JPH06277233A - Photopolymerization device for dental purpose - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the photopolymerization device for dental purposes which prevents heating of a photopolymerizable resin pattern material in spite of receipt of photoirradiation and is simplified in operation. CONSTITUTION:This photopolymerization device is formed of an upper casing 2 housing a lamp 4, a fan 6 and a transparent cell 5, a turn table 10, a lower casing 3 housing a pump 12 for circulating a cooling liquid, a fan 13, a heat exchanger 14 and a motor for lifting the upper casing and a switch panel arranged on the front surface of this lower casing 3. Then, the upper casing 2 is risen by the on of a main switch and the upper casing 2 is lowered by the on of a start switch. The lamp 4 is lighted and the turn table 10 is rotated during the timer set time. The light 4 is put out, the turn table 10 is stopped and the upper casing 2 is risen by the off of the timer. The pump 12, the heat exchanger 14 and the cooling fan 13 stops after operating for the specified period thereafter. The photopolymn. of the photopolymerizable resin is easily executed by the switch operation alone.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dental photopolymerizer for polymerizing and curing a photopolymer resin used as a pattern material for a clasp, a bar, an inlay, a crown, a hard resin veneer crown, etc. in the dental technical field. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the field of dental technology, wax was used to manufacture clasps and bar crown bridge occlusal surface patterns, but in recent years, photopolymerized resin materials have been used in place of wax. Is coming. Since this photopolymerized resin material has plasticity before polymerization, it can be molded into any pattern, and after molding it is fixed by irradiating visible light or ultraviolet light to polymerize and cure it. can do. Also, for example, a halogen lamp is generally adopted as a light source for polymerizing and curing the material,
Photopolymerizers using halogen lamps are already on the market.

[0003]

Since the halogen lamp used in the conventional photopolymerizer outputs visible light and ultraviolet light, it can be said that it is a suitable light source for the photopolymerizer. At the same time, however, a large amount of infrared rays are also output, so that the lamp itself and the photopolymerized resin irradiated with light are heated to an abnormally high temperature. In particular, when the photopolymerizable resin is heated to an abnormally high temperature, it may be deformed before the polymerization or a liquid such as a monomer contained in the resin may boil to cause bubbles.

When a photopolymerized resin is applied to a metal molding such as a front cover, the metal molding is heated to a high temperature by infrared rays, and the metal molding is taken out by using tweezers after the polymerization. Then, the next work can not be performed until the metal molded body is cooled, and the work efficiency is reduced, and there is a problem that the thermal expansion of the metal molded body causes a strain at the boundary between the photopolymerization resin portion and the metal molded body. . In addition, when forming the crown bridge, the occlusal surface of the abutment tooth is molded with photopolymerized resin, and after the photopolymerized resin has hardened, wax is raised on the side of the tooth profile, and then the occlusal surface of the pontic part Although it is formed and cured with a photopolymerization resin, there is also a problem that the wax is melted and deformed if the temperature rises due to light irradiation during the curing.

On the other hand, the conventional photopolymerizer employs a method in which the atmosphere in the apparatus is exhausted by an exhaust fan to form a flow of the atmosphere in the light irradiation chamber to cool the molded body in the light irradiation chamber. However, in this method, since only a part of the atmosphere flowing in the light irradiation chamber comes into contact with the molded body, the cooling efficiency is extremely poor, and the abnormal heating of the photopolymerization resin can hardly be prevented, and the lamp output cannot be increased. Therefore, it takes 5 to 10 minutes for photopolymerization, resulting in a problem that work efficiency is very poor. In the conventional photopolymerizer, the front door is usually opened, the plaster model is placed on the mounting table inside the device, the door is closed, the timer is set, and then the start switch is pressed to irradiate light for a certain period of time, then the lamp goes off. After that, it is necessary to open the door again and take out the model. Since all of these operations are performed manually, there is a problem that the operation is troublesome. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a dental photopolymerizer having extremely excellent operability while shortening the polymerization and curing time of the photopolymerization resin. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a lamp for irradiating a gypsum model coated with a photopolymerizable resin material and a cooling liquid arranged in front of the lamp for absorbing infrared light. An upper housing for accommodating the filled transparent cell, a turntable on which the plaster model is placed, a first motor for rotating the turntable, the transparent cell and a tube for connection, and cooling A cooling unit including a pump that circulates and cools the liquid, a heat exchanger, and a fan, a lower housing that houses a second motor that drives the upper housing to open and close in the vertical direction, and a lower housing that is provided on the surface of the lower housing. A main switch for turning the power on and off, a timer for setting the irradiation time of the lamp, a start switch for turning on the lamp and simultaneously starting the timer, When the main switch is turned on, the upper casing is opened, and when it is turned off, the upper casing is closed. At the same time, when the start switch is turned on, the upper casing is closed and when turned off, the drive control means and the start switch are turned on. When turned on, main control means for starting the timer, turning on the lamp and driving the first motor, turning off the lamp at the end of the timer setting time, and stopping the first motor, and the timer start signal Then, the cooling unit control means for starting the driving of the pump and the fan and stopping the pump and the fan after a lapse of a predetermined time after the end of the timer setting time is provided.

[0007]

[Operation] With the above configuration, when the main switch is turned on, the upper casing automatically opens and enters the standby state, so if you set the timer and press the start switch, the upper casing will automatically When the lamp is closed, the lamp lights up, the turntable rotates, and the pump and fan start driving. Also, when the lamp is lit, the photopolymerized resin material placed on the mounting table is irradiated with light from the light source,
When the light from the light source passes through the transparent cell filled with the cooling liquid, the infrared light is absorbed, and the light from which the infrared light is removed is irradiated into the light irradiation chamber, and the photopolymerized resin material is heated by the infrared light. It is polymerized and cured without being cured. Then, when the timer set time has elapsed, the lamp is turned off, the turntable is stopped, and the upper casing is automatically raised to return to the standby state. After that, the pump and the fan continue to be driven for a certain period of time to continue the cooling action, and the pump and the fan stop after a certain period of time.

[0008]

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a dental photopolymerizer main body, which is composed of an upper casing 2 and a lower casing 3 which are vertically overlapped with each other, and the upper casing 2 is opened and closed with respect to the lower casing 3 in a vertical direction. You can do it. The upper housing 2 has five
Lamps 4 and 4 consisting of individual halogen lamps and transparent cells 5 and 5 arranged in front of these lamps 4 and 4.
And a fan 6 for cooling the lamps 4, 4 ... Each of the transparent cells 5, 5, ... Has a diameter of about 5
cm, about 10 mm thick disk-shaped glass hollow body, 2
A book pipe 5a is provided so as to project, and a cooling liquid such as water or ethylene glycol is filled by a tube 19 connected to the pipe 5a and circulated.
The transparent cells 5, 5 ... Can be integrally formed of heat-resistant glass.

Reference numeral 7 is a reflecting mirror which forms a light irradiation chamber 8 and has a substantially hemispherical shape. Windows 9, 9 ... Are opened at the top and the periphery of the top, and the transparent cell 5 is provided in these windows 9, 9. , 5 ...
, And lamps 4, 4, ... Are arranged. Most of the infrared light emitted from the lamps 4, 4, ... Is absorbed by the transparent cells 5, 5, ... I will enter. A halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, a metal halide lamp, or the like can be used as the light source.

On the other hand, the lower housing 3 includes a turntable 10, a first motor 11 for rotating the turntable 10, a cooling unit 15 including a pump 12, a fan 13 and a heat exchanger 14, and an upper housing 2. Second to open and close the up and down
The motor 16 is housed. Above turntable 10
A gypsum model 17 is placed on the top, and a photopolymerized resin pattern material 18 is attached to the gypsum model 17. The pump 12 is connected in series to the transparent cells 5 and 5 via a tube 19, and the pump 12 forcibly circulates the cooling liquid. The heat exchanger 14 is arranged in the middle of the cooling liquid circulation circuit and has a structure in which a copper tube is spirally wound, and the cooling air blown from the fan 13 arranged in the vicinity is the copper tube. The heat exchanger 14 is cooled by blowing through the gap (about 1 mm).

Reference numeral 20 denotes a switch panel provided on the front surface of the lower housing 3, and includes a main switch 21 for turning on / off the power source, a timer 22 for setting the irradiation time of the lamps 4, 4 ,. A start switch 23 for illuminating 4, 4, ... And at the same time for starting a timer is arranged. The timer 22 is composed of a slide switch, and the time can be arbitrarily set within a range of about 5 seconds to 2 minutes. Reference numerals 24, 24 ... Are monitor LEDs for indicating lamp disconnection, 25 is an LED for indicating a power-on state, and 26 is a plug connected to a commercial 100 V power source.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows a drive circuit of the photopolymerizer,
FIG. 4 shows the output signal from each circuit, 27 is an AC 100V power source, 28 is a fuse, 29 is a switch circuit, and is composed of a main switch 21 and a start switch 23. Reference numeral 25 denotes the above-mentioned power source display LED provided on the main switch 21. An output signal A is output from the main switch 21 and an output signal B is output from the start switch 23 according to each operation.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a second motor drive control means to which the signals A and B are input. When the signal A is H (high), that is, when the power is turned on, the signal C of the upper housing 2 is output and the signal B is When input, the signal D of the housing 2 is output. Reference numeral 31 denotes a second motor drive circuit to which the signals C and D are input. The signal C outputs a forward rotation signal and the signal D outputs a reverse rotation signal to rotationally drive the second motor 32 at the next stage. Reference numeral 33 denotes an ascending / descending detection circuit for detecting the rotation of the second motor 32, which detects that the upper housing 2 is completely ascended and descended, and outputs a detection signal to the second motor drive control means 30. It is supposed to do. The second motor drive control means 30
Receives this detection signal and stops the driving of the second motor 32.

Reference numeral 34 is a main control means to which the signal B is inputted, and at the same time when the signal B is inputted, the timer circuit 35 is started to start the counting operation. Reference numeral 36 is a variable resistor for setting an arbitrary time by changing the resistance value with a slide switch, which is controlled by the timer 22 described above. The timer circuit 35 outputs the H level signal E set by the timer 22. The signal E is sent to the lamps 4, 4 via the soft start circuit 37.
It is added to ... and lights these. The soft start circuit 37 extends the life of the lamps by gradually increasing the voltage applied to the lamps 4, 4.

24, 24 ... Are different from the lamps 4, 4 ...
In the above-mentioned monitor LEDs connected in parallel, when the corresponding lamps 4, 4, ... Are disconnected, only the monitor LED 24 corresponding to the disconnected lamp 4 is turned on, and the signal E is L (low). .), The lamps 4, 4 ... Extinguish. A first motor drive circuit 38 receives the signal E as an input, and drives the first motor 39 while the signal E is at the H level to rotate the turntable 10.

Reference numeral 40 is a cooling unit control means to which a signal E is input, and outputs an H level signal F for a timer set time and a fixed time after this time has expired, and this signal F causes the pump 12 and the fan drive circuit 41 of the next stage, 42 is driven. Then, by driving the pump 12, the cooling liquid becomes transparent cells 5, 5 ...
While circulating in the closed circuit connecting the heat exchanger 14 and the heat exchanger 14, the fans 6 and 13 are driven by the fan drive circuits 41 and 42, and the heat generated from the lamps 4, 4 ... Is exhausted to the outside of the upper housing 2. Also, the heat exchanger 14 is cooled.

Next, the operation will be described. In the waveform diagram shown in FIG. 4, the setting time by the timer 22 is 1 minute for the first time, 2
The second time is set to 40 seconds, and an example of driving at intervals is shown. The operation method will be described based on this waveform diagram. First, when the main switch 21 is turned on, the upper housing 2 is automatically raised to enter the standby state. In this state, turn the gypsum model 17 coated with the pattern material 18 on the turntable 1
Place on top of 0. Next, set the timer 22 to 1 minute,
When the start switch 21 is pressed, the upper housing 2 is automatically lowered to close the opening of the lower housing 3, the lamps 4, 4, ... Are lit up, and the turntable 10 starts rotating.
The pattern material 18 is irradiated with light for 1 minute set by the timer 22, and the pattern material 18 is polymerized and cured during this period. When the timer 22 measures one minute,
The lamps 4, 4, ... Are extinguished, the turntable 10 is stopped, and the upper housing 2 is raised by the second motor 16,
Return to the standby state, and then pump 12 for 2 minutes.
And the fans 6 and 13 continue to rotate, and the transparent cells 5 and 5 ...
And the pattern material 18 that has been polymerized and hardened is cooled.

After 2 minutes have passed, the pattern material 18
When is sufficiently cooled, the gypsum model 17 placed on the turntable 10 is taken out, and then the next work is performed. If you want to repeat the same work continuously, use timer 2
2 is set to, for example, 40 seconds, and then the plaster model 17 to which the pattern material 18 to be polymerized and hardened is attached is placed on the turntable 10 and the start switch 23 is pushed in this state to perform the above-mentioned operation again. The pattern material 18 can be repeatedly polymerized and cured.

[0019]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the opening and closing of the upper housing, the lighting of the lamp, and the operation of the turntable and the fan are automatically performed in conjunction with the main switch and the start switch. Therefore, the photopolymerization resin can be polymerized and cured only by setting the timer, putting in and taking out the model, and operating the start switch, and the number of operations can be significantly reduced, and the operability is further improved because one-handed operation is possible. Further, since the upper casing is automatically raised to be in the standby state, the operator only has to place the model on the turntable, and the opening / closing operation of the door unlike the conventional device is not necessary. As a result, technicians who are required to make fine and highly accurate prostheses will be able to concentrate their work, and the light output from the lamp will be converted into infrared rays by a transparent cell. Since 80% is removed and the photopolymerized resin is irradiated, the photopolymerized resin can be polymerized and cured without raising the temperature of the molded body.

Therefore, since the molded body is not heated even if the output of the lamp is increased, the polymerization and curing time can be shortened to about 1/5 to 1/10 of the conventional one, and the molded body cured by polymerization can be Since it is not heated, the next work can be started immediately after taking it out, and the working efficiency can be greatly improved in combination with the shortening of the polymerization processing time. Further, according to the present invention, since the temperature rise of the molded body is suppressed, adverse effects such as deformation of the temperature rise on the photopolymerization resin,
The boiling of the liquid such as the monomer is prevented, and a highly accurate molded product having high accuracy and free of bubbles can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an open state of an upper housing of a dental photopolymerizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a closed state of an upper housing of a dental photopolymerizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing a drive circuit of a dental photopolymerizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram for explaining the operation of the drive circuit of the dental photopolymerizer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Dental photopolymerizer main body, 2 ... Upper housing, 3 ... Lower housing, 4 ... Lamp, 5 ... Transparent cell, 6, 13 ... Fan, 7
… Reflector, 8… Light irradiation room, 10… Turntable, 11
... 1st motor, 12 ... Pump, 14 ... Heat exchanger, 15 ...
Cooling unit, 16 ... Second motor, 17 ... Gypsum model, 18 ... Pattern material, 21 ... Main switch, 22 ... Timer,
23 ... Start switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A lamp for irradiating a gypsum model coated with a photopolymerizable resin material, and an upper housing arranged in front of the lamp for accommodating a transparent cell filled with a cooling liquid that absorbs infrared light. A turntable on which a gypsum model is placed, a first motor that rotates the turntable, a cooling unit that is connected to the transparent cell through a tube and that circulates and cools the coolant, a heat exchanger, and a fan. Section, a lower housing that houses a second motor that drives the upper housing to open and close in the vertical direction, a main switch that is provided on the surface of the lower housing and that turns on and off the power supply, and the lamp. A timer for setting the irradiation time and a start switch for starting the timer at the same time as turning on the lamp, and turning on the main switch opens the upper casing, Drive control means for closing the switch when the start switch is turned off, closing the upper casing when the start switch is turned on, and opening the switch when the start switch is turned off, and for starting the timer and turning on the lamp when the start switch is turned on. The main control means for driving one motor to turn off the lamp and stop the first motor at the end of the timer setting time, and to start driving the pump and the fan by the timer start signal to start the timer. A dental photopolymerizer comprising: a cooling unit control means for stopping the pump and the fan after a lapse of a certain time after the completion of the set time.