Cleaning auxiliary tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9492066-B2
Application number	US-201514878308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2015
Priority date	Feb 20, 2014
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

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, 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 partition portion that is provided on a side of the second end portion of the shaft portion and positioned between the first opening and the third opening and between the second opening and the fourth opening, and partitions a side of the first conduit and a side of the second conduit with a gap forming a space of a predetermined distance from an inner wall of the bottomed cylinder; and
a close contact portion that is arranged on an outer circumferential side of the partition portion, is spaced apart from the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder by the predetermined distance when an internal pressure on the side of the first conduit corresponds to an internal pressure on the side of the second conduit, is deformed by receiving the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder when the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit becomes higher than the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit, and is deformed by receiving the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder when the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit becomes higher than the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit,
wherein the partition portion includes a first plate member fixed to the shaft portion, a second plate member fixed to the shaft portion and arranged closer to the first conduit than the first plate member, and a third plate member that has an annular shape with an inner diameter larger than an outer diameter of the shaft portion, is arranged between the first plate member and the second plate member with the shaft portion being inserted through a hole at a central portion of the annular shape, and moves along the shaft portion toward one of the first conduit and the second conduit which has a lower internal pressure, and
wherein the first plate member comprises a plurality of apertures and the second plate member comprises a plurality of apertures.

2. The cleaning auxiliary tool according to claim 1 , wherein
the close contact portion comprises a first deformation portion made of a deformable material and a second deformation portion made of a deformable material,
the first deformation portion is provided along an outer circumference of the third plate member on the side of the second conduit, and crushed by being pressed by the first plate member and the third plate member to increase an outer diameter of the first deformation portion, and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder, and
the second deformation portion is provided along the outer circumference of the third plate member on the side of the first conduit, and crushed by being pressed by the second plate member and the third plate member to increase an outer diameter of the second deformation portion, and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder.

3. The cleaning auxiliary tool according to claim 2 , wherein at least one of the first deformation portion and the second deformation portion has an annular shape, and has an inclined surface with thickness decreasing toward a center of the annular shape.

4. The cleaning auxiliary tool according to claim 1 , wherein the partition portion comprises a balloon member as the close contact portion, a first valve provided on the side of the first conduit of the balloon member, and a second valve provided on the side of the second conduit of the balloon member,
wherein an outer circumferential portion of the balloon member is spaced apart from the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder by the predetermined distance when an internal pressure on the side of the first conduit corresponds to an internal pressure on the side of the second conduit, the first valve is opened and the balloon member is deformed by receiving the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder when the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit becomes higher than the internal pressure on side of the second conduit, and the second valve is opened and the balloon member is deformed by receiving the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit and comes in close contact with the inner wall of the bottomed cylinder when the internal pressure on the side of the second conduit becomes higher than the internal pressure on the side of the first conduit.

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

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Iwasaki Tomokazu

Classifications

• B08B9/053

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

• A61B1/00068 Primary

  Valve switch arrangements · CPC title

• A61B1/122 Primary

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

• A61B2090/701

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

• A61B1/125

  using fluid circuits · CPC title