WO2010007810A1 - Light source device, and endoscope apparatus having the device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a light source device, which can retain the quantity of a blue light needed for observations with a light of a wavelength of a specific band, while retaining the quantity of a white light needed for observations with the white light. Also provided is an endoscope apparatus having the light source device. This light source device (10) comprises a blue LED and a yellow LED arranged in plurality on a circumference for emitting a blue light and a yellow light, respectively, radially inward of the circumference, an optical guide member (15) for guiding the lights emitted from the blue LED and the yellow LED, in a direction along the center axis of the circumference, a rotary unit for driving the optical guide member (15) rotationally on the center axis of the circumference, and a control unit (6) for controlling those components. The control unit (6) controls the lighting operations of the blue LED and the yellow LED in a first operation mode for lighting the blue LED and the yellow LED and in a second operation mode for lighting the blue LED.

Description

Light source device and endoscope apparatus provided with the same

The present invention relates to a light source device including a plurality of light sources and an endoscope device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a light source device that emits high-intensity illumination light by sequentially lighting a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) arranged in an annular shape with high output and rotating a light guide rod in accordance with the lighting cycle is known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). This light source device is configured such that a visible light spectrum can be complemented by a plurality of color LEDs.
Japanese Patent No. 3989302

There is an endoscope device as a main application of the above light source device. In the endoscope apparatus, a plurality of illumination modes are required depending on the observation target. Specific illumination modes include, for example, a white light observation mode in which white light is illuminated, and a special light observation mode in which only blue and green LEDs are turned on to emit only light of a specific wavelength band.

However, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is disclosed that the color of illumination light is adjusted by adjusting the light quantity of each LED. However, it corresponds to a plurality of illumination modes, and specifically an endoscope apparatus. There is no disclosure of the correspondence with the spectrum required for.

In the above Patent Document 1, when red LEDs, green LEDs, and blue LEDs are arranged on the circumference, all LEDs are turned on when white light is radiated to be white, and green LEDs are illuminated when light of a specific band wavelength is radiated. And the blue LED are turned on. However, according to such a configuration, there is a possibility that the lesioned part may be overlooked because white light at the time of white light observation has a missing spectrum. In addition, it is necessary to determine the number of LEDs of each color in consideration of white balance. As a result, the number of blue LEDs is decreased, and the amount of blue LEDs necessary for light irradiation with a wavelength in a specific band is insufficient. There is a fear.

On the other hand, when a pseudo white LED combining a blue lighting element and a phosphor and a blue LED or a green LED for irradiating light of a wavelength in a specific band are arranged on the circumference, the pseudo white LED is simulated during white light observation. The white LED is turned on, and the blue LED and the green LED are turned on when irradiating light of a wavelength in a specific band. However, according to such a configuration, there is an inconvenience that the amount of white light is drastically reduced as compared with the case where the pseudo white LED is used alone.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a light source device capable of ensuring the amount of blue light necessary when irradiating light of a wavelength in a specific band while ensuring the amount of white light necessary for white light observation. And it aims at providing an endoscope apparatus provided with the same.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following means.
A first aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of LEDs arranged side by side on a circumference, a blue LED that emits blue light radially inward of the circumference, a yellow LED that emits yellow light, and the blue LED And a light guide that guides the light emitted from the yellow LED in a direction along the central axis of the circumference, a rotating unit that rotationally drives the light guide around the central axis, and a control that controls these parts And the controller turns on the blue LED and the yellow LED in a first operation mode in which the blue LED and the yellow LED are turned on and a second operation mode in which the blue LED is turned on. It is the light source device which controls.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the first operation mode, the control unit turns on the blue LED and the yellow LED, the blue light emitted from the blue LED, and the yellow light emitted from the yellow LED. Are guided by the light guide unit, and white light obtained by combining these lights is illuminated. In the second operation mode, only the blue LED is turned on by the control unit, and the blue light emitted from the blue LED is guided and illuminated by the light guide unit.
Thus, in the first operation mode, all the LEDs are turned on to illuminate high-intensity white light, and in the second operation mode, the blue LEDs are turned on to illuminate blue light. Can do.

In the above light source device, the control unit may control a lighting period of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED based on a balance between the light amount of the blue LED and the light amount of the yellow LED.
By doing in this way, the color temperature of the white light obtained by synthesize | combining the blue light inject | emitted from blue LED, and the yellow light inject | emitted from yellow LED can be adjusted.

In the light source device, the control unit may control a current value of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED based on a balance between a light amount of the blue LED and a light amount of the yellow LED.
By doing in this way, the color temperature of the white light obtained by synthesize | combining the blue light inject | emitted from blue LED, and the yellow light inject | emitted from yellow LED can be adjusted.

A second aspect of the present invention is an endoscope apparatus including any of the light source devices described above and an imaging unit that captures an observation region illuminated by the light source device.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the white light is illuminated from the light source device by selecting the first operation mode in the observation with the white light, and the second operation mode selection is performed in the observation with the light of the wavelength in the specific band. By doing so, blue light is illuminated from the light source device. The image of the observation area illuminated in this way is acquired by the imaging unit.
Thereby, high-intensity white light is illuminated for observation with white light, and detailed observation is possible. In observation with light of a wavelength in a specific band, observation can be performed by illuminating blue light.

In the above endoscope apparatus, the control unit includes a mode switching unit that switches between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, and the observation acquired by the imaging unit in the first operation mode. It is good also as providing the display part which displays the image of an area | region, and the image of the observation area | region acquired by the said imaging part in the said 2nd operation mode side by side.
By doing in this way, the first switching mode and the second driving mode are switched by the mode switching unit, and the image of the observation area acquired in each driving mode is displayed side by side on the display unit. Thereby, observation with white light and observation with light of a specific band wavelength can be simultaneously performed on the observation region, and the lesion can be observed in more detail.

In the above endoscope apparatus, when the mode switching unit switches the operation mode, the blue LED and the yellow LED are set so that the light amount of the operation mode after switching is substantially equal to the light amount of the operation mode before switching. It is good also as adjusting at least any one of these light quantity.
In this way, even when the operation mode is switched, the amount of light illuminating the observation area can be made substantially equal, and observation can be continued without a sense of incongruity.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to secure the light amount of blue light necessary for observation with light of a wavelength in a specific band while securing the light amount of white light necessary for observation with white light.

It is a schematic diagram of the light source device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a structural example of LED of the light source device of FIG. It is a figure explaining LED made to light in each operation mode. It is a figure explaining the spectrum of yellow LED. It is a figure explaining the spectrum of the light source device of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the endoscope apparatus to which the light source device of FIG. 1 is applied. It is a flowchart explaining the brightness | luminance setting method of LED at the time of operation mode switching.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endoscope apparatus 6 Control part 10 Light source device 11 LED
15 Light guide member 20 Scope 22 CCD
23 Image processing device 24 Monitor

Hereinafter, an illumination device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the illumination device according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the light source device 10 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of LEDs 11 arranged side by side on the circumference, and a light guide member (light guide section) arranged radially inward of the circumference. ) 15, a rotation motor (rotation unit) (not shown) that drives the light guide member 15 to rotate about the central axis of the circumference, and a rotation sensor (rotation angle detection unit) (not shown) that detects the rotation angle of the rotation unit. And a control unit 6 for controlling these units.

The LED 11 has a blue LED that emits blue light and a yellow LED that emits yellow light. A plurality of blue LEDs and yellow LEDs are arranged side by side on the circumference, and emit blue light and yellow light respectively inward in the radial direction of the circumference. Note that a green LED that emits green light may be provided instead of some of the blue LEDs or yellow LEDs.

The light guide member 15 guides the light emitted from the LED 11 inward in the radial direction of the circumference, and the direction along the central axis O of the circumference of the light guided by the light guide rod 12. And a light guide rod 13 for guiding the light reflected by the prism 16. By having such a configuration, the light guide member 15 guides light emitted from the LEDs 11 in a direction along the central axis O of the circumference.

The rotation motor is arranged in a direction along the central axis O of the light guide member 15 and rotates the light guide member 15 around the central axis O.

The control unit 6 controls the above-described units so as to synchronize the lighting cycle of the LED 11 and the rotation cycle of the light guide member 15, and the first operation mode in which the blue LED and the yellow LED are lit, and only the blue LED. A mode switching unit (not shown) for switching the second operation mode to be lit is provided.

In addition, for example, a light detection unit (not shown) that detects light is disposed on the emission optical axis of the light guide member 15, and the control unit 6 determines the light amount of the blue LED and the yellow LED in the light detected by the light detection unit. The lighting period or current value of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED is controlled based on the balance with the amount of light.

In the light source device 10 having the above configuration, operations common to the first operation mode and the second operation mode will be described below.
When the driving of the light source device 10 is instructed, the control unit 6 outputs a control signal for driving the rotation motor to rotate, and detects the rotation phase of the light guide member 15 by the rotation sensor.

The control unit 6 controls the lighting of the LED 11 based on the rotation phase detected by the rotation sensor. That is, the control unit 6 identifies the LED that the light incident surface 17 of the light guide member 15 faces, supplies power to the identified LED, and emits light. At this time, the LED 11 is controlled so as to emit high-luminance light by being driven instantaneously with a current higher than the rated drive and pulsed.

Thereby, light is emitted from the LED 11, and light incident from the incident surface 17 is guided through the light guide member 15 and emitted from the emission surface 18 in a direction along the emission optical axis O. The light emitted in this way appears to be superimposed with the light from each LED.

Next, detailed operations in the first operation mode and the second operation mode will be described below using a configuration example of the LED 11 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 2, symbols Y1, Y2, and Y3 indicate yellow LEDs, symbols B1, B2, B3, and B4 indicate blue LEDs, and symbol G1 indicates a green LED. In order to simplify the description, a configuration including a total of eight LEDs will be described as an example here, but the present invention is not limited to this example.

In the above example, as shown in FIG. 3, in the white light observation mode (first operation mode), the yellow LEDs (reference numerals Y1, Y2, Y3) and the blue LEDs (reference numerals B1, B2, B3, B4) are turned on. Let In the special light observation mode (second operation mode), the blue LEDs (reference characters B1, B2, B3, and B4) and the green LED (reference symbol G1) are turned on.

Here, the spectrum of the yellow LED is shown in FIG.
A normal pseudo white LED emits white light by fluorescently converting a part of blue light. On the other hand, the yellow LED included in the light source device of the present embodiment converts all the light of the blue LED to fluorescence. In this way, by converting all the light of the blue LED to fluorescence, it is possible to obtain broad light with a yellow peak, and to obtain light with extremely high brightness compared to a normal pseudo white LED. it can. Further, regarding the blue wavelength range, the blue LED provided in the light source device of the present embodiment can obtain light with higher luminance than the pseudo white LED.

In the white light observation mode, as shown in FIG. 5, by turning on the yellow LED and the blue LED, the light guide member 15 guides the blue light emitted from the blue LED and the yellow light emitted from the yellow LED. It is illuminated and white light obtained by combining these lights is illuminated. At this time, the amount of light emitted from the exit surface 18 of the light guide member 15 is the sum of the high-power yellow LED and the blue LED, so that high-intensity white light can be illuminated.

In the special light observation mode, by turning on the blue LED and the green LED, the blue light emitted from the blue LED and the green light emitted from the green LED are guided by the light guide member 15 and these lights are emitted. Blue-green light obtained by synthesizing is illuminated. At this time, since the amount of light emitted from the exit surface 18 of the light guide member 15 is the sum of the high-output blue LED and the green LED, high-intensity blue-green light can be illuminated.

As described above, according to the light source device 10 according to the present embodiment, high-intensity white light can be illuminated by lighting all the LEDs in the first operation mode, and in the second operation mode. By turning on the blue LED and the green LED, blue-green light can be illuminated. Of course, in the second operation mode, only blue LED may be turned on to illuminate blue light.

Further, in the light source device 10 described above, the control unit 6 controls the lighting period or current value of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED based on the balance between the light amount of the blue LED and the light amount of the yellow LED. The color temperature of the white light obtained by combining the blue light emitted from the blue LED and the yellow light emitted from the yellow LED can be adjusted.

[Application example]
Below, the example which applied the above-mentioned light source device 10 to the endoscope apparatus is demonstrated.
FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of the endoscope apparatus 1 according to this application example.
As shown in FIG. 6, the endoscope apparatus 1 includes a light source device 10, a scope 20 connected to the light source device, and an image processing device 23 that performs image processing on a video signal from the scope 20 to generate a display image. And a monitor (display unit) 24 for displaying an image.

A fiber 21 that guides light from the light source device 10 to the tip of the scope 20 is provided inside the scope 20, and illuminates the observation region 30 that faces the tip of the scope 20. .
A distal end of the scope 20 is provided with a CCD (imaging unit) 22 that images the observation region 30, and an image of the observation region 30 is output to the image processing device 23 as a video signal.

The CCD 22 is provided with a color separation filter that performs color separation on a pixel-by-pixel basis, and the superimposed light from each LED is simultaneously transmitted in each color in synchronization with the rotation cycle of the rotary motor of the light source device 10 or the lighting cycle of the LED 11. It is designed to receive light. Here, the color separation filter uses a complementary color filter in order to increase the sensitivity of the pixel. By doing so, it is possible to deal with simultaneous imaging devices.

The monitor 24 can display the image of the observation area acquired by the CCD 22 in the white light observation mode and the image of the observation area acquired by the CCD 22 in the special light observation mode side by side.

The control unit 6 of the light source device 10 adjusts the light amount of the LED 11 based on the luminance information of the video signal from the CCD 22 so that the amount of light received by the CCD 22 is optimal.

In the endoscope apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration, when it is desired to perform observation with white light and observation with light of a specific band wavelength at the same time, for example, the observation mode of the light source device 10 is changed by the mode switching unit for each frame Switch. Thus, the image of the observation area acquired by the CCD 22 in each observation mode is subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 23 and then reproduced simultaneously on the monitor 24.

In addition, when performing observation with white light and observation with light of a specific band wavelength independently, it is possible to continue observation without switching the observation mode. Based on the luminance information in the operation mode, the luminance of the LED 11 in the observation mode after switching is set. A method for setting the luminance of the LED 11 at this time will be described below with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when an image of the observation area is acquired by the CCD 22 (S1), the luminance l of the acquired image is calculated (S2).
Next, the set brightness of the LED 11 is calculated (S3). When the observation mode is switched (S4), the set brightness of the LED 11 after switching the observation mode is calculated based on the brightness l of the image (S5). ).
Next, the LED 11 corresponding to the observation mode after switching is turned on (S6), and the calculated setting brightness of the LED 11 is set (S7).

As described above, according to the endoscope apparatus 1 according to this application example, in observation with white light, high-intensity white light is illuminated to enable detailed observation, and observation with light having a wavelength in a specific band is possible. Then, observation can be performed by illuminating blue light.

Moreover, the image of the observation region acquired by the CCD 22 in the white light observation mode and the image of the observation region acquired by the CCD 22 in the special light observation mode are displayed side by side on the monitor 24, and thus acquired in each observation mode. The image of the observation area is displayed side by side on the display unit. Thereby, special light observation can be performed simultaneously with respect to the observation region, and the lesioned part can be observed in more detail. Note that these images may be combined into a single video.

In addition, when the mode switching unit switches the observation mode, it adjusts at least one of the light amounts of the blue LED and the yellow LED so that the light amount of the observation mode after switching is substantially equal to the light amount of the observation mode before switching. Thus, even when the observation mode is switched, the amount of light illuminating the observation area can be made substantially equal, and observation can be continued without a sense of incongruity.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the specific structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included.
For example, in the application example described above, in order to secure a further light amount, the white LED may be turned on in the white light observation mode and image processing may be performed by the image processing device 23 to adjust the white balance. Further, a red LED may be further mounted and turned on during observation with white light or observation with light having a wavelength in a specific band.

Claims (6)

A plurality of LEDs arranged side by side on the circumference, a blue LED that emits blue light radially inward of the circumference, and a yellow LED that emits yellow light;
A light guide unit that guides light emitted from the blue LED and the yellow LED in a direction along a central axis of the circumference;
A rotating unit that rotationally drives the light guide unit around the central axis;
And a control unit for controlling these,
The light source device that controls the lighting of the blue LED and the yellow LED in the first operation mode in which the control unit turns on the blue LED and the yellow LED and the second operation mode in which the blue LED is turned on. . The light source device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a lighting period of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED based on a balance between a light amount of the blue LED and a light amount of the yellow LED. The light source device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a current value of at least one of the blue LED and the yellow LED based on a balance between a light amount of the blue LED and a light amount of the yellow LED. The light source device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An endoscope apparatus comprising: an imaging unit that captures an observation region illuminated by the light source device. The control unit includes a mode switching unit that switches between the first operation mode and the second operation mode,
5. A display unit that displays the image of the observation region acquired by the imaging unit in the first operation mode and the image of the observation region acquired by the imaging unit in the second operation mode side by side. The endoscope apparatus described in 1. When the mode switching unit switches the operation mode, at least one of the light amounts of the blue LED and the yellow LED is set so that the light amount of the operation mode after switching is substantially equal to the light amount of the operation mode before switching. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5 to be adjusted.

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