JPH0430843A - Light source controller for handpiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent fatigue of eyes of an operator by a method wherein illuminance of a handpiece light is reduced gradually at the extinguishing thereof while it is increased gradually at the lighting thereof. CONSTITUTION:When an operation switch 2 is turned ON and a signal is outputted from an OR circuit 53, a relay 59 is driven and a contact 59a is connected to the side of a resistance R2 and a capacitor C1 is discharged. An output voltage V1 of an operational amplifier 57 lowers gradually and as an input voltage V1 of an operational amplifier 56 falls below a reference voltage Vref, an output voltage V3 rises to turn ON a transistor 58 so that an energization resistance reduces gradually. Therefore, a handpiece light 4 is lighted slowly with a rise in a lighting voltage V4. When the signal from the OR circuit 53 stops during the lighting, the energization resistance of the transistor 58 grows to lower the lighting voltage V4 and the handpiece light 4 is extinguished slowly thereby preventing dazzling on turning ON/OFF.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an improvement in a light source control device for turning on or off a handpiece light provided in a medical handpiece such as a dental one.

<Conventional technology> Conventionally, a lamp was built into a medical handpiece for use in dentistry, etc., and the treatment area was illuminated through a light guide, or the treatment area was illuminated directly with a lamp installed at the tip of the handpiece. Alternatively, a handpiece with a light is known, in which a treatment area is illuminated by a lamp provided outside the handpiece through a light guide provided in a tube of the handpiece.

In this type of handpiece, the handpiece light generally lights up in conjunction with the handpiece's drive, and when the handpiece stops, the handpiece light goes off at the same time. It is inconvenient to check the parts at the end of the work. In order to solve this problem, it has been proposed to start a timer after the handpiece has finished driving and to continue the lighting state for a set time (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-35700
(see publication).

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In general, handpiece lights are turned on or off instantaneously, and even in the one described in the above publication, the light is turned on or off by simply delaying the turning off after the handpiece stops. That is happening instantaneously. For this reason, the operator using the handpiece is likely to become momentarily blinded by the sudden turning on or off of the light.
This was a factor that reduced work efficiency and caused eye fatigue.

Also, depending on the content of the treatment, the handpiece may be repeatedly operated for a short period of time while looking at the treated area.
In conventional technology other than the above-mentioned publication, the light goes out every time the handpiece stops driving, which is inconvenient because it is not possible to continuously see the treated area during repeated short-term driving, and the light repeatedly blinks. The problem is that fatigue is accelerated.

The present invention has focused on such problems and has been made with the aim of preventing eye fatigue of the operator by eliminating the rapid blinking of the handpiece light and the unnecessary repetition of blinking.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the light source control device of the present invention gradually reduces the illuminance of the handpiece light when it is turned off (hereinafter referred to as "slow extinction"), or gradually reduces the illuminance when it is turned on. (hereinafter referred to as slow lighting) either alone or in combination.

In addition, when a combination of the two is used, the time required for slow light-off is set to be longer than the time required for slow light-on.

Furthermore, when the handpiece starts to be driven, the handpiece light is turned on and a timer is activated, and the handpiece light is turned off when either the handpiece driving time or the timer setting time, whichever is longer, ends. In the device having this configuration, if the handpiece is stopped and driven again before the timer set time expires, the timer is once reset and restarted.

In addition, functions of slow light-off and slow light-on are added to the device having such a configuration, and in this case, the time required for slow light-off is set to be longer than the time required for slow light-on.

<Function> Slow light-off prevents blinding when the light is turned off, and slow light-on prevents blinding when the light is turned on.

Blindness is similar to, for example, driving a car into a tunnel and then getting blinded for a moment when coming out again. At this time, you are more dizzy when you enter the tunnel than when you exit it. In other words, the blinding effect is greater when it suddenly becomes dark than when it suddenly becomes bright, so in the case of a handpiece, it is especially easy to get dazzled when the lights suddenly turn off. By making the time required for slow lighting longer than the time required for slow lighting, the change in illuminance becomes more vague when the lights are off than when the lights are on, improving the effect of preventing blinding.

Further, by turning off the light at the end of the longer of the handpiece driving time and the timer setting time, the handpiece light does not turn off immediately when the handpiece is driven for a short time.

In particular, if the timer is restarted if the handpiece is re-driven before the timer set time has expired, the lighting time of the handpiece light is gradually extended and unnecessary blinking is eliminated.

Furthermore, by adding slow light-off and slow light-on functions to such a timer system, sudden changes in illuminance are eliminated, making it difficult to cause blindness.

<Example> FIGS. 1(a) to (e) are timing charts illustrating the relationship between handpiece drive and handpiece light illuminance when the above inventions are applied to various control methods. be. In the figure, HP means a handpiece.

Note that, as is well known, the handpiece is driven in accordance with the operation of an operation switch such as a foot switch type.

(a) is a combination of slow lighting and slow extinguishing with a lighting method in which the handpiece light simply blinks in conjunction with the drive and stop of the handpiece.

(b) is a combination of the method described in the above-mentioned publication with slow lighting and slow turning off. In this case, regardless of the length of the driving time T of the handpiece, the light will slowly turn off after the handpiece stops and the time set by the timer t0 has elapsed, and if the handpiece is driven again during the set time t0, the light will continue to be lit. be done.

(C) is a combination of slow lighting and slow extinguishing in the method of claim 5, in which slow lighting is performed when the handpiece starts to be driven, and the longer of the time t1 set by the timer and the handpiece driving time T is set. When finished, the light turns off slowly.

(d) shows a system in which a function is added to the above-mentioned system (e) to reset and stop the timer when the drive signal is issued again during the set time t1 of the timer. This timer can be reset either when the drive signal starts or ends again, and in either case, as shown in the figure, at the same time as the end of the drive signal again, regardless of the end of the set time t1. Slowly turns off.

(e) is a combination of the method of claim 6 with slow lighting and slow turning off, and when the handpiece is driven again during the timer set time t1, the timer is reset and restarted, and the timed operation is stopped. This has been done from the beginning.

As described above, the slow lighting and slow extinction of the present invention can be applied to various types of light source control devices.Next, specific embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 will be described. .

In the block diagram of FIG. 2, 1 is a handpiece, 2 is an operation switch such as a pedal-type foot switch, 3 is a handpiece drive circuit, 4 is a handpiece light provided in the handpiece 1, and 5 is a light source. The control circuit 6 is a power source for the light, and the handpiece drive circuit 3 is activated in response to the drive signal A generated by turning on the operation switch 2 to drive or stop the handpiece 1, and at the same time the light source control circuit 5 is activated. is activated and the handpiece light 4 is turned on or off.

Note that the present invention can also be applied to a device in which the handpiece is controlled by air signals. The broken line in Figure 2 shows the configuration in this case, where 7 is the pneumatic control circuit;
Reference numeral 8 denotes a pneumatic pressure switch, and the pneumatic control circuit 7 is activated in response to the operation of the operation switch 2 to drive the handpiece 1, and at the same time, the pneumatic pressure switch 8 is activated to output the drive signal A. good.

The light source control circuit 5 includes a timer control circuit 51, a timer 52, an OR circuit 53, and an on/off and slow control circuit 5.
4. It is composed of a write voltage control circuit 55, etc., and operates as follows. FIG. 3 is a timing chart of the operation.

When the drive signal A is input to the timer control circuit 51, the timer control circuit 51 sends the on signal B and the reset signal C to the timer 5.
The timer 52 is activated at the falling edge of the reset signal C, and the timer output signal C is output to the OR circuit 53. The output signal A is also input to the OR circuit 53, and the on/off and slow control circuit 54 outputs the lighting signal E to the light voltage control circuit 55 when either the signal A or the signal is input. The light voltage control circuit 55 outputs a voltage according to the lighting signal E to light the handpiece light 4.

Here, the set time t1 of the timer 52 is set to, for example, several seconds, and as described above, either the drive signal A or the timer output signal R is input to the on/off and slow control circuit 54. If so, the lighting signal E is output. Therefore, when the duration T of the drive signal A is longer than the set time t1 of the timer 52, as shown in A1 in FIG. 3, the handpiece light 4 is turned off when the signal A1 ends.

Also, as shown in A2, the duration T of the drive signal A is the set time t.
If it is shorter than 1, the handpiece light 4 remains lit even when the signal A2 ends and the handpiece 1 stops, and turns off when the set time t ends. In addition, if the drive signal A is shorter than the set time t1, as in A, and before the set time t ends, the drive signal A again as in A.
is input, the timer 52 is temporarily reset by the reset signal C output from the timer control circuit 51 when the drive signal A is input again, and restarts immediately. Therefore, the timer output signal is the output of the signal A3. A signal like D4 is obtained by adding the set time t1 to the time from A4 to the output.
During this period, the handpiece light 4 remains lit, which is convenient when the handpiece 1 is used intermittently.

The lighting and extinguishing at each lighting time described above is performed by slow lighting with the required time t2 and slow extinguishing with the required time t3, and the time t2 is, for example, in the range of about 0.1 to 1 second, and the time t3 is 0.5 seconds. t z < in the range of ~5 seconds
Each of these is selected so that the relationship of t3 is maintained.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of a circuit for performing such slow lighting and slow extinction.

In the figure, 56 and 57 are operational amplifiers, 58 is an output transistor, 59 is a relay, and 59 a is its contact.
61 is a commercial power supply, 62 is a rectifier, 634 is a constant voltage circuit,
C1 is a capacitor for slow blinking, R1-R1 is a resistor, V
ref is the reference voltage of the operational amplifier 56. relay 5
The reference numeral 9 is driven by the output signal of the OR circuit 53, and the figure shows a state in which there is no output signal from the OR circuit 53 and the light is off.

In the connection shown in the figure, when the light is off, the slow blinking capacitor C1 is charged through the resistor R, because the contact 59a is connected to the resistor R□ side im, and the operational amplifier 57
The output voltage v1 of the operational amplifier 56 and the input voltage v2 of the operational amplifier 56 are higher than the reference voltage Vref, and the transistor 58 is turned off by the output voltage of the operational amplifier 56.

When the operation switch 2 is turned on and an output signal is output from the OR circuit 53, the relay 59 is driven and the contact 59a
is connected to the resistor R2 side, and the capacitor C is discharged through the resistor R2. Therefore, when the output voltage v1 of the operational amplifier 57 gradually decreases and the input voltage v2 of the operational amplifier 56 becomes lower than the reference voltage Vref, the output voltage v3 of the operational amplifier 56 increases and the transistor 58 turns on.
The conduction resistance gradually decreases. Therefore, the lighting voltage V4 of the handpiece light 4 increases, and the handpiece and slide 4 are slowly lit. In addition, this lighting voltage V4 is divided by resistors R3 and R4 and fed back to the input voltage 2 of the operational amplifier 56 through a resistor R5.
The operational amplifier 56 and the transistor 58 operate in a controlled manner so that 2 is equal to the reference voltage Vref, and the handpiece light 4 is lit with a constant illuminance by the stabilized lighting voltage V, and the time t2 required for slow lighting is It is determined by the time constants of capacitor C1 and resistor R2. Note that by adjusting the reference voltage Vref, it is also possible to perform dimming during lighting.

Further, when the output signal from the OR circuit 53 stops while the handpiece light 4 is turned on, the relay 59 becomes non-driven, the contact 59a is connected to the resistor R1 side, and the capacitor C1
is charged through resistor R1. Therefore, the output voltage v1 of the operational amplifier 57 and the input voltage v2 of the operational amplifier 56 gradually increase, the output voltage ■3 decreases, and the transistor 5
The conduction resistance of No. 8 increases and lowers the lighting voltage v4.

Therefore, the illuminance of the handpiece light 4 gradually decreases and it is turned off slowly, and the time t2 required for this slow turning off is determined by the time constant of the capacitor C1 and the resistor R1.

In the above embodiment, the on signal B is output from the timer control circuit 51.
A reset signal C is output to the timer 52, but if a trigger signal is input again during operation, the timer is a so-called re-trigger pull IC, which is reset and restarted, and the time-limited operation starts from the beginning. 52, the reset signal C becomes unnecessary, and in this case, the timer output (i) is output at the same time as the on-signal B rises.The circuit configuration shown in the figure is thus suitable for carrying out the present invention. This is merely an example, and any appropriate circuits may be employed, and these circuits may be appropriately configured using ordinary discrete circuits or using a microcomputer.

Note that although the illuminance of the handpiece light in FIG. 1 and the lighting signal E in FIG. Of course, it includes not only linear changes but also non-linear changes.

<Effect of the invention> As is clear from the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is as follows.

Slow extinguishing, in which the illuminance of the handpiece light is gradually decreased when it is turned off, and slow lighting, in which it is gradually increased when it is turned on, are performed either alone or in combination, and the illuminance is gradually changed. This prevents blinding when the light flashes.

The handpiece device does not reduce work efficiency or cause eye fatigue, and since the illuminance changes gradually, the operator is given a sense of psychological security, and the handpiece device is easy to use.

In addition, when slow turning off and slow turning on are used together, and the time required for slow turning off is set longer than the time required for slow turning on, it is necessary to appropriately adjust the illuminance changes when the lights are turned off, which is particularly likely to cause blinding. By gradually turning off the lights in this way, the effect of preventing blinding is improved.

Furthermore, in the case where the handpiece light is turned off when the longer of the handpiece driving time or the timer setting time ends, the handpiece light may turn off immediately after the handpiece is driven for a short time. It is convenient because it disappears.

Furthermore, in the case where the timer is reset and restarted when the handpiece is re-driven before the timer set time ends, the lighting time of the handpiece light is sequentially extended. Therefore, when repeatedly driving the handpiece for a short time while looking at the treated area, the light does not go out after each drive, making it easier to confirm and inspect the treated area and eliminating unnecessary blinking. This prevents eye fatigue.

In addition, if a device with such a configuration is added with slow light-off and slow-on functions, there will be no blinding caused by sudden changes in illuminance, and the time required for slow light-off can be set longer than the time required for slow light-on. This improves the eye fatigue prevention effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) to (e) are timing charts illustrating the relationship between handpiece drive and handpiece light illuminance when the present invention is applied to various light source control methods, and FIG. 2 is one example of the relationship between handpiece drive and handpiece light illuminance. A block diagram of an example, FIG. 3 is a timing chart of its operation, and FIG. 4 is a specific circuit diagram of the main part. 1. Handpiece, 2. Operation switch, 3. Handpiece drive circuit, 4. Handpiece light, 5.
Light light source control circuit, 6. Power supply for light, 51... Timer control circuit, 52... Timer, 53... OR circuit, 54... On/off and slow control circuit, 55...
・Light voltage control circuit, 56.57... operational amplifier,
58... Output transistor, 59... Relay, 59
a...Contact, C1...Capacitor for slow blinking, R
Engineering. R2...Resistance. Patent applicant Morita Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Sub-agent Patent attorney Shino 1) Actual diagram diagram diagram diagram

Claims (10)

[Claims] (1) A handpiece light source control device that gradually reduces the illuminance of a handpiece light provided in a medical handpiece when the handpiece light is turned off. (2) A handpiece light source control device that gradually increases the illuminance of a handpiece light built into a medical handpiece when turned on. (3) The handpiece light source control device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminance of the handpiece light is gradually increased when the handpiece light is turned on. (4) The light source control device for a handpiece according to claim 3, wherein the time from the start of turning off the light to completely turning off the light is set longer than the time from the start of turning on to reaching the predetermined illuminance. (5) The handpiece light is turned on when the handpiece starts to be driven and a timer is activated, and the handpiece light is turned off when the longer of the handpiece driving time or the timer setting time ends. Handpiece light source control device. (6) The light source control device for a handpiece according to claim 5, wherein when the handpiece is stopped and driven again before the set time of the timer expires, the timer is reset and restarted. (7) The handpiece light source control device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the illuminance of the handpiece light is gradually increased when the handpiece light is turned on. (8) The handpiece light source control device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the illuminance of the handpiece light is gradually decreased when the handpiece light is turned off. (9) The handpiece light source control device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the illuminance of the handpiece light is gradually increased when the handpiece light is turned on and gradually decreased when the handpiece light is turned off. (10) The light source control device for a handpiece according to claim 9, wherein the time from the start of turning off the light to completely turning off the light is set longer than the time from the start of turning on to reaching the predetermined illuminance.