JP2802365B2 - Respiratory measuring device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a respiratory measurement device suitable for use mainly in the field of physiology.

[0002]

The respiration reflects the state of the human body and mental state. For example, when exercising or nervous, breathing becomes stronger or the number of times increases. Therefore, if the respiratory state of the person is known, the result can be effectively used in fields such as physiology. As a method of measuring the respiration, conventionally, a method in which a coil is applied to the chest to electrically extract the movement of the chest due to breathing and a method in which the exhaled breath is directly measured by a thermometer have been adopted. Such a measurement method has a problem that an accurate measurement result cannot be obtained because the measurement method has a mental influence and a sense of incongruity on the subject.

[0003] The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to measure respiration that can be measured away from the subject and without any mental influence. It is to provide a device .

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a respiratory measurement apparatus according to the present invention is used for measuring a subject's respiration.
Heat radiation from sites where the temperature changes correspondingly
Captures the thermal radiation emitted from the subject's breath as data.
Infrared thermal image sensor for
A monitor connected to the sensor and a personal computer
It is characterized by having.

According to the above-described measuring apparatus of the present invention, an infrared thermal image sensor having sensitivity to a wavelength that does not absorb light in the measuring optical path.
Using a sensor , the temperature of the face of the person to be measured is measured in a non-contact manner, and the time change of the temperature of the nasal cavity and the chin portion can be examined to measure the number of respirations, strength of respiration, and the like. That is, since the temperature of the nasal cavity and jaw changes in response to breathing, the state of breathing can be known by measuring the temperature change in that portion.

[0006] Further, using an infrared thermal image sensor having sensitivity to the wavelength absorbed by carbon dioxide gas or water vapor,
The temperature of the breath exhaled from the subject's nasal cavity is measured in a non-contact manner, and its time change is examined.Moreover, by examining the temperature distribution including the change due to elapsed time, the state of the expiration,
For example, it can be measured while directly observing the way of breathing.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which respiration is measured using the measuring apparatus according to the present invention .
In measuring apparatus shown includes an infrared thermal image sensor 11, a filter 12 integrally attached to the infrared thermal image sensor 11, is constituted by connected a monitor 13 and the personal computer 14 to the IR thermal image sensor 11 I have. In addition, a printer or the like may be connected as necessary.

At the time of measurement, thermal radiation emitted from the face of the subject M or exhaled breath is captured as data by the infrared thermal image sensor 11 through the filter 12,
Monitors temperature changes over time by processing with PC 14
3 is displayed. In this case, two types of filters 12 having different wavelengths may be provided, and these may be switched depending on whether the measurement target is a face or a breath. It is preferable that the infrared thermal image sensor 11 measures the subject M so as to look up at the subject M from the front or slightly below.

Using this measuring device, the nose on the face
Temporal change in temperature of cavity, temperature of jaw on face
Time change of degree, time change of temperature of breath exhaled from nasal cavity,
Alternatively, the temperature distribution of the breath exhaled from the nasal cavity
Knowing the state of breathing by measuring
Can be. Specifically, respiratory rate, breathing rhythm, breathing
Pattern, breathing depth, etc. can be measured. You
In other words, the respiration rate can be calculated by counting the temperature change over a certain period of time.
You know, the rhythm of breathing is
You can tell by looking at the movement. Also, the breathing pattern
You can see if the temperature changes over time,
You can tell by looking at the magnitude of the temperature change.

[0011]

The following is an example of actual measurement of respiration.
Here, a two-dimensional array with high temperature and time resolution
Using an infrared thermal imaging sensor , we tried to measure respiration by measuring the temperature of the nasal cavity and chin, and also the temperature of exhalation.

The infrared thermal image sensor used was AMBE.
This is a two-dimensional array sensor composed of 128 × 128 elements of InSb manufactured by R Company and used with liquid nitrogen cooling. The temperature resolution is better than 0.01 ° C. at 30 ° C., and 200 frames of data can be acquired per second. Normal temperature about 23 ° C on the measurement day
And two blackbody furnaces set at 35 ° C.

The measurement was performed as follows. That is, at a distance of about 70 to 80 cm from the face, the measurement was performed with the infrared thermal image sensor looking up slightly from below so that the nasal cavity could be easily measured. However, the angle is limited because this device uses liquid nitrogen. Using a Stirling cooler gives you more freedom. 100 frames of data were captured every 0.2 seconds and measured for 20 seconds. During this time,
The subject needed to be immobile.

(Measurement Example 1) FIG. 2 is an example of respiration measurement based on nasal cavity temperature of a man in his thirties. The respiratory rate was 18 times / min, and the temperature drop due to respiration was about 1 ° C.

(Measurement Example 2) FIG. 3 is an example of respiration measurement based on the nasal cavity temperature of another male in his thirties. The respiratory rate is 7.5 breaths / min and the temperature drop is 0.5
° C. Therefore, the strength of breath is smaller than in the case of the measurement example 1.

(Measurement Example 3) FIG. 4 is an example of respiration measurement based on nasal cavity temperature of a man in his forties. The respiratory rate was 17 times / min, and the temperature drop was about 0.5 ° C., which was the same for the left and right.

(Measurement Example 4) FIG. 5 is an example of respiration measurement based on nasal cavity temperature of a woman in her twenties. The respiratory rate was 7 times / minute, and the temperature drop was about 0.3 ° C., which was the same for the left and right.

(Measurement Example 5) FIG. 6 is an example of respiration measurement based on nasal cavity temperature of a woman in her thirties. The respiration rate was 14 breaths / min, and the temperature drop was 0.5 on the left.
℃, the right is about 0.3 ℃. Since the strength of the right breath is large, it can be seen that the left nasal cavity is slightly obstructed.

(Measurement Example 6) FIG. 7 shows the phase difference of the temperature change between the nasal cavity and the chin of a woman in Measurement Example 5. It can be seen that a decrease in temperature during inhalation is observed in the nasal cavity, and a change in exhalation is observed in the chin. The temperature change of the chin has a greater individual difference than the nasal cavity depending on the direction of the nostrils and the state of vomiting, and it is not always observed clearly. He exhaled as soon as he finished inhaling, but there was some variation in the time between exhalation and inhalation.

(Measurement Example 7) FIG. 8 shows a change in temperature at a specific position of a woman in her twenties exhaled through the nasal cavity and measured from the side.
0.3 ° C due to exhalation compared to when not breathing
It can be seen that it has risen to a degree. In this example, 3-5 μm
Although the measurement was performed at the above wavelength, it is possible to perform more accurate measurement if the wavelength is properly selected.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the breathing of the measuring apparatus of the present invention, by which is adapted to measure the breathing and take advantage of the infrared thermal image sensor, respiration in a non-contact state away from the subject Because it is possible to know the state of the subject, it is possible to accurately measure the breathing without giving the subject a mental effect or a sense of incongruity. Therefore, it can be effectively used mainly in the field of physiology.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of measuring respiration using a measuring device according to the present invention .

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a measurement example by the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a measurement example by the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a measurement example by the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a measurement example by the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a measurement example using the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a measurement example using the measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a measurement example using the measurement device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Measurement device 11 Infrared thermal image sensor 12 Filter 13 Monitor 14 Personal computer

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A61B 5/08

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] The temperature changes in response to the subject's breathing.
Heat radiation from the part or the breath from the subject
Infrared heat to capture the emitted heat radiation as data
The image sensor and the model connected to the infrared thermal image sensor
Call comprising a computer and a personal computer
Measuring device for sucking.