Method for inspecting the inside of a narrow hose or tube particularly for medical use

Abstract

Method and system for inspecting the inside of a small channel, e.g. a flexible tube or hose, particularly for medical use, e.g. included in an endoscope, for the presence of inside contaminations on the wall of the tube, comprising providing the inside of the channel with a liquid having a refractive index which is higher than the refractive index of the channel wall, transmitting a signal into one end of the channel having a wavelength w, comparing the spectrum of the signal received at the other end of the channel with the wavelength w of the transmitted signal and determining, e.g. by a spectrum analyzer, whether the latter signal contains any wavelength w' which is unequal to the wavelength w of the transmitted signal, and indicating that, when not any wavelength w′ is determined unequal to w, the channel is not contaminated or that, when any wavelength w′ is determined unequal to w, the channel is contaminated. The system may include means for cleaning the inside of the channel by means of said liquid having a refractive index which can be higher than the refractive index of the channel wall which thus is used both as cleaning liquid and as light conducting core.