JP4419780B2 - Optical hair removal device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hair removal apparatus using light.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for removing hair, a laser manipulator configured with a laser source and an adjustable tiltable mirror for positioning a laser beam at a target position on the skin to be processed and an image of the skin are detected. An image sensor, and the image on the skin detected by the image sensor is divided into predetermined areas, and the laser light is reflected at the position of the hair in each area by using a laser manipulator. It is known that alignment is performed by changing the position, and the hair is removed by irradiating a laser beam. In addition, when moving the skin surface, the operator holds the grip portion and moves it to the next hair removal target position.

JP-T-2002-541906

  However, in the above conventional technique, first, the state of the skin surface is detected by an image sensor, the image processing is performed on the image, the position of the hair is recognized, and then the angle of the laser beam is changed to change each laser beam. Since the hair is aligned and irradiated, the treatment time for hair removal becomes longer.

  Moreover, since it moved to the next body hair detection area | region manually, it took time for the whole hair removal process. On the other hand, since many optical system members such as tiltable mirrors are used, there is a problem that the entire apparatus becomes large.

  The present invention was devised to solve the above-described problems, and has a small and compact mechanism, and can easily perform a hair removal treatment in a wide range at a high speed with high work efficiency. The purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a detector that detects information on the skin surface, a light emitter that emits light for hair removal, and the detector and the light emitter at predetermined intervals. An attached scanning unit; a first driving unit that moves the scanning unit; a control unit that determines body hair position from information on the skin surface detected by the detector; and information on body hair position determined by the control unit; Storage means for storing position information of the detector, the scanning unit scans the detector and the light emitter on the skin by the first driving unit , and the control unit stores the storage unit. According to the above information , the light epilator is irradiated with light by moving the light emitter to the body hair position stored in the storage means .

  The invention according to claim 2 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 1, further comprising a second drive unit that moves the scanning unit in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the scanning unit. is there.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 2, wherein the moving direction by the second drive unit is a linear direction.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 2, wherein the moving direction by the second drive unit is a circular direction.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the photo epilation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the detector and the light emitter are paired.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the photo epilation according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the detector is an area sensor capable of detecting a region within a certain range. Device.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 6, wherein the moving pitch of the scanning unit is changed by the first driving unit or the second driving unit in the moving process.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the scanning unit includes two moving units, and the first moving unit that moves in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the scanning unit includes either a detector or a light emitter. One of the detector and the light emitter is attached in a line to the second moving unit that moves only in the same direction as the scanning direction of the scanning unit. Item 2. The hair removal device according to Item 1.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while having a small and compact mechanism, the depilation process of a wide area | region can be performed easily at high speed. Since the body hair detection work and the light emission work for hair removal can be processed simultaneously, work efficiency can be improved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view of an example of an optical hair removal apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 1 viewed from the direction A, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the configuration of FIG. Show.

  The apparatus main body is covered with a case 17 and is arranged outside the case 17 so that the driving wheel 2 can move on the skin surface while rotating in contact with the skin surface. An irradiation window 1 formed of transparent glass or the like is provided on the skin surface side in order to irradiate the skin surface with light or to take reflected light from the skin surface into the apparatus.

  In the case 17, there are a resonance spring 3, a scanning unit 4, a detection illumination 5, a detector 6, a condenser lens 7, a light emitter 8, a drive magnet 9, a drive shaft 10, a drive belt 11, and a stator 14. A linear motor 12, a driving motor 13, a power source 15, a control board 16, and the like are attached. The scanning unit 4 moves in the moving direction 2 due to the interaction between the driving magnet 9 and the linear motor 12 having the stator 14, and smoothly moves evenly due to the action of the resonance spring 3.

  In the scanning unit 4, a detection illumination 5, a detector 6, a condenser lens 7, a light emitter 8, and a driving magnet 9 are arranged. The illumination 5 for detection is for illuminating the skin surface, and is composed of an LED or the like. The detector 6 detects reflected light from the skin surface illuminated by the detection illumination 5, and an optical sensor, a small TV camera, or the like is used. In addition, an infrared sensor, an ultraviolet sensor, or a contact sensor (pressure sensor) can be used as the detector 6. In this case, the detection illumination 5 is not particularly necessary.

  On the other hand, a light emitter 8 is provided to perform hair removal, and the light beam is focused by the condenser lens 7 to irradiate the hair root with light. The light emitter 8 may use a laser light source or a simple light source. As shown in FIG. 19, hair roots are present on average at a depth of 4 to 5 mm from the pores, but the hair cells can be destroyed by irradiating the hair cells with light of constant energy.

  As can be seen from FIG. 3, the detector 5 and the light emitter 8 attached to the scanning unit 4 are paired at a certain interval, and the movement direction 1 is also maintained while maintaining this interval. It moves to 2 in one. The rotation of the drive motor 13 is transmitted to the drive shaft 10 via the drive belt 11 to rotate the drive wheel 2. The entire apparatus including the scanning unit 4 is moved in the movement direction 1 by the rotation of the drive wheel 2.

  A power source 15 made of a battery or the like supplies electricity to the control board 16, the drive motor 13, the linear motor 12, the detection illumination 5, the detector 6, the light emitter 8, and the like. Has been made. The control board 16 is equipped with a CPU, a memory and the like, and controls the entire apparatus such as a motor control, a detection illumination, a light emitter and a detector, and stores collected data in the memory. Then, an operation such as performing an appropriate calculation is performed.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the overall appearance of the optical hair removal device of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the design of the driving wheel 2 with respect to the skin surface like a shaving machine with the center of the cover 20 held in hand. The shape is placed so that it comes into contact.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the optical hair removal apparatus, and FIGS. 6 and 7 show the movement operation of the detector and the light emitter. 6 and 7, “departure” indicates the position of the light emitter 8, and “detection” indicates the position of the detector 6 (the same applies to other drawings). Indicates meaning). The grid represents the moving pitch (resolution) of the scanning unit 4, and the distance between the light emitter position and the detector position is 4 pitches apart.

  First, when the photo epilation device is arranged on the skin surface, the displacement information of the first drive unit (drive motor 13) and the second drive unit (linear motor 12) is initialized to set the initial drive position ( S1). In order to obtain displacement information of the first drive unit (drive motor 13) and the second drive unit (linear motor 12), an encoder or the like is attached to each of these drive units, which is proportional to the rotation of the drive shaft. A pulse can be obtained.

Next, the second drive unit is driven, and the scanning unit 4 is moved by one pitch in the moving direction 2 (S2). The hair position information at the light emitter position after the movement is read from the memory on the control board 16. The memory stores the information on the hair detected by the detector 6 ahead of the line in the moving direction 2 4 pitches away from the light emitter position, together with the information on the detector position. There is no hair information corresponding to the emitter position until the instrument has detected four lines.

  Based on the information read from the memory, it is determined whether or not the light emitter has reached the pore (body hair) recognition position (S4). When the pore recognition position has been reached, light is emitted from the light emitter ( S5) The amount of light reflected from the skin surface is detected by the detector 6 (S6). Even when the pore recognition position has not been reached, the amount of reflected light from the skin surface is detected by the detector 6 (S6).

  It is determined whether or not the presence of body hair can be recognized from the detected light amount (S7), and if the presence of body hair can be recognized, information on the position of body hair relative to the origin position of the first drive unit and the second drive unit is obtained. The displacement information of the second drive unit is stored in the memory (S8). Since the amount of reflected light from the body hair is smaller than the amount of reflected light from the skin surface without body hair, for example, when the amount of reflected light below a certain threshold is detected by the detector 6, body hair (pores) is present at the detection position. It is determined that it exists, and the position information is stored in the memory.

  The scanning unit 4 is further moved by one pitch in the moving direction 2 and the processes from S2 to S8 are performed. By this operation, the scanning unit 4 reaches the final position for one line in the moving direction 2. (S9).

  When the movement operation for one line is completed, it is next determined whether or not the movement operation by the first drive unit is completed (S10). When the moving operation is not completed, the first driving unit is driven to move the scanning unit 4 in the moving direction 1 by one pitch (S12), and the scanning unit 4 is moved in the moving direction 2 by driving the second driving unit. Returning to the initial position, the displacement information of the second drive unit is initialized (S13). On the other hand, when all the movement operations in the movement direction 1 and the movement direction 2 are completed, the stop display of the drive unit is performed on the apparatus (S11).

As an example of the above, for example, the moving pitch is 20 μm, the detection region diameter by the detector is 20 μm, the moving speed in the moving direction 2 is 400 mm / s, the one stroke length in the moving direction 2 is 10 mm, and the light output wavelength of the light emitter Can be 650 nm to 680 nm, irradiation spot diameter 100 μm, irradiation intensity 150 to 200 mW / (100 μm) ² , and irradiation interval 10 to 40 ms. FIG. 8A shows an overview of an optical hair removal apparatus in which the scanning unit is rotated by the drive motor 13 and linearly moved by the linear motor 12, and FIG. 8B is a sectional view.

In this embodiment, the linear motor 12 and the scanning unit 4 are attached to the rotation unit 25, and the linear movement direction corresponds to the movement direction 1 and the rotation movement direction corresponds to the movement direction 2. The rotation unit 25 is rotated about the drive shaft of the drive motor 13 by the drive motor 13. On the other hand, the scanning unit 4 moves linearly in the rotary unit 25 by the action of the linear motor 12.

  FIG. 9 shows the operation of the scanning unit 4 (particularly the operation of the detector and the light emitter) with the configuration of FIG. By the way, in the case of the present embodiment, the linear motor 12 serves as the first drive unit, and the drive motor 13 serves as the second drive unit, which is the same as the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. However, the rotational displacement angle by the second drive unit is assumed to be 1 degree, for example.

  First, the scanning unit 4 is moved to a position closest to the center of the rotary unit 25 by the linear motor 12 as an initial position. Next, when the rotary unit 25 is rotated by the drive motor 13, the detector 6 performs a detection operation for each rotation and acquires information on the hair (FIG. 9 (a9)). If the hair is detected in the memory, the hair information and the position information of the detection area are stored in the memory.

  In FIG. 9A, pores cannot be detected, but when the scanning unit 4 is linearly moved in the moving direction 1 by one pitch (for example, 20 μm) and the rotating unit 25 is rotated, the pores are as shown in FIG. 9B. Can be detected. FIG. 9C shows that the scanning unit 4 is rotated in a state in which the scanning unit 4 is linearly moved by three pitches from the initial position, and the state of the skin surface is detected. Then, the state of the skin surface is detected in advance by the detector 6, and when the light emitter 8 moves to the position where the pore is recognized, light is emitted from the light emitter 8 to destroy the hair growth cells of the body hair. (FIG. 9D).

  In this way, even in the configuration of the same pair of detectors and light emitters as in FIG. 1, the detection range (number of detection points) becomes larger when rotating and moving than when moving in a straight line. It can be processed efficiently.

In the above-described embodiment, the detector and the light emitter are arranged in a pair. However, in FIG. 10, the overall structure is almost the same as that in FIG. An example using a container is shown.
The light emitter 1 and the detector 1 are arranged in pairs with a certain distance, and the light emitter 2 and the detector 2 are paired with the same distance as the distance between the light emitter 1 and the detector 1. It is arranged.

FIG. 11 shows the operation of the light emitter and detector. The detector and the light emitter are not arranged on a straight line, but are arranged in a zigzag shape as a whole with a shift of one line. As shown in FIG. 11A, the initial position of the scanning unit is the left end, and scanning is performed in the direction of movement direction 2 from this position. While moving in the moving direction 2 by four lines of the detection area (resolution), the amount of reflected light is detected by the detector. Further, in the moving direction 1, detection is performed by moving by one line of the detection area.

  When the pore can be recognized as shown in FIG. 11B, the position information and the pore information are stored, and when the pore position stored in the light emitter is reached next, FIG. Irradiate light as in c). Thus, since the movement pitch in the movement direction 2 is large, it is possible to perform body hair detection and hair removal processing at high speed.

  Next, FIG. 12 shows an operation when an area sensor capable of detecting a certain region at a time is used as the detector 6 in the configuration of FIG. A small TV camera, a CCD image sensor, or the like is used as the area sensor. FIG. 13 shows the movement of the detector 6 and the light emitter 8 when the area sensor is used, but the detection area (detector imaging range) of the detector 6 is larger than the size of the detector. The movement pitch in the movement direction 1 and the movement direction 2 is larger than that in the configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 13B, if there is a pore in the imaging range of the detector, it can be recognized as an image, and its position is stored in the memory. The operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, when the photo epilation device is arranged on the skin surface, the displacement information of the first drive unit (drive motor 13) and the second drive unit (linear motor 12) is initialized to set the initial drive position ( S21). Next, the body hair presence position information in the imaging range area where the light emitter is present and the imaging range area scheduled to move next is read (S22). In the first stage, the data detected by the detector is hardly accumulated.

  When the pore position information is included in the information read from the memory (S23 YES), the movement amount is calculated based on the pore position information (S24), and the first drive unit and the second drive unit are driven. (S25) The scanning unit 4 is moved by changing the movement pitch so that the light emitter 8 reaches the pore existing position, and light is emitted from the light emitter (S26). Based on the current position information of the scanning unit 4, the amount of movement to the center of the next imaging region is calculated (S27), and the first drive unit and the second drive unit are driven based on the amount of movement (S28) to move. The pitch is changed and moved to the center of the imaging region. Thus, when pore information is found in the imaging region, the movement pitch is changed.

  FIG. 14 shows the operation when the movement pitch is fixed, and FIG. 15 shows the operation when the movement pitch is variable. If the movement pitch is fixed as shown in FIG. 14, the light beam from the light emitter 8 is not applied to the pores and is displaced, so that the hair removal process cannot be performed accurately. However, if the movement pitch is variable as shown in FIG. 15, the pores can be accurately irradiated with the light beam.

  FIG. 15 shows a case where there is pore information in the current imaging range area, but the imaging area area where the pores exist is moved at an equal pitch (the imaging range becomes the movement pitch), and imaging where the pores exist is present. When the range area is reached, the movement pitches in the movement direction 1 and the movement direction 2 are changed to move the light emitter so that it is positioned immediately above the pores. (Range region) The movement pitches in the movement direction 1 and the movement direction 2 are changed and moved so that the light emitter comes to the center.

  On the other hand, when the pore position information is not included in the information read from the memory (NO in S23), the scanning unit 4 is moved in the moving direction 2 by the imaging range area by the second drive unit (S29). Next, the amount of reflected light from the skin surface is detected by the detector 6 (S30). It is determined whether or not the presence of body hair can be recognized from the detected light amount (S31), and if the presence of body hair can be recognized, information on the position of body hair relative to the origin position of the first drive unit and the second drive unit is obtained. The displacement information of each drive unit is stored in the memory (S32).

  The scanning unit 4 is further moved in the moving direction 2 by the imaging range region, and the processes from S22 to S32 are performed. This operation is driven to the final position of one line in the moving direction 2 by driving the second drive unit. Repeat until it reaches (S33). When the movement operation for one line is completed, it is next determined whether or not the movement operation by the first drive unit is completed (S34).

  If the moving operation is not completed, the first driving unit is driven to move the scanning unit 4 in the moving direction 1 by the imaging range region (36), and the second driving unit is driven to move the scanning unit 4 in the moving direction 2. The displacement information of the second drive unit is initialized (S37). On the other hand, when all the movement operations in the movement direction 1 and the movement direction 2 are completed, a stop display of the drive unit is performed on the apparatus (S35).

As a specific example, for example, the detection area (imaging range) by the detector is 200 μm × 200 μm, the movement pitch is 200 μm, the length of one stroke in the movement direction 2 is 10 mm, the light output wavelength of the light emitter is 650 nm to 680 nm, and the irradiation The spot diameter may be 100 μm, the irradiation intensity may be 150 to 200 mW / (100 μm) ² , and the irradiation interval may be 10 to 40 ms. As described above, the hair removal process can be performed accurately and quickly by using the area sensor as the detector and changing the movement pitch.

  FIG. 16 shows a configuration in which a plurality of detectors are arranged in a line. The basic configuration is substantially the same as that shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, but the line-shaped detector is a CCD line sensor 30, and the detection illumination 31 is composed of a plurality of illuminators. The scanning unit 4 includes a first moving unit 32 and a second moving unit 33. The scanning unit 4 moves in the moving direction 1 by the action of the driving motor 13 (first driving part), and the first moving unit 32 moves in the moving direction 2 by the action of the linear motor 12 (second driving part). . A single light emitter 8, a condenser lens 7, and a driving magnet 9 are attached to the first moving unit 32.

  On the other hand, a CCD line sensor 30 and a detection illumination 31 are attached to the second moving unit 33. The length of the CCD line sensor 30 covers all strokes (detection areas) in the movement direction 2, so that it is not necessary to move the CCD line sensor 30 in the movement direction 2.

  FIG. 17 shows the operation of the detector and the line sensor when the apparatus having this configuration is used. FIG. 17A shows that the scanning unit 4 advances from the C position to the D position. The second moving unit 33 to which the CCD line sensor 30 is attached moves only in the moving direction 1. When the first moving unit 32 moves in the moving direction 2 and reaches the position where the hair is present, the hair removal process is performed by irradiating light from the light emitter. As for the presence position of the hair, information detected in the process of moving in the moving direction 1 by the CCD line sensor 30 is written in the memory first, and this information is read and used. This prefetching operation (prefetching for four lines in FIG. 17) is the same as that in the above-described embodiment.

  In this example, the number of light emitters is one and the detector is line-shaped, but conversely, the light emitter can be line-shaped and the number of detectors can be one.

FIG. 18 shows a configuration in which the irradiation diameter on the skin surface of the light emitter is variable. The basic configuration is the same as in FIGS. 1 to 3, but the condenser lens 7 is stored in the condenser lens holder 35, and a stage 38 attached to the condenser lens holder 35 is driven via a ball screw 37. It is intended to move up and down by 36. By moving the condenser lens 7 up and down, the irradiation diameter on the skin surface increases or decreases.

  Although the skin surface has irregularities, the light beam can be accurately focused according to the irregularities. Moreover, since an irradiation diameter can be adjusted arbitrarily, the energy which reaches | attains the hair growth cell in skin can be adjusted correctly, and the depilation effect can be heightened.

1 is a perspective overview of an optical hair removal device of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the cross section which looked at the structure of FIG. 1 from the front direction. It is a figure which shows the cross section which looked at the structure of FIG. 1 from the downward direction. It is a figure which shows an example of the general | schematic design of the optical hair removal apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of an optical hair removal apparatus. It is a figure which shows operation | movement at the time of using a pair of detector and light-emitting device. It is a figure which shows operation | movement at the time of using a pair of detector and light-emitting device. It is a figure which shows the example comprised so that a scanning unit might be rotated. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with a detector and a light-emitting device in the structure of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example which has arrange | positioned the light emitter and the detector in zigzag shape. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with the detector and light-emitting device of a structure of FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the operation | movement at the time of making a movement pitch variable. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with a detector and a light emitter at the time of using an area sensor for a detector. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with a detector and light-emitting device in case a detection moving pitch is fixed. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with the detector and light-emitting device in case a movement pitch is variable. It is a figure which shows the structural example which used the line sensor for the detector. It is a figure which shows operation | movement with the detector and light-emitting device of a structure of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example comprised so that a condensing lens position could be moved. It is a figure which shows the structure of a hair root vicinity.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Irradiation window 2 Drive wheel 3 Resonant spring 4 Scanning unit 5 Detection illumination 6 Detector 7 Condensing lens 8 Light emitter 9 Drive magnet 10 Drive shaft 11 Drive belt 12 Linear motor 13 Drive motor 14 Stator 15 Power supply 16 Control Board 17 Case

Claims (8)

A detector for detecting skin surface information ;
A light emitter that emits light for hair removal ;
A scanning unit in which the detector and the light emitter are mounted at a predetermined interval;
A first driving unit for moving the scanning unit;
A control unit for determining a hair position from information on the skin surface detected by the detector;
Comprising storage means for storing information on the hair position determined by the control unit, and position information of the detector ;
The scanning unit scans the detector and the light emitter on the skin by the first driving unit ,
The said control part moves a light-emitting device to the body hair position memorize | stored in the said memory | storage means according to the information of the said memory | storage means, and irradiates light, The optical hair removal apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.  The optical hair removal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second driving unit that moves the scanning unit in a direction orthogonal to a scanning direction of the scanning unit.   The optical epilation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a moving direction of the second driving unit is a linear direction.  The optical epilation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a moving direction of the second driving unit is a circular direction.  5. The photo epilation device according to claim 1, wherein the detector and the light emitter are paired.  The optical hair removal apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the detector is an area sensor capable of detecting a region within a certain range.  The optical hair removal apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the moving pitch of the scanning unit is changed by the first driving unit or the second driving unit during the moving process. The scanning unit is composed of two mobile units, which is attached either the detector or emitter in the first mobile unit moving in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the scanning unit, the scanning 2. The photo epilation device according to claim 1 , wherein either the detector or the light emitter is attached in a line to the second moving unit that moves only in the same direction as the scanning direction of the unit.

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