JP2745870B2 - Skin analyzer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to fineness of skin texture,
The present invention relates to a skin analyzer that performs evaluation, analysis, and the like of a tissue.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a skin analyzer for evaluating and analyzing the fineness and texture of skin has been used to irradiate the surface of the skin to be measured with light of a predetermined single wavelength to permeate and diffuse through the skin. The light coming out to the skin surface is measured again by the light receiving element, and the skin and the tissue near the skin are evaluated and analyzed.

[0003]

The conventional skin analyzer uses the reflected light of the light radiated on the skin surface from the surface or inside of the skin, and therefore has the following problems (1) to (3). is there. (1) Bone effects. Since a large amount of reflected light is generated from the bone below the surface of the skin to be analyzed, the amount of light detected is affected by the presence or absence of the bone. (2) Variation in light scattering path length. The amount of reflected light from the detected skin decreases as the path length of the detected light increases, but it is difficult to accurately analyze the skin because the scattering path length of the detected light varies. (3) Influence of disturbance light. When the measurement is performed in a bright place, an error occurs in the detected light amount due to the influence of disturbance light.

[0004] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to analyze a skin without using light reflected from the surface or inside of the skin.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems Next, the invention of the present application devised to solve the above-mentioned problems will be described. The elements of the present invention facilitate the correspondence with the elements of the embodiments described later. Therefore, the reference numerals of the elements of the embodiment are enclosed in parentheses. The reason why the present invention is described in correspondence with the reference numerals of the embodiments described below is to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and not to limit the scope of the present invention to the embodiments. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a skin analyzer of the present invention includes a skin suction unit (3a) formed at a tip of a case (1);
Negative pressure generating means for generating a negative pressure in the skin suction unit (3a); a light emitting unit (F3a) disposed at a position crossing the skin suction unit (3a);
3a) a light receiving unit (F4a) for receiving light emitted from the skin and passing through the skin; and a light amount detecting unit (HD1) for detecting a light amount received by the light receiving unit (F4a); Is a cylinder (2a) communicated with the skin suction unit (3a), a piston (9) slidably held inside the cylinder (2a) while maintaining airtightness, and a slidable piston (9). The skin suction unit (3
a) a spring that is constantly biased so as to slide in the direction of negative pressure, and the spring (14) that is integrally connected to the piston (9) and is pressed when pressed by an operator. ), The operation member (12) for sliding the piston (9) against the urging force.

[0006]

In the skin analyzing apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the compression spring (14) slides the slidable piston (9) in the direction in which the skin suction part (3a) becomes a negative pressure. Always energize. When the operator presses the operation member (12), the piston (9) slides in response to the urging force of the compression spring (14). Therefore, when the operator presses the operation member (12) and presses the skin suction part (3a) formed at the tip of the case (1) against the skin to be analyzed, and then releases the pressing operation. , The piston (9)
Is slid by the compression spring (14) in a direction in which the skin suction part (3a) becomes a negative pressure. At this time,
The inside of the skin suction part (3a) becomes negative pressure, and the skin is sucked into the skin suction part (3a). In this state, when light of a predetermined wavelength is emitted from the light emitting section (F3a), the emitted light passes through the skin sucked into the skin suction section (3a) and is received by the light receiving section (F4a). Is done. The amount of light received by the light receiving section (F4a) is detected by a light amount detecting means.
The skin can be analyzed based on the detected light amount.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the skin analyzer of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a skin analyzer according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the embodiment. In FIG. 2, the skin analyzer H includes a control unit U and a skin analyzer B.

In FIG. 1, the skin analyzing instrument B has a substantially cylindrical aluminum case 1. A cylinder 2a is formed inside the distal end wall 2 of the case 1, and a male screw 2b is formed outside. In addition, light emitting optical fiber housings 2c and 2d and light receiving optical fiber housings 2e and 2f are formed on the distal end wall 2 at positions symmetrical with respect to the axis of the cylinder 2a. The distal end wall 2 is formed with a distal end protruding portion 3 projecting further forward therefrom. The distal end protruding part 3 is provided with a skin suction part 3a whose inner diameter increases toward the distal end. In addition, the tip projecting portion 3 is formed with light emitting optical fiber housing portions 3c and 3d and light receiving optical fiber housing portions 3e and 3f which are respectively arranged at positions crossing the skin suction portion.
The optical fiber housings 2c and 2d and the optical fiber housing 3
The directions of the optical fiber housings 2e and 2f and the optical fiber housings 3e and 3f are shifted by 90 degrees from those of the optical fibers c and 3d. The outer portion of the case 1 is cut off between the optical fiber housings 2c and 2d and the optical fiber housings 3c and 3d, and the optical fiber housings 2e and 2f and the optical fiber housings 3e and 3e are cut off. The outer portion of the case 1 between 3f is also cut away.

The base portion of the skin suction detecting optical fiber F1 is stored in the optical fiber housing portion 2c, and the distal end portion of the skin suction detecting optical fiber F1 is stored in the optical fiber housing portion 3c. The intermediate portion of the optical fiber F1 for detecting skin suction is exposed outside the case 1. The distal end of the skin suction detection optical fiber F1 forms a skin suction detection light emitting portion F1a. The base portion of the skin suction detection optical fiber F2 is housed in the optical fiber housing portion 2e, and the front end portion of the skin suction detection optical fiber F2 is housed in the optical fiber housing portion 3e. The intermediate portion of the skin suction detecting optical fiber F2 is exposed outside the case 1. Further, the tip of the skin suction detection optical fiber F2 is connected to a skin suction detection light receiving section F2a.
Is formed.

[0010] The base portion of the skin analysis optical fiber F3 is housed in the optical fiber housing portion 2d, and the distal end portion of the skin analysis optical fiber F3 is housed in the optical fiber housing portion 3d. Then, the skin analysis optical fiber F3
Is exposed outside the case 1. Further, the tip of the skin analysis optical fiber F3 is connected to a skin analysis light emitting portion F3.
forming a. The base portion of the skin analysis optical fiber F4 is stored in the optical fiber housing portion 2f, and the distal end portion of the skin analysis optical fiber F4 is stored in the optical fiber housing portion 3f. The skin analysis optical fiber F4 intermediate portion is exposed outside the case 1. The distal end of the skin analysis optical fiber F4 forms a skin analysis light receiving portion F4a.

The inner surface of the substantially cylindrical case 1 has two stepped portions 1a and 1b formed in the middle, and has a tip (lower end in FIG. 1).
The smaller the inner diameter is, the more it goes. The steps 1a,
Rod support plates 4 and 5 are fixed to 1b by clips 6 and 7, respectively. The rod support plates 4 and 5 have rod through holes 4a and 5a
Are formed. The rod support plate 5 has a flange 5b. The rod through hole 4
A rod 8 is slidably supported by a and 5a. A piston 9 is connected to the rod 8 at the tip thereof, and the piston 9 is disposed in the cylinder 2a. A seal ring 9a is provided on the outer periphery of the piston 9, and the seal ring 9a slides while maintaining airtightness with the cylinder 2a. Also,
The rod 8 includes the rod support plates 4 and 5
The stopper 10 has a clip 11
a, 11b. The stopper 10 has a function of regulating the amount of movement of the rod 8 toward the distal end.

A guided block (that is, an operation member) 12 is fixed to a base end of the support rod 8. The guided block 12 is provided with a flange portion 12a on a distal end side, and a cylindrical guided surface 12b on an outer surface on a proximal end side.
Is provided. A base end closing plate 13 is fixed to the base end surface of the case 1 by fixing means such as screws. The base end closing plate 13 has a guide hole 1 at its center.
3a are formed. The guide hole 13a slidably supports the guided surface 12b of the guided block 12. A compression spring 14 is provided between the guided block 12 and the rod support plate 5, and the guided block 12 is constantly biased toward the base end by the compression spring 14.

Therefore, when the base end surface (upper end surface in FIG. 1) of the guided block 12 is pushed into the distal end side (downward in the figure) with a hand (or a finger) and then released, the guided block is released. 12 and return to the proximal side by the action of the compression spring 14. In synchronization with the movement of the guided block 12, the piston 9 also moves to the distal end side and then moves to the proximal end side.
While the guided block 12 is pushed toward the distal end, the skin suction unit 3a is pressed against the skin, and then the guided block 12 and the piston 9 are compressed by the compression spring 14.
When it is moved to the proximal end side by the action of the above, the inside of the skin suction part 3a becomes negative pressure. Therefore, the piston 9, the support rod 8 for supporting the piston 9, the members 4, 5, 12, 13 for slidably supporting the support rod 8,
The compression spring 14 and the like constitute the negative pressure generating means of the first embodiment.

A light-emitting diode LED1 for skin suction detection is provided on the front end surface of the rod support plate 4 in correspondence with the base end surface of the skin suction detection optical fiber F1.
A skin suction detection photodiode HD1 is provided corresponding to the base end surface of the skin suction detection optical fiber F2.
A skin analysis light emitting diode LED2 is disposed on the distal end surface of the rod support plate 4 corresponding to the base end surface of the skin analysis optical fiber F3, and corresponds to the base end surface of the skin analysis optical fiber F3. A skin analysis photodiode HD2 is provided.

The light-emitting diode LED for detecting skin suction
The light emitted from 1 passes through the skin suction detection optical fiber F1, crosses the skin suction section 3a, further passes through the skin suction detection optical fiber F2, and is detected by the skin suction detection photodiode HD1. The detected light is configured to be input to the control unit U. Further, the light emitted from the skin analysis light emitting diode LED2 passes through the skin analysis optical fiber F3, crosses the skin suction part 3a, further passes through the skin analysis optical fiber F4, and passes through the skin suction detection photodiode HD2. Is to be detected. The detected light is configured to be input to the control unit U.

The end of the case 1 is covered with a cover 15. The cover 15 has a skin suction hole 15a formed at the center thereof.
5a is connected to the skin suction part 3a whose inner diameter increases as it goes to the tip of the tip protrusion 3. The cover 1
5 is connected to the case 1 by connecting a female screw 15b formed on the inner surface thereof to a male screw 2b on the outer side of the end wall 2 of the case 1.

In FIG. 3, the control unit U includes a control circuit 21 operated by a signal input from the skin analysis instrument B, and an LED light emitting circuit 22 controlled by the control circuit 21. Further, the control unit U includes an I / V converter 23 for current-voltage converting a signal output from the skin analysis photodiode HD1 of the skin analysis instrument B,
An amplifier 24 and an A / D converter 25 are provided. The display D is configured to perform display according to output signals of the control circuit 21 and the A / D converter 25.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. In FIG. 3, the control circuit 21 of the control unit U turns on the skin suction detecting light emitting diode L
The LED light emitting circuit 2 is driven so that the ED1 is constantly driven.
2 is controlled. Therefore, the light emitted from the skin suction detection light emitting diode LED1 is always detected by the skin analysis photodiode HD1.

After the skin suction part 3a formed at the tip of the case 1 of the skin analysis instrument B is pressed against the skin to be analyzed, the inside of the skin suction part is made negative by the negative pressure generating means. The skin is sucked into the skin suction unit. Thus, when the skin is sucked by the skin suction unit 3a, the light path between the skin suction detection optical fibers F1 and F2 is blocked. At this time, the skin analysis photodiode HD1 changes from on (ON) to off (OFF). This state change signal is transmitted to the control circuit 21 (FIG. 3).
Reference). The control circuit 21 controls the LED light emitting circuit 22 to turn on the skin analyzing light emitting diode LED2 when the skin analyzing photodiode HD1 changes from on to off.

The light emitted from the skin-analyzing light emitting diode LED2 passes through the skin-analyzing optical fiber F3, and is emitted from the distal end of the skin-analyzing light emitting unit F3a into the skin suction unit 3a. Since the skin is sucked into the skin suction unit 3a, a part of the light emitted into the skin suction unit 3a is absorbed by the skin, and the rest passes through the skin, and the skin analysis light receiving unit F4a Incident on. The light transmittance at this time increases as the texture of the skin becomes finer. The light incident on the skin analysis light receiving section F4a is a skin analysis optical fiber F.
4 and enters the skin analysis photodiode HD2. The light amount for skin analysis detected by the skin analysis photodiode HD2 is converted into a voltage by the current-voltage converter 23 of the control unit U and amplified by the amplifier 24.
The light quantity for skin analysis amplified by the amplifier 24 is analog-
It is converted into a digital value by the digital converter 25 and the display D
Will be displayed. It can be seen that the larger the value of the amount of light for skin analysis displayed on the display D, the finer the texture of the skin.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the description of the second embodiment, the first
Components corresponding to the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals,
Detailed description overlapping with the embodiment will be omitted. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the case 1 of the skin analysis instrument B is made of plastic and is composed of two divided case halves 1a and 1b (see FIG. 5). First
This is different from the embodiment. In the second embodiment, a rod support plate 4 for slidably supporting a support rod 8 is provided.
5 and a base end closing plate 13 for slidably supporting the guided block 12 are respectively formed integrally with the case halves 1a and 1b. The case halves 1a and 1b are integrally fixed by fixing means R (see FIG. 5) such as bolts and nuts.

A metal cylinder 16 for forming a cylinder is disposed inside the distal end wall 2 of the case 1. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the cylinder 2a is formed by the inner surface of the metal cylinder 16. Therefore, the piston 9 at the distal end of the rod 8 has a seal ring 9a on the outer periphery thereof.
Thereby, it slides while maintaining airtightness with the cylinder 2a. The second embodiment has the same effect as the first embodiment, and the case 1 is divided into two parts, so that the assembly of the skin analyzer B is very simple.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the description of the third embodiment, components corresponding to those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals,
Detailed description overlapping with the embodiment will be omitted. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the optical fibers F1,
F2, the skin suction detection light emitting diode LED1, and the skin analysis photodiode HD1 are omitted, and instead,
The difference from the first embodiment is that a negative pressure generating means operation detection switch 17 is provided. Skin suction detection switch 17
Is composed of an elastic lever 17a made of a conductive material and a contact 17b. Before pressing the guided block 12 to move the piston 9 to the distal end side before pressing the skin suction unit 3a formed at the distal end of the case 1 of the skin analyzing instrument B against the skin to be analyzed, the stopper 10 It moves to the tip side to turn on the negative pressure generating means operation detection switch 17. That is, the light-emitting diode LE for skin analysis
In the third embodiment, the driving of D2 is started by the detection signal of the skin suction detection photodiode HD1 in the first embodiment, whereas in the third embodiment, the driving of D2 is started by the signal of the negative pressure generating means operation detection switch 17. It has become so. The third embodiment has the same operation as the first embodiment.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the description of the fourth embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the components corresponding to the second embodiment, and
Detailed description overlapping with the embodiment will be omitted. The fourth embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the optical fiber F1,
F2, the skin suction detection light emitting diode LED1, and the skin analysis photodiode HD1 are omitted, and instead,
The difference from the second embodiment is that a negative pressure generating means operation detection switch 17 is provided. Skin suction detection switch 17
Is composed of an elastic lever 17a made of a conductive material and a contact 17b. That is, light emitting diode L for skin analysis
In the third embodiment, the drive of the ED2 is started by the detection signal of the photodiode HD1 for detecting skin suction, whereas in the third embodiment, the drive of the ED2 is started by the signal of the negative pressure generation means operation detection switch 17. It has become so. The fourth embodiment has the same operation as the second embodiment.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the present invention described in the appended claims. It is possible to do. For example, the negative pressure generating means can be realized using a vacuum pump.

[0026]

According to the above-mentioned skin analyzer of the present invention,
Since the skin is analyzed based on the amount of light transmitted through the skin sucked into the skin suction unit, the skin can be analyzed without using light reflected from the surface or inside of the skin. In addition, in a state where the operator presses the operation member, the skin suction unit is pressed against the skin to be analyzed, and then, only by releasing the pressing operation, the skin can be suctioned, and with a simple configuration. The skin can be analyzed with a very easy operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a main part of a first embodiment of a skin analyzer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a second embodiment of the skin analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a third embodiment of the skin analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of a main part of a fourth embodiment of the skin analyzer of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Case, 3a: Skin suction part, F3a: Light emitting part, F4a
... Light receiving unit, HD1 ... Light amount detection means,

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A skin suction unit formed at a tip of a case, negative pressure generating means for applying a negative pressure to the inside of the skin suction unit, a light emitting unit arranged at a position crossing the skin suction unit, and a light emitting unit. A light receiving unit for receiving light emitted from the light emitting unit and passing through the skin; and a light amount detecting unit for detecting a light amount received by the light receiving unit, wherein the negative pressure generating unit communicates with the skin suction unit. A cylinder, a piston slidably held while maintaining airtightness inside the cylinder, a spring that constantly urges the slidable piston so that the skin suction unit slides in a negative pressure direction,
A skin analysis device comprising an operating member integrally connected to the piston and sliding the piston against an urging force by the spring when pressed by an operator.