WO2014041618A1 - Capsule endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Capsule endoscope

The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope.

An endoscope for observing the inside of a body cavity is provided with an observation unit at the distal end of an elongated insertion unit, and an image in the body cavity obtained by the observation unit is transmitted to and displayed on a display device outside the body via the insertion unit. . In such an endoscope, since it is necessary to insert the insertion portion into the body cavity and bring the observation portion at the tip close to the site to be observed, this insertion has been a burden on the subject.

In order to reduce the burden caused by insertion of such an endoscope or to observe a target site that is difficult to observe with an endoscope such as a small intestine, a capsule endoscope has been developed and put into practical use. Conventional capsule endoscopes incorporate an imaging optical unit, illumination unit, multiple peripheral circuit components, power supply unit, etc. in a capsule-shaped housing that does not impose a burden on insertion into a body cavity. (See Patent Document 1 below).

JP 2004-275542 A

In a conventional capsule endoscope, an imaging optical unit is arranged in the casing so that the central axis along the longitudinal direction of the casing is an optical axis, and an illumination unit is arranged around the imaging optical unit in the casing. ing. According to such an arrangement of the imaging optical unit and the illumination unit, when the outer diameter of the housing is restricted, the aperture of the imaging optical unit cannot be increased in order to secure the space of the illumination unit. If the restriction of the outer diameter of the housing is removed and the aperture of the imaging optical unit is increased, the outer diameter of the housing is increased because the illumination unit is disposed on the outer side.

The present invention is an example of a problem to deal with such a problem. That is, in a capsule endoscope, the aperture of the imaging optical unit can be increased to obtain a wide range of intracavity observation images, a wide range of intracavity observation images can be obtained, and the outer diameter of the housing can be reduced. It is an object of the present invention that it can be suppressed.

In order to achieve such an object, the capsule endoscope according to the present invention has at least the following configuration.

A capsule-shaped housing having a pair of end portions and a body portion is provided, an imaging optical unit is disposed in the housing, and an illumination unit that illuminates the imaging field of the imaging optical unit is disposed in the body portion. Capsule endoscope characterized by this.

It is a section explanatory view showing a capsule type endoscope concerning an embodiment of the present invention. 1A is an overall configuration diagram, FIG. 1B is an enlarged view showing one configuration example of the A portion in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a view of the A portion in FIG. It is an enlarged view which shows the other structural example. It is explanatory drawing which showed the capsule type endoscope which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 2B is a front view. It is explanatory drawing which showed the capsule type endoscope which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 3B is a plan view.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a capsule endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A is an overall configuration diagram, FIG. 1B is an enlarged view showing one configuration example of the A portion in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a view of the A portion in FIG. It is an enlarged view which shows the other structural example. The capsule endoscope 1 includes a capsule-shaped casing 10, and the casing 10 surrounds components of each function. The housing 10 includes a curved portion 10A and a body portion 10B as end portions. The curved portion 10A has a substantially hemispherical curved surface, and is provided at least on the observation visual field side (tip side). In the illustrated example, a pair of curved portions 10A are provided on the distal end side and the opposite side (rear side), but the rear curved portion 10A may be a flat portion, for example. In the case where the pair of bending portions 10A are provided at the front and rear, smooth advancement is possible even when the capsule endoscope 1 is reversed front and back. The body portion 10B connected to the bending portion 10A has a substantially cylindrical shape, and a sealed arrangement space for various functional parts is formed inside the housing 10. Note that the capsule endoscope 1 may have a three-dimensional shape having a plurality of angles such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, or a three-dimensional shape in which a plurality of corners are curved.

An imaging optical unit 20 is disposed in the housing 10. The imaging optical unit 20 includes an observation optical system (such as an objective lens) 21, an imaging element 22 having an imaging surface on which an optical image that has passed through the observation optical system 21 is formed, an imaging drive unit 23, and the like. The image pickup drive unit 23 includes a signal processing circuit that converts an optical image formed on the image pickup element 22 into an image signal and generates a drive signal for driving the image pickup element 22.

In the housing 10, a circuit unit 30, a power supply unit 31, and the like are arranged. The circuit unit 30 performs a predetermined process on the image signal generated by the signal processing circuit described above and transmits the image signal to an external observation display device, or receives a control signal transmitted from the observation display device, In addition, a control circuit for controlling each unit including an illumination unit described later based on various control signals received by the transmission / reception circuit is included. The power supply unit 31 is a part serving as a power source for driving each unit, and can be configured by a battery, a power receiving coil that generates power by a magnetic force output from an external device, a storage capacitor, and the like. Various other functional components can be arranged in the housing 10, but illustration and detailed description thereof are omitted here.

In the capsule endoscope 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the illumination unit 40 that illuminates the imaging field of the imaging optical unit 20 is disposed on the body unit 10B of the housing 10. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the illumination unit 40 includes an organic EL element 40U as a light source. For example, the organic EL element 40U may be divided by an insulating layer 46 and arranged in a dot matrix as shown in the figure, or may be formed uniformly or segmentally on the entire illumination unit 40. Also good. The organic EL element 40U has a thin laminated structure including a substrate 41, a lower electrode 42, an organic layer 43, and an upper electrode 44. The organic EL element 40U is covered with a sealing member 45 and hermetically sealed.

In the example shown in FIG. 1B, the substrate 41 of the organic EL element 40U constitutes a part of the housing 10. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1C, the substrate 41 of the organic EL element 40 </ b> U is disposed on the inner surface side of the housing 10. In the illustrated example, the substrate 41 is disposed on the inner surface side of the housing 10, but the substrate 41 may be disposed on the outer surface side of the housing 10. As the substrate 41 of the organic EL element 40U, a flexible substrate can be used.

In both the examples shown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C, the body portion 10B of the housing 10 constitutes a light guide that directs illumination light emitted from the organic EL element 40U into the imaging field of view. Yes. The light guide can provide illumination light along the trunk portion 10B by providing, for example, a reflection portion 47 as shown in the trunk portion 10B. At this time, the substrate 41 and the body portion 10B can be made of a light-transmitting resin material having a relatively high refractive index. Examples of the resin material include light-transmitting (eg, transparent) acrylic resin.

According to the capsule endoscope 1 having such a configuration, the illuminating unit 40 is configured by the thin organic EL element 40U, and this is disposed in the body unit 10B of the casing 10, so that the inside of the casing 10 It is possible to greatly reduce the arrangement space of the illumination unit 40 in FIG. According to this, since the aperture of the imaging optical unit 20 can be enlarged using the reduced arrangement space of the illumination unit 40, a wide range of intracavity observation images can be obtained without increasing the outer diameter of the housing 10. be able to. In addition, the outer diameter of the housing 10 can be reduced by using the reduced arrangement space of the illumination unit 40.

2 and 3 are explanatory views showing a capsule endoscope according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 2B is a front view. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 3B is a plan view. 2 and 3, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those described above, and the duplicate description will be omitted.

In the capsule endoscope 1 (1A) shown in FIG. 2, a light transmitting part W is provided at the center of a bending part 10A as an end part, and an annular illumination part 40 surrounding the light transmitting part W in the bending part 10A is provided. Has been placed. According to this, by arranging the illumination unit 40 in the bending portion 10A, it is possible to increase the surface-emitting illumination light directed into the observation visual field in front of the imaging optical unit 20, and obtain an observation image under favorable illumination conditions. Can do.

The capsule endoscope 1 (1B) shown in FIG. 3 is provided with a translucent part W in the body part 10B, and an imaging optical part 20 is arranged so as to face the translucent part W, and the periphery of the translucent part W The illumination unit 40 is disposed in the front. According to this, since the surface emitting illumination unit 40 can be formed in a wide range around the translucent unit W, an observation image can be obtained under favorable illumination conditions. Further, by providing the translucent part W in the body part 10B, the wall surface in the body cavity through which the capsule endoscope 1 (1B) passes can be closely observed.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and the design can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is included in the present invention. The embodiments described in the above drawings can be combined with each other as long as there is no particular contradiction or problem in the purpose, configuration, or the like. Moreover, the description content of each figure can become independent embodiment, respectively, and embodiment of this invention is not limited to one embodiment which combined each figure.

Claims (9)

A capsule-shaped housing having a pair of end portions and a body portion,
An imaging optical unit is disposed in the housing,
A capsule endoscope, wherein an illuminating unit that illuminates the imaging field of the imaging optical unit is disposed on the body unit. The capsule endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the illumination unit includes an organic EL element as a light source. The capsule endoscope according to claim 2, wherein the substrate of the organic EL element constitutes a part of the casing. The capsule endoscope according to claim 2, wherein the substrate of the organic EL element is disposed on an inner surface side or an outer surface side of the casing. The capsule endoscope according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the substrate of the organic EL element is a flexible substrate. A light transmitting part is provided at the end,
The capsule endoscope according to claim 1, wherein an annular illumination unit surrounding the translucent unit at the end is disposed. The light transmission part is provided in the said trunk | drum, the said imaging optical part is arrange | positioned so as to oppose this light transmission part, and the said illumination part is arrange | positioned around the said light transmission part. Capsule endoscope. The capsule endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the body portion constitutes a light guide that directs illumination light into the imaging field of view. The capsule endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the end portion is a curved portion.

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