Snake bone unit, active bending section and endoscope

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of endoscopes, in particular to a snake bone unit, an active bending section and an endoscop.The snake bone unit comprises a base body, an outer connecting part is arranged at the far end of the base body, an inner connecting part is arranged at the near end of the base body, a first abutting part is arranged on the side edge of the outer connecting part, and a first arc-shaped abutting face is arranged on the axial end face of the inner connecting part; the first arc-shaped abutting face is used for being in abutting fit with the first abutting piece of the adjacent snake bone unit so as to adjust rotation damping between the two adjacent snake bone units. The radial size of the snake bone unit is not increased, the passing performance of the endoscope insertion part is guaranteed, it can be guaranteed that rotation damping constantly changes in the rotation process, an operator can achieve more stable complete control, and therefore the regulation and control precision of the bending angle of the active bending section is improved; and on the other hand, the first arc-shaped abutting face and the first abutting piece are large in machining space, small in limitation and low in machining difficulty, and low-cost production and machining of the snake bone unit and the active bending section can be achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of endoscopes, and particularly relates to a snake bone unit, an active bending section and an endoscope. Background Art

[0002] An endoscope is a medical device that can directly enter the human body cavity for examination and provide sufficient diagnostic information for doctors. An endoscope generally includes: an insertion part for inserting into the human body, a handle for controlling the bending of the front end of the insertion part, and a display device for displaying the internal environment of the natural human cavity; through the cooperation of the above three parts, the endoscope can achieve peeping into the human body, exploring lesions and treatment. The insertion part includes an active bending section and a passive bending section, and the active bending section is located at the distal end of the insertion part. In the related art, a traction rope is arranged in the handle, the distal end of the traction rope is fixedly connected to the distal snake bone joint of the active bending section, and the proximal end of the traction rope is fixedly connected to a dial or a knob on the handle. By operating the lever or the knob, the traction rope can move synchronously and in opposite directions, so that the active bending section of the insertion part bends. A camera module is arranged at the distal end of the active bending section. After the insertion part extends into the human body, the direction of the camera module can be adjusted by bending the active bending section, so that the camera module is aligned with the lesion site to provide diagnostic information for doctors.

[0003] During the implementation of the present invention by the applicant, it is found that it is beneficial to operate in the renal calyx when the distal end of the active bending section bends before the proximal end. However, how to improve the production quality while ensuring that the radial dimension of the active bending section remains unchanged is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this application is to provide a snake bone unit, an active bending section and an endoscope to solve the above technical problems existing in the prior art.

[0005] This application is implemented as follows: In the first aspect, this application provides a snake bone unit, which is applied to the active bending section of an endoscope. The snake bone unit includes a base body. An outer connection part is arranged at the distal end of the base body, and an inner connection part is arranged at the proximal end of the base body. The inner connection part is used for rotatably connecting with the outer connection part of an adjacent snake bone unit around a first axis. A first abutting member is arranged on the side of the outer connection part, and a first arc-shaped abutting surface is arranged on the axial end surface of the inner connection part. The first arc-shaped abutting surface is located on the same circumference of the first axis. The first arc-shaped abutting surface is used for abutting and cooperating with the first abutting member of an adjacent snake bone unit to adjust the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units.

[0006] In the second aspect, this application provides an active bending section, which includes a plurality of snake bone units connected end to end in sequence along the axis. The snake bone unit located at the proximal end is the above-mentioned snake bone unit.

[0007] In a third aspect, the present application provides an endoscope, which includes a handle and an insertion portion. The proximal end of the insertion portion is connected to the handle, and the insertion portion includes the active bending section as described above provided at the distal end.

[0008] The technical solution provided by the present application can achieve the following beneficial effects: In the present application, by the cooperation of the first abutting member and the first arc-shaped abutting surface, the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units is adjusted. Based on the change of the rotational damping between the active bending sections, especially when the rotational damping at the distal end of the active bending section is less than that at the proximal end, the distal end of the active bending section will deform into a bend prior to the proximal end, and the introduction of the microstructures will not increase the radial dimension of the snake bone units, ensuring the passing performance of the insertion portion of the endoscope. Moreover, it can also ensure that the rotational damping changes constantly during rotation, enabling the operator to achieve more stable and complete control, thereby improving the control accuracy of the bending angle of the active bending section. On the other hand, the first arc-shaped abutting surface and the first abutting member have a large machining space, few restrictions, and low machining difficulty, enabling low-cost production and machining of the snake bone units and the active bending section. Description of the Drawings

[0009] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic structural view of the snake bone unit of the present application; Figure 2 is a schematic connection structure view of two adjacent snake bone units of the present application; Figure 3 is Figure 2 a partial enlarged view of part A in Figure 4 is a connection cross-sectional view of two adjacent snake bone units of the present application; Figure 5 is a schematic connection structure view of multiple snake bone units of the present application; Figure 6 is a schematic structural view of the first abutting member of the type II structure of the present application; Figure 7 is a schematic structural view of the endoscope of the present application.

[0011] In the figures: 10. Insertion part; 11. Active bending section; 100. Substrate; 110. Outer connection part; 111. First abutting member; 1111. Fixed end; 1112. Free end; 112. Second arc-shaped abutting surface; 120. Inner connection part; 121. First arc-shaped abutting surface; 122. Second abutting member; 130. Transition part; 140. First axis; 20. Handle. Detailed implementation manners

[0012] To make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the present invention will be described in detail below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. All other implementation manners obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts fall within the scope protected by the present invention.

[0013] In the description and claims, "and / or" indicates at least one of the connected objects. The character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after.

[0014] In the embodiments of the present application, "proximal end" and "distal end" refer to the relative positions of the endoscope and its accessories to the user in the use environment. Among them, the end closer to the user is designated as the "proximal end", and the end farther from the user is designated as the "distal end".

[0015] In the prior art, in order to achieve that the distal end of the active bending section in the insertion part of the endoscope bends first and the proximal end bends later, damping can be increased at the hinge joints of two snake bone segments to change the bending damping difference between the proximal end and the distal end of the active bending section, so that the distal end is easier to bend than the proximal end. However, due to the small size of the snake bone segment itself, if a microstructure is added to achieve the change of damping, on the one hand, the addition of the microstructure is likely to change the radial dimension of the active bending section, resulting in an increase in the radial dimension of the active bending section and a decrease in the passing ability of the insertion part of the endoscope; on the other hand, the position of the microstructure will increase the processing difficulty due to the limited processing space, resulting in an increase in production cost and a decrease in the product quality stability.

[0016] In view of this, the present application provides a snake bone unit, an active bending section and an endoscope. By arranging a microstructure for adjusting the rotational damping axially, the radial dimension of the active bending section will not be changed. At the same time, the microstructure is arranged on the side of the outer connection part, and both the first arc-shaped abutting surface and the first abutting member can be processed with high freedom from the outside, providing sufficient processing space for the processing of the microstructure, reducing the processing difficulty, and improving the quality and effect of product production and processing, as described in the following embodiments.

[0017] Embodiment 1 This embodiment provides a snake bone unit, which is applied to the active bending section of an endoscope. Specifically, the active bending section can be composed of a plurality of snake bone units connected end to end in sequence along the axis. A camera module and a lighting module are arranged at the distal end of the active bending section, and the proximal end of the active bending section is connected to the handle of the endoscope through a passive bending section. The proximal end of the traction rope is connected to the lever, and the distal end of the traction rope is connected to the distal end of the active bending section. The traction rope is driven by the lever on the handle to drive the active bending section to undergo a shaped bend; as Figure 1 shown, the snake bone unit includes a base body 100. An outer connection part 110 is arranged at the distal end of the base body 100, and an inner connection part 120 is arranged at the proximal end of the base body 100. As Figures 2 to 5 shown, the inner connection part 120 is used for rotatably connecting with the outer connection part 110 of an adjacent snake bone unit around a first axis 140. The rotational connection is a prior art technology and can be specifically realized by adopting a micro bearing structure, an elastic hinge or a ball and socket joint structure; a first abutting member 111 is arranged on the side of the outer connection part 110, and a first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 is arranged on the axial end surface of the inner connection part 120. The first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 is located on the same circumference of the first axis 140. The first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 is used for abutting and cooperating with the first abutting member 111 of an adjacent snake bone unit to adjust the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units. Based on the change of the rotational damping between the active bending sections 11, especially when the rotational damping at the distal end of the active bending section 11 is less than that at the proximal end, under the drive of the traction rope, the distal end of the active bending section 11 will undergo a bending deformation prior to the proximal end, and the introduction of the micro structure will not increase the radial dimension of the snake bone unit, ensuring the passing performance of the insertion part 10 of the endoscope. At the same time, since the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 is located on the same circumference of the first axis 140, when two snake bone units rotate, the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 and the first abutting member 111 maintain stable abutting, and thus the rotational damping remains stable and unchanged, thereby ensuring that the rotational damping fluctuates little during rotation, enabling the operator to more stably complete the bending angle control, and thereby improving the control accuracy of the bending angle of the active bending section 11; on the other hand, since the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 is arranged on the axial end surface of the inner connection part 120, during production, it can be freely processed from the axial end of the snake bone unit. Specifically, the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 can be formed by laser cutting on the outside of the inner connection part 120. The moving space of the laser source is large, the limitation is small, and the processing difficulty is low; for the first abutting member 111, since it is arranged on the side of the outer connection part 110 and the outer connection part 110 is also at the end of the snake bone unit, the first abutting member 111 can be formed by stamping from the outside to the inside, making the first abutting member 111, the outer connection part 110 and the base body 100 integrally formed. The processing process is simple, the moving space of the stamping equipment is large, the limitation is small, and the processing difficulty is low, thereby realizing the low-cost production and processing of the snake bone unit and the active bending section 11.

[0018] In some embodiments, the first abutting member 111, the outer connecting portion 110, the base body 100, the inner connecting portion 120, and the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 are integrally formed.

[0019] In some embodiments, to further reduce the processing difficulty of the first abutting member 111, the outer connecting portion 110 may be connected to the base body 100 through a transition portion 130, and the first abutting member 111 is disposed on the transition portion 130. Since the outer connecting portion 110 is generally a flat plate structure and the base body 100 is generally a circular tubular structure, there is a certain height difference between the side of the outer connecting portion 110 and the outer peripheral wall of the base body 100, and the transition portion 130 is at the position with the height difference, so that the transition portion 130 is exposed outside the base body, reserving a processing space for the stamping forming of the first abutting member 111, enabling high-degree-of-freedom stamping forming inward from the outside of the base body 100, effectively reducing the processing difficulty of the first abutting member 111, and ensuring the forming quality of the first abutting member 111.

[0020] In some embodiments, to achieve the long-term realization of the function that the distal end of the active bending section 11 bends prior to the proximal end, the first abutting member 111 may be set as an arc-shaped structure, and the opening direction of the first abutting member 111 deviates from the first axis 140 along the radial direction of the first axis 140. When the first abutting member 111 is in abutting cooperation with the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121, it can force the arc-shaped first abutting member 111 to produce a certain elastic deformation. As the rotation between the snake bone units continues to operate, certain wear will occur between the first abutting member 111 and the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121. At this time, the elastic deformation of the arc-shaped first abutting member 111 is restored to offset the wear, so that the first abutting member 111 and the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 can continuously maintain stable abutting after rotational wear, and further enable the rotational damping to continuously and stably exist during long-term operation, thereby ensuring the long-term realization of the function that the distal end of the active bending section 11 bends prior to the proximal end.

[0021] In some embodiments, the first abutting member 111 has at least one fixed end and at most one free end 1112. The free end 1112 is used to adjust the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units. Correspondingly, the first abutting member 111 has a type-I structure and a type-II structure. The type-I structure of the first abutting member 111 is an arc-shaped structure, and both ends of the arc-shaped structure are fixed ends 1111 connected to the transition portion 130, as Figure 6As shown, the type-II structure of the first abutting member 111 is an arc structure. One end of the arc structure is a fixed end 1111 connected to the transition portion 130, and the other end of the arc structure is a free end 1112. Under the same arc structure, the deformation resistance of the type-I structure is greater than that of the type-II structure. Furthermore, when cooperating with the first arc abutting surface 121, the rotational damping brought by the type-I structure is greater than that brought by the type-II structure. Subsequently, when assembling the active bending section, the proximal snake bone units of the active bending section 11 can be set as the type-I structure, and the middle or distal snake bone units of the active bending section 11 can be set as the type-II structure, so as to stably achieve that the rotational damping of the proximal end is greater than that of the distal end, realize that the distal end of the active bending section bends before the proximal end, effectively reduce the assembly accuracy requirements, and reduce the processing difficulty and production cost.

[0022] In some embodiments, to reduce the influence of the cooperation between the first abutting member 111 and the first arc abutting surface 121 on the rotational stability between the snake bone units, a second abutting member 122 can be provided on the radially outer side of the inner connecting portion 120. A second arc abutting surface 112 is provided on the axial end surface of the outer connecting portion 110. The second arc abutting surface 112 is located on the same circumference of the first axis 140. The second arc abutting surface 112 is used to abut and cooperate with the second abutting member 122 of the adjacent snake bone unit, so as to achieve the coaxial rotational connection balance between the inner connecting portion 120 and the outer connecting portion 110 of the adjacent snake bone unit, enabling stable coaxial rotational cooperation between adjacent two snake bone units and realizing that the distal end of the active bending section 11 bends before the proximal end.

[0023] In some embodiments, to improve the rotational cooperation stability between the snake bone units, a plurality of first abutting members 111 can be evenly provided on the side of the outer connecting portion 110. At least one second abutting member 122 is provided on the radially outer side of the inner connecting portion 120. The second abutting member 122 and the plurality of first abutting members 111 are evenly arranged around the first axis 140 and are located on the same circumference of the first axis 140, so as to achieve the coaxial rotational connection balance between the inner connecting portion 120 and the outer connecting portion 110 of the adjacent snake bone unit.

[0024] Embodiment 2 This embodiment provides an active bending section 11, which includes a plurality of snake bone units connected end to end in sequence along the axis. The snake bone unit located at the proximal end is the snake bone unit in Embodiment 1. The cooperation between the first abutting member 111 and the first arc abutting surface 121 increases the rotational damping of the proximal end of the active bending section 11, so that when the active bending section 11 is subjected to a bending traction force, the distal end bends before the proximal end, and it will not change the radial dimension of the active bending section 11, ensuring the passing performance of the insertion portion 10 of the endoscope.

[0025] Specifically, from the proximal end to the distal end, the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units gradually decreases.

[0026] In some embodiments, from the proximal end to the distal end, the active bending section 11 includes a first section, a second section, and a third section. In the first section, the first abutting member 111 has two fixed ends 1111 connected to the base body 100. In the second section, the first abutting member 111 has one fixed end 1111 and one free end 1112 connected to the base body 100. That is, the snake bone units with type I structure are arranged in the first section, and the snake bone units with type II structure are arranged in the second section, so that the rotational damping between the snake bone units in the second section is less than that between the snake bone units in the first section. Furthermore, it is not necessary to precisely control and install the transfer pressure between the first abutting member 111 and the first arc-shaped abutting surface 121 during the production process, and the gradual setting of the rotational damping can be achieved, further reducing the processing and assembly difficulty, ensuring the product quality, and reducing the production cost.

[0027] In some embodiments, snake bone units with type I structure can also be arranged in the first section, and snake bone units with type II structure can be arranged in the second section and the third section; or snake bone units with type I structure can be arranged in the first section and the second section, and snake bone units with type II structure can be arranged in the third section.

[0028] Embodiment 3 This embodiment provides an endoscope, as Figure 7 shown, including a handle 20 and an insertion part 10. The proximal end of the insertion part 10 is connected to the handle 20, and the insertion part 10 includes an active bending section 11 at the distal end as in Embodiment 2.

[0029] The endoscope provided by the embodiments of the present application can be a nephroscope, or can also be a bronchoscope, an esophagoscope, a gastroscope, a colonoscope, an otoscope, a nasal endoscope, an oral endoscope, a laryngoscope, a vaginoscope, a laparoscope, an arthroscope, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the types of endoscopes.

[0030] It should be noted that in this article, the term "including", "comprising" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "including one..." does not exclude the existence of another identical element in the process, method, article or device including that element.

[0031] The above are only specific embodiments of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A snake bone unit is applied to the active bending section of an endoscope, and is characterized in that, It includes a base body. An outer connecting portion is provided at the distal end of the base body, and an inner connecting portion is provided at the proximal end of the base body. The inner connecting portion is used for rotatably connecting with the outer connecting portion of an adjacent snake bone unit around a first axis. A first abutting member is provided on the side of the outer connecting portion, and a first arc-shaped abutting surface is provided on the axial end surface of the inner connecting portion. The first arc-shaped abutting surface is located on the same circumference of the first axis. The first arc-shaped abutting surface is used for abutting and cooperating with the first abutting member of an adjacent snake bone unit to adjust the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units.

2. The snake bone unit according to claim 1, characterized in that, The outer connecting portion is connected to the base body through a transition portion, and the first abutting member is provided on the transition portion.

3. The snake bone unit according to claim 2, wherein The first abutting member is of an arc-shaped structure, and the opening direction of the first abutting member deviates from the first axis along the radial direction of the first axis.

4. A snake bone unit according to claim 3, wherein The first abutting member has at least one fixed end and at most one free end, and the free end is used for adjusting the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units.

5. A snake bone unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, A second abutting member is provided on the radial outer side of the inner connecting portion, and a second arc-shaped abutting surface is provided on the axial end surface of the outer connecting portion. The second arc-shaped abutting surface is located on the same circumference of the first axis. The second arc-shaped abutting surface is used for abutting and cooperating with the second abutting member of an adjacent snake bone unit to achieve the coaxial rotational connection balance between the inner connecting portion and the outer connecting portion of an adjacent snake bone unit.

6. The snake bone unit according to claim 5, characterized in that, A plurality of first abutting members are evenly provided on the side of the outer connecting portion, and at least one second abutting member is provided on the radial outer side of the inner connecting portion. The second abutting member and the plurality of first abutting members are evenly arranged around the first axis and are located on the same circumference of the first axis.

7. An active bending section, characterized in that, It includes a plurality of snake bone units connected end to end in sequence along the axis, and is characterized in that the snake bone unit at the proximal end is the snake bone unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. An active bending section according to claim 7, wherein From the proximal end to the distal end, the rotational damping between two adjacent snake bone units gradually decreases.

9. An active bending section according to claim 7, wherein From the proximal end to the distal end, the active bending section includes a first section, a second section and a third section. In the first section, the first abutting member has two fixed ends connected to the base body. In the second section, the first abutting member has one fixed end and one free end connected to the base body.

10. An endoscope, characterized in that, It includes a handle and an insertion portion. The proximal end of the insertion portion is connected to the handle, and the insertion portion includes an active bending section as described in any one of claims 7 to 9 provided at the distal end.

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