is a curvature radius of the exit face.
An endoscope 1 has an insertion portion 10 which will be inserted into a subject body, an operation portion 11 which is provided consecutively to the insertion portion 10, and a universal cord 12 which extends from the operation portion 11. The universal cord 12 contains a light guide, a signal line, etc. Connectors 13a and 13b are provided in a terminal end of the universal cord 12. The endoscope 1 is attached to a processor 3 through the connector 13a, and attached to a light source unit 4 through the connector 13b.
The insertion portion 10 has a front end portion 14, a curved portion 15 which is provided consecutively to a proximal end side of the front end portion 14, and a flexible portion 16 which connects the curved portion 15 with the operation portion 11. The curved portion 15 is formed so that the curved portion 15 can be bent up, down, right and left. Bending of the curved portion 15 is operated by the operation portion 11. The light guide and the signal line contained in the universal cord 12 reach the front end portion 14 via the operation portion 11, the flexible portion 16 and the curved portion 15.
The front end portion 14 includes an illumination lens 21, an imaging unit 23 and an objective lens 22. The illumination lens 21 emits illumination light toward a region to be observed. The imaging unit 23 includes a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD image sensor. The objective lens 22 collects feedback light from the region to be observed, and forms an image on an image reception face of the solid-state image sensor included in the imaging unit 23.
Illumination light generated by the light source unit 4 (see
The image signal generated by the imaging unit 23 is sent to the processor 3 (see
An entrance face 21a and an exit face 21b of the illumination lens 21 are formed as convex faces with positive power respectively. In the illumination lens 21 configured thus, illumination light incident on the entrance face 21a is once collected (refracted inward) and then diffused as described above.
In the depicted example, the entrance face 21a is formed as a light diffusing face. Thus, unevenness in distribution of the illumination light is reduced while the distribution of the illumination light is made wider in angle. The light diffusing face may be formed, for example, by graining based on polishing. The face roughness of the light diffusing face is typically not higher than several μm, preferably in a range of from 0.3 to 0.7 μm, in arithmetic average roughness Ra.
If the entrance face 21a is not set as a light diffusing face, a light ray incident on the entrance face 21a at an angle will be refracted at a unique angle and outgo from the exit face 21b as shown by L1 in
The light ray L2 outgoes from the exit face 21b in each of the illumination lenses 21 and 21′. This light ray L2 contributes to illumination to make the light distribution wider in angle. On the other hand, in each of the illumination lenses 21 and 21′, the light ray L4 is kicked on the side face of the lens so as not to contribute to illumination.
In the illumination lens 21′, the incident angle θ2 of the light ray L3 on the flat exit face 21b is not smaller than a critical angle θc. As a result, total reflection of the light ray L3 occurs so that the light ray L3 cannot outgo from the exit face 21b. Thus, the light ray L3 does not contribute to illumination. On the other hand, in the illumination lens 21, the exit face 21b is formed as a convex face with positive power. The incident angle θ1 of the light ray L3 on the exit face 21b is smaller than the critical angle θc. As a result, total reflection of the light ray L3 does not occur, but the light ray L3 outgoes from the exit face 21b. Thus, the utilization efficiency of the illumination light can be improved, and the light distribution can be made further wider in angle.
Preferred numeric ranges of dimensions in the illumination lens 21 were obtained by calculation. In the following description, assume that the lens diameter φ is 1.2 [mm].
From
From
However, the efficiency shows a saturation tendency with respect to decrease in the curvature radius r2 (or increase of 1/r2×φ). From
From the above description, it is preferable that 1/r2×φ is set to satisfy the relation of 0.24<1/r2×φ<0.96.
It is proved from
Next, consider about the thickness of the illumination lens 21. When the thickness d of the lens 21 is on or beyond a certain level with respect to the lens diameter φ of the lens 21, light rays may be kicked on the side face of the lens 21 to affect the utilization efficiency of illumination light.
From
In addition, the lens diameter φ of the illumination lens 21 relative to the diameter Φ of the light guide 28 has influence on the utilization efficiency of illumination light. It is preferable that the ratio φ/Φ of the lens diameter φ to the light guide diameter Φ is in a range of 0.6<φ/Φ<0.9. When the ratio φ/Φ is not lower than 0.9, there is a fear that light rays emitted at an angle from the front end of the light guide 28 may be kicked on the side face of the lens 21 to lower the efficiency. On the other hand, when the ratio φ/Φ is not higher than 0.6, there is a fear that the number of optical fibers constituting the light guide 28 may be so small that the absolute quantity of light becomes insufficient.
As described above, this specification discloses an illumination lens disposed in a front end of a light guide of an endoscope, wherein an entrance face and an exit face of the illumination lens have positive power, and when a diameter of the lens is φ [mm], a curvature radius r1 [mm] of the entrance face satisfies the following Expression (1) while a curvature radius r2 [mm] of the exit face satisfies the following Expression (2).
1.2<1/r1×φ<1.8 (1)
0.24<1/r2×φ<0.96 (2)
With the aforementioned configuration, it is possible to achieve a good balance between improvement in the utilization efficiency of illumination light and the wider-angle light distribution. Further, the curvature radius of the entrance face is different from the curvature radius of the exit face, so that the entrance face and the exit face can be prevented from being disposed inside out by mistake when the illumination lens is placed in the front end of the light guide.
In addition, in the illumination lens disclosed in this specification, the entrance face serves as a light diffusing face.
In addition, in the illumination lens disclosed in this specification, the lens diameter φ [mm] satisfies the following Expression (3).
0.5<φ<2 (3)
In addition, in the illumination lens disclosed in this specification, the distance d [mm] between the entrance face and the exit face on the optical axis satisfies the following Expression (4).
d/φ<0.5 (4)
In addition, an endoscope with any one of the aforementioned illumination lenses provided in a front end of a light guide is disclosed in this specification.
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2010-084427 | Mar 2010 | JP | national |
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Entry |
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Office Action, dated Dec. 10, 2013, issued by the Japanese Patent Office, in counterpart Application No. 2010-084427. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110245617 A1 | Oct 2011 | US |