Endoscope Optical System with Rotating Prism Groups for Variable Illumination
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopes face challenges in achieving uniform illumination across a wide variable visual field, leading to uneven brightness in subject images due to the difficulty in illuminating all directions uniformly.
Innovation Solution
The endoscope optical system unit incorporates a light-emitting section and a first optical-path deflecting prism group with three adjacent prisms that allow for variable illumination direction by rotational movement, and a second optical-path deflecting prism group with three adjacent prisms that adjust the visual field direction, ensuring both illumination and visual field direction can be altered independently and uniformly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a wide range is illuminated in all directions to cover the variable visual field, then the coverage area is improved, but the uniformity of illumination intensity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The illuminating optical system is divided into multiple independent illumination sections, each capable of directing light to different regions. This segmentation allows the system to cover a wide area while maintaining uniform intensity by controlling each section independently, avoiding the brightness unevenness that occurs when attempting to illuminate all directions simultaneously with a single wide-range source.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the endoscope inserting section is bent to observe various body parts, then the observation flexibility is improved, but the operational complexity and risk to the patient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical bending of the inserting section with an optical field deflection mechanism. By using a deflection prism that can rotate and tilt, the system achieves variable visual field observation without physically bending the endoscope body, thereby simplifying the device structure and reducing operational complexity while maintaining observation flexibility.
3Device complexity
If the illumination direction is fixed while the visual field direction varies, then the optical system structure is simplified, but the illumination uniformity across different visual field directions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The illumination system incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities where the illumination direction can be independently controlled relative to the visual field direction. The deflection prism can rotate around the optical axis and tilt, allowing the illumination to dynamically adapt to different observation angles, ensuring uniform illumination across the entire variable visual field while maintaining a relatively compact optical structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enables uniform and adequate brightness across the visual field without bending the endoscope, allowing for flexible illumination and visualization in narrow spaces by synchronizing the rotational axes of the prisms in the illuminating and objective optical systems.
Implementation Method 1
a first optical-path deflecting prism group which takes in illumination light emitted from the light-emitting section, and irradiates light to a subject upon deflecting an optical path
Implementation Method 2
a light-emitting section, and a first optical-path deflecting prism group which takes in illumination light emitted from the light-emitting section
Data Source
AI summary
An endoscope optical system unit includes an endoscope illuminating optical system and an endoscope objective optical system. The endoscope illuminating optical system includes a light-emitting section and a first optical-path deflecting prism group, which includes a first prism, a second prism, and a third prism. The endoscope objective optical system includes a lens group and a second optical-path deflecting prism group, which includes a fourth prism, a fifth prism, and a sixth prism. A direction of irradiation of illumination light by the endoscope illuminating optical system, and a visual field direction of the endoscope objective optical system, are variable by rotation of the prisms.