Endoscope having an optical waveguide with emergence portion and an objective with beam splitter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10736489-B2
Application number	US-201615046957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2016
Priority date	Feb 18, 2015
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

An endoscope having an elongate shaft, an objective arranged in a distal end region of the shaft for generating an image of an object field in an image plane. The objective having a beam splitter, and an image recorder for recording the image of the object field and an optical waveguide for forwarding illumination radiation from a proximal region to the distal end region of the shaft. The endoscope being embodied as a contact endoscope, a sensor area of the image recorder arranged in the image plane and an emergence portion of the optical waveguide adapted to forward at least some of the illumination radiation to the beam splitter to illuminate the object field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An endoscope comprising:
an elongate shaft;
an objective arranged in a distal end region of the shaft for generating an image of an object field in an image plane, the objective comprising a beam splitter;
an image recorder for recording the image of the object field;
an optical waveguide for forwarding illumination radiation from a proximal region to the distal end region of the shaft; and
a sensor area of the image recorder arranged in the image plane,
wherein an emergence portion of the optical waveguide being adapted to forward at least a portion of the illumination radiation to the beam splitter to illuminate the object field,
wherein the emergence portion comprises an at least partly reflecting deflection surface that is at an angle to a longitudinal axis of the optical waveguide, and
wherein the beam splitter is spaced apart from the optical waveguide in a radial direction of the optical waveguide.

2. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the emergence portion is adapted to forward at least the portion of the illumination radiation in an axial direction to the beam splitter and the beam splitter is adapted to pass at least a portion of the illumination radiation in an axial direction to illuminate the object field and to deflect at least a portion of the radiation coming from the object field to the image recorder.

3. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the emergence portion deflects at least the portion of the illumination radiation to the beam splitter and the beam splitter deflects at least a portion of the illumination radiation to the object field and passes at least a portion of the radiation coming from the object field in an axial direction to the image recorder.

4. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguide comprises at least one optical fiber and the deflection surface is an end surface of the at least one optical fiber that is at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the optical fiber.

5. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection surface and a splitter surface of the beam splitter are substantially parallel to one another.

6. The endoscope according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one optical fiber extends substantially parallel to the shaft of the endoscope, and wherein the surface normals of the deflection surface and the splitter surface each include an angle of approximately 30° to approximately 45° with a longitudinal axis of the shaft of the endoscope.

7. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection surface has a dichroic beam-splitting embodiment to pass at least a portion of the illumination radiation, and wherein a further optical waveguide is provided to forward the passed part of the illumination radiation for further illumination of the object field.

8. The endoscope according to claim 1 , further comprising an additional optical waveguide for forwarding further illumination radiation to the distal end region of the shaft for further illumination of the object field.

9. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein an optical coupling element is arranged between the emergence portion and the beam splitter.

10. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter is a prism beam splitter or a beam splitter cube or a beam splitter plate.

11. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter is a polarizing beam splitter.

12. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter has a dichroic beam-splitting embodiment.

13. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein an optical filter is arranged between the beam splitter and the sensor area of the image recorder.

14. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the objective comprises at least one GRIN lens.

15. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein a magnification defined as ratio of image size to object size has a value between 0.5 and 5.

16. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the endoscope is a contact endoscope.

17. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter is positioned between a first GRIN lens and a second GRIN lens.

18. The endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal axis of the optical waveguide is offset from a longitudinal axis of the objective.

19. An endoscope comprising:
an elongate shaft;
an objective arranged in a distal end region of the shaft for generating an image of an object field in an image plane, the objective comprising a beam splitter;
an image recorder for recording the image of the object field;
an optical waveguide for forwarding illumination radiation from a proximal region to the distal end region of the shaft; and
a sensor area of the image recorder arranged in the image plane,
wherein an emergence portion of the optical waveguide being adapted to forward at least a portion of the illumination radiation to the beam splitter to illuminate the object field,
wherein the emergence portion comprises an at least partly reflecting deflection surface that is at an angle to a longitudinal axis of the optical waveguide,
wherein an optical coupling element is arranged between the emergence portion and the beam splitter, and
wherein one surface of the optical coupling element directly contacts the beam splitter and another surface of the optical coupling element directly contacts an optical fiber of the optical waveguide.

20. An endoscope comprising:
an elongate shaft;
an objective arranged in a distal end region of the shaft for generating an image of an object field in an image plane, the objective comprising a beam splitter;
an image recorder for recording the image of the object field;
an optical waveguide for forwarding illumination radiation from a proximal region to the distal end region of the shaft; and
a sensor area of the image recorder arranged in the image plane,
wherein the optical waveguide includes an emergence portion and, in a forwarding direction of the illumination radiation, the emergence portion of the optical waveguide is positioned upstream of the beam splitter such that at least a portion of the illumination radiation is forwarded from the emergence portion to the beam splitter to illuminate the object field, and
wherein the emergence portion comprises an at least partly reflecting deflection surface that is at an angle to a longitudinal axis of the optical waveguide.

Assignees

• Storz Karl Gmbh & Co Kg
• Grintech Gmbh
• Storz Karl Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Goebel Werner
• Messerschmidt Bernhard

Classifications

• G02B23/243

  Objectives for endoscopes · CPC title

• A61B1/00096 Primary

  Optical elements · CPC title

• A61B1/07 Primary

  using light-conductive means, e.g. optical fibres · CPC title

• A61B1/05

  characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion · CPC title

• G02B23/2469

  using optical fibres · CPC title