Cobra tube and endoscope

Abstract

The present invention relates to a snake tube and an endoscope. The snake tube comprises a snake, a bending tube and a steel wire rope; at least one steel wire rope is fixed to one end of the inner tube wall of the snake, so as to control the bending of the snake by pulling the steel wire rope; a bending tube is sleeved on each steel wire rope, and the bending tube is fixed relative to the inner tube wall of the snake; the bending tube comprises multiple bending sections connected in sequence along the axis direction of the snake, and at least two bending sections have different elastic moduli; the bending tube comprising multiple bending sections and at least two bending sections having different elastic moduli is sleeved on the steel wire rope, and a gradually increasing traction force is applied to the snake through the steel wire rope, so that when the traction force is small, the bending section with a smaller elastic modulus bends first, and at this time, the bending amplitude of the bending section with a larger elastic modulus is small and can be ignored; and when the traction force increases to a certain extent, another bending section begins to bend; thereby, the segmented bending of the bending tube is realized, meeting the doctor's needs for endoscope use in different situations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field related to endoscopes, and in particular to a snake tube and an endoscope. Background Art

[0002] The existing endoscope has a built-in snake tube. The endoscope handle can be used to pull the steel wire connected to the snake tube to control the bending and deformation of the snake tube, thereby achieving the bending and direction change of the endoscope body.

[0003] Depending on the surgical situation, there are different situations where only the head of the endoscope needs to be bent, or the entire endoscope needs to be bent. However, the current snake tube cannot achieve segmented bending, which will affect the doctor's user experience and surgical results to a certain extent. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a snake tube and endoscope that can achieve segmented bending to address the problem that the snake tube in the current endoscope body cannot be bent in segments.

[0005] The present application first provides a snake bone tube, comprising a snake bone, a bending tube and a steel wire rope; at least one of the steel wire ropes is fixed to one end of the inner tube wall of the snake bone to control the bending of the snake bone by pulling the steel wire rope; each of the steel wire ropes is sleeved with a bending tube, and the bending tube is fixed relative to the inner tube wall of the snake bone; the bending tube comprises multiple bending parts connected in sequence along the axial direction of the snake bone, and the elastic moduli of at least two of the bending parts are different.

[0006] In one embodiment, the elastic modulus of each position of each curved portion is the same, and the elastic modulus of each curved portion decreases along the axis of the serpentine bone toward the fixed end of the wire rope.

[0007] It can be understood that by setting the elastic modulus of each bending section to decrease along the axis of the snake bone toward the fixed end of the wire rope, as the traction force of the wire rope on the snake bone gradually increases, the different bending sections in the bending tube will begin to bend section by section from the head to the tail, so that the doctor can choose the bending of the head of the snake bone tube or the overall bending according to actual needs during operation, and can also choose the length of the bending of the head of the snake bone tube according to needs.

[0008] In one embodiment, the curved tube includes two curved portions.

[0009] It is understandable that designing the bending tube into two bending portions with different elastic moduli can minimize the production cost and operation difficulty of the snake tube while meeting the medical needs in most cases.

[0010] In one embodiment, the length of the curved portion close to the fixed end of the wire rope along the axis of the snake bone accounts for 60% to 70% of the total length of the curved tube 20 .

[0011] It can be understood that this length range is the bending length required for the head of the serpentine tube to bend in most cases; as the traction force applied by the wire rope gradually increases, this section of the bending portion preferably bends to meet the bending requirements of the head of the serpentine tube in most cases.

[0012] In one embodiment, the curved portions of each section are made of different materials, but have the same diameter and thickness.

[0013] It can be understood that by selecting different materials for different sections of the bending part, while ensuring that the elastic modulus of different sections of the bending part is different, the outer and inner surfaces of the bending tube are both cylindrical surfaces, which facilitates the installation and insertion between the wire rope, the bending tube and the snake bone, further reducing the difficulty of installation.

[0014] In one embodiment, the material of the curved portion is silicone or plastic.

[0015] It is understandable that, on the one hand, compared with other materials, silicone or plastic has stable properties and is less irritating to the human body. When used as a snake tube part to be inserted into the patient's body for examination, the burden and impact on the patient are relatively small; on the other hand, there are relatively many models and types of silicone and plastic, which makes it easy to select the model and type with the appropriate elastic modulus according to actual needs.

[0016] In one embodiment, one end of the steel wire rope is fixed to the inner tube wall of the snake bone by laser welding.

[0017] It can be understood that laser welding does not take up additional space inside the snake bone and will not scratch other components inside the snake bone.

[0018] In one embodiment, part of the tube wall of the snake bone is concave inward to form a limiting recess that passes through along the axial direction. The snake bone has at least one group of limiting parts, and each group of the limiting parts includes a plurality of the limiting recesses arranged along the axial direction of the snake bone and corresponding to each other, and each of the limiting parts has one of the curved tubes passing through it.

[0019] In one embodiment, the snake bone has two sets of limiting parts arranged opposite to each other.

[0020] It can be understood that by applying traction to the snake bone through the corresponding steel wire rope, the bending of the snake bone in two opposite directions can be controlled to meet the surgical needs in most cases.

[0021] A second aspect of the present application provides an endoscope comprising the above-mentioned snake tube.

[0022] The above-mentioned snake-bone tube includes a plurality of bending sections, at least two of which have different elastic moduli, and is sleeved on a steel wire rope, and a gradually increasing traction force is applied to the snake-bone through the steel wire rope, so that when the traction force is small, the bending section with a smaller elastic modulus bends first, and at this time, the bending amplitude of the bending section with a larger elastic modulus is small and can be ignored; and when the traction force increases to a certain level, the other bending section begins to bend; thereby realizing the segmented bending of the bending tube, and then driving the snake-bone through the bending tube to complete the segmented bending of the snake-bone tube, meeting the doctor's needs for endoscope use in different situations, and increasing the versatility and flexibility of use of the snake-bone tube of this application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the snake bone tube of this application;

[0024] Figure 2 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the enlarged structure of the middle bending tube;

[0025] Figure 3 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the middle serpentine tube from the left;

[0026] Figure 4 for Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure in the AA direction;

[0027] Figure 5 for Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure in the middle BB direction.

[0028] Reference numerals: 10, snake bone; 11, limiting portion; 11a, limiting recess; 20, bending tube; 21, bending portion; 30, wire rope; 40, insertion portion. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more readily apparent, specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description sets forth numerous specific details to facilitate a full understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in many other ways than those described herein, and those skilled in the art may make similar modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0030] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like to indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0031] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of the technical features being referred to. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "plurality" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0032] In the present invention, unless otherwise specified or limited, the terms "installed," "connected," "connect," "fixed," etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, they can refer to fixed connection, detachable connection, or integration; mechanical connection, electrical connection; direct connection, or indirect connection through an intermediate medium; internal communication between two components, or interaction between two components, unless otherwise specified. Those skilled in the art will understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention based on specific circumstances.

[0033] In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, when a first feature is "above" or "below" a second feature, it may mean that the first and second features are in direct contact, or that the first and second features are in indirect contact through an intermediary. Furthermore, when a first feature is "above," "above," or "above" a second feature, it may mean that the first feature is directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. When a first feature is "below," "below," or "below" a second feature, it may mean that the first feature is directly below or diagonally below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is at a lower level than the second feature.

[0034] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" or "disposed on" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may be an intermediate element. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be an intermediate element. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only implementation methods.

[0035] Please combine Figures 1 to 4 As shown, the present application first provides a snake bone tube, including a snake bone 10, a bending tube 20 and a steel wire rope 30; at least one steel wire rope 30 is fixed to one end of the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10 to control the bending of the snake bone 10 by pulling the steel wire rope 30; a bending tube 20 is sleeved on each steel wire rope 30, and the bending tube 20 is fixed relative to the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10; the bending tube 20 includes a plurality of bending parts 21 connected in sequence along the axial direction of the snake bone 10, and the elastic modulus of at least two bending parts 21 is different.

[0036] Since the bending tube 20 is fixed relative to the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10, and the bending tube 20 is sleeved on the corresponding steel wire rope 30, when a traction force is applied to the end of the snake bone 10 through the steel wire rope 30, the bending tube 20 and the snake bone 10 tend to bend in the direction of the corresponding traction force.

[0037] On this basis, since the bending tube 20 includes multiple bending portions 21 and the elastic moduli of at least two bending portions 21 are different, the deformation amounts of the two bending portions 21 when subjected to external forces of the same magnitude are different, that is, the bending amplitude of the bending portion 21 with a smaller elastic modulus is larger than that of the other bending portion 21.

[0038] It can be understood that by controlling the difference in elastic modulus between the two curved sections 21 and gradually increasing the traction force of the wire rope 30 on the end of the snake bone 10:

[0039] When the traction force is small, the curved portion 21 with a smaller elastic modulus begins to bend, and at this time, the bending amplitude of the other curved portion 21 is small and can be ignored; and when the traction force increases to a certain level, the other curved portion 21 begins to bend; thereby realizing the segmented bending of the bending tube 20, and then driving the snake bone 10 through the bending tube 20 to complete the segmented bending of the snake bone tube, meeting the doctor's needs for endoscope use in different situations, and increasing the versatility and flexibility of the snake bone tube of this application.

[0040] In addition, the bending tube 20 is sleeved on the wire rope 30 and arranged inside the snake bone 10. On the one hand, the bending tube 20 can replace the stainless steel tube or spring tube sleeved on the wire rope 30 in the existing technical solution, thereby reducing the overall weight of the snake bone tube and reducing production costs; on the other hand, compared with sleeved on the outside of the snake bone 10, the setting method in the present application can avoid the increase in the diameter of the snake bone tube and reduce the volume of the snake bone tube as much as possible to facilitate insertion into the human body.

[0041] Of course, in some embodiments, according to the actual required segmented bending effect, the elastic moduli of each segment of the bending portion 21 may be different from each other, or may be partially the same. It is only necessary to select the corresponding elastic modulus for each bending portion 21 from small to large according to the required bending order. This application does not make further limitations here.

[0042] It should be noted that the different and partially similar here refer to the comparison between the elastic moduli of different sections of the bending portion 21, and the elastic modulus of each section of the bending portion 21 itself is a certain value; it can be understood that if the elastic modulus within each section of the bending portion 21 is different, then when the force is constant, the bending amplitudes between the various parts of the bending portion 21 will be different, which may affect the normal segmented bending process.

[0043] Please refer to Figure 5 As shown, in some embodiments, an insertion portion 40 is fixed to one end of the snake bone 10 close to the endoscope handle, the curved tube 20 extends into the insertion portion 40 , and the steel wire rope 30 passes through the insertion portion 40 .

[0044] In some embodiments, the elastic modulus of each curved portion 21 at each position is the same, and the elastic modulus of each curved portion 21 decreases along the axis of the snake bone 10 toward the fixed end of the wire rope 30 .

[0045] For the convenience of the following description, the end of the snake bone 10, the curved tube 20 and the wire rope 30 close to the endoscope handle is defined as the tail, and the end close to the endoscope lens is defined as the head.

[0046] By setting the elastic modulus of each section of the bending portion 21 to decrease gradually along the axial direction of the snake bone 10 toward the fixed end of the wire rope 30, as the traction force of the wire rope 30 on the snake bone 10 gradually increases, the different bending portions 21 in the corresponding bending tube 20 begin to bend section by section in the order from the head to the tail, so that the doctor can choose the bending of the head of the snake bone tube or the overall bending according to actual needs during operation, and can also choose the length of the bending of the head of the snake bone tube as needed (adjust the traction force of the wire rope 30 to increase or decrease the number of bending sections of the bending portion 21).

[0047] It should be noted that the decreasing elastic modulus here refers to the comparison between the elastic moduli of different sections of the curved tube 20 , and the elastic modulus of each section of the curved tube 20 itself is a constant value.

[0048] In addition, in the present application, the bending tube 20 is divided into multiple bending portions 21, and the elastic moduli of different bending portions 21 are decreased. Compared with the scheme in which the elastic modulus of the bending tube 20 decreases linearly along the axial direction of the snake bone 10, in the latter, as the traction force of the wire rope 30 gradually increases, the bending portion gradually moves along the axial direction of the snake bone 10 toward the side close to the endoscope handle. There is no obvious segmentation difference in the overall bending process, which is not conducive to the doctor selecting the corresponding bending state (head bending or overall bending) according to actual needs during operation.

[0049] Please refer to Figure 2 As shown, in some embodiments, based on the above embodiments, the curved tube 20 includes two curved portions 21 .

[0050] It is understandable that if the bending tube 20 includes too many bending sections 21, on the one hand, it will increase the production cost of the snake tube, and on the other hand, it will also increase the difficulty of bending the snake tube. In actual surgery, in most cases, doctors only need the snake tube to distinguish between the head bend and the overall bend.

[0051] Therefore, the bending tube 20 is designed to have two bending portions 21 with different elastic moduli, which can reduce the production cost and operation difficulty of the snake tube as much as possible while meeting the medical needs in most cases.

[0052] In some embodiments, based on the above embodiments, the length of a section of the curved portion 21 close to the fixed end of the wire rope 30 along the axial direction of the snake bone 10 accounts for 60% to 70% of the total length of the bending tube 20; preferably, the length range of the section of the curved portion 21 close to the fixed end of the wire rope 30 is 40mm to 60mm, which is the bending length required for the head of the snake bone tube to bend in most cases; as the traction force applied by the wire rope 30 gradually increases, the curved portion 21 preferably bends to meet the bending requirements of the head of the snake bone tube in most cases.

[0053] Please refer to Figure 2 As shown, in some embodiments, the materials of the curved portions 21 are different, but the diameters and thicknesses are the same.

[0054] In the above scheme, different materials are selected to change the elastic modulus of different sections of the curved portion 21, so that the diameter and inner diameter of each section of the curved portion 21 in each curved tube 20 are the same; compared with the scheme of changing the elastic modulus by changing parameters such as the diameter or wall thickness of the curved portion 21, in the process of the latter curved tube 20 being sleeved onto the wire rope 30, the wire rope 30 may offset the stepped structure of the inner diameter change position of the two adjacent curved portions 21, thereby making the sleeve installation difficult; in addition, in the process of the latter curved tube 20 being installed into the snake bone 10 tube, the stepped structure of the outer diameter change position of the two adjacent curved portions 21 may also offset the opening of the snake bone 10, thereby making the insertion installation difficult.

[0055] In the present application, different materials are selected for different sections of the bending portion 21. Under the premise of ensuring that the elastic modulus of the different sections of the bending portion 21 is different, the outer circumference and the inner circumference of the bending tube 20 are both cylindrical surfaces, thereby facilitating the installation and insertion between the wire rope 30, the bending tube 20 and the snake bone 10, further reducing the difficulty of installation.

[0056] In some embodiments, the material of the curved portion 21 is silicone or plastic. On the one hand, compared with other materials, silicone and plastic are stable in nature and less irritating to the human body. When inserted into the patient's body as a snake tube part for examination, the burden and impact on the patient are relatively small. On the other hand, there are relatively many models and types of silicone and plastic, which makes it easy to select the model and type with the appropriate elastic modulus according to actual needs.

[0057] Of course, the material of the bending portion 21 can also be other materials, as long as the elastic modulus of each bending portion 21 meets the required bending sequence, and this application does not make further limitations here.

[0058] In some embodiments, one end of the steel wire rope 30 is fixed to the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10 by laser welding; compared with traditional soldering fixation, which has problems such as the size of the weld point is difficult to control, thus occupying the internal space, and easily generating burrs, thereby scratching related components, laser welding will not occupy additional internal space of the snake bone 10, and will not scratch other components inside the snake bone 10.

[0059] Specifically, the head end of the steel wire rope 30 is fixed to the head end of the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10 to ensure that the traction force is applied to the snake bone 10 through the steel wire rope 30, which can control the snake bone 10 to bend as a whole.

[0060] Please combine Figure 1 、 Figure 4 as well as Figure 5As shown, in some embodiments, the tube wall of part of the snake bone 10 is concave inward to form a limiting recess 11a that passes through along the axial direction. The snake bone 10 has at least one group of limiting portions 11, and each group of limiting portions 11 includes a plurality of limiting recesses 11a arranged along the axial direction of the snake bone 10 and corresponding to each other, and a curved tube 20 passes through each group of limiting portions 11.

[0061] Specifically, each limiting recess 11a includes two through grooves penetrating the tube wall of the snake bone 10 and a recessed portion located between the two through grooves. The two through grooves are parallel to each other and opened along the circumferential direction of the snake bone 10. The recessed portion is recessed into the interior of the snake bone 10 to form a limiting recess 11a.

[0062] The outer peripheral surface of the bending tube 20 away from the central axis of the snake bone 10 is in abutment with the inner tube wall of the snake bone 10, and the outer peripheral surface of the bending tube 20 close to the central axis of the snake bone 10 is in abutment with the surface of the recessed part away from the central axis of the snake bone 10, thereby limiting the radial direction of the bending tube 20 along the snake bone 10 through the recessed part and the snake bone 10, and cooperating with the friction between the bending tube 20 and the wire rope 30, thereby achieving relative fixation between the bending tube 20 and the snake bone 10.

[0063] Of course, the bending tube 20 can also be fixed relative to the snake bone 10 by snap connection or other commonly used connection methods, and this application does not make further limitations here.

[0064] Please combine Figure 3 as well as Figure 4 As shown, in some embodiments, the snake bone 10 has two sets of oppositely arranged limiting portions 11; that is, there are two oppositely arranged bending tubes 20 in the snake bone 10. Therefore, by applying traction to the snake bone 10 through the corresponding steel wire rope 30, the snake bone 10 can be controlled to bend in two opposite directions to meet the surgical needs in most cases.

[0065] Of course, depending on the surgical requirements, multiple sets of limiting parts 11 can also be set in the snake bone 10, combined with corresponding steel wire ropes 30 and control structures to meet the use requirements of the snake bone tube bending in more directions. This application does not make further restrictions here.

[0066] A second aspect of the present application provides an endoscope comprising the above-mentioned snake tube.

[0067] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0068] The above-described embodiments merely illustrate several implementations of the present invention, and while their descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the patent. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art would be able to make numerous variations and improvements without departing from the spirit of the present invention, all of which fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the patent for this invention shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A snake bone tube, characterized in that: It includes a snake bone (10), a bending tube (20) and a steel wire rope (30); At least one of the steel wire ropes (30) is fixed to one end of the inner tube wall of the snake bone (10), so as to control the bending of the snake bone (10) by pulling the steel wire rope (30); Each of the steel wire ropes (30) is sleeved with a curved tube (20), and the curved tube (20) is fixed relative to the inner tube wall of the snake bone (10); The curved tube (20) comprises a plurality of curved portions (21) sequentially connected along the axial direction of the snake bone (10), and the elastic modulus of each curved portion (21) decreases along the axial direction of the snake bone (10) toward the fixed end of the steel wire rope (30).

2. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: The elastic modulus of each position of each curved portion (21) is the same, and the length of a curved portion (21) close to the fixed end of the steel wire rope (30) among the multiple curved portions (21) ranges from 40 mm to 60 mm.

3. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: The curved tube (20) comprises two curved portions (21).

4. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: The length of the curved portion (21) close to the fixed end of the steel wire rope (30) along the axis of the snake bone (10) accounts for 60% to 70% of the total length of the curved tube (20).

5. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: The materials of the bent portions (21) in each section are different, but the diameter and thickness of the tube are the same.

6. The snake bone tube according to claim 5, characterized in that: The material of the curved portion (21) is silicone or plastic.

7. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: One end of the steel wire rope (30) is fixed to the inner tube wall of the snake bone (10) by laser welding.

8. The snake bone tube according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tube wall of part of the snake bone (10) is concave inward to form a limiting recess (11a) that passes through along the axial direction. The snake bone (10) has at least one group of limiting parts (11). Each group of limiting parts (11) includes a plurality of limiting recesses (11a) arranged along the axial direction of the snake bone (10) and corresponding to each other. Each group of limiting parts (11) has one of the curved tubes (20) passing through it.

9. The snake bone tube according to claim 8, characterized in that: The snake bone (10) has two sets of limiting portions (11) arranged opposite to each other.

10. An endoscope, characterized in that: It comprises the snake bone tube as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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