JP2993103B2 - Non-contact oral thermometer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a non-contact oral thermometer that detects infrared radiation emitted from the oral cavity and measures its temperature.

(Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventionally, non-contact thermometers that detect infrared rays emitted from the human body and measure the temperature in order to quickly and hygienically measure the temperature of the human body deeply include, for example, J. A small electronic thermometer described in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-17711 is known.

However, when measuring the temperature in the oral cavity, it is necessary to start the temperature measurement immediately after the opening because the temperature in the oral cavity suddenly drops due to the influence of the outside air at the same time as the opening. There is a problem that the measured temperature tends to vary due to the time lag at the start of the temperature detection caused by the timing shift.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact oral thermometer that automates the start of temperature measurement and that does not cause a variation in measured temperature.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a non-contact oral thermometer according to the present invention provides a non-contact oral thermometer that detects infrared rays emitted from the oral cavity and measures the temperature. The apparatus is provided with a mouth opening / closing detecting means for detecting exhaled breath discharged so as to be able to detect the temperature and detecting the opening / closing state of the mouth.

(Operation) Therefore, according to the present invention, the temperature can be automatically started by detecting the opening state by the opening / closing detecting means at the same time as the opening, so that no time lag occurs at the start of the temperature detection.

Embodiment An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS.

The first embodiment is a case in which the present invention is applied to a handy type non-contact oral thermometer, in which a housing of a thermometer main body 3 is integrally molded with an ABS resin or the like at the upper end of a handshake section 2 provided with a switch 1.

The thermometer main unit 3 includes a display unit 4 such as a liquid crystal for displaying the measured body temperature, a READY indicator lamp 5 including an LED or the like for indicating that the temperature can be measured by an infrared sensor 9 described later, A transparent protective cover 6 that also transmits light is disposed on the front side, and an sight 7 that can check whether or not the temperature of a predetermined portion is measured by reflecting the oral cavity is assembled on the same side.

The sight 7 is made of a mirror having a cross section bent at a substantially right angle, a metal plate having a mirror surface, or the like.
An infrared sensor 9 incorporated in the heat sink 8 is provided at a substantially central portion of 7b. An exhalation hole is formed on the outer surface of the thermometer main body 3 located below the lower mirror surface 7b.
Further, an opening / closing detecting means 10 is provided on the back side of the exhalation hole 11.

As the mouth opening / closing detecting means 10, a temperature sensor for detecting expiration based on temperature information of expiration, or a humidity sensor made of a polymer film, ceramics or the like and detecting expiration based on humidity information of expiration, is a mesh having good air permeability. Or what was stored in a slit-shaped bag is mentioned.

Then, when the subject looks into the upper mirror surface portion 7a (third
Fig.), Reflection image of the oral cavity as the part to be measured and infrared sensor 9
Are reflected on the upper mirror portion 7a (FIG. 4).

Therefore, if the thermometer of the present invention is positioned so that the reflection image of the infrared sensor 9 appears in the reflection image of the mouth opened by the subject (FIGS. 5 and 6), the measurement target can be aimed. it can.

The sight 7 is not limited to a single mirror, but may be a combination of two separate mirrors at a substantially right angle. Alternatively, the sight 7 may be a prism made of transparent acrylic resin or glass. Is also good. When the sight 7 is formed of a single plate-like mirror, a mark indicating a part to be measured by the infrared sensor 9 may be provided on the mirror surface as a mark of the aiming position.

The heat sink section 8 is for uniformizing the ambient temperature of the infrared sensor 9 to stabilize the temperature measurement.
It has a substantially trapezoidal-shaped infrared incident hole 8a made of an aluminum material or the like and converging infrared light. Note that a lens or the like may be provided to converge infrared light. Then, the inner surface of the infrared incident hole 8a is subjected to a blackening process,
The radiation law ε is ε ≒ 1. Further, a reference temperature measurement sensor 13 composed of a temperature sensor such as a thermistor or a diode is embedded in the heating unit 8 in the vicinity of the infrared sensor 9. The reference temperature measurement sensor 13 detects the ambient temperature of the infrared sensor 9 and measures a reference temperature when calculating a body temperature based on temperature data obtained by detecting infrared rays from a measurement site in the oral cavity. It is. It is needless to say that the reference temperature measuring sensor 13 may be built in the infrared sensor 9.

As elements of the infrared sensor 9, thermopiles,
Thermal type, such as thermistor porometer, pyroelectric sensor, etc., that converts infrared light into heat and then outputs an electric signal, and PbSe, PbS, etc., detects the photons of infrared light and directly converts the electric signal. There is a quantum type to output. The infrared sensor 9 has a can package shape such as TO5, and is made of a window material made of silicon, germanium, or the like.
Alternatively, the infrared transmission window is sealed with a window material that has been subjected to a band-pass filter process that transmits only infrared light having a wavelength of about 7 to 12 μm.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of the contacted oral thermometer according to the present embodiment.

That is, the infrared sensor 9, the reference temperature measuring sensor 13, and the opening / closing detecting means 10 are connected to the analog switch 23 via the amplifiers 20, 21 and 22, respectively, and the analog switch 23 is connected to the A / D converter 24. Central control unit (hereinafter, referred to as “CPU”) 2 that controls the operation of the thermometer via
Connected to 5. The CPU 25 includes a read-only memory (hereinafter, referred to as “ROM”) 26 for storing a system program for itself and data necessary for executing the system program, and a CPU for executing the system program. Random access memory (hereinafter referred to as "RAM") 27 for storing various necessary data 27
And a reference signal generator 28 for generating a reference signal. The CPU 25 has a READY display lamp 5 for displaying that the infrared sensor 9 can measure the temperature, a display unit 4 for displaying the measured body temperature, and a buzzer 29 for notifying the end of the measurement.
Are connected, and a power supply unit 31 is connected via a power switch 30.

Next, the operation method and operation will be described with reference to the flowcharts and time charts shown in FIGS.

First, before measurement, close the mouth, inhale air from the nose and stop breathing for a few seconds. In the meantime, bring the thermometer near the mouth, then turn on the power switch 1 and the READY indicator light 5 lights up. Check whether it is. Next, after positioning the mouth while looking at the sight 7, the mouth is opened and the exhaled air is slowly discharged from the mouth. When the exhaled breath is detected by the mouth opening / closing detection unit, the mouth opening / closing detection unit detects that the mouth is open, and the infrared sensor starts temperature measurement. During the temperature measurement, READ
The Y indicator light 5 turns off to notify that the temperature is being measured.

While the exhalation is being exhaled, the temperature reading is displayed on the display unit 4.
Displayed as Peak-Hold value.

Next, when the expiration discharged from the mouth is reduced to a certain extent, the mouth opening / closing detecting means 10 detects that the exhaust is gone,
After this detection, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the temperature detection of the infrared sensor ends.

At the same time that the temperature measurement of the infrared sensor ends, READ
The Y indicator lamp 5 lights up, the buzzer 29 sounds and the end of the temperature detection is notified, while the peak-hold value of the locked temperature detection value is continuously displayed on the display unit 4 and then the power switch 1 is turned off to display the value. The display of the unit 4 goes out, and the READY indicator 5 goes out.

Next, the operation of the thermometer according to the present embodiment will be described.

When the power switch 1 is turned on and started, step S1
, All the flags F ₁ and F ₂ in the flowchart are reset to “0”, and the opening / closing determination reference voltages V ₁₀ and V ₁₁ are set (FIG. 12). Then, in step S2, the READY indicator lamp 5 is turned on, and in step S3
In step S4, the analog switch 23 selects the mouth opening / closing detecting means 10. In step S4, it is determined whether or not it is the sampling timing. If it is not the sampling timing, the process waits. If it is the sampling timing, the temperature of the exhaled gas discharged in step S5 (or (Humidity) signal data and store it. Then, it is determined in step S6 whether or not exhaust gas has been detected. If it is determined that no exhaust gas has been detected, it is determined in step S7 whether or not the READY indicator lamp 5 is lit. In step S8, the exhaust end flag F ₂
It is determined whether or not is set to “1”. If F ₂ = “1” is set, the process proceeds to step S14. If F _{2 is} not “1”, the process proceeds to step S9. after the flag F ₁ was reset to "0", the process proceeds to step S14. If the READY indicator 5 is not turned on in step S7,
After the sets a flag F ₂ of the exhaust ends "1" at 10, the process proceeds to step S14.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S6 that exhaust gas has been detected, it is determined in step S11 whether or not the READY indicator 5 is lit. If not, the process proceeds to step S14. the S12 and sets the flag F ₁ of thermometry start to "1", the READY indicator 5 is turned off at step S13, the process proceeds to step S14.

The determination as to whether or not exhaust gas has been detected in step S7
The signal voltage of the mouth opening detection means 10 is a variation of the specified value or more per unit time, and the reference voltage V ₁₀ or V shown in FIG. 12
_{When the} change is larger than ₁₁ , it is determined that there is exhaust or no exhaust.

In step S14, the analog switch 23 selects the reference temperature measurement sensor 13, and determines in step S15 whether or not it is the sampling timing. If it is not the sampling timing, the process waits until the sampling timing. The data (T ₀ ) is read and stored. Next, step S17
In step S18, the analog switch 23 selects the infrared sensor 9. In step S18, it is determined whether or not the timing is the sampling timing. If the timing is not the sampling timing, the process waits until sampling timing. If the timing is the sampling timing, the infrared data is read in step S19. In step S20, the infrared data is converted into temperature difference data (ΔT _x ), and in step S21, the temperature value (T _x ) of the measurement site is calculated from the reference temperature data (T ₀ ) and the infrared temperature difference data (ΔT _x ). Then, the temperature value (T _x ) calculated in step S22 is stored, and the process proceeds to step S23.

Step S23 the flag F ₁ of thermometry start in is set to determine whether a "1", unless F ₁ = "1", resetting the temperature values obtained by Peak-Hold process in step S24 Then, after the display on the display unit 4 is turned off in step S25, the elapsed time (t _n ) after the end of the exhaust is reset in step S26, and the process returns to step S3.

On the other hand, when the flag F ₁ is determined to be F ₁ = _"1" at step S23, Peak-Hold calculated temperature value in step S27
The processing is performed, and the Peak-Hold value ( _Txmax ) thus obtained is displayed on the display unit 4 in step S28. Then, the flag F ₂ of the exhaust ends are set in step S29 F
_It is determined whether or not ₂ = “1”. If F _{2 is} not “1”, the process returns to step S3. If F _{2 is} “1”, the elapsed time after exhaust is completed is integrated in step S30. In step S31, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (t _n ), for example, 1 second, has elapsed. If it is determined that it has not elapsed, the process returns to step S3. If it is determined that it has elapsed, in step S32, The display value on the display unit 4 is locked, and the end of the temperature measurement is notified by the buzzer 29 in step S33, and the temperature measurement operation is completed.

In the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which it is determined that the expiration of expiration has ended, and then the temperature detection is ended after a predetermined time has elapsed.However, the present invention is not limited to this.For example, in step S29 as shown in FIG. flag F ₂ of the exhaust ends are set proceeds to F ₂ = "1" and is the time it is determined step S291, it is determined whether update there or not the Peak-Hold value in step S291, it is determined updated there and Then, the process proceeds to step S26, and when it is determined that there is no update, the process proceeds to step S30, so that the update of the Peak-Hold value is stopped after the end of the exhaust, and the temperature measurement may be ended after a predetermined time has elapsed from the end of the exhaust. . Others are the same as those described above, and the description is omitted.

According to the present embodiment, since it is possible to determine whether or not the level is detectable by the mouth opening / closing detecting means for detecting the expiration, the positioning means for optimizing the distance between the infrared sensor and the measured part of the oral cavity The mouth opening / closing detecting means can be used as the device.

In addition, when a predetermined time has elapsed after the exhaust, the temperature detection is automatically terminated, so that the influence of the surrounding heat source can be prevented.

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the display unit is provided on the facing surface of the thermometer main body, so that the subject can directly read his / her own body temperature, which is convenient.

In the first embodiment described above, the display unit 4, the sight 7 and the READY indicator 5 are arranged on the same side of the handy type thermometer main body 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As in the second embodiment shown in the figure, a handy type in which the display unit 4 and the like are arranged on an inclined surface provided at the upper end of a substantially cylindrical housing may be used.

Further, as in the third embodiment shown in FIG. 14, the present invention may be applied to a desktop installation type. However, READY
The indicator light does not need to be a separate one consisting of LEDs, etc.
The READY mark 15 may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 4 as in the third embodiment.

The rest is almost the same as the above-described first embodiment, and thus the description is omitted.

It is needless to say that a display unit may be provided on the back side of the thermometer.

(Effects of the Invention) As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the start of temperature measurement can be automated by detecting the opening and closing state of the mouth by detecting the expiration of expiration with the mouth opening / closing detecting means. Operation becomes simple, there is no time lag at the start of the temperature measurement, and there is no variation in the measured temperature.

In particular, when the subject discharges exhaled air, the oral cavity temperature rises to the deep body temperature. Therefore, measuring the oral cavity temperature can measure the body temperature at a deeper part, which has the effect of increasing reliability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 12 show a first embodiment of a non-contact oral thermometer according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part, and FIG. 3 and FIG. Is a side view and a partial front view for explaining the method of use, and FIGS.
The figures are side and partial front views for explaining the method of use, FIG. 7 is a block diagram, FIGS. 8 to 11 are flowcharts, FIG. 12 is a time chart, FIGS. 13 and 14
The figure is an overall perspective view showing the second embodiment and the third embodiment. 10 ... mouth opening / closing detection means.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A non-contact oral thermometer for detecting and measuring the temperature of infrared radiation emitted from the oral cavity. A mouth opening / closing detection device for detecting exhaled air discharged so that the temperature can be measured simultaneously with the opening and detecting the open / closed state of the mouth. Non-contact oral thermometer characterized by comprising means.