JP4803600B2 - Intraoral sensor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an intraoral sensor used in a dental X-ray apparatus, and the intraoral sensor in the dental X-ray apparatus includes a detection element provided in a housing for detecting X-ray radiation; With electronic and optical elements.

In recent years, digital X-ray apparatuses have been widely used in dental X-ray diagnosis. Compared to conventional X-ray equipment that uses X-ray film that is sensitive to radiation and must be developed after X-ray irradiation, the new digital device, if properly analyzed in detail, This provides the advantage that an X-ray image can be observed directly on the screen.
X-ray apparatuses operating based on such a new digital method are disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 (German Patent No. 44 02 114) and Patent Document 2 (German Utility Model No. 297 17).
432) or Patent Document 3 (US Pat. No. 5,510,623).

  A conventional digital X-ray sensor has a flat and rectangular housing, and a detection element for detecting X-ray radiation is disposed therein. The main component of the detection element is a semiconductor chip, such a semiconductor chip is, for example, a CCD chip or a CMOS chip, which is divided into a plurality of pixel areas, each pixel area having an X-ray emission or Visible light converted from X-ray radiation is detected. A digital X-ray image is generated by such a detection signal. The signal detected by the semiconductor chip is transmitted via a cable to the evaluation unit, which detects the data and represents, for example, a digital X-ray image on a screen or display.

Usually, the housing of such a digital sensor is formed of two plastic parts, and after fixing the sensing element in or on one of the two housing parts, the two housing parts are mutually connected. And fixed to each other with an adhesive. The result is the disadvantage that such sensors cannot be sterilized because the plastic housing and in particular its adhesive joints do not rise to high temperatures due to a single or repeated sterilization process.
There is also a risk that the electronic and optical components of the sensor will be damaged if they are exposed to very high temperatures.
On the other hand, medically and generally, high standards for hygiene are required. Since such sensors are introduced into the mouth of the patient to be examined, there is a particular need for cleaning and sterilization as effectively as possible for such purposes.

  A further disadvantage of the known intraoral sensor is the mounting of the detection element in the housing. Usually, the detection element is mounted in a plastic housing widely or in the corner on one of the two basic sides of the housing. As a result, the problem arises that the sensing elements tend to delamination, i.e. the scintillator layer peels off the substrate at their corners. The scintillator layer is necessary to convert the X-ray radiation into visible light that can be detected by the semiconductor chip. Correspondingly, delamination of the scintillator layer from the substrate results in a substantial change in the x-ray radiation conversion in the delamination region, for example, decreasing or in some cases increasing. This results in the sensitivity of the intraoral sensor changing in the region being examined, and no longer being able to use from one dimension of such a region to the entire sensor.

  The problem of delamination (peeling) occurs especially if the intraoral sensor vibrates upon impact, for example if it falls. This problem is further increased in the case of known intraoral sensors, since the plastic housing is not adapted for externally applied damping shocks or vibrations.

German Patent No. 44 02 114 German utility model No. 297 17 432 US Pat. No. 5,510,623

The present invention therefore aims to provide an intraoral sensor for use in dental diagnosis that is simple to clean and in particular simple to sterilize.
A further object of the present invention is to prevent the risk of damaging the intraoral sensor, and in particular to prevent de -lamination (peeling) of the sensing element to a very wide range.

According to the present invention, the substrate has gas tightness and has a flat and square shape, and is fixed to an opposing side wall inside the housing via a damping element that absorbs an impact. And a photosensitive semiconductor element, a light transmission layer, and a scintillation layer, which are stacked on the substrate from the bottom of the housing toward the upper X-ray incidence portion and are accommodated in the housing. And
A first gap between the bottom surface inside the housing, the substrate, the light-sensitive semiconductor element, the light transmission layer, and the scintillation layer stacked on the substrate, and a top surface inside the housing And there is a second gap between the substrate, the light-sensitive semiconductor element laminated on the substrate, the light transmission layer, and the scintillation layer,
An intraoral sensor for a dental X-ray device is provided.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention , a porcelain material, ceramic material, enamel material or metal material, or these materials, in which the housing of the intraoral sensor or a part thereof can withstand a cleaning and / or sterilization process It is formed of a combination of

  The use of a material that is compatible with the sensor housing offers the advantage of less temperature sensitive than using plastic. This creates the possibility of sterilizing the intraoral sensor throughout the course of the previous normal sterilization procedure. The hygiene standards that can be obtained in this way are incomparably higher when compared to previously known intraoral sensors.

By withstanding high temperatures, the materials described above also have the advantage of being sensitive to gases. Along with the sterilization process, if proper sterilization is performed, the outside of the oral sensor is treated with ozone together with the oral sensor to be cleaned.
A complementary aspect of the present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning or disinfecting an intraoral sensor, which exposes the intraoral sensor to an atmosphere containing ozone for a predetermined period of time.

  A further aspect of the invention relates to improving the mounting of the sensing element in the sensor housing in order to avoid the risk of damage to the sensing element when there is vibration in the intraoral sensor. Yes.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the detection element is mounted (attached) in the housing by one or more damping elements.
Preferably, the detection element is connected to the sensor housing by elastic bodies or viscous elastic elements on two pairs of opposite sides. For example, the mounting (attachment) can be performed by silicon. Such a possible alternative of mounting is also performed on a pair of opposite sides having a mounting point in the center and a second fixing is mounted on these orthogonal pairs. Preferably, this is done via the center of the edge of the two sensors.

Mounting the detection element using a damping element (an element that absorbs shock or vibration) results in absorbing external vibration applied to the sensor and, at the same time, significantly reducing the risk of damage to the sensor .
For example, even if a very rigid material, such as porcelain material, ceramic material, enamel material or metal material that can withstand cleaning and / or sterilization treatment, is used to form the sensor housing (impact or shock or Absorbing vibration) is sufficient to improve the shock or vibration that occurs when the sensor is dropped.

On the other hand, however, if the housing is made of an elastic material, such as silicon, there is a possibility of reducing the risk of breakage when the intraoral sensor falls. With improved protection in the fall of the intraoral sensor, the soft construction of the sensor housing greatly allows the patient to perceive the hard elements that the patient feels unpleasant and nauseating. It can be improved.

An alternative configuration is that the corners and / or edges of the sensor housing are essentially made of an elastic material or a viscous elastic material, the rest of the sensor housing being made of the above-mentioned wear-resistant material or Made of plastic. This variant allows the advantage that the wear-resistant housing can be coupled with the damping means or the elastic cover. In the latter case, the plastic housing and the elastic or viscous elastic material can be produced by a so-called two-component injection molding process.

  According to a preferred illustration of the present invention, the required elements of the intraoral sensor, i.e. the detection element and / or the housing, are configured so that the corners of the sensor correspond to the anatomy of the patient's mouth to be examined. Has been. This is accomplished, for example, by having a plurality of angled regions that are rounded, curved, or arranged with respect to one another.

Usually, at least the detection element, here, in particular, the CCD chip or the CCD chip is formed in a rectangular (square) shape, and the shape is obtained by a processing technique for cutting a wafer for a semiconductor chip.
In order to adapt the shape of the sensing element to the anatomy of the mouth, according to an advantageous illustration of the invention, the wafer is cut in several stages, in which the saw blade is curved. Or guided in correspondence with a polygonal shape, thereby producing substantially rounded corners. Not limited to this, the wafer can be formed into a round shape corresponding to the above by milling.
The rounded or polygonal shape is not limited to the above-mentioned benefits, but has the advantage that as much information as possible can be detected for a given examination region within the range of the anatomical state of the mouth.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the intraoral sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention is accommodated in a housing 1 having a substantially flat and rectangular shape (square) , and a detection element 2 is provided in the inside thereof. Is arranged. A cable 3 is connected to the end face of the housing 1, an electric wire 4 runs through the cable 3, and the electric wire 4 is connected to the detection element 2.
The end of the cable 3 away from the intraoral sensor is led to an unillustrated evaluation unit, which receives the signal detected by the detection element 2 and generates a digital image from the received signal. The image is displayed on a display of a dental processing station, for example.

In accordance with an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, the housing 1 is made of an abrasion resistant material and / or a heat resistant material, such as a porcelain material, a ceramic material, a enamelling material. ) Or metal material. When these materials are used, the sensor housing 1 is less susceptible to high temperatures (has temperature resistance) , and has the advantage that the sensor can be sterilized. . In general, when the above-described materials or a mixture thereof are used, the housing 1 has an extremely good cleaning process compared to the case where plastic is used, and has a higher quality than the case where plastic is used. . The above preferred material over plastic is also highly sensitive to gases and can be used to clean the sensor with ozone that can attack electronic components (such as sensing elements) inside the housing 1. Make it even more possible.

A special feature of the housing 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the detection element 2 disposed in the housing 1 is that the corners of both elements (housing and detection element) are rounded. . Thereby, the shape of the intraoral sensor is suitable for the anatomy of the mouth, and as a result, it is possible for the patient to introduce (insert) or position the intraoral sensor in the mouth during the X-ray examination. It will be more comfortable for you.

A rounded structure of the sensor housing 1 can therefore be performed without further difficulty. On the other hand, it is more difficult to make the detection element 2 round, in particular, to round the CCD chip or the CMOS chip arranged on it. Such chip shaping processing (formation processing) is performed based on a wafer cut-out rule, and usually a chip having a corner shape with an angle of 90 degrees is used. . In order to round the detection element 2, or at least substantially round, in this case, the wafer is guided a plurality of times to guide the saw blade in correspondence with a shape having a predetermined curvature. Go and be disconnected. Alternatively, instead of such a method, a chip which is cut into a rectangle (square) as a whole in the initial state is machined into a round shape. As a result, the shape of the detection element 2 becomes round, but such a countermeasure cannot provide a good effect for the patient. This shape, however, is nevertheless desirable. The reason for this is that when the round housing 1 is used, the available area can be optimally utilized and therefore the maximum image information is detected.

The use of suitable materials for the sensor housing 1 described above, such as porcelain material, ceramic material, enamel material or metal material, results in the sensor housing 1 being harder than the preferred prior art using plastic. Thereby, external shocks or vibrations that can increase the risk of damage to the detection element 2 arranged in the housing 1 are transmitted particularly effectively to the detection element 2. Therefore, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the possibilities (possibilites) relating to the preferred protection of the detection element 2 against external shocks or vibrations are described below.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an intraoral sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The detection element 2 is formed by a substrate 5 provided as a carrier element, on which an X-ray emission screening layer 6 is first applied, this screening layer 6 Can be deleted.
A photosensitive semiconductor layer (photosensitive element, semiconductor layer) 7 is disposed on the upper side of the screening layer 6 or on the upper side of the substrate 5, and the photosensitive element 7 spatially decomposes image information. It is a CCD chip or a CMOS chip for detection.

Since the CCD chip or CMOS chip is much more sensitive to visible light than to X-ray radiation, the sensitivity of the detection element 2 is a light conductor layer (light conductor) arranged in front of the semiconductor layer 7. layer) 8 and scintillation layer 9.
The scintillation layer 9 converts incident X-ray radiation into visible light by the scintillation effect, and the converted visible light is transferred to the semiconductor layer 7 via the light transmission layer 8. Accordingly, the light transmission layer 8 is configured so that X-ray radiation incident on a specific location of the scintillation layer 9 is detected as substantially visible light at a corresponding position of the semiconductor layer 7 located below the scintillation layer 9. ,It is configured. Thereby, the detection sensitivity of the detection element 2 is therefore significantly higher and the resolving power is not significantly affected.

The structure illustrated in FIG. 3 substantially corresponds to the conventional structure of a sensing element for an intraoral digital sensor, so that as described above, the screening layer 6 and / or the light transmission layer 8 are also included. It can also be deleted. Usually, the detection element is therefore attached to a sensor housing which is arranged in the whole or corner of the region in one of the two base sides of the housing lower part 1a or the housing upper part 1b.
According to the conventionally used arrangement (containment) , however, external impact or vibration applied to the housing is virtually transmitted to the detection element and is not reduced, resulting in damage to the detection element. There is a danger, in particular, there is a danger that the scintillation layer 9 will peel off.

In the context of the present description, the light-transmitting layer 8 and the semiconductor layer 7 or the light-transmitting layer 8 and the scintillation layer 9 are held by an adhesive or in each case by coupling layers 7a, 9a between them. Should be considered. In this regard, the light transmission layer 8 is removed and a scintillation layer 9 is usually produced on its own substrate (not shown), whereby a composition comprising the scintillation layer 9 and the substrate cooperating therewith is formed by a photosensitive semiconductor. It is adhered again to the layer 7 by means of the adhesive layer 7a. If the composition is subjected to vibration or strong impact, the bonding effect of the adhesive or bonding layers 7a, 9a is reduced and there is a risk that the various layers of the composition will peel off each other. As a result, the sensitivity of the intraoral sensor may change partially and the sensor may eventually become unusable.

  It should be further noted that instead of using an adhesive layer, the scintillation layer 9 may be pressed against the light transmission layer 8 or against the semiconductor layer 7. However, even in the case of this deformation mode, there is a risk that the scintillation layer 9 peels off from the base due to vibration, and as a result, the intraoral sensor is damaged.

  Therefore, when the above-described particularly rigid material for the housing 1 is used, the detection element 2 is mounted in the housing 1 by a specific shock absorbing member (damping) in order to avoid damage to the detection element 2. . This particular mounting method is performed by two or more damping elements 10, by which the edges on both sides of the detection element 2 are connected to corresponding inner walls of the sensor housing 1. The damping element 10 is made of an elastic material or a viscoelastic material, for example silicon, which has the property of damping in nature (absorbing vibrations or shocks).

  In the case of the first embodiment of the mounting method which may be schematically illustrated in FIG. 4 (a), the two sides of the detection element 2 located opposite to each other are arranged in the housing 1 with two damping elements 10. Connected across them by. An alternative to this mounting method illustrated in FIG. 4 (b) shows an example in which two opposite sides are connected to the housing 1, on either side by two short damping elements 10. Two damping elements 10 are arranged so that their central regions are connected and on the other side, beyond the central region and perpendicular thereto. These are again preferred when arranged in the center of the edge of the detection element 2.

  According to the present invention, the method of mounting the detection element 2 in the sensor housing 1 using a damping element results in the absorption of external vibration applied to the housing and the risk of damage to the detection element 2 is extremely suppressed. . This is particularly significant when the sensor housing is made of a material that does not itself damping, such as, for example, porcelain material, ceramic material, enamel material or metal material. The use of the materials mentioned above and the mounting method using the damping element according to the invention can therefore be cleaned particularly well and efficiently on the one hand, and on the other hand, the risk of damage to the sensing element due to external impact or vibration This makes it possible to realize an intraoral sensor that avoids this.

Should it be sought in principle to avoid damage to the sensing element due to falling of the sensor, and the housing or its corners and / or edges are additionally soft or a damping material, for example silicon. . The use of the material for the sensor housing is also not limited to this, which means that it is more comfortable for the patient, in particular for the elderly patient or the child patient, and therefore digital x-ray techniques in dental diagnosis. The acceptance (utilization) of the applicability will increase.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an intraoral X-ray sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure seen from the upper part of the intraoral X-ray sensor illustrated in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the intraoral X-ray sensor based on embodiment of this invention. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are illustrations based on the section AA in FIG. 3, which are illustrated as clearly as possible for mounting the detection element in the housing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing, 2 ... Detection element, 3 ... Cable, 4 ... Electric wire, 5 ... Board | substrate 6 ... X-ray emission screening layer 7 ... Semiconductor layer, photosensitive element, photosensitive semiconductor layer 8 ... Light transmission layer, 9 ... Scintillation layer 10 ... Damping element

Claims (12)

A housing having gas tightness, a flat cross-section, and a square planar shape;
A substrate, a photosensitive semiconductor element, a light transmission layer, and a scintillation layer are stacked, and the X-ray radiation is converted into visible light in the scintillation layer, and the light transmission layer is adjacent to the light transmission layer adjacent to the scintillation layer. A detection element configured to detect visible light at a corresponding position, transmitting the visible light to the photosensitive semiconductor element, the photosensitive semiconductor element being sensitive to the visible light; and
At least one pair of damping elements, the at least one pair of damping elements being secured to at least one pair of opposing side walls of the flat cross section inside the housing, and at least one pair of damping elements being A substrate of the detection element is fixed so that the scintillation layer of the detection element approaches an X-ray incident portion of the housing, and at least a pair of damping elements that absorb vibration or impact applied to the detection element;
Have
There is a first gap between the bottom surface inside the housing and the detection element, and a second gap between the top surface inside the housing and the detection element,
Intraoral sensor for a dental X-ray device. Corners and / or edges of the housing are formed of an elastic material or a viscous elastic material;
The intraoral sensor according to claim 1. In the detection element, an X-ray emission screening layer is provided to be laminated on the substrate between the substrate and the photosensitive semiconductor element.
The intraoral sensor according to claim 1 or 2. The first gap and the second gap are substantially equal;
The intraoral sensor according to claim 1 or 2. The housing or part thereof is a porcelain material, ceramic material, enamel material or metal material, or these materials as an abrasion and / or heat resistant material that can withstand the high temperature cleaning and / or sterilizing treatment It is formed by a combination of
The intraoral sensor in any one of Claims 1-4. The corners and / or edges of the housing are formed of silicon as the elastic material or a viscous elastic material,
The intraoral sensor according to any one of claims 2 to 5. The damping element is formed of silicon,
The intraoral sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The sensing element is connected to a corresponding side wall of the housing by at least one pair of damping elements disposed at the opposing positions over substantially its entire length;
The intraoral sensor in any one of Claims 1-7. The sensing elements are each connected to the housing by two pairs of damping elements on opposite side walls of the housing;
Of the two pairs of damping elements, one pair of damping elements is disposed on two side surfaces of the detection element (2) facing each other;
Of the two pairs of damping elements, the other pair of damping elements is disposed on two side surfaces of the detection element that are disposed orthogonal to the two side surfaces of the detection element.
The intraoral sensor according to claim 8. The corner of the detection element and / or the corner of the housing is rounded or has a polygonal shape,
The intraoral sensor in any one of Claims 1-9 . The detection element has a photosensitive semiconductor layer having a rectangular basic shape, and the corner of the photosensitive semiconductor layer is rounded.
The intraoral sensor in any one of Claims 1-9 . The detection element has a photosensitive semiconductor layer which is a CCD chip or a CMOS chip.
The intraoral sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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