Cleaning auxiliary tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10188276-B2
Application number	US-201615293794-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2016
Priority date	Feb 20, 2014
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

A separator unit is a cleaning auxiliary tool to be inserted into an air/water feeding cylinder. The separator unit includes a partition plate for partitioning an air feeding conduit side and a water feeding conduit side, and two elastic members in an air/water feeding cylinder. The two elastic members are arranged at an outer circumferential side of the partition plate. When an internal pressure on the air feeding conduit side corresponds to an internal pressure on the water feeding conduit side, the elastic members are spaced apart from an inner wall of the air/water feeding cylinder by a predetermined distance, and when one of the internal pressures on the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit becomes higher than the other, one of the elastic members is deformed by receiving the higher internal pressure and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the air/water feeding cylinder.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning auxiliary tool to be inserted into a bottomed cylinder having a bottomed cylindrical shape with one end opened and other end closed, the bottomed cylinder having a first opening through which a fluid from a first conduit is introduced, the first conduit being inserted through an endoscope, a second opening through which the fluid is led out into the first conduit, a third opening through which the fluid from a second conduit is introduced, the second conduit running in parallel with the first conduit in the endoscope, and a fourth opening through which the fluid is led out into the second conduit, the cleaning auxiliary tool comprising:
a lid portion that closes an opening of the bottomed cylinder;
a shaft portion having a first end portion connected to the lid portion and a second end portion extending into the bottomed cylinder;
a first plate member fixed to the shaft portion, the first plate member having a first outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the bottomed cylinder;
a second plate member fixed to the shaft portion and arranged closer to the first conduit than the first plate member, the second plate member having a second outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the bottomed cylinder; and
a partition portion provided between the first plate member and the second plate member and positioned between the first opening and the third opening and between the second opening and the fourth opening, that partitions a side of the first conduit and a side of the second conduit in a state of being in close contact with an inner wall of the bottomed cylinder, moves toward the second end portion of the shaft portion by receiving an internal pressure on the side of the first conduit when the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit becomes higher than an internal pressure on the side of the second conduit, and moves toward the first end portion of the shaft portion by receiving the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit when the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit becomes higher than the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit, the partition portion,
when moving toward the second end portion and when moving toward the first end portion, contacts the inner wall with an outer circumferential portion of the partition portion, and axially moves along the shaft portion a distance sufficient to allow the fluid to contact the entire inner wall disposed between the first plate member and the second plate member.

2. The cleaning auxiliary tool according to claim 1 , wherein the partition member includes a third plate member and a seal member provided at an outer circumferential portion of the third plate member.

3. The cleaning auxiliary tool according to claim 1 , further comprising a fixing member for fixing the cleaning auxiliary tool to the bottomed cylinder.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Iwasaki Tomokazu

Classifications

• A61B2090/701

  for flexible tubular instruments, e.g. endoscopes · CPC title

• A61B1/125

  using fluid circuits · CPC title

• B08B9/027

  Cleaning the internal surfaces; Removal of blockages · CPC title

• A61B1/122 Primary

  using cleaning tools, e.g. brushes · CPC title

• B08B9/053

  moved along the pipes by a fluid, e.g. by fluid pressure or by suction · CPC title