Light source device for endoscope and endoscope system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10869596-B2
Application number	US-201715730091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2017
Priority date	Oct 14, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

A light source device for endoscope includes: an irradiation portion capable of radiating excitation light; a rotating body provided on an optical axis of the excitation light and configured to rotate with a rotating shaft as a center; a phosphor arranged in an irradiation area of the excitation light, and configured to generate fluorescence by being irradiated with the excitation light; a light quantity control portion configured to control irradiation intensity or irradiation time of the excitation light; and a rotation control portion configured to rotate the rotating body at a predetermined speed when the excitation light is radiated with a first irradiation intensity or time and rotate the rotating body faster than the predetermined speed when reducing the irradiation intensity or the irradiation time of the excitation light is reduced in the irradiation intensity or time vis-a-vis the first ones.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light source device for endoscope, comprising:
a light source capable of radiating excitation light;
a rotating body provided on an optical axis of the excitation light and configured to rotate with a rotating shaft as a center;
a phosphor arranged in an irradiation area of the excitation light in the rotating body, and configured to generate fluorescence by being irradiated with the excitation light; and
a controller configured to:
control irradiation intensity or irradiation time of the excitation light; and
rotate the rotating body at a predetermined speed when controlling the irradiation intensity or the irradiation time of the excitation light to be a first irradiation intensity or a first irradiation time,
rotate the rotating body faster than the predetermined speed when controlling the irradiation intensity less than the first irradiation intensity or controlling the irradiation time of the excitation light shorter than the first irradiation time; and
rotate the rotating body slower than the predetermined speed when controlling the irradiation intensity more than the first irradiation intensity or controlling the irradiation time of the excitation light longer than the first irradiation time.

2. An endoscope system comprising:
the light source device for endoscope according to claim 1 ; and
an endoscope including a light guide configured to guide the fluorescence generated from the phosphor and irradiate a subject with the fluorescence, and an image pickup sensor configured to receive light from the subject and generate an image pickup signal of the subject;
wherein the controller is further configured to:
generate an observation image of the subject from the image pickup signal of the subject generated by the image pickup sensor; and
detect brightness of the generated observation image,
control the irradiation intensity or the irradiation time of the excitation light in order to make the observation image have a predetermined brightness based on the detected brightness.

3. The light source device for endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is further configured to receive a light quantity detection signal indicating a detected light quantity of the excitation light radiated from the irradiation portion or a detected light quantity of the fluorescence generated from the phosphor,
wherein the controller rotates the rotating body slower than the predetermined speed when the detected light quantity of the excitation light or the detected light quantity of the fluorescence increases, and rotates the rotating body faster than the predetermined speed when the detected light quantity of the excitation light or the detected light quantity of the fluorescence decreases.

4. The light source device for endoscope according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is further configured to received a temperature measurement signal indicating a measured temperature of the phosphor,
wherein the controller controls a rotation speed of the rotating body based on the measured temperature when the measured temperature exceeds an allowable temperature at which degradation of the phosphor does not occur.

5. The light source device for endoscope according to claim 4 , wherein the control of the rotation speed of the rotating body comprises rotating the rotating body more slowly than the predetermined speed.

6. The light source device for endoscope according to claim 1 , further comprising
a motor configured to rotate the rotating body with the rotating shaft as the center,
wherein the controller controls the rotation speed of the rotating body to be equal to or lower than a highest rotation speed that the motor can drive and be equal to or higher than the rotation speed at which the phosphor is not degraded in a state where a light emitting portion emits the light at the maximum.

7. The endoscope system according to claim 2 , wherein
the endoscope further comprises a storage for storing endoscope information, and
the controller controls the irradiation intensity or the irradiation time of the excitation light in order to make the observation image have the predetermined brightness based on the predetermined endoscope information stored in the storage.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Tanaka Satoshi
• Yabe Yusuke
• Takahashi Tomoya
• Watanabe Masaaki
• Hashimoto Susumu
• Komatsu Yasuo
• Yajima Manabu
• Mochida Akihiko
• Omori Koji

Classifications

• A61B1/0655 Primary

  Control therefor · CPC title

• A61B1/0676 Primary

  at distal tip of an endoscope · CPC title

• F21V9/32

  characterised by the arrangement of the photoluminescent material · CPC title

• A61B1/0653

  with wavelength conversion · CPC title

• F21K9/64

  using wavelength conversion means distinct or spaced from the light-generating element, e.g. a remote phosphor layer · CPC title