JP2010227129A - Actuator for moving body in tube, control method thereof, endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

To reliably advance an insertion portion in a duct such as a large intestine.
In the actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to the present invention, a pair of balloons arranged symmetrically with respect to the moving body in a pipe moving in a pipe line are mutually in the circumferential direction at substantially the same position in the traveling direction of the moving body in the pipe. Two pairs of balloons arranged in two phases out of phase, fluid supply / discharge means for supplying and discharging fluid in each balloon constituting the two pairs of balloons, and fluid supply so that each balloon is individually expanded and contracted A control means for controlling the discharge means; and a contact detection means for detecting contact of each balloon with the tube wall. The control means is configured such that two balloons constituting a pair of balloons are both tubed by the contact detection means. The fluid supply / discharge means is controlled to supply fluid to at least one of the two balloons after supplying fluid into the two balloons until contact with the wall is detected. That.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an actuator for a moving body in a tube, a control method therefor, and an endoscope, and more particularly to a technique capable of actively propelling the inside of a tube.

  In Patent Document 1, four variable tubes that can expand and contract spirally are wound around the outer peripheral surface of the flexible tube portion, and the four variable tubes are changed by varying the pressure in each variable tube. In this technique, the outer peripheral surface of the outer skin is sequentially expanded and contracted to move the inflatable portion from the distal end side to the proximal side, and the intestinal tract is drawn up to insert it into the large intestine. .

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-009545

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, there is almost no effect of moving the contact surface of the tube only by the vertical movement of the plurality of variable tubes. The folds of the intestinal tract are effective only when they enter the groove between the expanded tubes, but there are almost no folds in the sigmoid colon. Since the amount is small, the effect of dragging is remarkably reduced and the insertion into the large intestine may not be possible.

  In particular, in the bent portion of the intestine, a portion where the tube does not reach the intestinal wall occurs, and there is a possibility that the fold of the intestinal tract may not enter the groove between the expanded tubes. Therefore, there is a possibility that the effect of pulling the intestinal tract cannot be obtained and the insertion into the large intestine cannot be achieved.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an actuator for a moving body in a tube, a control method thereof, and an endoscope that can reliably advance an insertion portion in a duct such as a large intestine. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, the actuator for an intra-pipe moving body of the present invention is such that a pair of balloons arranged in an axial symmetry with respect to the intra-pipe moving body moving in the pipe line are located at substantially the same position in the traveling direction of the intra-pipe moving body. Two pairs of balloons arranged in two phases out of phase with respect to the circumferential direction of the in-pipe moving body, fluid supply / discharge means for supplying and discharging fluid in each balloon constituting the two pairs of balloons, Control means for controlling the fluid supply / discharge means so that each balloon is individually inflated and contracted by supply / discharge of the fluid in the balloon, and contact detection means for detecting contact of each balloon with the tube wall. The control means includes the two balloons in the two balloons until the two balloons constituting the pair of balloons are both detected by the contact detection means to contact the tube wall. After the supply of the body, so as to further supply the fluid to the two of the at least one balloon of a balloon, to control the fluid supply and discharge means and.

  According to the present invention, after supplying two fluids into the two balloons until both of the two balloons constituting the pair of balloons are detected by the contact detection means to contact the tube wall, Since the fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to supply the fluid to at least one balloon, a driving force for moving the in-pipe moving body can be applied to the tube wall, and the insertion portion can be reliably advanced in the pipe line. it can.

  As one aspect of the present invention, when the contact detecting unit detects that only one of the two balloons is in contact with the tube wall, the control unit is configured to supply the fluid into the one balloon. The fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to stop the supply and continue the supply of the fluid into the other of the two balloons.

  According to this aspect, the control means stops the supply of fluid into one of the two balloons when the contact detection means detects that only one of the two balloons is in contact with the tube wall. Since the fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to continue the supply of the fluid into the other balloon of the balloons, the two bent portions in a complicatedly bent tube such as the sigmoid colon also constitute a pair of balloons. The balloon can be reliably brought into contact with the tube wall, and the insertion portion can be reliably advanced in a duct such as the large intestine.

  As one aspect of the present invention, the control means detects the contact between the two balloons in the two balloons by the contact detection means, and then further detects the first of the two balloons by the contact detection means. The fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to supply the fluid into the balloon in which contact with the tube wall is detected.

  According to this aspect, the control means detects the contact with the tube wall first by the contact detection means of the two balloons after the contact detection means detects the contact with the tube wall in the two balloons. Since the fluid supply and discharge means is controlled so as to supply the fluid into the balloon, a propulsive force can be applied to the tube wall even in a bent portion in a complicatedly bent tube such as the sigmoid colon. The insertion portion can be reliably advanced in step (b).

  As one aspect of the present invention, the control means detects the two balloons so that the internal pressures of the two balloons are substantially equal after the contact detection means detects the contact of the two balloons with the tube wall. The fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to supply and discharge the fluid in the balloon.

  According to this aspect, the control means supplies and discharges the fluid in the two balloons so that the internal pressures of the two balloons become substantially equal after the contact detection means detects the contact of the two balloons with the tube wall. Since the fluid supply / discharge means is controlled to perform the above, the in-pipe moving body can be positioned at the center of the pipe line.

  As one aspect of the present invention, the control means adjusts an internal pressure difference between the two balloons after both of the two balloons have detected contact with the tube wall by the contact detection means. The fluid supply / discharge means is controlled so as to adjust the direction of the tip of the fluid.

  According to this aspect, the control means adjusts the direction of the distal end portion of the moving body in the tube by adjusting the internal pressure difference between the two balloons after the contact detecting means detects contact with the tube wall in the two balloons. Thus, since the fluid supply / discharge means is controlled, the direction of the tip of the in-tube moving body can be freely changed.

  As one aspect of the present invention, each of the balloons is a deformable directional balloon having a directivity in a direction in which the balloon is deformed when a portion having a different expansion rate is provided.

  As one aspect of the present invention, the deformation directional balloon is characterized in that a portion having a different expansion rate is thicker than other portions.

  As an aspect of the present invention, the deformation-directing balloon includes a low expansion material having a lower expansion coefficient than that of the other part at a part having a different expansion coefficient.

  As an aspect of the present invention, the deformation directional balloon is characterized in that at least a portion having a different expansion rate is provided at a rear portion in the traveling direction of the in-pipe moving body.

  In order to achieve the above object, an endoscope according to the present invention includes any one of the actuators for moving in a tube.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the method for controlling an actuator for a moving body in a pipe of the present invention, a pair of balloons arranged in an axial symmetry with respect to the moving body in a pipe moving in a pipe line are approximately in the traveling direction of the moving body in the pipe. A method for controlling an actuator for an intra-pipe moving body having two pairs of balloons arranged at the same position in the outer peripheral direction of the intra-pipe moving body at different phases, the two balloons constituting the pair of balloons Controlling to supply the fluid to at least one balloon of the two balloons after supplying fluid into the two balloons until it is detected that both have contacted the tube wall. Features.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, an insertion part can be reliably advanced in ducts, such as large intestine.

1 is an overall schematic diagram of an endoscope apparatus. It is an enlarged view of the front-end | tip part of an insertion part. It is a figure which shows the mode of expansion | swelling of a balloon. It is a block diagram of the balloon control apparatus which controls the internal pressure of each balloon. It is a time chart figure of expansion and contraction of each balloon in each process of a control flow. It is a figure which shows the mode of expansion | swelling of each balloon when seeing the axial direction of an insertion part in each process of a control flow. It is a figure which shows the mode of the front-end | tip part of the insertion part in the bending part of the large intestine. It is a figure which shows the control content in a bending part mode. It is a figure which shows the mode of the front-end | tip part of the insertion part in the bending part of the large intestine when control of FIG. 8 is performed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of electronic endoscope]
In FIG. 1, an electronic endoscope 1 includes an insertion portion 10 that is an intra-tube moving body that is inserted into a subject and moves within a duct, and an operation portion 12 that is connected to a proximal end portion of the insertion portion 10. I have. The distal end portion 10a (for example, outer diameter 12 mmφ) connected to the distal end of the insertion portion 10 has an objective lens for capturing image light of an observation site in the subject and an imaging device for capturing the image light (both are both). (Not shown). The image in the subject acquired by the imaging device is displayed as an endoscopic image on a monitor (not shown) of the processor device connected to the cord 14.

  Further, on the distal end portion 10a, an illumination window for irradiating illumination light from a light source device (not shown) to the site to be observed, a forceps outlet communicating with the forceps port 16, and an air / water feed button 12a are operated. Accordingly, there are provided a nozzle for spraying cleaning water and air for removing dirt on the observation window protecting the objective lens.

  A bending portion 10b in which a plurality of bending pieces are connected is provided behind the distal end portion 10a. The bending portion 10b is bent in the vertical and horizontal directions when the angle knob 12b provided in the operation portion 12 is operated and the wire inserted in the insertion portion 10 is pushed and pulled. Thereby, the front-end | tip part 10a is orient | assigned to the desired direction in a subject.

  A flexible portion 10c having flexibility is provided behind the curved portion 10b. In order to maintain the distance from the patient so that the distal end portion 10a can reach the site to be observed and the operator does not interfere with the operation portion 12 when operating the flexible portion 10c, It has a length of 1 to several meters.

  Balloons 18A, 18B, 18C, and 18D, which will be described later, are attached to the distal end portion 10a. Each balloon is mainly made of latex rubber that can freely expand and contract, and is connected to a balloon control device 20 that controls the pressure in the balloon.

  For example, when observing the inner wall surface of a conduit that is bent in a complicated manner, such as the large intestine or the small intestine, with the electronic endoscope 1 configured as described above, the insertion portion 10 is covered with the balloon 10 in a deflated state. The endoscope image obtained by the imaging device is observed on the monitor while being inserted into the sample and illuminating the subject by turning on the light source device.

  And as will be described later, when the insertion portion 10 reaches a predetermined position in the pipeline, the balloon control device 20 controls the inflation / deflation of each balloon to generate a propulsive force through the inner wall surface of the pipeline, This force moves the insertion portion 10 forward in the traveling direction.

[Description of actuator for moving object in pipe]
Next, the actuator for in-pipe moving bodies will be described.

  2A and 2B are enlarged views of the distal end portion 10a of the insertion portion 10, where FIG. 2A is a view seen from the side, and FIG. 2B is a view seen from the distal end side. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C, and the balloon 18B and the balloon 18D are arranged in pairs in a symmetrical manner with respect to the distal end portion 10a. As described above, a total of two pairs of balloons are arranged at substantially the same position in the direction of travel of the insertion portion 10 so as to be out of phase with each other in the circumferential direction of the distal end portion 10a of the insertion portion 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, here, as an example, a forward balloon is employed for each balloon. Here, the forward balloon is a deformation directional balloon having directivity in the direction of deformation when inflated, and a propulsive force that moves the insertion portion 10 forward in the direction of travel when inflated is applied to the pipeline. A balloon to give.

  Specifically, each of the balloons adopting the forwardly moving balloons has rear portions 18Aa to 18Da (indicated by diagonal lines) in the traveling direction of the insertion portion 10 (direction from the proximal end portion of the insertion portion 10 toward the distal end portion 10a). It is simply referred to as the rear portion), and is thicker than the other portions. Further, the circumferential portions 18Ab to 18Db (shown by diagonal lines; hereinafter simply referred to as circumferential portions) of each balloon are formed to be thicker than other portions.

  Therefore, each balloon that employs a forward balloon is inflated as shown in FIG. 3 when gas is supplied to the inside. In FIG. 3, balloons 18B and 18D are omitted for convenience of explanation.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 3, since the rear portions 18Aa and 18Ca and the circumferential portions 18Ab and 18Cb are formed to be thicker than the other portions, the expansion rate is low, so that they are lower than the rear portion and the circumferential portion. The other part is longer. Therefore, as shown by a dotted line, the tip portion 10a expands in a substantially fan shape toward the rear in the traveling direction.

  As another specification, the rear portion and the circumferential portion are provided with a low expansion material having a lower expansion rate than the other portions, so that the rear portion and the circumferential portion have a lower expansion rate than the other portions. It is good. Specifically, as the low expansion material, for example, PET fiber or aramid fiber may be bonded to the surface, embedded, or integrally formed in the rear portion and the circumferential portion, and the expansion coefficient may be partially changed. .

  As another specification, only the rear portions 18Aa to 18Da may have a lower expansion coefficient than the other portions.

  FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the balloon control device 20 that controls the internal pressure of each balloon. The fluid in each balloon (hereinafter, gas is taken as an example) is supplied and discharged by the following fluid supply and discharge means. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), each balloon is individually connected to the pump P via the air supply pipes 22A to 22D, and is individually connected to the exhaust port via the exhaust pipes 24A to 24D. 26A to 26D. The air supply pipes 22A to 22D are provided with air supply valves 28A to 28D and pressure sensors 30A to 30D, respectively, and the exhaust pipes 24A to 24D are provided with exhaust valves 32A to 32D, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the operation of each device such as the pump P, the supply valves 28A to 28D and the exhaust valves 32A to 32D is individually controlled by the controller 20a. Thereby, the expansion and contraction of each balloon is individually controlled.

  The controller 20a includes a contact detection unit 20b that receives detections from the pressure sensors 30A to 30D and detects that each balloon has contacted the tube wall based on the detection result. The contact detection unit 20b may be provided separately from the controller 20a.

  With respect to the in-pipe moving body actuator configured as described above, the flow of the propulsion operation in the pipe will be described.

  First, as a basic operation of the propulsion operation, the propulsion operation in the substantially straight portion of the pipe line (here, the large intestine 34) will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a time chart of expansion and contraction of each balloon in each step of the control flow. Moreover, FIG. 6 is a figure which shows the mode of expansion / contraction of each balloon when seeing the axial direction of the insertion part 10 in each process of a control flow. In FIG. 6, the left figure corresponds to the AA sectional view of FIG. 2B, and the right figure corresponds to the BB sectional view of FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the distal end portion 10a of the insertion portion 10 reaches a predetermined position in the large intestine 34 with each balloon deflated.

  Next, gas is supplied from the pump P to one pair of balloons 18A and 18C (step A in FIG. 5). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3 described above, one pair of balloons 18A and 18C starts to expand in a substantially fan shape toward the rear in the traveling direction.

  The pair of balloons 18A and 18C contact the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34 almost simultaneously. At this time, when the behavior of the detection results of the pressure sensors 30A and 30C changes, the contact detection unit 20b detects that the balloon 18B and the balloon 18D are in contact with the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34.

  Further, when the gas is supplied until the inside of the pair of balloons 18A and 18C reaches a predetermined pressure value, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. I will do it. As a result, the surfaces of the pair of balloons 18A and 18C generate force via the intestinal wall 34a in the rearward direction while contacting the intestinal wall 34a. This force becomes a propulsive force that tries to move the insertion portion 10 forward in the traveling direction (try to move the insertion portion 10 forward), and the insertion portion 10 moves forward in the traveling direction.

  Next, gas is supplied from the pump P to the other pair of balloons 18B and 18D (step B in FIG. 5). As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the pair of balloons 18B and 18D starts to expand in a substantially fan shape toward the rear in the traveling direction.

  6C, the pair of balloons 18B and 18D contact the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34 almost simultaneously. At this time, when the behavior of the detection results of the pressure sensors 30B and 30D changes, the contact detection unit 20b detects that the balloon 18B and the balloon 18D are in contact with the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34.

  Further, the gas is further expanded by supplying gas until the inside of the pair of balloons 18B and 18D reaches a predetermined pressure value. Here, since the pair of balloons 18A and 18C remains inflated and remains in engagement with the intestinal wall 34a, the pair of balloons 18B and 18D move the intestinal wall 34a backward in the traveling direction by the surfaces thereof. It swells while pulling in.

  Next, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 6D, the gas in the pair of balloons 18A and 18C is sucked and contracted (step C in FIG. 5).

  As a result, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 6 (d), the portion of the intestinal wall 34a brought together by the pair of balloons 18B and 18D in the step B is opened, and the tip portion 10a is correspondingly released. Move forward in the direction of travel.

  Next, gas is again supplied to the pair of balloons 18A and 18C (step D in FIG. 5). Thereby, as shown in the left figure of FIG.6 (e), the part of intestinal wall 34a which contacts the surface of a pair of balloon 18A and the balloon 18C is drawn back in the advancing direction.

  Next, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 6F, the gas in the pair of balloons 18B and 18D is sucked and contracted (step E in FIG. 5).

  As a result, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 6 (f), the portion of the intestinal wall 34a that has been dragged by the pair of balloons 18A and 18C in the step D is opened, and the tip portion 10a is correspondingly released. Move forward in the direction of travel.

  Thereafter, the steps B to E shown in FIG. 5 are repeated, whereby the expansion and contraction of each balloon is repeated, whereby the insertion portion 10 moves reliably along the large intestine 34.

  The above is the description of the propulsion operation in the substantially linear portion of the large intestine 34.

  As described above, in the substantially straight portion of the large intestine 34, the pair of balloons 18A and 18C or the pair of balloons 18B and 18D are brought into contact with the intestinal wall 34a with substantially the same expansion amount. Can do. Therefore, in steps A, B, and D in FIGS. 5 and 6, the control of the large intestine 34 is ensured only by controlling the pair of balloons so that substantially the same amount of gas is supplied to the inside at almost the same timing. A propulsive force can be applied to the intestinal wall 34a.

  However, as shown in FIG. 7, when the distal end portion 10 a of the insertion portion 10 is pushed forward in the bent portion of the large intestine 34, for example, the distal end portion 10 a comes to a position biased toward the inner peripheral side of the bent portion. Can be considered.

  Then, only by supplying substantially the same amount of gas into the pair of balloons 18A and 18C or the pair of balloons 18B and 18D, only one of the paired balloons is intestinal wall 34a. May not be able to contact For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, only the balloon 18C of the pair of balloons 18A and 18C may be brought into contact with the intestinal wall 34a.

  For this reason, when performing steps A, B, and D in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 at the bent portion of the large intestine 34, about the same amount of gas is introduced into the paired balloons at substantially the same timing. There is a possibility that a propulsive force cannot be applied to the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34 only by controlling the supply.

  Accordingly, a description will be given of a balloon propulsion operation that can reliably apply a propulsive force to the intestinal wall 34a even in the bent portion of the large intestine 34. FIG. Here, the propulsion operation of the pair of balloons 18A and 18C when the processes such as the process A and the process D in FIG. 5 are performed in the bent portion of the large intestine 34 will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the behavior of the pressure sensors 30A and 30C and the opening and closing states of the air supply valves 28A and 28C when the insertion unit 10 propels the bent portion of the large intestine 34. Moreover, FIG. 9 is a figure which shows the mode of expansion / contraction of each balloon corresponding to FIG.

  For example, when the steps A and D in FIG. 5 for inflating the pair of balloons 18A and 18C at the bent portion of the large intestine 34 are executed, first, as shown in FIG. Gas is supplied to both 18C (step 1 in FIG. 8). Then, when the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C are inflated, the balloon 18A is not in contact with the intestinal wall 34a while the other balloon 18C is in contact with the intestinal wall 34a. .

  At this time, when the balloon 18C comes into contact with the intestinal wall 34a, the behavior of the output of the pressure sensor 30C is different from that when the balloon 18C has been inflated until then (behavior change in the portion surrounded by the dotted line in step 1 in FIG. 8). appear. Then, the contact detection unit 20b detects that the balloon 18C has contacted the intestinal wall 34a.

  As described above, in the substantially straight portion of the large intestine 34, the contact detection unit 20b detects that both the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C are in contact with the intestinal wall 34a substantially simultaneously. Only the contact with the intestinal wall 34a is detected.

  Therefore, when it is detected that only the balloon 18C is in contact with the intestinal wall 34a in this way, the controller 20a switches the control content to the bending portion dedicated mode.

  As described above, when switching to the bending-only mode, when it is detected that the balloon 18C is in contact with the intestinal wall 34a, the controller 20a closes the air supply valve 28C and stops the supply of gas to the balloon 18C. To control. On the other hand, the supply of gas to the balloon 18A is continued to inflate only the balloon 18A (step 2 in FIG. 8).

  Eventually, the contact detection unit 20b detects that the balloon 18A has contacted the intestinal wall 34a. Thereby, the contact with the intestinal wall 34a is detected in both the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C. Then, the controller 20a controls the air supply valve 28A to be closed to stop the supply of gas to the balloon 18A. On the other hand, the air supply valve 28C is opened again, gas is supplied to the balloon 18C that has been detected to contact the intestinal wall 34a first, and the balloon 18C is inflated until the inside reaches a predetermined pressure value. (Step 3 in FIG. 8).

  Then, since the balloon 18A is in contact with the intestinal wall 34a, the surface of the balloon 18C is in contact with the intestinal wall 34a and generates a propulsive force rearward in the traveling direction. Thus, when the balloon 18C generates a propulsive force, the balloon 18A slides on the intestinal wall 34a, and the distal end portion 10a of the insertion portion 10 moves forward in the traveling direction.

  In step 3 of FIG. 8, the controller 20a may control the supply of the gas to the balloon 18A without closing the air supply valve 28A. In this case, gas is supplied to both the balloons 18A and 18C, and both the balloons are inflated until the inside reaches a predetermined pressure value. As a result, a propulsive force is generated backward in the traveling direction while the surfaces of the balloons 18A and 18C are in contact with the intestinal wall 34a. Thus, when both balloons 18A and 18C generate a propulsive force, the distal end portion 10a of the insertion portion 10 moves forward in the traveling direction.

  As described above, even in the bent portion of the large intestine 34, the insertion portion 10 can be reliably moved forward in the traveling direction.

  When the process B in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is performed, the same control content in the bent portion mode is executed even when the pair of balloons 18B and 18D are located at the bent portion of the large intestine 34. Thereby, the front-end | tip part 10a of the insertion part 10 can be moved ahead of the advancing direction.

  Moreover, the following effects can be obtained by individually controlling the internal pressure of each balloon.

  For example, after the contact detection unit 20b detects that both the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C have contacted the intestinal wall 34a, the internal pressures of the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C may be controlled to be substantially equal. Thereby, the imaging part of the front-end | tip part 10a of the insertion part 10 can be located in the center of the large intestine 34, and a doctor becomes easy to observe the intestinal wall 34a.

  Further, for example, after the contact detection unit 20b detects that both the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C are in contact with the intestinal wall 34a, control may be performed so that an internal pressure difference is appropriately generated between the balloon 18A and the balloon 18C. Thereby, the direction of the imaging part of the front-end | tip part 10a of the insertion part 10 can be changed freely, and the intestinal wall 34a of the large intestine 34 can be observed in detail.

  As described above, the actuator for a moving body in a tube, the control method therefor, and the endoscope of the present invention have been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and various types can be used without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, improvements and modifications may be made.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Insertion part, 10a ... Tip part, 12 ... Operation part, 14 ... Cord, 16 ... Forceps opening, 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D ... Balloon, 20 ... Balloon control apparatus, 20a ... Controller, 20b ... Contact detection part, 28A, 28B, 28C, 28D ... Inlet valve, 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D ... Pressure sensor, 32A, 32B, 32C, 32D ... Exhaust valve, 34 ... Large intestine, 34a ... Intestinal wall

Claims (11)

Two pairs of balloons, which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the moving body in the pipe moving in the pipe line, are arranged at substantially the same position in the traveling direction of the moving body in the pipe with the phase shifted in the circumferential direction of the moving body in the pipe. Two pairs of balloons,
Fluid supply and discharge means for supplying and discharging fluid in each balloon constituting the two pairs of balloons;
Control means for controlling the fluid supply / discharge means so as to individually expand and contract each balloon by supplying and discharging the fluid in each balloon;
Contact detection means for detecting contact with the tube wall for each of the balloons,
The control means supplies the fluid into the two balloons until both of the two balloons constituting the pair of balloons are detected by the contact detection means to contact the tube wall, and Controlling the fluid supply and discharge means to supply the fluid to at least one balloon of the two balloons;
An actuator for an in-pipe moving body. When the contact detecting means detects that only one of the two balloons is in contact with the tube wall, the control means stops the supply of the fluid into the one balloon. Controlling the fluid supply and discharge means to continue the supply of the fluid into the other of the two balloons;
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to claim 1. The control means detects contact with the tube wall first by the contact detection means of the two balloons after the contact detection means detects contact with the tube wall in the two balloons. Controlling the fluid supply and discharge means to supply the fluid into a formed balloon;
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to claim 1 or 2. The control means supplies the fluid in the two balloons so that the internal pressures of the two balloons become substantially equal after both of the two balloons detect contact with the tube wall by the contact detection means. Controlling the fluid supply and discharge means to perform discharge;
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The control means adjusts the direction of the distal end portion of the moving body in the tube by adjusting the internal pressure difference between the two balloons after the contact detecting means detects contact with the tube wall in the two balloons. Controlling the fluid supply and discharge means,
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Each of the balloons is a deformation directional balloon having a directivity in a direction to be deformed when inflated by providing a part having a different expansion rate in part,
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The deformation-directed balloon has a portion where the expansion coefficient is different from that of other portions,
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to claim 6. The deformation-directing balloon includes a low expansion material having a lower expansion rate than other portions in a portion having a different expansion rate,
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to claim 6 or 7. The deformation directional balloon is provided with a portion having a different expansion rate at least at a rear portion in the traveling direction of the in-pipe moving body,
The actuator for a moving body in a pipe according to any one of claims 6 to 8. Comprising the in-pipe moving body actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
Endoscope characterized by. Two pairs of balloons, which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the moving body in the pipe moving in the pipe line, are arranged at substantially the same position in the traveling direction of the moving body in the pipe with the phases shifted from each other in the outer circumferential direction of the moving body in the pipe. A method for controlling an actuator for a moving body in a tube having two pairs of balloons,
After supplying the fluid into the two balloons until it is detected that the two balloons constituting the pair of balloons are both in contact with the tube wall, the at least one balloon of the two balloons is further supplied to the balloon. Controlling to supply fluid,
A method for controlling an actuator for a moving body in a pipe, characterized in that

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