阅读说明：本技术 内窥镜蛇骨单元、蛇骨组件及内窥镜 (Endoscope snake bone unit, snake bone assembly and endoscope ) 是由 郭毅军 罗文辉 于 2019-09-30 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种内窥镜蛇骨单元、蛇骨组件及内窥镜,包括筒状的骨节主体,骨节主体沿其轴向的两端分别为第一连接端和第二连接端,第一连接端的外壁上沿周向设置有凸出部,第二连接端的内壁设置有与凸出部对应的凹入部,凹入部的最大直径大于等于凸出部的最大直径,且所述第二连接端远离所述第一连接端的一端形成缩口,缩口的直径小于所述凸出部的最大直径；所述第一连接端具有弹性和/或第二连接端具有弹性,能够产生沿径向的弹性形变。本发明,两个蛇骨单元通过第一连接端内收变形和/或第二连接端外张变形,从而实现套接；在套接后变形的部件恢复实现防脱离；通过蛇骨单元自身结构实现对接,减少连接部件,连接强度更高,不易变形。(The invention provides an endoscope snake bone unit, a snake bone assembly and an endoscope, which comprise a cylindrical bone joint main body, wherein a first connecting end and a second connecting end are respectively arranged at two ends of the bone joint main body along the axial direction of the bone joint main body; the first connecting end has elasticity and/or the second connecting end has elasticity, can produce radial elastic deformation. According to the invention, the two snake bone units are deformed by inward contraction of the first connecting end and/or outward expansion of the second connecting end, so that sleeving connection is realized; the deformed part is restored after the sleeve joint to realize the separation prevention; the snake bone units are butted through the self structures, connecting parts are reduced, the connecting strength is higher, and the snake bone units are not easy to deform.)

1. An endoscopic snake bone unit characterized by: the bone joint comprises a cylindrical bone joint main body, wherein a first connecting end and a second connecting end are respectively arranged at two axial ends of the bone joint main body, a protruding part is arranged on the outer wall of the first connecting end along the circumferential direction, a concave part corresponding to the protruding part is arranged on the inner wall of the second connecting end, the maximum diameter of the inner profile surface of the concave part is larger than or equal to the maximum diameter of the outer profile surface of the protruding part, a necking is formed at one end, far away from the first connecting end, of the second connecting end, and the diameter of the necking is smaller than the maximum diameter of the protruding part; the first connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation which contracts inwards along the radial direction; and/or the second connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation expanding outwards along the radial direction.

2. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 1, wherein: the outer profile surface of the convex part and the inner profile surface of the concave part are cambered surfaces, and the arc radius of the inner profile surface of the second connecting end is greater than or equal to that of the outer profile surface of the first connecting end; the inner diameter of the necking of the second connecting end is smaller than the arc diameter of the outer profile surface.

3. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 1, wherein: an avoiding part is arranged between the first connecting end and the second connecting end on the outer wall of the condyle main body.

4. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 1, wherein: and a stopping part for limiting the axial rotation range is arranged on the outer wall of the condyle body.

5. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 1, wherein: and a through hole for the traction wire to pass through is formed in the inner wall of the condyle body along the direction parallel to the axis.

6. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 5, wherein: the inner wall of the condyle body is provided with a boss, and the through hole is formed in the boss.

7. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 6, wherein: the boss is arranged on the inner wall of the condyle body corresponding to the first connecting end.

8. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to claim 1, wherein: a first guide surface is arranged between the outer wall and the end face of the first connecting end and/or a second guide surface is arranged between the inner wall and the end face of the second connecting end; the first guide surface is an arc surface or an inclined surface, and the second guide surface is an arc surface or an inclined surface.

9. An endoscopic snake bone unit according to any of claims 1-8, wherein: the first connecting end and/or the second connecting end are/is provided with weakening grooves, and the weakening grooves radially penetrate through the condyle body and axially penetrate out of the end face of the condyle body.

10. An endoscopic snake bone unit characterized by: the bone joint comprises a cylindrical bone joint main body, wherein a first connecting end and a second connecting end are respectively arranged at two axial ends of the bone joint main body, a concave part is arranged on the outer wall of the first connecting end along the circumferential direction, a convex part corresponding to the concave part is arranged on the inner wall of the second connecting end, and the minimum diameter of the convex part is larger than or equal to the minimum outer diameter of the concave part and smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the concave part; a flaring is formed at one end, far away from the first connecting end, of the second connecting end, and the maximum inner diameter of the flaring is larger than the maximum outer diameter of the end part of the first connecting end; the first connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation which contracts inwards along the radial direction; and/or the second connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation expanding outwards along the radial direction.

11. A snake bone component, which is characterized in that: comprising at least two endoscopic snake bone units according to any of claims 1-10 in series; in two adjacent snake bone units, the second connecting end of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved on the outer peripheral surface of the first connecting end of the next snake bone unit, so that the two adjacent snake bone units can rotate relatively in the axial direction and the circumferential direction, and the two adjacent snake bone units are limited to be separated through the matching of the convex part and the concave part.

12. An endoscope, characterized by: the snake bone assembly of claim 11 further comprising a pull wire, wherein the inner wall of each snake bone unit is provided with a through hole which is axially through, the pull wire passes through the through hole of the snake bone unit, one end of the pull wire is connected to the last snake bone unit, and the other end of the pull wire is connected to a control mechanism which drives the snake bone to bend.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of medical instruments, and particularly relates to an endoscope snake bone unit, a snake bone assembly and an endoscope.

Background

The snake bone structure is an important component for realizing the bending of the endoscope, and the snake bone structure of the traditional endoscope bending part is riveted and connected by a pin shaft or a rivet to form a hinge structure so as to realize relative rotation bending. In the hinge mode, the two snake bone units are weaker in connection strength, the precision requirement of the manufacturing and assembling process is high, the production process or operation has slight error, and the defects of snake bone joint deformation, cracking and the like are easily caused, so that the normal use of the endoscope is influenced; the production efficiency is low, the rejection rate is high, and the production and manufacturing cost is high. In addition, the snake bone joint can only realize the steering bending in two directions, or when the snake bone joint realizes the bending in four directions, one part of the snake bone unit joints are responsible for the bending in the up-down direction, and the other part of the snake bone unit joints are responsible for the bending in the left-right direction, so that the number of the snake bone unit joints is large, and the difficulty of production and manufacturing is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-described drawbacks of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope snake bone unit which improves the strength and reliability of connection.

In order to achieve the above objects and other related objects, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

an endoscope snake bone unit comprises a cylindrical bone joint main body, wherein a first connecting end and a second connecting end are respectively arranged at two axial ends of the bone joint main body, a convex part is arranged on the outer wall of the first connecting end along the circumferential direction, a concave part corresponding to the convex part is arranged on the inner wall of the second connecting end, the maximum diameter of the inner profile surface of the concave part is larger than the maximum diameter of the outer profile surface of the convex part, a necking is formed at one end, far away from the first connecting end, of the second connecting end, and the diameter of the necking is smaller than the maximum diameter of the convex part; the first connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation which contracts inwards along the radial direction; and/or the second connecting end has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation expanding outwards along the radial direction.

By adopting the structure, when two snake bone units are connected, the second connecting end of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved outside the first connecting end of the next snake bone unit, wherein the first connecting end is deformed by inward contraction and/or the second connecting end is deformed by outward expansion during connection, so that sleeving connection is realized; the deformed part is recovered after the sleeving, and the convex part is matched with the concave part, so that the two snake bone units are limited to be separated; the snake bone units are butted through the self structures, connecting parts are reduced, and compared with the traditional hinge, the snake bone units are higher in strength and not prone to deformation.

Optionally, the outer profile surface of the protruding portion and the inner profile surface of the recessed portion are arc surfaces, and the arc radius of the inner profile surface of the second connecting end is greater than or equal to the arc radius of the arc outer profile surface of the first connecting end; the inner diameter of the necking of the second connecting end is smaller than the arc diameter of the inner profile surface.

Optionally, an avoiding portion is arranged on the outer wall of the condyle main body and between the first connecting end and the second connecting end.

Optionally, a stop portion for limiting the axial rotation range is arranged on the outer wall of the condyle body.

Optionally, a through hole for a traction wire to pass through is formed in the inner wall of the condyle body along a direction parallel to the axis; the inner wall of the condyle body is provided with a boss, and the through hole is formed in the boss.

Optionally, the boss is disposed on an inner wall of the condyle body corresponding to the first connection end.

Optionally, a first guide surface is arranged between the outer wall of the first connecting end and the end surface, and/or a second guide surface is arranged between the inner wall of the second connecting end and the end surface; the first guide surface is an arc surface or an inclined surface, and the second guide surface is an arc surface or an inclined surface.

Optionally, the first connecting end and/or the second connecting end is provided with a weakening groove, and the weakening groove radially penetrates through the condyle body and axially penetrates out of the end face of the condyle body.

The invention also provides a snake bone component, which comprises at least two endoscope snake bone units which are connected in series; in two adjacent snake bone units, the second connecting end of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved on the outer peripheral surface of the first connecting end of the next snake bone unit, so that the two adjacent snake bone units can rotate relatively in the axial direction and the circumferential direction, and the two adjacent snake bone units are limited to be separated through the matching of the concave part and the convex part.

The invention also provides an endoscope, which comprises the snake bone assembly and a traction wire, wherein the inner wall of each snake bone unit is provided with a through hole which is axially communicated, the traction wire passes through the through hole of the snake bone unit, one end of the traction wire is connected to the last snake bone unit, and the other end of the traction wire is connected to a control mechanism which drives the snake bone to bend.

As described above, the present invention has the following advantageous effects: according to the invention, when two snake bone units are connected, the second connecting end of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved outside the first connecting end of the next snake bone unit, wherein the first connecting end is deformed by inward contraction and/or the second connecting end is deformed by outward expansion during connection, so that sleeving connection is realized; the deformed part is recovered after the sleeving, and the convex part is matched with the concave part, so that the two snake bone units are limited to be separated; the snake bone units are butted through the self structures, connecting parts are reduced, and compared with the traditional hinge, the snake bone units are higher in strength and not prone to deformation.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a snake bone unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a snake bone unit in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a snake bone unit according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a snake bone unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of key components shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a snake bone unit in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the connection of the snake bone assembly in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of snake bone units sleeved together in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic views showing the structure of the serpentine bone member in a bent state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a snake bone assembly as a curved portion of an endoscope in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Part number description:

100-snake bone unit; 11-a first connection end; 11 a-a projection; 11 b-a first guide surface; 11 c-a recess; 12-a second connection end; 12 a-a recess; 12 b-a second guide surface; 12 c-a projection; 13-a boss; 14-a via hole; 15-an avoidance portion; 16-a weakening groove; 17-a stop; 17 a-step; 17 b-the outer wall of the condyle body; 200-a traction wire.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure.

Examples

In this example, the front and rear directions are the front direction toward the patient and the rear direction away from the patient when the endoscope is used.

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, an endoscope snake bone unit in this example is used to form a bending part of an endoscope in series; the endoscope snake bone unit comprises a cylindrical bone joint main body, wherein two ends (namely front and rear ends) of the bone joint main body along the axial direction are respectively a first connecting end 11 and a second connecting end 12 (or are a first joint and a second joint), a circle of protruding parts 11a are arranged on the outer wall of the first connecting end 11 along the circumferential direction, and the protruding parts 11a are continuous or discontinuous in the circumferential direction; the inner wall of the second connecting end 12 is provided with a circle of concave parts 12a along the circumferential direction, and the size of the concave parts 12a is matched with that of the convex parts 11a, so that when two snake bone units are sleeved, the concave part 12a of the previous snake bone unit can be sleeved outside the convex part 11a of the next snake bone unit and can freely rotate relative to each other; specifically, the maximum diameter of the concave part 12a is greater than or equal to the maximum diameter of the convex part 11a, a reduced opening is formed at one end (namely, the free end) of the second connecting end 12 far away from the first connecting end 11, and the diameter of the inner ring of the reduced opening is smaller than the maximum diameter of the convex part 11a, so that the separation prevention is realized after the two snake bone units are sleeved; the first connection end 11 has elasticity, and can generate elastic deformation shrinking inward along the radial direction when being subjected to an extrusion force from outside to inside, and can recover outward when an external force is relieved; or the second connecting end 12 has elasticity, and when the inner wall is subjected to extrusion force from inside to outside, the second connecting end can generate elastic deformation expanding outwards along the radial direction, namely, the second connecting end is expanded; when the squeezing force is released, the inward recovery is realized; or the first connection end 11 and the second connection end 12 have the above-described elastic deformation characteristic, respectively.

Due to the elastic deformation characteristic, when the second connecting end 12 of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved outside the first connecting end 11 of the next snake bone unit, at least one of the connecting ends is elastically deformed, so that the snake bone unit can be sleeved, an additional connecting part is not needed, and the snake bone unit is easy to assemble.

When two snake bone units are connected, the second connecting end 12 of the previous snake bone unit is sleeved outside the first connecting end 11 of the next snake bone unit, wherein the first connecting end 11 is deformed by inward contraction and/or the second connecting end 12 is deformed by outward expansion during connection, so that sleeving connection is realized; the deformed member is restored after the housing, and the convex portion 11a and the concave portion 12a are engaged, thereby restricting the disengagement of the two snake bone units; the snake bone units are butted through the self structures, connecting parts are reduced, and compared with the traditional hinge, the snake bone units are higher in strength and not prone to deformation.

In one embodiment, the outer profile surface of the convex portion 11a and the inner profile surface of the concave portion 12a are arc surfaces, i.e., the cross-sectional profile in the axial direction is arc-shaped; the arc radius R2 of the inner profile surface of the second connection end 12 is greater than or equal to the arc radius R1 of the outer profile surface of the first connection end 11, and the centers O1 and O2 of the two arcs are both located within the profile range of the corresponding connection end; the reduced inner diameter d1 of the second connection end 12 is smaller than the circular arc diameter 2R1 of the inner profile surface (i.e., the maximum diameter d3 of the protrusion 11 a), and the reduced inner diameter d1 is larger than the outer diameter d2 of the end surface of the first connection end 11, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In order to facilitate the axial relative rotation between the adjacent snake bone units after the snake bone units are connected in series, an avoiding part 15 is arranged on the outer wall of the main body of the bone section between the first connecting end 11 and the second connecting end 12 and used for providing an avoiding space required by the bending of the two adjacent snake bone units when the snake bone assembly is bent. In this example, the avoiding portion 15 is a groove formed in the outer wall of the main body of the condyle. In other embodiments, the outer diameter of this location is smaller than the outer diameter of the first connection end 11, thereby forming the relief 15.

In order to limit the range of relative rotation between adjacent serial snake bone units along the axial direction, a stopping part 17 is arranged on the outer wall of the joint main body, wherein the stopping part 17 can be a step 17a formed on the outer wall of the joint main body, such as an avoiding groove wall, and the maximum limiting is achieved when the second connecting end 12 rotates to abut against the step; the stop portion 17 may also be formed by an outer wall of the condyle body with a reduced outer diameter, such as an escape groove bottom 17b, which reaches a maximum limit when the second connecting end 12 rotates to abut against the outer wall of the condyle body, as shown in fig. 8. When the diameter D of the groove bottom of the avoidance groove is smaller, the groove width L is about large, and a larger bending angle can be obtained, as shown in fig. 5.

In order to facilitate the bending action of the snake bone component, a through hole 14 for a traction wire to pass through is arranged on the inner wall of the condyle body along the direction parallel to the axis; in this example, there are at least two through holes 14, and four through holes are uniformly distributed along the inner wall of the condyle body in the circumferential direction for convenience of operation.

Wherein, the inner wall of the condyle body is provided with a boss 13, a through hole 14 is arranged on the boss 13, and the boss 13 and the condyle body are integrally formed in the embodiment. Specifically, the boss 13 is disposed at a position offset from the second connection end 12, in this example, on the inner wall of the condyle body corresponding to the first connection end 11 or the inner wall of the condyle body corresponding to the avoidance groove.

In order to facilitate the sleeve joint between the snake bone units and reduce the sleeve joint resistance of the two snake bone units, a first guide surface 11b is arranged between the outer wall and the end surface of the first connecting end 11, and the first guide surface 11b is an arc surface or an inclined surface, namely, an inclined surface or an arc transition is formed; or a second guide surface 12b is arranged between the inner wall and the end surface of the second connecting end 12; the second guide surface 12b is an arc surface or an inclined surface, and forms an inclined surface or an arc transition; or both are provided with guide surfaces.

In one embodiment, the endoscope snake bone unit is made of plastic, namely, the first connecting end 11, the second connecting end 12, the bone section main body, the boss 13 and the like are integrally injection molded; the elastic deformation of the first connecting end 11 and the second connecting end 12 in this embodiment is due to the elasticity of the plastic itself.

In one embodiment, the endoscope snake bone unit is made of a rigid material such as metal, for example, stainless steel, copper alloy, etc.; the first connecting end 11 is provided with weakening grooves 16, the weakening grooves 16 radially penetrate through the condyle body and axially penetrate out of the end face (front end) of the first connecting end 11, so that one or more notches are formed for breaking the first connecting end 11 in the circumferential direction; the first connecting end 11 is convenient to contract inwards when being pressed; or the weakening groove 16 is formed in the second connecting end 12, and the weakening groove 16 axially penetrates out of the end face (namely the rear end) of the second connecting end 12; both of which may of course be provided with weakening grooves 16. In this case, to ensure the strength reliability, the weakening groove 16 is provided in the part located on the inner side when the ferrule is inserted, that is, the first connection end 11. When the snake bone unit section is formed by metal processing, the snake bone unit section is convenient to process by turning and milling, is not easy to generate the defects of deformation, cracking and the like, and has low processing cost.

Example 2

The difference of embodiment 1 is that the convex portion 12c is arranged on the outer wall of the first connection end 11, the concave portion 11c is arranged on the inner wall of the second connection end 12, as shown in fig. 6, that is, the concave portion 11c is arranged on the outer wall of the first connection end 11 along the circumferential direction, the convex portion 12c corresponding to the concave portion 11c is arranged on the inner wall of the second connection end 12, the minimum diameter of the convex portion 12c is greater than or equal to the minimum outer diameter of the concave portion 11c (that is, the circular arc radius of the convex portion 12c is greater than or equal to the circular arc radius of the concave portion 11 c), and is smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the concave portion 11 c; one end (rear end) of the second connecting end 12, which is far away from the first connecting end 11, is provided with a flaring, the maximum diameter of the flaring is larger than the maximum outer diameter of the end part of the first connecting end 11, so that the second connecting end 12 can be smoothly sleeved into the first connecting end 11 when the snake bone unit is sleeved; the first connection end 11 has elasticity and can generate elastic deformation which contracts inwards along the radial direction; and/or the second connection end 12 is elastic and capable of elastic deformation expanding radially outwards. The rest of the structure is similar or identical to that of embodiment 1.

Example 3

The invention also provides a snake bone component, which comprises at least two endoscope snake bone units 100 described in the embodiment 1 or the embodiment 2; the snake bone units 100 are connected in series to form the snake bone component, in two adjacent snake bone units 100, the second connecting end 12 of the previous snake bone unit 100 is sleeved outside the first connecting end 11 of the next snake bone unit 100, so that the two adjacent snake bone units 100 can rotate relatively in the axial direction and the circumferential direction, and the two adjacent snake bone units 100 are limited to be separated through the matching of the concave parts and the convex parts. The assembled relationship is shown in fig. 7 and 8, in which the direction of the arrow in fig. 7 is the direction of nesting, and fig. 8 shows an illustration of nesting together of adjacent snake bone units 100. The separation prevention between the adjacent snake bone units 100 is realized by means that the inner diameter of the necking part of the concave part is smaller than the diameter of the circular arc of the convex part (taking the embodiment 1 as an example), as shown at B in FIG. 9; the rotation range between the adjacent snake bone units 100 is limited by the stopper 17, as shown at a in fig. 9; the stop 17 can be a step 17a or an outer wall 17b of the condyle body, as shown in fig. 8.

The snake bone assembly can achieve bending in multiple directions, as shown in fig. 10.

As shown in FIG. 11, the present invention also provides an endoscope (the endoscope body is not shown, only the bending portion is shown), comprising the snake bone assembly, and further comprising a traction wire 200, wherein the traction wire 200 is used for drawing a plurality of snake bone joints to bend along the drawing direction. The traction wires 200 are generally steel wires, the number of the traction wires 200 corresponds to the number of the through holes of each snake bone unit 100, and the traction wires 200 pass through the corresponding through holes in each snake bone unit 100 to connect and control the bending of each snake bone unit 100. One end of the pulling wire 200 is connected to the last snake bone unit 100 (specifically, the fixing method may be bonding or welding, etc.), and the other end is connected to a control mechanism for driving the snake bone to bend. Pulling one end of the pull wire 200 achieves a directional bending of the bending portion to the pulling orientation.

The present invention can realize relative rotation bending between snake bone units by a simple structure and minimum components. The snake bone units are simple to connect and assemble, are suitable for production processes of metal processing, plastic die sinking and the like, and have low requirements on material selection, simple process, high production efficiency and low cost. By adopting the design of preventing the cambered surface from falling off, avoiding the groove to avoid space, limiting and the like, the product is reliable in connection and free in bending, and is not easy to generate the defects of deformation, cracking, displacement and the like.

Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention be covered by the claims of the present invention.