FR2590489A1 - Device for therapeutic treatment by laser radiation - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for therapeutic treatment by laser radiation lying in the visible and/or infrared spectrum, of the type including, on a mobile support, a directable radiation emitter device connected to a radiation generator, characterised in that the said radiation emitter and the said generator are disposed in the same box 6 mounted so as to be directed along three axes via at least one connector 2 and a deformable parallelogram 3 on a vertical upright 5, the emission elements 22, 23 of the said emitter being disposed in a line on a carriage 16 which is mounted so as to move in a direction forming a right angle with the alignment of the said emission elements 22, 23, means being provided to control a to-and-fro motion of this carriage 16 over an adjustable distance.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for therapeutic treatment with laser radiation located in the visible and / or infrared spectrum of the type comprising on a mobile support, a device emitting adjustable radiation, connected to a radiation generator.
Such devices are known and normally include an adjustable transmitter device and a fixed generator device. The orientation of the emitting device is essential because the effectiveness of the treatment can only be ensured in the case where the radiation penetrates into the tissue to be treated in a direction perfectly perpendicular to the surface of the tissue or part of the body to be treated.

 There are also known devices of the so-called scanning type, in which the emitter performs a back-and-forth movement in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the emitted radiation. In this case, the transmitter is mounted on a vertical column supported by a motorized carriage moving on rails arranged on the ground or on the frame of a treatment table. Such a device is heavy and imprecise and the movement of the carriage requires the use of a relatively powerful motor.

 The object of the present invention is to design a device of said type making it possible to remedy said drawbacks of the known devices mentioned above.

 According to the invention, said radiation emitter and said generator are arranged in the same box mounted orientable along three axes by means of at least one connector and a deformable parallelogram on a vertical upright, the emission members of said emitter arranged in line on a carriage mounted movable in a direction forming a right angle with the alignment of said transmission members, means being provided for controlling a back-and-forth movement of said carriage over an adjustable distance.

 According to a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, said case is divided into two compartments, the first of which is closed and contains at least one tube generating laser radiation, a motor for driving said carriage and the supply circuits. and for electrical control of the device, the second compartment comprising on its underside a window closed by a transparent element and containing said carriage which moves opposite said window.

 This gives a simple device with a light structure in which the orientation of the radiation relative to the body to be treated can be adjusted with great precision. The transmission of radiation between the generator and the transmitter does not pose any more difficulties because these two devices are located in the same orientable box a very short distance from each other. In addition, the carriage drive requires only a very low driving force which can be supplied by an electric motor of very low power.

 According to a particularly simple and inexpensive embodiment of the device according to the invention, said carriage is mounted mobile on two longitudinal parallel guides passing right through said second compartment and driven by said motor via a table transmission , the radiation beam produced by said tube being sent into the second compartment and onto an emission optic provided on said carriage by means of a set of mirrors.

 According to another preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, the control circuit of said motor comprises a series of switches mounted in parallel and aligned on a support disposed in said second compartment above the carriage and which is parallel to the axis movement of the latter, the carriage comprising facing the switches, a permanent magnet which causes the fugitive closing of each switch when it passes over this switch, the switches being able to be switched on, selectively and their fugitive closing resulting in a reversal of the direction of rotation of the carriage control motor.

 In this case, said switches can be selectively inserted into the bias circuit of the base of a transistor whose collector-emitter path is inserted into the power supply circuit of the solenoid of a relay controlling the reversal of the polarity of the supply current of said motor, the switch corresponding to the starting position of the carriage being mounted in parallel with the collector-emitter path of said transistor. A very simple, inexpensive and highly precise control circuit is thus obtained.

 Advantageously, said emitters are laser effect diodes producing pulses in the infrared spectrum while said tube produces continuous laser radiation in the spectrum of visible light in particular, in red.

Other embodiments and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows and with reference to the appended drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention. In these drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire device according
the invention, Figure 2 is a schematic bottom view of the transmission head of the
device shown in Figure 1, the bottom wall and
the protective glass of the transmission head housing being
removed and Figure 3 shows the circuit diagram of the electrical connections of the
electric motor control controlling the translation of
scanning of the diode carriage shown in Figure 2.

 The device according to the invention generally comprises an emission head (1) mounted by a connector (2) on one of the vertical branches, an articulated parallelogram (3) of which the other vertical branch is materialized by the upper part of a vertical upright (4) resting on the ground by feet. Between the lower horizontal branch of the articulated parallelogram (3) and the upright (4), there is a pneumatic adjustment cylinder (5). The head (1) can thus be carried out without difficulty in any relative position relative to the vertical upright (4) to ensure that the radiation emitted by the head (1) arrives in a perfectly perpendicular direction on the fabric of the part to be treated of a patient's body. This avoids the use of reflection mirrors as used according to the prior art.

 The transmission head (1) is shown in more detail but very schematically in Figure 2. For the sake of clarity, we have omitted, in this figure, the various elements and electrical supply and control circuits which are d a type known perfectly within the reach of those skilled in the art.

 The head (1) comprises a housing (6) divided by an intermediate wall (7) into two compartments (8, 9). In the compartment (8) are housed a control and electrical supply circuit (10) provided, in a known manner, with control members (11), a tube generating a laser radiation in the spectrum of the visible light (12), a mirror (13) for guiding the radiation beam (14) produced by the tube (12) and a control motor (15) whose function is described below. The various components of the circuit (10) and the connecting cables between this circuit and the tube (12), the motor (15) and a possible power transformer are not shown here because they are known and within the scope of l 'skilled in the art and are not the subject of the present invention.

 Inside the compartment (9) are mounted a carriage (16) sliding on two longitudinal guides (17) fixed to the two opposite transverse vertical walls (18) of the housing (1), means for driving the carriage (16) , means controlling its movements and a second mirror (19) intended to return the beam (14) produced by the tube (12) and returned to it by the mirror (13) through an opening (20) made in the wall ( 7) on a third mirror (21) provided on the carriage (16).

 The carriage carries on the underside, a series of diodes emitting infrared laser radiation (22) and an emission optic (23) receiving the radiation beam (14) returned by said third mirror (21). These diodes (22) and 11 optics (23) are aligned along a transverse line with respect to the housing (6) and the guides.

 The carriage (16) also carries certain electronic components and circuits (not shown here) and comprises, for this purpose, a connector (24) connected by a flat and flexible multiconductor (25) to another connector (26) provided on the wall. intermediate and connected by other cables to the organs and circuits arranged in the compartment (8). Such a flat multiconductor (25) can be deformed during movement of the carriage without risk of excessive wear and of breakage of one or more conductors.

 The movements of the carriage (16) are controlled by the motor (15) which is a reversible motor. It is fixed to the intermediate wall (7) for example, by gluing and by means of a flexible seal (26).

The control shaft (27) of the motor (15) passes through the wall (7) and carries, in the compartment, a large diameter drum (28) on which is fixed and wound a cable (29) whose upper strands and also extend on a deflection roller (30). The carriage (16) is connected to the cable (29) by a clip (31).

 The motor (15) can thus control movements of the carriage (16) relative to the guides (17) in the directions of the double arrow (F).

 Between the guides is provided on the bottom of the housing (6), a printed circuit or support (34) carrying a series of magnetic switches (33) aligned on a line parallel to the guides (17) and thus to the movement of the carriage (16) . The latter carries a central permanent magnet (32) extending opposite the alignment of the switches (33) and thus actuates each of these when the carriage (16) moves in one direction or the other of the arrow.

 The switches (33) are preferably ILS sensors of the type comprising a contact closed momentarily during the passage of the magnet (32) provided on the carriage (16).

 Figure 3 shows the connection of the switches (33) in the motor control circuit (15). We see, in this drawing, a relay (S1), a pair of contacts (C1) of which is inserted in the general supply circuit of the motor (15). The solenoid (S1) of this relay is excited by a signal applied across a line (L1) by a control logic (CC) of the general programmer of the device which is of a known type and for this reason, is neither shown, nor described in detail here. Between the contacts (C1) and the motor (15) are inserted an adjustable regulator circuit (LM) of a known type having a speed adjustment potentiometer (P1) and two pairs of contacts (C2, C3) of a relay whose solenoid bears the reference (S2) and is mounted in parallel with a protection diode (Dl). One of the solenoid terminals (S2) is connected through a resistor (Ri) and the contacts (C1) to the positive supply terminal while the other is connected through the collector-emitter path of a transistor (T1 ) to ground. This second terminal is also connected by a switch (33 ') which corresponds to the end or start of the carriage (16) stroke to ground. The base of the transistor (T1) is connected on one side, through a resistor (R2), to one of the contacts of the relay (S2) which connects it to earth when the-: relay (52) is energized and on the other hand, through a resistor (R3), to the movable contact a selector (CS) whose fixed contacts are each connected by one of the switches (33) provided on the support (34) and each of which corresponds to a predetermined position of the carriage.

The motor sweep displacement control (15) operates as follows
When the control and programming circuit (CC) sends through line 1, an excitation signal to the solenoid (S1) which is protected by a diode (D1), this closes the contact (Cl) which then applies an excitation signal, through the resistor (R1), to the solenoid (S2) also protected by a diode (D1), the other terminal of this solenoid being connected through the collector-emitter path of the transistor (Ti) which is then unlocked to ground.

 The solenoid (S2) is thus excited and brings the contacts (c2, C3) to their upper position as shown in FIG. 3. The motor (15) is thus supplied in one direction and drives the carriage (16) in a first direction (down, in Figure 2).

 Using the selector (CS), the user has previously switched on one of the switches (33) to determine the travel of the carriage.

 When the magnet (32) of the carriage arrives opposite this switch, the latter is subject to a fugitive closure and thus connects the base of the transistor (T1) through the resistor (R3) to ground.

 The collector-emitter path of the transistor (T1) is then blocked and the solenoid (S2) is no longer excited. The contacts (C2) and (C3) return to their rest position shown in Figure 2 in which they reverse the polarity of the motor supply current (15) which then turns in opposite directions and drives the carriage (16) in the opposite direction, i.e. upwards in Figure 2.

 The contact (C3) of the relay (52) also connects at this time the base of the transistor (T1) through the resistor (R2) to ground and ensures that the collector-emitter path of the transistor (T1) remains blocked.

 When the magnet (32) of the carriage (16) reaches the end of the return stroke, opposite the switch (33 '), the latter is closed momentarily and again causes the solenoid (52) to be excited and thus a return of the contacts (C2, C3) in their upper position in which they again reverse the polarity of the motor supply current (15) and cut the base of the transistor (T1) to ground to, again, unblock the path collector-emitter of the transistor (T1).

 An extremely simple and very reliable operating circuit is thus obtained.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown here, but many modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
The relay (52) can, for example, be replaced by one or more transistors or by other electronic switching means.

Claims (7)

 1) Device for therapeutic treatment with laser radiation located in the visible and / or infrared spectrum of the type comprising on a mobile support, a directional radiation emitting device connected to a radiation generator, characterized in that said emitter radiation and said generator are arranged in the same casing (6) mounted orientable along three axes via at least one connector (2) and a deformable parallelogram (3) on a vertical upright (5), the organs of transmitting (22, 23) of said transmitter being arranged in line on a carriage (16) mounted movable in a direction forming a right angle with the alignment of said transmitting members (22, 23), means being provided for controlling a back and forth movement of said carriage (16) over an adjustable distance.  2) Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said housing (6) is divided into two compartments (8, 9) of which the first (8) is closed and contains at least one laser radiation generating tube (12), one motor (15) for driving said carriage (16) and the power supply and electrical control circuits (10) of the device, the second compartment (9) comprising on its underside, a window (6 ') closed by a transparent element and containing said carriage (16) which moves opposite said window (6 ').  3) Device according to claim 2, characterized in that said carriage (16) is movably mounted on two parallel longitudinal guides (17) passing right through said second compartment (9) and driven by said motor (15), by l 'via a cable transmission (28, 29, 30), the radiation beam (14) produced by said tube (12) being sent into the second compartment (9) and on the emission optics (23) provided on said carriage (16), by means of a set of mirrors (13, 19).  4) Device according to any one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that the control circuit of said motor (15) comprises a series of switches (33, 33 ') mounted in parallel and aligned on a support (34) disposed in said second compartment (9) above the carriage (16) and which is parallel to the axis of movement of the latter, the carriage (16) having opposite the switches (33, 33 ') a permanent magnet (32 ) which causes the fugitive closure of each switch (33) when it passes over this switch (33), the switches (33) being able to be selectively switched on and their fugitive closure results in a reversal of the direction of rotation of the control motor (15) of the carriage (16).  5) Device according to claim 4, characterized in that said switches (33) can be selectively inserted in the bias circuit of the base of a transistor (T1) whose collector-emitter path is inserted in the supply circuit of the empty soles (52) of a relay (C2, C3) controlling the reversal of the polarity of the supply current of said motor (15), the switch (33 ') corresponding to the starting position of the carriage (16) , being mounted in parallel with the collector-emitter path of said transistor (Ti).  6) Device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that said emitters (22) are laser effect diodes producing pulses in the infrared spectrum while said tube produces continuous laser radiation in the spectrum of the visible light especially in red.  7) Device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that said switches (33, 33 ') are magnetic sensors of the IL5 type.