JP2016144577A - Respiration sensor, and respiration measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a respiration sensor for achieving respiration measurement in a natural state of a measurement object person by eliminating a stress to the measurement object person in respiration measurement.SOLUTION: A respiration sensor 10 includes electrodes 11 and 12 (first electric conductor and second electric conductor) arranged on a first point 91A and a second point 91B in a breast body surface area 91 (first body surface area) of a measurement object person 90. The electrode 12 is separated from the electrode 11, and is adjacent to the electrode 11. Furthermore, the respiration sensor 10 includes an analyzer 13 (first detection means) which demands a change in an electrostatic capacitance between the electrodes 11 and 12, and detects the respiration of the measurement object person 90 from the change in the electrostatic capacitance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a respiration sensor and a method for measuring respiration.

  In the medical and health fields, there is a need to measure various body conditions. For this reason, many attempts have been made to measure body signals. For example, an electrocardiogram is a measurement of a faint active current that occurs when the heart muscle repeatedly expands and contracts to produce cardiac circulation. In addition, breathing is a vital physiological function for vital activities, as is cardiac circulation. Respiration measurement in a natural state during exercise is important for diagnosing the function of the respiratory tract in actual life. .

  Conventionally, a spirometer has been widely used to measure the respiration of a measurement subject with minimal invasiveness. In this spirometer, a mouthpiece is attached to the mouth of a measurement subject, the expiration or inspiration of the measurement subject is passed through pipes extending from the mouthpiece, and the expiration or inspiration is measured by a sensor.

  In the spirometer, since pipes extending from the mouthpiece hinder the movement of the measurement target person, it is difficult to measure the respiration during the movement of the measurement target person. For this reason, a respiration sensor that can measure respiration without interfering with the movement of the measurement subject is desired.

  As a respiration sensor that can measure respiration without hindering the movement of the measurement subject, for example, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is known. In this invention, the piezoelectric film is provided on the vest extending in the horizontal and vertical directions in close contact with the body of the measurement subject. In the chest and abdominal regions of the vest, when the piezoelectric film is distorted due to the torsional deformation caused by the measurement subject's breathing pattern and the pressure of the heart, the piezoelectric film reacts to this distortion, and the breathing pattern and the heart The pressure is to be calculated.

Japanese Patent No. 3609404

  By the way, since there is an aspect in which respiration is arbitrarily controlled as compared with the cardiac circulation function, stress applied to the measurement subject affects the measurement result of respiration. Here, in the spirometer described above, the measurement subject feels stress by wearing the mouthpiece. Further, in the invention of Patent Document 1, in order to obtain the breathing pattern and heart pressure of the measurement subject from the distortion generated in the piezoelectric film in close contact with the torso of the measurement subject, Feel the stress of being repelled. In other words, each of the respiratory measurement techniques described above has a problem that it is impossible to perform a respiration measurement in a natural state of the measurement target person due to stress applied to the measurement target person.

  The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems. That is, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to detect and measure the respiration of the person to be measured based on the output according to the distance between two separate members arranged on the body surface. In other words, it is possible to eliminate the stress applied to the measurement target person and realize respiration measurement in the natural state of the measurement target person.

  In order to solve the above problems, the respiratory sensor and the method for measuring respiration of the present invention take the following means.

  First, the first invention is a respiration sensor that can measure respiration of a measurement subject with minimal invasiveness. The respiration sensor includes a first electrical conductor disposed at a first point set in a first body surface area that is a body surface area that is stretched and contracted by the measurement subject with respiration. In addition, the respiration sensor is separated from the first electric conductor, and is disposed at a second point set apart from the first point in the first body surface region. Thus, the second electric conductor adjacent to the first electric conductor is provided. The respiration sensor obtains a change in capacitance between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor, and detects respiration of the measurement subject from the change in capacitance. 1 detection means.

  Lung breathing animals, including humans, repeatedly expand and contract the lungs during breathing, and move body tissues such as the rib cage greatly. This movement of the lungs and body tissues appears as expansion and contraction in a predetermined body surface area of the measurement subject. Here, according to the first aspect of the invention, the electric conductor according to the change in the separation distance between the first point and the second point is used to expand and contract the first body surface region accompanying the breathing of the measurement subject. It can obtain | require as a change of the electrostatic capacity between, and can detect and measure a measurement subject's respiration by this change. Here, since the first electrical conductor disposed at the first point and the second electrical conductor disposed at the second point are separated from each other, the body surface of the measurement subject The repulsive force against the expansion and contraction of the region is not given to the measurement subject. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate the stress applied to the measurement target person during the respiration measurement and perform the respiration measurement in the natural state of the measurement target person.

  Next, the second invention is a respiration sensor that can measure respiration of a measurement subject with minimal invasiveness. The respiration sensor includes a first electrical conductor disposed at a first point set in a first body surface area that is a body surface area that is stretched and contracted by the measurement subject with respiration. The respiration sensor is separated from the first electrical conductor, and is disposed at a second point set apart from the first point in the first body surface region. Thus, the second electric conductor adjacent to the first electric conductor is provided. In addition, the respiration sensor has a third electrical conduction disposed at a third point set in a second body surface region that is a body surface region that is expanded and contracted by the measurement subject separately from the first body surface region. Has a body. Further, the respiration sensor is separated from the third electric conductor and is disposed at a fourth point set apart from the third point in the second body surface region. Thus, a fourth electrical conductor adjacent to the third electrical conductor is provided. Further, the respiration sensor has a capacitance change between the first electrical conductor and the second electrical conductor, and an electrostatic capacity between the third electrical conductor and the fourth electrical conductor. A second detection means is provided for determining a change in capacitance and detecting the breath of the measurement subject based on the change in capacitance.

  According to the second invention, similarly to the first invention described above, it is possible to eliminate the stress applied to the measurement target person during respiration measurement and perform the respiration measurement in the natural state of the measurement target person. . Further, by providing the respiration sensor with the third electric conductor and the fourth electric conductor, a fifth invention or a sixth invention to be described later can be realized.

  Further, the third invention is the above-described first or second invention, wherein the measurement subject's body temperature is measured based on the thermometer that measures the body temperature of the measurement subject and the body temperature data measured by the thermometer. Correction means for correcting the detection result of respiration.

  It is generally known that the relative permittivity of animal bodies including humans (and water) varies with temperature. For this reason, when the measurement subject's respiration measurement is detected as a change in capacitance, if the measurement subject's body temperature changes due to exercise or the like, the respiration measurement result also changes in accordance with the change in the body temperature.

  That is, according to the third aspect of the invention, by correcting the measurement result of the measurement subject's respiration based on the measurement subject's body temperature measured by the thermometer, the effect of this change in body temperature can be determined from the measurement result of respiration It can be removed or reduced by information processing. Thereby, while being able to compare easily the measurement result of a measurement subject's respiration, the precision of respiration measurement can be improved.

  Furthermore, the fourth invention is a method for measuring respiration, which uses the respiration sensor of any of the first to third inventions described above to measure the respiration of the measurement subject in a minimally invasive manner. In this method of measuring respiration, the first body surface region is set to the body surface of the right chest portion located on the front side of the right thorax in the measurement subject.

  The expansion and contraction of the measurement subject's body surface due to respiration is conspicuous in the body surface of the chest portion located on the front side of the rib cage in this measurement subject. Further, in the body surface of the chest part of the measurement subject, the body surface of the left chest part located in front of the left thorax is expanded and contracted according to the pulsation of the left ventricle that sends blood to the whole body in the measurement subject's heart. The Here, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the body surface expansion and contraction due to the breathing appears remarkably, and the body surface expansion and contraction due to the pulsation is difficult to appear. By detecting respiration, the accuracy of detecting respiration can be increased.

  Furthermore, the fifth invention is a method for measuring respiration, in which the respiration sensor of the second invention described above is used to measure the respiration of the measurement subject in a minimally invasive manner. In the method of measuring respiration, the first body surface area is a chest body surface area that is a body surface area of the chest that the measurement subject expands and contracts with breathing, and the second body surface area is An abdominal body surface area that is a body surface area of the abdomen that the measurement target person expands and contracts with breathing is used.

  Mammals, including humans, breathe by combining thoracic breathing performed by moving the intercostal muscles located between the ribs of the chest and abdominal breathing performed by moving the diaphragm located adjacent to the chest cavity of the abdominal cavity. Do. Since the combination of the chest breathing and the abdominal breathing varies depending on the exercise state and the posture, it is important to separately measure the chest breathing and the abdominal breathing in the respiratory measurement during the exercise. Here, it is known in part that it is possible to distinguish and measure chest respiration and abdominal respiration by measuring the movement of each body tissue in each of the chest and abdomen.

  Here, according to the fifth aspect, each expansion and contraction of the chest body surface region and the abdominal body surface region of the measurement subject is obtained by a change in capacitance, and the measurement subject's change is determined by each change in capacitance. Respiration can be detected and measured. Thereby, the measurement subject's chest respiration and abdominal respiration can be distinguished and measured.

  Furthermore, the sixth invention is a method for measuring respiration, which uses the respiration sensor of the second invention described above to measure the respiration of the measurement subject in a minimally invasive manner. This method of measuring respiration is based on the change in capacitance between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor arranged in the first body surface area, and the respiration of the measurement subject is measured. It has a respiration detection step to detect. Further, the method for measuring the respiration is based on a change in capacitance between the third electric conductor and the fourth electric conductor arranged in the second body surface region, and the measurement subject's It has a body motion detection step for detecting body motion. Here, in the method for measuring respiration, a body surface region that is expanded and contracted by a body movement different from respiration is set as the second body surface region. In addition, the method for measuring respiration includes a correction step for correcting the measurement result of the measurement subject's respiration detected in the respiration detection step based on the body motion data detected in the body motion detection step. doing.

  The body surface of the measurement target person is expanded and contracted by body movement such as a change in posture of the measurement target person in addition to the expansion and contraction accompanying the measurement target person's breathing. Here, according to the sixth aspect, the influence of the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the body movement is corrected by correcting the respiration detection result of the measurement subject based on the body movement detected by the second detection unit. It can be removed or reduced by information processing. Thereby, the precision of the respiration measurement of the measurement subject can be improved.

  Furthermore, the seventh invention is a respiration measurement system using the respiration sensor of any of the first to third inventions described above. This respiration measurement system includes a wireless transmission device that wirelessly transmits the output of the respiration sensor and a wireless reception device that receives wireless transmission from the wireless transmission device.

  According to the seventh aspect of the invention, since the output of the respiration sensor is wirelessly transmitted to the outside, the external measurer can restrict the respiration of the measurement subject without limiting the action range and the exercise state of the measurement subject. It can be measured in a stationary state.

It is explanatory drawing showing the use condition of the respiration sensor 10 concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the elements on larger scale of FIG. It is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the graph which plotted the frequency characteristic of the impedance at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrodes stuck on the skin of a human breast, and is a measurement result in the state where the person exhaled. It is the graph which plotted the frequency characteristic of the phase at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrodes stuck on the skin of a human breast, and is a measurement result in the state where the person exhaled. It is the graph which plotted the frequency characteristic of the impedance at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrodes stuck on the skin of a human breast, and is a measurement result in the state where the above-mentioned person inhaled. It is the graph which plotted the frequency characteristic of the phase at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrodes stuck on the skin of a human breast, and is a measurement result in the state where the person inhaled. It is explanatory drawing showing the use condition of the respiration sensor 20 concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to the pair of electrodes affixed on the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment conducted at 10:00 in the morning. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to the pair of electrodes affixed on the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment conducted before lunch. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to the pair of electrodes affixed on the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment conducted during lunch. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to the pair of electrodes affixed to the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment conducted after lunch. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrodes stuck on the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment performed at 15:00. It is the graph which plotted the change of the electrostatic capacitance between each electrode at the time of applying an alternating current electric field to the pair of electrode stuck on the skin of a human abdomen, and is the result of the experiment conducted at 16:00. It is a graph plotting the change in capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to a pair of electrodes affixed to the skin of the human abdomen, the measurement result in a state where the human is twisting left and right It is. It is a graph plotting changes in capacitance between each electrode when an alternating electric field is applied to a pair of electrodes affixed to the skin of the human abdomen, in a state in which the human is bending back and forth It is a measurement result.

  EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated using drawing. In the following, the illustration and detailed description of an incidental configuration such as a conductive adhesive for bonding the core wires 10B and 10D to the electrodes 11 and 12 shown in FIG. 3 will be omitted. In the following description, the vertical, horizontal, and front-rear directions will be described as directions viewed from the measurement subject 90 (see FIG. 1) standing and facing the front.

<First Embodiment>
First, the configuration of the respiratory sensor 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the respiration sensor 10 uses a human being as a measurement target 90, and does not impose a burden on the measurement target person 90 in breathing in the daily life of the measurement target person 90 (that is, a minimally invasive). It is a portable respiration sensor for measuring.

  The respiratory sensor 10 has a configuration in which the analysis device 13 is connected to cables 10A and 10C extending from separate electrodes 11 and 12 attached to the measurement subject 90, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the electrodes 11 and 12 is subjected to mesh processing for opening a large number of holes (see FIG. 2) in the conductive cloth 11A and 12A in which the conductive yarn is plain woven. The core wires 10B and 10D of the cables 10A and 10C are bonded to 12A. Here, each of the electrodes 11 and 12 corresponds to a “first electrical conductor” and a “second electrical conductor” in the present invention, respectively.

  The electrodes 11 and 12 are both covered with colorless and transparent dressing tapes 11B and 12B having moisture permeability, and are attached to the measurement subject 90 via the dressing tapes 11B and 12B. . According to the configuration in which the electrodes 11 and 12 formed by the conductive cloth 11A and 12A subjected to the mesh processing are pasted through the dressing tapes 11B and 12B, the electrodes 11 and 12 are pasted in the measurement subject 90. It is possible to prevent the measurement subject 90 from experiencing stress by suppressing the stuffiness of the portion.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, each electrode 11, 12 is a first point set in a thoracic body surface region 91, which is a body surface region of the chest that the measurement subject 90 expands and contracts with breathing. 91A and the second point 91B are disposed. The first point 91 </ b> A and the second point 91 </ b> B are set at positions separated from each other so that the electrodes 11, 12 disposed in the first point 91 </ b> A are adjacent to each other without overlapping each other. Here, the thoracic body surface region 91 is located on the front side (upper side as viewed in FIG. 3) of the measurement subject 90's rib cage 93, and the body surface in which the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the respiration of the measurement subject 90 appears significantly. This is an area and corresponds to the “first body surface area” in the present invention.

  The analysis device 13 obtains a change in capacitance between the electrodes 11 and 12, and detects the respiration of the measurement subject 90 from the change in capacitance. Is equivalent to. The analysis device 13 measures the impedance when an AC electric field having a constant frequency is applied between the electrodes 11 and 12, and calculates the change in capacitance between the electrodes 11 and 12 from the measurement result. It is configured to ask for. In addition, the respiration detected by the analysis device 13 is output to a monitor 13A (see FIG. 1) provided in the analysis device 13 as a waveform indicating a temporal change in the ventilation amount in respiration.

  The respiration sensor 10 expands and contracts the thoracic body surface region 91 due to the respiration of the measurement target person 90, and the static electricity between the electrodes 11 and 12 according to the change in the separation distance between the first point 91 </ b> A and the second point 91 </ b> B. Obtained as a change in capacitance. And the respiration sensor 10 implement | achieves detecting and measuring the respiration of the measuring subject 90 by the change of the calculated | required electrostatic capacitance. Here, since the electrode 11 disposed at the first point 91A and the electrode 12 disposed at the second point 91B are separated from each other, the expansion and contraction of the chest body surface region 91 of the measurement subject 90 is performed. Is not given to the measurement subject 90. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the respiration sensor 10 that can eliminate the stress applied to the measurement target person 90 during respiration measurement and perform respiration measurement in the natural state of the measurement target person 90.

  Here, when the respiration of the measurement subject 90 is measured by the respiration sensor 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the first point 91 </ b> A and the second point 91 </ b> B are included in the chest body surface region 91. It is preferable to arrange on the body surface of the right breast portion 91C located on the front side of the right rib cage 93A. Here, the right chest portion 91C is from the left chest portion 91D (see FIG. 1) located on the front side of the left ribcage 93B in the chest body surface region 91 where the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the breathing of the measurement subject 90 appears remarkably. In addition, the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the pulsation of the heart 94 (see FIG. 1) of the measurement subject 90 is difficult to appear. As shown in FIG. 1, the left ventricle 94 </ b> A that expands and contracts the body surface of the measurement subject 90 by the pulsation that pumps blood to the whole body in the heart 94 of the measurement subject 90 corresponds to the midline 90 </ b> A of the measurement subject 90. Compared to the left side. According to the method of setting the first body surface area in which the first point 91A and the second point 91B are arranged as the body surface of the right chest portion 91C, the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the pulsation of the left ventricle 94A. An influence can be suppressed and the detection accuracy of the respiration of measurement subject 90 can be improved.

  Moreover, when measuring the respiration of the measurement subject 90 by the respiration sensor 10, it is preferable to suppress the stuffiness of the portion where the electrodes 11, 12 are attached in the measurement subject 90. This is because it is possible to eliminate the stress applied to the measurement subject 90 during the respiration measurement and to perform the respiration measurement in the natural state of the measurement subject 90. It is also for avoiding that moisture that causes the above-mentioned stuffiness affects the electrostatic capacity between the electrodes 11 and 12 and prevents accurate respiration measurement.

  The present inventors conducted an experiment (hereinafter also referred to as “first experiment”) in order to examine the correspondence between the measurement result of the respiration sensor 10 and the actual respiration. Hereinafter, the first experiment will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. The present inventors attached the same electrode pair as the electrodes 11 and 12 (see FIG. 2) in the respiration sensor 10 to the skin of a human breast, and the impedance and phase when an AC electric field was applied to the electrode pair. An experiment was conducted to measure the frequency characteristics. This first experiment consists of a state in which the person has stopped breathing from the end of breathing (hereinafter also referred to as a “breathing state”), and after the person has finished breathing. This was performed in a state where the breath was stopped until the start of exhalation (hereinafter, also referred to as a “breathed state”).

  From the first experiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, when the frequency of the AC electric field applied to the electrode pair is 50 [kHz] or more and 200 [kHz] or less, the phase is It was found to be approximately -90 [°] regardless of the respiration. This is because when the electrode pair is attached to human skin and an AC electric field is applied, the electrode pair behaves as a capacitor if the frequency of the AC electric field is 50 [kHz] or more and 200 [kHz] or less. It means that.

  Further, from the first experiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, when the human inhales from the inhaled state, the above-described frequency range of 50 [kHz] to 200 [kHz] is obtained. It was found that the impedance of the electrode pair was increased to about 2.5 times. This means that the capacitance between the electrode pair when the electrode pair attached to the human skin behaves as a capacitor greatly varies depending on the human respiration. For this reason, the change in the capacitance between the electrodes 11 and 12 (see FIG. 2) measured by the respiration sensor 10 of the present invention can be used to measure the change in the ventilation volume in the respiration of the measurement subject 90. Presumed to be possible.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, the configuration of the respiration sensor 20 according to the second embodiment will be described mainly with reference to FIG. The respiration sensor 20 according to the second embodiment is an embodiment obtained by modifying the respiration sensor 10 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, about the structure which is common in each structure of the respiration sensor 10 concerning the said 1st Embodiment, the number of the tenth place is set to "10 from the code | symbol attached | subjected to each structure of the respiration sensor 10 concerning 1st Embodiment. The reference numerals replaced with “2” are assigned to correspond, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the respiratory sensor 20 of the second embodiment measures the respiration of a plurality of measurement subjects 90 without imposing a burden on each measurement subject 90 (that is, in a minimally invasive state). It is a respiration sensor which forms a part of the respiration measurement system. In the analysis device 23 of the respiration sensor 20, in addition to the electrodes 21 and 22 disposed at the first point 91 </ b> A and the second point 91 </ b> B of the measurement subject 90, the abdominal body surface area of the measurement subject 90. Separate electrodes 24 and 25 attached to 92 are connected. Here, the abdominal body surface area 92 is expanded and contracted separately from the chest body surface area 91 along with the breathing of the measurement subject 90, and body movements different from breathing such as a change in posture of the measurement subject 90. Is a body surface region of the abdomen that is also expanded and contracted, and corresponds to the “second body surface region” in the present invention. The specific configurations and operational effects of the electrodes 21, 22, 24, and 25 are the configurations and operational effects of the electrodes 11 and 12 (see FIG. 1) of the respiratory sensor 10 according to the first embodiment, respectively. Therefore, the illustration and detailed description thereof are omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the electrodes 24 and 25 are disposed at the third point 92A and the fourth point 92B set in the abdomen body surface region 92 of the measurement subject 90, and are connected via the cables 20E and 20F. Connected to the analyzer 23. Here, the third point 92A and the fourth point 92B are set at positions separated from each other so that the electrodes 24 and 25 disposed in the third point 92A and the fourth point 92B are adjacent to each other without overlapping each other. That is, each of the electrodes 24 and 25 corresponds to a “third electric conductor” and a “fourth electric conductor” in the present invention, respectively. In FIG. 8, the third point 92 </ b> A and the fourth point 92 </ b> B are set to positions that are targets with respect to the midline 90 </ b> A of the measurement target person 90 in the abdominal body surface area 92 of the measurement target person 90. ing.

  The analysis device 23 obtains a change in capacitance between the electrodes 21 and 22 and a change in capacitance between the electrodes 24 and 25, respectively, and based on the change in each capacitance, the measurement subject 90 , And corresponds to the “second detection means” in the present invention. The analysis device 23 measures the impedance when an AC electric field having a constant frequency is applied between the electrodes 21 and 22 and between the electrodes 24 and 25, and detects the breathing of the measurement subject 90 from each measurement result. It is configured to ask for.

  Here, among the detection results by the electrodes 21, 22, 24, 25, a large amount of abdominal breathing information of the measurement subject 90 is obtained from the change in capacitance between the electrodes 24, 25. , 22 can obtain a large amount of information on the chest breathing of the measurement subject 90 from the change in capacitance between them. Thereby, it is possible to distinguish and measure chest respiration and abdominal respiration of the measurement subject 90.

  Incidentally, the analysis device 23 includes correction means 23 </ b> C that is a device that corrects the detection result of the respiration of the measurement subject 90 by the electrodes 21, 22, 24, and 25. A thermometer 23B is connected to the correction means 23C via a cable 23A. The thermometer 23B is affixed to the body surface of the measurement subject 90, constantly measures the body temperature of the measurement subject 90, and constantly outputs the measured body temperature data to the correction means 23C.

  By each said structure, the analyzer 23 implement | achieves measuring the measurement subject's 90 respiration with the following methods. That is, the analysis device 23 first detects the respiration of the measurement subject 90 from the change in capacitance between the electrodes 21 and 22 disposed in the chest body surface region 91 of the measurement subject 90. Next, the analysis device 23 determines that the breathing of the measurement subject 90 and this breathing are different from the change in capacitance between the electrodes 24 and 25 arranged in the abdominal body surface region 92 of the measurement subject 90. Detect body movement. At this time, the correcting means 23C of the analysis device 23 is based on the body movement data detected from the change in capacitance between the electrodes 24 and 25, and between the electrodes 21 and 22 and the electrodes 24 and 25. The respiration detection result of the measurement subject 90 based on the change in the electrostatic capacity at is corrected. Further, the correction means 23C of the analysis device 23 displays each detection result of the respiration of the measurement subject 90 corrected by the body movement data based on the body temperature data of the measurement subject 90 input from the thermometer 23B. Further correction.

  According to the above-described method, the influence of the expansion and contraction of the body surface due to the body movement is removed or reduced by information processing by correcting the respiration detection result of the measurement subject 90 based on the body movement detected by the analysis device 23. Can be made. Thereby, the precision of the respiration measurement of the measurement subject 90 can be improved. Furthermore, according to the method described above, the influence of the change in body temperature is measured by measuring the respiration detection result of the measurement subject 90 based on the body temperature of the measurement subject 90 measured by the thermometer 23B. Can be removed or reduced by information processing. Thereby, while being able to compare easily the measurement result of the respiration of measurement subject 90, the accuracy of respiration measurement can be improved.

  Further, a wireless transmission device 26 (a commercially available ZIGBEE (registered trademark) product in this embodiment) is connected to the correction means 23C of the analysis device 23 via a cable 26A. This wireless transmission device 26 adds the identification code of the respiration sensor 20 to each detection result of the respiration of the measurement subject 90 that has been corrected by the correction means 23C, and wirelessly transmits it as a radio wave 26B. This radio wave 26B is received by the wireless receiver 27 provided with the monitor 27A. The wireless receiving device 27 converts each detection result of the respiration of the measurement subject 90 extracted from the radio wave 26B into a change in the ventilation amount, and displays it on the monitor 27A together with the identification code of the respiration sensor 20. The monitor 27A can be monitored by an external measurer or an automatic monitoring device (not shown), and can measure respiration of a plurality of measurement subjects 90 over a long period of time. Thereby, the health condition of a plurality of measurement subjects 90 can be diagnosed.

  According to the above configuration, the output from the respiration sensor 20 is displayed on the external monitor 27A by wireless transmission. For this reason, the respiration of the measurement subject 90 can be measured in a state where an external measurer (not shown) is stationary without limiting the action range and the motion state of the measurement subject 90. Further, by displaying the output from the respiration sensor 20 together with the identification code of the respiration sensor 20, it is possible to prevent the measurement results from being mixed when measuring the respiration of the plurality of measurement subjects 90.

  The present inventors conducted an experiment to examine the correspondence between the measurement result of the above-described respiration sensor 20 and actual respiration and body movement. Hereinafter, the experiments conducted by the present inventors will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.

  The inventors of the present invention have a capacitance between the electrodes when an alternating electric field is applied by applying the same electrode pair as the electrodes 24 and 25 (see FIG. 8) of the respiratory sensor 20 to the skin of the human abdomen. An experiment (hereinafter, also referred to as “second experiment”) for measuring the change in the above with time was performed. In this second experiment, the same posture was applied to the human at the time of 10:00 in the morning, before lunch, during lunch, after lunch, and at 15:00 and 16:00 without changing the electrode pair. It was done with Here, the time before lunch is a time zone before 10 o'clock in the morning and before lunch, and the time after lunch is a time zone after 15 o'clock and after lunch.

  From the second experiment, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 14, the capacitance between the electrodes increases or decreases by about 10 [pF] with a period of about 2 to 3 [seconds] regardless of the time zone. It turns out that it repeats. Here, the present inventors observe the change in capacitance between the electrodes and the state of the person together, and when the person exhales and the abdomen dents, the static electricity between the electrodes. It has been confirmed that the capacitance between the electrodes increases as the capacitance decreases and the human inhales and the abdomen expands. For this reason, the change in the capacitance between the electrodes 24 and 25 (see FIG. 5) measured by the respiration sensor 20 of the present invention can be used to measure the change in the ventilation amount in the respiration of the measurement subject 90. Presumed to be possible.

  Also, from the second experiment, it was found that the capacitance between the electrodes increased after the human had eaten and decreased with time from the meal. This is presumed to be due to the fact that the swelling of the abdomen resulting from the eating of the human affected the capacitance between the electrodes.

  Now, the present inventors have observed the change in capacitance between the electrodes when the electrode pair used in the second experiment was applied to the skin of the human abdomen and an AC electric field was applied. An experiment (hereinafter, also referred to as “third experiment”) was performed while performing a right-and-left twist motion. Here, the “right and left twisting exercise” means that the measurement subject 90 in a standing state has a posture facing the front, a posture of a left twist with the upper body twisted to the left, a posture of returning the upper body to the front, and It is an exercise that repeats each of the postures of the right twist with the upper body twisted to the right in this order.

  From the third experiment, it was found that the capacitance between the electrodes repeatedly increased and decreased at a cycle of about 2 [seconds] as shown in FIG. Here, the present inventors observe the change in capacitance between the electrodes and the state of the person together, and when the person exhales and the abdomen dents, the static electricity between the electrodes. It has been confirmed that the capacitance between the electrodes increases as the capacitance decreases and the human inhales and the abdomen expands. Also, from the third experiment, the capacitance between the electrodes increases when the human takes a left-twisting posture, and the human breathing occurs when the human takes a right-twisting posture. It was found that the range of increase / decrease in capacitance was small.

  Further, the present inventors changed the human movement in the third experiment from left / right twisting movement to trunk back-and-forth bending movement, and the other conditions were the same as in the third experiment. An experiment (hereinafter, also referred to as “fourth experiment”) for measuring a change in electrostatic capacity was performed. Here, the “trunk bending motion” means that the standing measurement subject 90 is in a posture that faces the front, a forward bending posture in which the upper body is tilted forward, a posture in which the upper body is returned to the front, And, it is an exercise that repeats each posture of the backward bending posture in which the upper body is returned to the back in this order.

  From the fourth experiment, it was found that the capacitance between the electrodes repeatedly increased and decreased at a cycle of about 2 [seconds], as shown in FIG. Here, the present inventors observe the change in capacitance between the electrodes and the state of the person together, and when the person exhales and the abdomen dents, the static electricity between the electrodes. It has been confirmed that the capacitance between the electrodes increases as the capacitance decreases and the human inhales and the abdomen expands. In addition, from the fourth experiment, when the human takes a forward bending posture, the increase / decrease in the capacitance associated with the breathing of the human becomes smaller, and when the human takes a backward bending posture, It was found that the capacitance between each electrode increased.

  From the third and fourth experiments described above, the capacitance between the pair of electrodes affixed to the human skin varies in a different manner depending on the respiration and body movement of the human. I understand that For this reason, the change in the capacitance between the electrodes 24 and 25 measured by the respiration sensor 20 shown in FIG. 8 depends on the purpose of measuring the respiration of the measurement subject 90 and the measurement subject 90 by the electrodes 21 and 22. It is estimated that it can be used for two purposes, that is, for correcting the measurement result of respiration.

  The present invention is not limited to the appearance and configuration described in the first and second embodiments described above, and various modifications, additions, and deletions can be made without changing the gist of the present invention. For example, the following various forms can be implemented.

(1) In the first embodiment described above, the respiratory sensor analysis device includes a motion sensor that measures body movements different from breathing in the measurement subject, and the measurement subject's measurement result based on the measurement result of the motion sensor. A modification in which correction means for correcting the detection result of respiration is connected can be adopted. Here, as the motion sensor, one or a combination of an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor can be used.

(2) In the first embodiment described above, the respiratory sensor analysis device includes a thermometer for measuring the body temperature of the measurement target person, and detection of the respiration of the measurement target person based on the body temperature data measured by the thermometer. It is possible to adopt a modification in which correction means for correcting the result is connected.

(3) The cloth having conductive fibers for each electrode of the respiration sensor can be a cloth having an arbitrary structure such as a woven fabric, a non-woven fabric, or a knitted fabric. Moreover, each said electrode is not limited to the cloth which has a conductive fiber. That is, each electrode only needs to be conductive and conductive as a whole. For example, each electrode can be a foil or a net formed of a good conductor such as metal, and the shape thereof can be set as appropriate. it can. However, it is desirable that each electrode has flexibility and does not cause discomfort or stress to the measurement subject during respiration measurement.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Respiration sensor 10A Cable 10B Core wire 10C Cable 10D Core wire 11 Electrode (1st electric conductor)
11A Conductive cloth 11B Dressing tape 12 Electrode (second electrical conductor)
12A Conductive cloth 12B Dressing tape 13 Analysis device (first detection means)
20 Respiration sensor 20A Cable 20C Cable 20E Cable 20F Cable 21 Electrode (first electric conductor)
22 electrode (second electrical conductor)
23 Analysis device (second detection means)
23A Cable 23B Thermometer 23C Correction means 24 Electrode (third electrical conductor)
25 electrodes (fourth electrical conductor)
26 Radio transmitter 26A Cable 26B Radio wave 27 Radio receiver 27A Monitor 90 Measurement subject 90A Midline 91 Chest body surface area (first body surface area)
91A 1st point 91B 2nd point 91C Right breast part (1st body surface area)
91D Left chest part 92 Abdominal body surface area (second body surface area)
92A Third point 92B Fourth point 93 Thorax 93A Right thorax 93B Left thorax 94 Heart 94A Left ventricle

Claims (6)

In a respiration sensor that can measure the respiration of a measurement subject with minimal invasiveness,
A first electrical conductor disposed at a first point set in a first body surface region that is a body surface region that the measurement subject expands and contracts with the breath;
The first electric conductor is separated from the first electric conductor, and is disposed at a second point set apart from the first point in the first body surface region. A second electrical conductor adjacent to the electrical conductor;
A first detecting means for obtaining a change in capacitance between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor and detecting the breathing of the measurement subject from the change in the capacitance; ,
With
Respiration sensor. In a respiration sensor that can measure the respiration of a measurement subject with minimal invasiveness,
A first electrical conductor disposed at a first point set in a first body surface region that is a body surface region that the measurement subject expands and contracts with the breath;
The first electric conductor is separated from the first electric conductor, and is disposed at a second point set apart from the first point in the first body surface region. A second electrical conductor adjacent to the electrical conductor;
A third electrical conductor disposed at a third point set in a second body surface area that is a body surface area that the measurement subject extends and contracts separately from the first body surface area;
The third electrical conductor is separated from the third electrical conductor, and is disposed at a fourth point set apart from the third point in the second body surface region. A fourth electrical conductor adjacent to the electrical conductor;
A change in capacitance between the first electrical conductor and the second electrical conductor, and a capacitance between the third electrical conductor and the fourth electrical conductor. A second detection means for determining each of the changes, and detecting the respiration of the measurement subject based on the change in each capacitance;
With
Respiration sensor. A respiration sensor according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein
A thermometer for measuring the body temperature of the measurement subject;
Based on the data of the body temperature measured by the thermometer, correction means for correcting the respiration detection result of the measurement subject,
With
Respiration sensor. A method for measuring respiration using the respiration sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the respiration of a measurement subject is measured in a minimally invasive manner,
Setting the first body surface region to the body surface of the right chest portion located on the front side of the right rib in the measurement subject;
How to measure respiration. A method for measuring respiration, wherein the respiration sensor according to claim 2 is used to measure respiration of a measurement subject in a minimally invasive manner,
The first body surface region is a chest body surface region that is a body surface region of the chest that the measurement subject expands and contracts with the breathing,
The second body surface area is an abdominal body surface area that is a body surface area of the abdomen that the measurement subject expands and contracts with the breathing.
How to measure respiration. A method for measuring respiration, wherein the respiration sensor according to claim 2 is used to measure respiration of a measurement subject in a minimally invasive manner,
Respiration detection for detecting the respiration of the measurement subject from a change in capacitance between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor disposed in the first body surface region Steps,
The body surface region that the measurement subject expands and contracts by body movements different from the breathing is used as the second body surface region, and the third electrical conductor disposed in the second body surface region and the A body motion detection step for detecting the body motion of the measurement subject from a change in capacitance with the fourth electrical conductor;
A correction step of correcting the respiration detection result of the measurement subject detected in the respiration detection step based on the data of the body motion detected in the body motion detection step;
have,
How to measure respiration.

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