JP2001327517A - Apparatus for curing resin - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for curing resin with which the thermal damage of light emitting diodes used as light sources is prevented and perfor mance is stable. SOLUTION: This apparatus for curing the resin has a plurality of the light emitting diodes 5, a cooling means 7 for cooling the light emitting diodes 5, a condensing and irradiating means 8 for condensing and irradiating respectively the light from the light emitting diodes 5, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a resin curing device used in dentistry.

[Prior Art] In recent years, photopolymerizable resins have become widespread as dental materials, and curing of the photopolymerizable resins has conventionally been generally performed using a halogen lamp.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since light of various wavelengths is included in the output light of the halogen lamp, light effective for resin curing is extracted and irradiated using an optical filter. I have. However,
It is necessary to increase the light intensity as a whole because the ratio of effective light is small and therefore, there is a problem in terms of safety in use because strong light must be handled, and work because continuous use cannot be performed. The efficiency was also poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a resin curing apparatus which can be suitably used for curing a photopolymerizable resin.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an apparatus for curing a resin includes a plurality of light emitting diodes, a cooling means for cooling the light emitting diodes, and a light emitting diode. And a converging / irradiating means for collecting and irradiating light from the light source.

According to the above configuration, the light emitting diode is stably operated by being cooled by the cooling means.

[0007] For example, a Peltier element is used as the cooling means, and the use of the Peltier element makes it possible to reduce the size of the device.

[0008] By providing cooling control means for operating the cooling means so that the plurality of light emitting diodes are maintained at an appropriate temperature during use of the device, the cooling operation is performed stably without waste.

Further, the cooling control means activates the cooling means prior to the use of the light emitting diode, thereby pre-cooling the light emitting diode. This allows a large current to flow to strongly operate the light emitting diode, thereby shortening the time. Enables resin curing in time, resulting in reduced treatment times.

Further, the cooling control means does not permit the operation of the light emitting diode when the light emitting diode is not cooled below the set temperature, thereby avoiding thermal damage to the light emitting diode due to erroneous operation.

Further, according to the present invention, a resin curing device includes a printed circuit board, a plurality of light emitting diodes provided on a wiring surface side of the printed circuit board, and a Peltier element provided on a cooling surface on a back surface side of the printed circuit board. And a condensing and irradiating means for collecting and irradiating light from each of the light emitting diodes.

According to the above configuration, the light emitting diode mounted on the printed circuit board is cooled by the Peltier element, and the light emitting diode is stably operated. In particular, with this assembling configuration, a stable configuration that is easy to assemble can be obtained.

According to the present invention, the resin is cured by collecting and irradiating light from a plurality of light emitting diodes.
A resin curing device characterized by using a plurality of types of light emitting diodes having different peak emission wavelengths.

[0014] According to the above-described structure, a resin curing device which has a substantial peak wavelength width of irradiation light, is excellent in resin curing performance, and can be used for a plurality of different resins can be obtained.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the internal configuration of a resin curing device according to the present invention.

The resin curing device 1 has a casing 2 in which an internal device 3 is mounted, and is entirely large enough to be held in a hand.

The internal device 3 includes a substantially circular printed circuit board 4.
And a plurality of light emitting diodes 5 provided on the wiring surface side of the printed circuit board 4 and a Peltier element 7 provided as a cooling means provided on the cooling surface on the back surface side of the printed circuit board 4
, An aluminum radiator plate 9 attached to the heating surface side of the Peltier element 7, and a number of optical fibers as condensing and irradiating means for collecting and irradiating light from each of the light emitting diodes 5, and heat-fusing them. And an optical fiber bundle 8 having a circular cross section. The Peltier element 7 is provided so as to be sandwiched between the printed board 4 and the heat radiating plate 9.

The optical fiber bundle 8 is formed by heat-sealing a large number of optical fibers, the large-diameter base 10 has an end face facing each of the light-emitting diodes 5, and the distal end of the small-diameter portion 11 is It protrudes outside from the front end side opening 13 and its front end is bent. The optical fiber bundle 8 has a base 10 mounted and fixed in the casing 2 via an elastic ring 15. A temperature sensor 17 is mounted on the side of the printed circuit board 4 on which the light emitting diodes 5 are mounted. Reference numeral 18 denotes a control circuit as a cooling control means comprising a microcomputer, reference numeral 20 denotes an operation display lamp, reference numeral 21 denotes a first switch, and reference numeral 22 denotes a second switch.

FIG. 2 shows the printed circuit board 4 of the light emitting diode 5.
FIG. 3 shows an arrangement configuration on a plane, in which a plurality of light emitting diodes 5 are arranged in parallel in a strip shape. As the light emitting diodes 5, two types of light emitting diodes 5a and 5b each having a peak emission wavelength of 450 nm and 480 nm are used.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration of the resin curing device 1. The control circuit 18 includes a first switch 21, a second switch 22, a first relay switch 25, and a second relay switch 2.
6, the third relay switch 27 and the temperature sensor 17 are connected. The first relay switch 25 is turned on by a drive signal from the control circuit 18 to supply power to the operation indicator lamp 20. The second relay switch 26 is turned on by a drive signal from the control circuit 18 and supplies the power supply 3 to the Peltier element 7.
Give 0. The third relay switch 27 is turned on by a drive signal from the control circuit 18 to supply power 30 to the LED 5.
The power supply 30 may be a battery or may be introduced from outside the device.

The operation in use will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the dentist performs resin curing during treatment, first, the first switch 21 is turned on. When the on signal of the first switch 21 is given (step 1), the control circuit 18 turns on the second relay switch 26 and starts operating the Peltier element 7 (step 2). As a result, the printed circuit board 4 adjacent to the Peltier element 7 and the light-emitting diode 5 attached to the printed circuit board 4 are cooled, and the detected temperature is sent from the temperature sensor 17 to the control circuit 1.
8 and the control circuit 18 determines that the temperature is the set temperature (7
The degree C) is determined to be less than or equal to (step 3). If the cooling by the Peltier element 7 is sufficiently performed with the lapse of time and the temperature falls below the set temperature, the first relay switch 25 is turned on and the operation indicator lamp 20 is turned on (step 4). By this lighting, the dentist knows that the device can be used, turns the second switch 22 on with the tip of the optical fiber bundle 8 directed to the resin application portion of the tooth. When the second switch signal is given (step 5), the control circuit 18 turns on the third relay switch 27 and simultaneously activates all the light emitting diodes 5 (5a, 5b) for a predetermined time (5 seconds) (step 6). Thereby, the optical fiber bundle 8
The resin is cured by the light emitted from the tip. The temperature of the light-emitting diode 5 rises when it is operated, but the light-emitting diode 5 is cooled by the continuously operated Peltier element 7 and becomes usable again at a temperature lower than the set temperature. When the first switch 21 has turned off (step 7), the operation of the Peltier element 7 is stopped (step 8).
The operation ends.

When the light emitting diode 5 is operated, a current of 75 mA is applied when the rated current is 30 mA. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the resin can be cured by light irradiation for a short time of 5 seconds by obtaining a light emission intensity X that is 1.5 times larger than the light emission intensity Y when the rated current is given. In this way, the treatment time is shortened. When such a large current is applied, the temperature of the light emitting diode 5 rises rapidly, but the temperature rise of the light emitting diode 5 is reduced to about 25 ° C. because it is always pre-cooled to about 10 ° C. by the Peltier element 7 during operation. Thus, thermal damage of the light emitting diode 5 is prevented. The reason why a large current is applied to the light emitting diode 5 as described above is that the light emitting diodes manufactured at present are small and have a small amount of light, so they are collectively used, but even in such a case, there is a sufficient amount of light to cure the resin in a short time. Is also not possible. In addition,
If the light emitting diode 5 is operated for a long time even if the pre-cooling by the Peltier element 7 is performed, the temperature rises and the light emitting diode 5 is damaged. At that point, the operating time of the light emitting diode 5 by the input of the second switch 22 is limited to 5 seconds. To avoid the damage. Further, since the on input of the second switch 22 is determined in step 5 on condition that the light emitting diode 5 is sufficiently cooled in step 3, the second switch 22 is turned off when the light emitting diode 5 is not cooled due to an erroneous operation. Even if there is an on input, the light emitting diode 5 is not operated, and the light emitting diode 5
To avoid damage.

Further, the light irradiation in the above is performed by the light emitting diode 5 having a peak emission wavelength of 450 nm or 480 nm.
Since the two types 5a and 5b are used simultaneously, different resins can be used. The resin is cured by obtaining a certain amount of light of a specific wavelength, and the specific wavelength may be slightly different depending on the type of the resin. As described above, when two types of light emitting diodes 5a and 5b are used and two lights having peak emission wavelengths of 450 nm and 480 nm are used, as shown in FIG. 5, the resulting composite spectrum has substantially a peak emission wavelength value. The resin has a width Z of 450 to 480 nm, and as a result, the resin can be cured if the cured emission wavelength is in the range of 445 to 485 nm.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, a resin curing device in which a light emitting diode as a light source is cooled and used stably can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, by using a plurality of types having different peak emission wavelengths, the peak wavelength width of the irradiation light is substantially wide, and the curing property of the resin is excellent.
Further, a resin curing device that can be used for a plurality of different resins is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a resin curing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the arrangement of the light emitting diodes of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram of the resin curing device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the resin curing device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a correlation between emission intensity and emission wavelength.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Resin hardening apparatus 5 Light emitting diode 7 Peltier element (cooling means) 8 Optical fiber bundle (condensing irradiation means) 18 Control circuit (cooling control means)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A light-emitting device comprising: a plurality of light-emitting diodes; cooling means for cooling the light-emitting diodes; and light-collecting and irradiating means for collecting and irradiating light from each of the light-emitting diodes. Resin curing equipment. 2. The resin curing device according to claim 1, wherein said cooling means is a Peltier element. 3. The invention according to claim 1, further comprising cooling control means for activating said cooling means such that said plurality of light emitting diodes are maintained at an appropriate temperature when using said device. Resin curing equipment. 4. The resin curing device according to claim 3, wherein said cooling control means activates said cooling means prior to use of said light emitting diode. 5. The resin curing device according to claim 4, wherein the cooling control unit does not permit the light emitting diode to operate when the light emitting diode is not cooled below a set temperature. 6. A printed circuit board, a plurality of light emitting diodes provided on a wiring surface side of the printed circuit board, a Peltier element provided on a cooling surface on a back side of the printed circuit board, and a light emitting diode. A resin curing device, comprising: a condenser irradiation unit for collecting and irradiating light. 7. A resin curing device for collecting and irradiating light from a plurality of light emitting diodes to cure the resin, wherein a plurality of types of light emitting diodes having different peak emission wavelengths are used.