JP4419864B2 - Optical hair removal device - Google Patents

Description

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

  Conventionally, as a device for removing body hair, for example, a device that performs hair removal by irradiating the skin with laser light is known. If a single hair beam is used to perform a hair removal treatment over a wide area of the skin, it is necessary to move the light beam to give light energy to the hair root, which is complicated and takes time.

  Therefore, a laser beam irradiator has been proposed that arranges a plurality of semiconductor laser diodes at equal intervals, irradiates a large number of light beams onto the skin surface, expands the area that can be irradiated at once, and improves treatment such as hair removal. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 3188437

  However, in the above conventional technique, since a light beam is irradiated over a wide area of the skin, there is a possibility that the light is irradiated in areas other than the vicinity of the hair root position necessary for the hair removal treatment, thereby damaging the skin.

  When laser light is applied to the skin, the temperature rise varies depending on the skin condition. In particular, if the skin color is dark, such as a mole, light energy is absorbed on the skin surface and the temperature rises, and burns tend to occur.

  In addition, since the light emitter is driven not only in the vicinity of the hair root position but also in an area where light irradiation is unnecessary, the power consumption and the like are large.

  The present invention was devised to solve the above-described problems, and without irradiating light to an unnecessary part at the time of hair removal treatment, light irradiation near the hair root position is performed, and the safety of hair removal treatment is achieved. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical hair removal device that can improve power consumption and suppress power consumption.

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a detection unit that detects information on a skin surface, a light emitter that serves both as a hair removal light source and an illumination light source, and the light emitter from the detection unit. Is also arranged in a two-dimensional manner facing the skin surface at a position close to the skin surface, and a light emitting part in which a through hole is formed between adjacent light emitters, and illumination light emitted from the light emitters A control unit for determining a hair position based on information on the skin surface obtained from light reflected from the skin surface and incident from the through-hole, and a storage unit for storing information on the hair position determined by the control unit; And the control unit selects a light emitter in the vicinity of the body hair position based on information in the storage means and irradiates light for hair removal.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is constituted by an area image sensor.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the optical hair removal device according to claim 2, wherein the detection part and the light emitting part are in close contact with each other to form an integral structure.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the position of the detector is fixed and the light emitter moves on the skin surface facing the skin surface. Item 3. The photo epilation device according to any one of Items 2.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the optical hair removal device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the light emitting part is formed by a substrate on which a light emitter is mounted. is there.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that a condensing mechanism portion for preventing light diffusion is provided on the light irradiation side of each light emitter of the light emitting portion. It is an optical hair removal apparatus as described in an item.

  According to the present invention, even if areas that do not require light irradiation or areas that are dangerous if light irradiation is performed are mixed in the light irradiation range, body hair is not irradiated with excessive light. (Pole) position and hair root position can be irradiated with light to improve the safety of hair removal treatment. Further, since light irradiation can be minimized and unnecessary light irradiation can be reduced, consumption of a battery or the like can be suppressed.

  In addition, since the irradiation light may be broad light, various types of light sources can be used, the cost can be reduced by using an inexpensive light source, and the detection unit and the light emitting unit are stacked in the vertical direction. Therefore, the apparatus can be configured compactly.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an optical hair removal apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1 viewed from below, and FIG. 4 is an external view of the optical hair removal apparatus.

  The apparatus body is covered with a case 12, and an irradiation window 1 formed of transparent glass or the like is provided on the skin surface side to irradiate the skin surface with light or to take reflected light from the skin surface into the apparatus. It has been.

  A resonance spring 11, a light emitter 2, a lens 3, a detection unit 4, a scanning unit 5, a driving magnet 6, a linear motor 8 having a stator 7, a power supply 9, a control board 10, and the like are attached inside the case 12. ing. The scanning unit 5 includes a light emitting unit 2, a lens 3, a detecting unit 4, and a driving magnet 6. The scanning unit 5 moves in the direction of the moving direction 1 by the interaction of the driving magnet 6 and the linear motor 8 having the stator 7, and smoothly and uniformly moves by the action of the resonance spring 11.

  The light emitting unit 2 is used for the operation of irradiating the skin surface with detection illumination light and the operation of irradiating the hair root position with light for hair removal. The light emitting unit 2 may use a laser light source or a simple light source. On average, there are hair roots at a depth of 4 to 5 mm from the pores, but irradiation with light of constant energy toward the hair growth cells can stimulate the hair growth cells.

  The detection unit 4 detects reflected light from the skin surface illuminated by the detection illumination light of the light emitting unit 2 and images the state of the skin surface. An optical sensor, a small TV camera, a CCD sensor, etc. Used. In addition, an infrared sensor or an ultraviolet sensor can be used for the detection unit 4.

  The light emitting unit 2, the lens 3, and the detection unit 4 attached to the scanning unit 5 integrally move in the moving direction 1 while maintaining a predetermined relationship. In the direction orthogonal to the moving direction 1, the operator manually moves the moving direction. The lens 3 is used to form an image of reflected light from the skin surface on the detection unit 4, and can be moved up and down so that the size of the image formed can be enlarged or reduced. .

  The power source 9 made of a battery or the like supplies electricity to the control board 10, the linear motor 8, the detection unit 4, the light emitting unit 2, and the like, and is appropriately wired although not shown. The control board 10 is equipped with a CPU, a memory, and the like, and controls the entire apparatus such as a motor control, detection illumination, light emitter, and detector control, and stores collected data in the memory. Then, an operation such as performing an appropriate calculation is performed.

  An example of the overall appearance design of the optical hair removal device of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4 so that the center of the cover 20 is held in the hand so as to contact the skin surface like a shaving machine. It has a shape to put. Since the portions of the irradiation window 1 are slightly recessed from the cover portions formed on both sides of the irradiation window 1, the cover portions on both sides come into contact with the skin surface to fix the photo epilation device. In FIG. 4, the optical hair removal device is pressed from the lower side of the skin surface, but it is also possible to fix the optical hair removal device with the irradiation window 10 facing downward from the upper side of the skin surface.

  The push button portion of the switch 21 protrudes outside the cover 20 and can be pushed by the operator. The switch 21 is pushed at the start-up, and the switch 21 is pushed again at the time of hair removal treatment. Further, the processing lamp 22 is constituted by an LED or the like, and a part of the case corresponding to the installation position of the processing lamp 22 is made transparent or hollow so that the lighting portion can be recognized from the outside. The processing lamp 22 is turned on when the hair removal process is completed.

  FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the vicinity of the light emitting unit 2, the lens 3 and the detection unit 4. The detection unit 4 has a structure in which a CCD sensor 76 as an area image sensor is provided on a substrate, and the light emitting unit 2 has a structure in which LED (light emitting diode) modules 71 as light emitters are mounted on a substrate in a two-dimensional array. It has become. In the substrate of the light emitting unit 2, through holes 75 are formed between the rows of LED modules 71 arranged in a line, and at an intermediate point between adjacent LED modules. Reflected light from the skin surface is allowed to pass through and is imaged on the CCD sensor 76 via the lens 3.

  The LED module 71 includes an LED chip 73 as a light emitting element, a reflector 72, and a sealing material 77. The sealing material 77 is formed in a convex shape (lens shape) so as to cover the LED chip 73 using a silicon material or the like. When an electric current flows through the LED chip 73, the LED chip 73 emits light, and this light is applied to the skin surface. Since more than half of the light emitted from the LED chip 73 is emitted in the lateral direction, a reflecting plate 72 is provided to collect the emitted light in the lateral direction forward (in the skin surface direction) so as to increase the irradiation efficiency. Since the reflecting plate 72 is formed on the substrate on which the LED chip 73 is disposed, the reflecting plate 72 is made of ceramic or the like that can be easily processed.

The imaging region of the CCD sensor 76 is a portion surrounded by a broken line of the light emitting unit 2.
An image is picked up by the CCD sensor from above the light emitting unit 2 (on the optical axis).
The size M of the LED module 71 can be 200 to 250 μm, and the arrangement interval L of the LED modules 71 can be 200 to 250 μm.

  The detection unit 4 and the lens 3 can be replaced with other area image sensors. For example, a configuration example in which the detection unit 4 and the lens 3 are replaced with a camera module 30 is shown in FIG. A portion surrounded by a broken line in the figure is an imaging range and includes all the LED modules 71. Moreover, since the structure of the light emission part 2 is the same as that of FIG. 3, description is abbreviate | omitted. The reflected light from the skin surface that has passed through the through hole 75 is imaged by the camera module 30 and image processing is performed.

  FIG. 6 shows a configuration in which the detection unit 4 and the light emitting unit 2 are in close contact with each other, and FIG. 7 shows a detailed configuration example of the detection unit 4 and the light emitting unit 2 in close contact with each other. The detection unit 4 includes a CCD sensor 76, matches the entire region of the LED module 71 of the light emitting unit 2, and can image the skin surface from the through hole 75. Hair recognition processing is performed based on the captured image. A micro lens may be attached to the through hole 75 in order to adjust (enlarge or reduce) the size of the image formed by the CCD sensor 76.

  LED modules 71 are provided in a two-dimensional array in order to irradiate body hair or pores with light for hair removal. The LED module 71 includes an LED chip 73, a phosphor 74, a reflecting plate 72, and a sealing material 77, and serves as both a hair removal light source and an illumination light source. Each structure of the light emission part 2 and the detection part 4 is the same as that of the structure of FIG. 3 mentioned above.

  FIG. 8 shows a state of the light emission processing at the time of body hair recognition in the case of the configuration shown in FIGS. FIG. 8A shows a view of the light emitting unit 2 as viewed from directly above, where “light” indicates the position of the LED module 71 that is a light emitter, and circles indicate the through holes. 75. Also, if the LED module at the upper left of the figure is A11, the right side is A12, and the identification numbers are given in order, the LED modules arranged in the first row are A11 to A15, respectively, and the second row Are A21 to A25, the third row is A31 to A35, the fourth row is A41 to A45, and the fifth row is A51 to A55.

  If the body hair can be recognized as shown in FIG. 8B by the reflected light that has passed through the through-hole 75, the body hair position superimposed on the configuration diagram of FIG. 8A is shown in FIG. 8C. Here, the body hair could be recognized as shown in the figure by the reflected light from the skin surface that passed through the through-hole 75, and therefore, from the through-hole corresponding to the circled position as shown in FIG. 8 (d). The hair was recognized by the passing light.

  For example, if the detection voltage from the CCD sensor 76 is 0 V to 3.3 V, and A / D conversion is performed and 0 V to 3.3 V is 0 to 255, a light beam detected as a digital signal threshold level 120 or lower is obtained. The passed through hole position is recognized as a body hair position. The LED of the four corners on the diagonal line of the through-hole recognized as the body hair position (circled position with diagonal lines) is caused to emit light.

  For example, A11, A12, A31, and A32 correspond to the four-angle LED at the circle position B11 that is shaded in the upper left. In addition, the four square LEDs at the circle position B21 with a diagonal line below it correspond to A21, A22, A41, and A42. Furthermore, A41 and A42 correspond to the four square LEDs at the position B31 with a diagonal line below them, and the corresponding LEDs are not arranged in the lower part, so there are two of them. FIG. 8E shows the LED positions to be emitted as described above surrounded by a thick frame. In this way, the light emission process is performed, and the hair removal process is performed.

  FIG. 9 shows a block configuration of the optical hair removal apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of the operation. A control unit 41 including a CPU and a DSP controls each unit of the optical hair removal apparatus, and the storage unit 45 includes a memory and the like. The control unit 41 and the storage unit 45 are mounted on the control board 10. The display unit 43 includes the processing lamp 22 and the like, the input unit 44 includes the switch 21 and the like, and the drive unit 42 includes the linear motor 8 and the like.

  Next, operation | movement of an optical hair removal apparatus is demonstrated. First, when the user presses the switch 21 during activation of the optical hair removal apparatus, power is supplied from the power supply 9 to each part of the apparatus. When it is desired to start the hair removal process, the switch 21 is pressed again. The trigger signal for starting the hair removal process that is pressed for the second time is detected by the control unit 41 (S1). When the trigger signal is detected, the control unit 41 sends a control signal to the light emitting unit 2 so as to emit illumination light. The light emitting unit 2 emits light by this control signal, and light is applied to the skin surface. Since light is reflected on the skin surface and passes through the through-hole 75, the detected light is imaged by the detection unit 4 (S2). The imaging signal is sent to the control unit 41 and subjected to image processing (S3), and body hair or pore recognition processing is performed. When the body hair or pore recognition process ends, the processing result is stored in the storage unit 45.

  As described above, for example, when the detection voltage from the CCD sensor 76 is set to 0V to 3.3V and A / D conversion is performed and 0V to 3.3V is set to 0 to 255, the threshold value of the digital signal is detected to be 120 or less. The through-hole position through which the light beam passed is detected as a body hair or pore position as shown in FIG. At this time, not only body hair and pore positions, but also skin color and the like may be detected.

  A control signal is transmitted to the light emitting unit 2 so as to emit light for hair removal from the LED module 71 at the four corners (or two corners) of the through hole position through which the light beam in which the body hair or the pore is detected passes, As shown in FIG. 8, the LED module at a predetermined position of the light emitting unit 2 emits light and is irradiated onto the skin surface (S4). The light irradiation method may be such that all the LED modules at the four corners of the through-hole position emit light at the same time (all the LEDs surrounded by the thick frame in FIG. 8 (e) emit light at the same time), or the LED modules one by one in order. The plurality of LED modules may be divided into blocks, and simultaneous irradiation may be performed for each block.

  Next, the drive unit 42 is driven to move the scanning unit 5 by one pitch (S5). When the scanning unit 5 has finished moving to the final position in the movement direction 1 (S6 YES), since the hair removal process within a predetermined range has been completed, this end signal is transmitted from the control unit 41 to the display unit 43 (S7) and displayed. The unit 43, that is, the processing lamp 22 is turned on. On the other hand, when the movement to the final position in the movement direction 1 is not completed (S6 NO), the operations from S2 to S5 are repeated.

  Next, when it is desired to perform a hair removal process on another region of the skin surface, the user manually moves the optical hair removal apparatus and performs the processes of S1 to S7. In the above embodiment, the hair removal process is automatically performed by moving in the direction of movement 1. However, for example, it is possible to move in the direction orthogonal to the movement direction 1 so that the two directions can be automatically processed. You may do it.

  By the way, a portion with a dark skin color such as a mole has a high possibility of causing a burn because it absorbs the energy of the irradiated light and generates heat because it has a lot of melanin. If the detection unit 4 detects the skin color or the like, and a dark-skinned portion such as a mole or a stain is detected near the body hair (pores) from the photographed image of the detection unit 4, the skin color The light emitter (LED module) can also be selected so that light is not irradiated to the dark portion.

  As described above, since only the light emitting device corresponding to the position where light irradiation for hair removal is necessary, that is, near the position of body hair or pores (hair roots) is selected, light irradiation is performed effectively. While being able to do this, the skin surface other than the region including the body hair and pore positions is not irradiated with light, and damage to the skin can be prevented. Further, since not all the light emitters are used, but only the light emitters corresponding to the vicinity of the body hair or pores position are selected and used, it is possible to suppress the consumption of the battery (power source 9). Furthermore, since the detection unit can be arranged so as to overlap the detection unit in the upward direction of the light emitting unit, the entire apparatus can be configured compactly.

For the above operation, for example, the moving pitch is 150 to 250 μm, the moving speed in the moving direction 1 is 50 to 500 mm / s, the one stroke length in the moving direction 1 is 5 to 20 mm, and the light output wavelength for light removal of the light emitter Is assumed to be about 650 nm to 680 nm, an irradiation spot diameter of 50 to 150 μm, an irradiation intensity of 150 to 200 mW / (100 μm) ² , and an irradiation time of about 10 to 40 ms.

  Next, when the relationship between the light emitting unit 2 and the detecting unit 4 has the configuration of FIG. 5, a configuration in which the light emitting unit 2 is moved without moving the detecting unit 4 is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG. 11 is a view of the optical hair removal device as viewed from the side, and FIG. 12 is a view of the device as viewed from the front.

  The detection unit 4 configured by the camera module 30 is fixed to the case 12 by a detection unit support 81. On the other hand, the light emitting unit 2 is fixed to the scanning unit 82, and the scanning unit 82 moves in the moving direction 1 by the action of the linear motor 8. The moving direction 1 moves in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the light emitting element (LED) provided in the light emitting unit 2. Moreover, the light emission part 2 is the structure similar to the light emission part 2 of FIG. 3, FIG. 5, and shows the same number about a detailed structure.

  The detection unit imaging range in the figure corresponds to the movement range of the light emitting unit 2. The scanning unit 82 moves from the rightmost broken line position to the leftmost broken line position in FIG. As the light emitting unit 2 moves, the through hole 75 provided in the light emitting unit 2 also moves, and the imaging region changes one after another, so that the detection unit 4 captures the changed imaging region and recognizes body hair or pores. . The numerical values such as the moving pitch of the scanning unit 82, the moving speed in the moving direction 1 and the light output are the same as those in the above-described embodiment.

  In this way, since only the light emitting unit (light emitter) is moved, the load on the driving mechanism such as the linear motor 8 is reduced, and even an inexpensive driving mechanism can be driven with high accuracy. In addition, since the detection unit (detector) is fixed so that the moving operation is not performed, the position information can be accurately detected.

  FIG. 13 shows a structure in which the light condensing function of the light emitting unit 2 is enhanced in the embodiment described above. The light emitting unit 2 </ b> A has a configuration in which a mounting frame 54 and a light collecting mechanism 51 are provided in the structure of the light emitting unit 2, and the light collecting mechanism 51 includes a light collecting plate 52 and a light collecting lens 53.

  FIG. 14 shows a cross-sectional view as viewed from the direction A of FIG. 13, and the light collector 52 is attached to the mounting frame 54 in which portions corresponding to the LED modules 71 and the through holes 75 are cut out. A condensing lens 53 is attached to the tip of the lens. By configuring the LED module 71 so as to be covered with the light collecting plate 52, all the light emitted from the LED module is incident on the light collecting plate 52, and the light collecting plate 52 emits light having a predetermined incident angle or less. Reflected and guided to position 53.

  The light collector 52 is made of metal (SUS or the like) with a mirror finish. The light collected by the condenser lens 53 is condensed and converged by the condenser lens 53 to form a spot diameter at a predetermined position on the skin surface. Usually, the LED chip size (for example, 4 mm in diameter) and the spot diameter are configured to be substantially the same size.

  In this way, since the light beam that diffuses to other than the skin surface is condensed and used as the irradiation light to the skin surface, the irradiation efficiency is improved and the hair removal effect can be enhanced.

It is a figure which shows the cross section of the optical hair removal apparatus of this invention. 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 the detailed structure of a light emission part, a lens, and the detection part vicinity. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of an optical hair removal apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure which replaced the detection part and lens part of FIG. 3 with the camera module. It is a figure which shows the optical hair removal apparatus which has the structure which closely_contact | adhered the detection part and light emission part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of the detection part and light emission part which closely_contact | adhered in FIG. It is a figure which shows the mode of the light emission process at the time of body hair recognition. It is a figure which shows the block structure of the optical hair removal apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the optical hair removal apparatus of this invention. FIG. 6 is a side view of an optical hair removal device having a configuration in which the light emitting unit is moved without moving the detection unit in the configuration of FIG. 5. It is a front view of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure which improved the condensing function of the light emission part. It is a figure which shows sectional drawing which looked at FIG. 13 from the A direction.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Irradiation window 2 Light emission part 3 Lens 4 Detection part 5 Scanning unit 6 Driving magnet 7 Stator 8 Linear motor 9 Power supply 10 Control board 11 Resonant spring 12 Case

Claims (6)

A detection unit for detecting information on the skin surface;
A light emitter that serves as a light source for hair removal and a light source for illumination ;
The light emitter is arranged two-dimensionally facing the skin surface at a position closer to the skin surface than the detection unit, and a light emitting unit in which a through hole is formed between adjacent light emitters;
A controller that determines the position of the hair based on information on the skin surface obtained from the light that is emitted from the light emitter and reflected from the skin surface and incident from the through hole;
Storage means for storing information on the hair position determined by the control unit ,
The said control part selects the light emitter of body hair position vicinity based on the information of the said memory | storage means, and irradiates the light for hair removal, The optical hair removal apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.  The optical hair removal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit includes an area image sensor.  The optical hair removal apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the detection unit and the light emitting unit are in close contact with each other to form an integral structure.  The arrangement of the detection unit according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the detection unit has a fixed arrangement position, and the light-emitting unit moves on the skin surface facing the skin surface. Optical hair removal device.  The said hair emission part is formed of the board | substrate with which the light emitter was mounted, The optical hair removal apparatus of any one of Claims 1-4 characterized by the above-mentioned.  6. The photo epilation device according to claim 1, wherein a condensing mechanism unit that prevents light diffusion is provided on a light irradiation side of each light emitter of the light emitting unit.

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