JPH0727626A - Electronic clinical thermometer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to achieve the perfect liquid tightness of a case by forming the entire body out of a transparent member as a unitary body, and coating the surface other than a window part with an opaque member. CONSTITUTION:As a base material 10a of a transparent case 10, polystyrene or the like is used. The entire body is formed substantially same material as a unitary body. The pigment of ivory white is mixed into acrylic lacquer, and an opeque coating member 13 is obtained. The coating member is applied on the approximately entire body of the base material 10a other than a window part 20 so as to coat the base material by electrostatic coating. Therefore, electronic circuits and the like in the case 10 are coated with the member 13. Since the case 10 is formed as the unitary body, the perfect waterproof property and liquid tightness are realized. When, the member 13 is formed by coating, it is preferable to perform primer coating so as to improve adhesion property. Thus, the liquid tightness of the window part and the case can be made perfect.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic thermometer which has a liquid-tight casing structure and is approximately the same size as a mercury thermometer and electronically detects and digitally displays the body temperature. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic thermometer generally measures a temperature measuring section for converting body temperature information into an electric signal, a measuring section for converting an electric signal of the temperature measuring section into a digital signal, and the body temperature from the digital signal. It is composed of a calculation unit to be obtained, a display unit for displaying the body temperature obtained by this calculation unit, a battery for supplying electric power to each of these units, and a housing for housing these. As for the housing, the other end of the flat tube with one end open is transformed into a thin cylinder with a small diameter to attach the temperature measuring part, and one side of the flat tube is inserted from the open end to the inside. The liquid crystal device has a transparent window through which the temperature display portion of the liquid crystal device is fixed.

In such an electronic thermometer, many electronic parts such as LSI are built in, but in order to prevent infection between users, it is indispensable to disinfect and clean the surface of the thermometer before and after use in a hospital or the like. Therefore, a waterproof structure that does not affect the stored parts is required. As a waterproof structure of an electronic clinical thermometer, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-47527. In the electronic thermometer disclosed in this publication, a window member formed of a transparent resin and a housing formed of an opaque resin are integrally formed by multicolor molding (two-color molding). .

[0004]

The electronic thermometer in which the window member and the housing are integrally formed by two-color molding has almost no problem of waterproofness. However, in order to manufacture by two-color molding,
It cannot be said that the waterproofness is perfect (yield is 100%). To further reduce the size of the electronic thermometer,
Along with downsizing of electronic parts, downsizing and thinning of a housing are required. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the present invention has a size substantially equivalent to that of a mercury thermometer, realizes complete liquid tightness, and electronically detects and digitally displays body temperature. The purpose is to provide a thermometer. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic clinical thermometer having a housing that can be miniaturized.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides an electronic circuit element and a battery in a rod-shaped housing having a small diameter extending portion provided with a temperature measuring portion at its tip at one end. In the electronic thermometer housed, the base material of the housing is substantially integrally formed of substantially the same transparent member, and the transparent member is the transparent member except at least the window portion. The electronic thermometer is characterized in that the entire surface is covered with a non-transparent covering member that covers the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the member.

The non-transparent covering member is preferably formed of a coating film. Moreover, it is preferable that the non-transparent covering member covers the outer surface of the base material of the housing. Further, the non-transparent coating layer is preferably coated on the inner surface of the base material of the housing.

The housing of the electronic thermometer according to the present invention is formed by molding a base material of a housing made of a transparent resin, and masking at least a portion corresponding to the window portion with a masking member. It is manufactured by coating the inner surface with a non-transparent coating member and removing the masking member.

In the case of the electronic thermometer of the present invention, a base material of the case is formed of a resin having transparency, and a non-transparent coating portion is formed on the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the case. It is manufactured by covering and peeling off the portion corresponding to the window with a laser or the like. Furthermore, the housing of the electronic thermometer according to the present invention is formed by molding a base material of a housing made of a resin having transparency with a portion corresponding to a window being a convex portion, and an outer surface and / or an inner surface of the base material. Is coated with a non-transparent coating portion and the convex portion is scraped off.

[0009]

The electronic clinical thermometer of the present invention cannot be conceived by the conventional technical idea of fixing the window portion and the housing main body by adhesion. The base body of the transparent housing has at least a portion other than the window. By coating (coloring), the problem of liquid tightness (waterproofness) between the window and the main body is completely released. It is not necessary to manufacture a molded product in which a transparent housing body is provided with an opening corresponding to a window, and it is not necessary to bond a window member in a later step.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples.

A first embodiment is shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire electronic thermometer 1 according to the first embodiment. The housing 10 has a small-diameter extension portion 2, and is composed of a box body 4 having opacity and a window portion 20 having transparency. As shown in FIG. 2, in order to have opacity, the housing 10 has its outer surface and / or inner surface covered with a non-transparent covering member except at least the window 20. There is.

The small-diameter extending portion 2 is capped with a metallic probe cap 5 for protecting the temperature measuring portion. Case 10
The rear end portion 6 is a substrate on which electronic circuit parts and the like are mounted, a battery 1
The opening is formed so that 2 or the like can be inserted, and the cap 7 is fitted in a liquid-tight manner. The structure of the housing 10 is a flat cylinder with one end open, and the tip is deformed into a small diameter cylinder to attach the temperature measuring unit, and the other end is closed to incorporate the temperature measuring unit. It may have a hemispherical structure.

A more detailed description will be given with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the electronic clinical thermometer of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the window portion 20 of FIG. 2, and the non-transparent covering member 13 covers the raised portion and the window portion 20. Constitutes an uncoated portion 3 which is not coated. Polystyrene is used as the transparent base material 10a, and substantially the same material is formed almost entirely as a unit. The base material 10a was coated with a spray gun by electrostatic coating with paint. The non-transparent covering member 13 has a thickness of about 20 μm.
The surface is almost smooth. In electrostatic painting,
High coating efficiency, easy automation, and uniform coating quality. Acrylic lacquer is used as the paint, and an ivory white pigment is mixed to form a non-transparent covering member 13
I tried to become. The electronic thermometer 1 includes a temperature measuring unit 9 such as a thermometer that converts body temperature information into an electric signal made of stainless steel,
The probe cap 5 made of metal such as aluminum is surrounded by the potting agent 8 and stored.
By making the tip of the small-diameter extension 2 slightly taper, providing at least two or more annular ribs on the outer circumference of the tip, and fitting the probe cap 5 thereto, the liquid tightness becomes excellent. . Calculation display unit 11 for displaying the measured body temperature,
The battery 12 is housed in the housing 10. Window 20
Is provided at a position corresponding to the calculation display unit 11, and the body temperature displayed on the calculation display unit 11 by a liquid crystal, an LED or the like is visually recognized through the window unit 20. The cap 7 is liquid-tightly fitted at the rear end portion 6 of the housing 10. The cap 7 can be adhered to the rear portion 6 of the housing 10 with an adhesive, ultrasonic fusion, or the like in order to enhance liquid tightness. In addition, if the non-transparent covering member 13 is provided in a portion other than the window portion 2 and the battery 12 is provided therein as a solar cell, it is not necessary to replace the battery. Further, by replacing the battery 12 with a secondary battery which can be charged from the outside, it is not necessary to replace the battery.
Further, by providing the magnetic reed switch for turning on / off the power of the battery 12 inside the housing 10, it is not necessary to provide a push button switch, a tact switch, or the like outside the housing 10. The cap 7 can also be fitted in a liquid-tight manner at the rear end portion 6 of the housing 10 via an O-ring. Base material 10a of casing 10 made of transparent resin
As the material, any material may be used as long as it is a transparent resin, but a thermoplastic resin is preferable from the viewpoint of ease of injection molding, polystyrene, polystyrene-based resin such as butadiene-styrene copolymer, poly-2-methyl. Penten,
Polyolefin resin such as polypropylene, acrylic resin such as polymeryl methacrylate, cellulose ester such as cellulose acetate, polyester resin such as polyethylene terephthalate can be used.

The non-transparent covering member 13 covers almost the entire base material 10a of the housing 10 having transparency except a part thereof. The uncovered portion (uncoated portion) becomes the window portion 20 as it is. Conventionally, it was devised by liquid-tightly fixing a transparent window member to the cutout portion of the non-transparent housing,
In the present invention, the base material 10a of the housing having transparency is directly used as a window portion, and the electronic circuit and the like mounted in the housing 10 are almost covered with the non-transparent covering member 13 based on the idea completely opposite to this. It is a thing. Since the housing 10 is formed of one member, complete liquid tightness and waterproofness are realized. The non-transparent covering member 13 may be any member as long as it is fixed to the surface of the housing without being peeled off, such as painting or printing.

When the non-transparent coating member 13 is applied by coating, it is necessary to select a coating material having good adhesion to the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin for coating. . Conditions with good adherence are good fluidity,
For example, the surface tension is small, and the chemical structure and polarity of the paint are similar to those of the base material 10a of the case 10.
Further, the selection conditions of the paint include solvent resistance, chemical resistance and safety, but these conditions are excluded when the inside of the housing is painted. When painting the inside, there is no problem because disinfection or other effects on the human body do not come into contact with the paint. The coating material has a range of choice depending on the material of the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a resin having transparency to be coated, but is roughly classified into a solvent evaporation type self-reaction curing type heat curing type. Solvent-evaporating paint is a vehicle in which a solid resin of natural or synthetic is dissolved in a solvent to form a cured coating film only when the solvent evaporates.
So-called lacquer or varnish. Suitable for plastic moldings with low heat distortion temperature. Such solvent-evaporable paints include cellulose-based lacquers, vinyl-based lacquers, and acrylic-based lacquers. The self-reaction curable coating material includes an oxidative polymerization type, a multi-liquid reaction type and a moisture curing type. The heat-curable type is one that heats to cause a chemical cross-linking reaction of functional groups present in the coating vehicle,
There are alkyd resin paints, amino, alkyd resin paints, acrylic resin paints, and the like. In addition, there is a photocurable (ultraviolet curable) paint. The base material 10a of the housing made of a resin having transparency is preferably surface-treated on the coated surface before coating. Housing base material 1 made of transparent resin
By applying the surface treatment to 0a, it becomes possible to improve the adherence of the paint. The surface treatment includes chemical treatment and physical treatment. Examples of the chemical treatment include chemical treatment, coupling agent treatment, steam treatment, graft treatment, and electrochemical method. The physical treatment includes, for example, ultraviolet treatment, plasma treatment and ion irradiation.

The adherence between the non-transparent covering member 13 and the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin is an important factor, but when the non-transparent covering member 13 is formed by painting, It is preferable to apply an undercoat to improve the adhesion to the film surface. It is suitable to use a primer as an undercoat when the base material 10a of the housing and the coating material are selected from materials that satisfy the required characteristics, but only when the adhesion is poor.

By coating the outer surface of the substrate 10a, the irregularities on the outer surface can be smoothed and the flow marks on the outer surface of the housing 10 can be covered. On the other hand, when the inner surface of the base material 10a is coated, there is almost no risk of peeling of the coating film by the non-transparent coating member 13. Further, in order to smooth the irregularities on the outer surface of the base material 10a of the housing 10, a surfacer may be coated on the outer surface. The non-transparent covering member 13 has a thickness of about 5 to 20 μm, and the thicker it is, the more smooth the unevenness can be, but the problem of tarmi of the coating also arises. Further, cracking of the coating film requires selection of a solvent for the coating, but can be prevented by annealing the base material 10a (molded product) of the housing 10 in advance.

As a method of forming the non-transparent covering member 13 on the base material 10a, in addition to the above-mentioned painting,
There is a way to print. Examples of printing methods include dry offset printing, screen printing, and special aspect printing (curl fit).

As a method of manufacturing the housing 10 of the electronic thermometer 1 of the present invention, a base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin is molded, and at least a portion corresponding to the window 20 is masked with a masking member. Then, the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the base material 10a of the housing 10 is covered with the non-transparent coating member 13, and the masking member is removed, and the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin is used. A method of molding, coating the outer surface and / or inner surface of the base material 10a of the housing 10 with the non-transparent coating member 13, and peeling at least the portion corresponding to the window portion 2 with a laser, and at least the window portion. A base material 10a of a housing 10 made of a resin having transparency having a portion corresponding to 20 as a convex portion is molded, and a non-transparent coating portion is formed on an outer surface and / or an inner surface of the base material 10a of the housing 10. With And a method of scraping convex portion, is typically exemplified.

These methods will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows at least the window portion 2 formed by molding the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a resin having transparency, which is the above-described method.
A method of removing the masking member 14 by masking the portion corresponding to 0 with the masking member 14 and coating the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the base material 10a with the non-transparent coating member 13 will be described. Examples of the coating method include painting and printing. The masking member 14 only needs to mask at least a portion corresponding to the transparent window portion 20.
The surface to be coated is preferably subjected to the above-mentioned surface treatment from the viewpoint of adhesiveness. It may be coated on either the outer surface or the inner surface of the substrate 10a, or both. When the outer surface is covered, even the slender housing 10 can be masked from the outside and can be easily covered. Further, the housing 10 is usually made of a plastic molding, but the surface irregularities can be smoothed by coating. When coating the inner surface, peeling of the coating member 13 does not pose a problem in use as an electronic thermometer. The manufacturing process and quality assurance are easy without problems such as uneven painting and sagging. By coating the inner surface of the base material 10a, the application range is not narrowed by the material selection of the coating member 13 from the viewpoint of safety to the human body for armpits and mouth. Either the inner or outer surface of the covering member (or both)
Since the effects of the selection are common to the following methods, the effects of only the parts different from this method will be described below.

FIG. 5 shows the above-mentioned method, in which the base material 10a of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin is molded, and the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the base material 10a of the housing 10 is coated with a resin. It is a figure which shows the method of coating with the transparent coating member 13, and peeling (removing) at least the portion corresponding to the window 20 with a laser or the like. The advantage of this method is that the coating process can be simplified. Moreover, since the covering member 13 is at least partially peeled (removed) corresponding to the window portion 2 by the laser,
Since there is no burr at the boundary portion 15 between the window portion 20 and the covering portion 13 (it is difficult), the aesthetic appearance is not spoiled and a post-process such as deburring is unnecessary. In FIG. 6, the portion corresponding to the window 20 is the convex portion 16 which is the above-described method.
The base material 10 of the housing 10 made of a transparent resin
It is a figure which shows the method of shape | molding a, covering the outer surface and / or inner surface of this housing with the non-transparent coating member 13, and scraping off the convex part 16. If the convex portion 16 of the present method is thicker (higher) than the covering portion 13, it can be easily implemented when the convex portion 16 is scraped off. The non-transparent covering member 13 is used to scrape off the convex portion 16.
Need only be removed and the substrate 10a is exposed on the surface. The effect of this method is that the coating process such as painting does not require any special device,
The yield in the coating process of the electronic thermometer having the elongated housing 10 is improved.

[0022]

The electronic thermometer of the present invention has transparency,
Since the window part is formed by covering at least the window part with an opaque member on the base material of the case that is substantially integrally formed of substantially the same material, liquid-tightness of the window part and the case body Completely free from sex (waterproof) problems. It is not necessary to manufacture a molded product in which a transparent main body is provided with an opening corresponding to a window portion, and it is not necessary to bond a window member in a later step.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an electronic thermometer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic thermometer of FIG.

3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one manufacturing example of the electronic thermometer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another manufacturing example of the electronic thermometer of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another manufacturing example of the electronic thermometer of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic thermometer 2 ... Small diameter extension part 3 ... Uncoated part 4 ... Box 5 ... Probe cap 7 ... Cap 8 ... Potting agent 9 ... Temperature measurement part 10 ... Housing 10a ... Housing base material 11 ... Calculation Display unit 12 ... Battery 13 ... Non-transparent covering member 14 ... Masking member 20 ... Window

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic clinical thermometer in which an electronic circuit element and a battery are housed in a rod-shaped casing having at one end thereof a narrow diameter extending portion provided with a temperature measuring portion at its tip, and the base material of the casing is substantially Almost the same transparent member is integrally formed with the transparent member, and the transparent member is a non-transparent covering member that covers the outer surface and / or the inner surface of the transparent member except at least the window portion. An electronic thermometer characterized by being almost entirely covered.