JPH09313560A - Massaging device and chair type massaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent overload and make it easy for a patient to leave a massaging device by separating a top massaging finger from the patient by a control section when a failure of the driving means is detected. SOLUTION: For example, a patient is under a gripping massage, a massaging finger driving motors 63 and 64 are rotated in the normal/reverse directions repeatedly. During normal operation, current of motors 63 and 64 is below a threshold value, and the output signals of a comparator 83 and OR circuit 82 are kept at 0. When an overload is applied, either current value of the motors 63 and 64 is above the threshold value, the output signal of a corresponding comparator 86 becomes 1. Therefore, the output signal from the OR circuit 82 also becomes 1, a control circuit 81 moves the motor driving the massaging finger at the top and the approach/separate motor in the direction in which a patient leaves the massaging device. This releases overload and the patient can leave the chair.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a massage device for massaging an affected part of a user and a chair-type massage machine for the user to sit and receive a massage. The present invention relates to a massage device and a chair-type massage machine including an overload preventing mechanism that prevents an overload from being applied to an affected part.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are known various massage devices for eliminating stiffness by pressing and stimulating a person's shoulder, waist and the like. These devices can be classified by type into chair type, bed type, and handy type.
An electric stimulation type can be mentioned. Among these devices, a chair-type massage machine (90) as shown in FIG. 6 is particularly popular. This massage machine (90) is a chair (91) on which the person receiving the massage (hereinafter referred to as "the person to be treated") sits.
A pair of treatment fingers (95) (95) project forward from the backrest (92). The treatment finger (95) is provided with an arm (93) connected to a motor (not shown) for driving the treatment finger, and a contact part (contact portion that is provided at the tip of the arm (93) and comes into contact with the affected part of the user. 94) and. By the drive of the motor, the treatment fingers (95) (95) perform a tapping operation in the vertical direction, a rubbing operation in the lateral direction, etc.,
Massage the person to be treated.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above massage machine (90)
While the user is being massaged, the pressing force applied from the treatment finger (95) to the user may exceed a specified value due to the user moving his / her upper body, etc. It was

An object of the present invention is to drive a user to be treated by driving the user's finger in a direction to release the user from the massage device or the chair-type massager when an overload is applied to the user by the user's finger. Prevent overload on the
(EN) Provided are a massage device and a chair-type massage machine having an overload preventing mechanism that facilitates escape of a user from a massage device or a chair.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the massage device of the present invention comprises a pair of treatment fingers (46) (48).
Is formed by providing contact portions (70) and (71) at the tips of the arms (47) and (49), and the drive of the base ends of the arms (47) and (49) is controlled by the control unit (80). Connected to the treatment finger drive means (75),
Each treatment finger (46) (48) is swingable, and the treatment finger drive means (7
5) is equipped with a detector (83) that detects the drive status of the drive means and sends a detection signal to the control unit (80).
When the controller detects an abnormality in the drive means, the control unit (80) operates an overload prevention mechanism that drives the treatment finger drive means (75) in the direction of separating the upper treatment finger (46) from the user (15). Equipped. Specifically, the treatment finger drive means (75) is a treatment finger drive motor (63).
The detector (83) detects the current value of the motor. Further, the chair-type massage machine of the present invention is configured by providing the massage device having the above-mentioned configuration on the backrest (17) of the massage chair (14) so that the treatment fingers (46) protrude forward.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described. In the following, the person to be treated (15) sitting on the chair (14)
The direction in which the line of sight when the front faces is, that is, the direction of arrow F in FIG. 1 is the front side. Massage Machine (12) Chair (14)
1, the seat surface (16) on which the user (15) sits, as shown in FIG.
And a backrest (17) formed upward from the rear of the seat surface (16), and a pair of massage devices (10) (11) can be moved up and down and left and right on the backrest (17). It is deployed so that it can be approached and separated from.

First, an elevating mechanism for moving the massage devices (10) and (11) up and down will be described. Backrest of chair (14)
Inside the (17), as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the user (1
A pair of guide rails (20) and (20) bent in conformity with the shape of the back (19) (specifically, the spine) of 5) are provided in parallel to the left and right in the vertical direction. The upper ends of the guide rails (20) (20)
The contact portion (70) located on the upper side of the massage device (10) (11) described below is bent forward so as to contact the upper part or the upper part of the shoulder (18) of the user (15) to the front part. There is. The guide rails (20) and (20) are fitted with guide rollers (21) and (21) for guiding a massage device up and down, which will be described later, and the massage devices (10) and (11) are guided by the guide rails (20) and (20). It is possible to move up and down along. Behind each of the guide rails (20) (20), endless loop chains (23) (23) for moving the massage devices (10) (11) up and down are respectively provided on the left and right.
Each chain (23) meshes with sprocket (24) (25) rotatably provided on the upper and lower parts of the backrest, and a part of the chain (23) holds a massage device described later. It is connected to the support block (26). Lower sprocket
The shaft (27) of (25) is linked to the chain drive motor (29) via the reduction mechanism (28), and the chain drive motor (29)
The forward and reverse rotation of the massage device (10) (11) can be moved up and down along the guide rails (20) (20). The chain drive motor (29) is controlled by the control unit (80) described later to control forward / reverse rotation and stop.

Next, the massage devices (10) and (11) will be described. One massage device (10) (11) is provided on each of the right and left sides of the upper body of the user (15) so that massage can be performed on each of the left and right sides.
0) and (11) are arranged so that they can be approached and separated by the approaching / separating means (39) between the support blocks (26) and (26) arranged in a state of being separated by a predetermined distance. Guide rollers (21) (21) fitted to the guide rails (20) are rotatably provided on the outer surface of each support block (26), and the chain
A part of (23) is fixed to the chain fixing tool (30). The lower surfaces of the support blocks (26) and (26) are fixed to a holding plate (31) which holds the support blocks in a state of being separated from each other by a predetermined distance. The support blocks (26) and (26) are shown in FIG. As described above, the ends of the two guide shafts (33) (34) and the support shaft (35) arranged in parallel are fixedly supported. The guide shafts (33) (34) are arranged in the same horizontal plane. Below, the rear guide shaft (33) is referred to as the right guide shaft, and the front guide shaft (34) is referred to as the left guide shaft. The support shaft (35) is arranged on the front upper side of the left guide shaft (34).

The approaching / separating means (39) is slidably fitted to the right and left guide shafts (33) and (34), and has a right rack (37) and a left rack (38) with teeth facing each other. ) Is fixed to the holding plate (31), and the pinion (4
1) is composed of an approaching / separating motor (40) that meshes at the same time. When the approaching / separating motor (40) is rotated, the rack (3
7) (38) moves toward the center, and when the motor (40) is reversed, the right rack (37) moves to the right and the left rack (38) moves to the left. The approaching / separating motor (40) is similarly controlled by the control unit (80), which will be described later, for forward / reverse rotation and stop.

The right rack (37) is provided with a massaging device (10) for massaging the upper right half of the user (15), and the left rack (38) is massaging device for massaging the upper left half ( 11) will be deployed. Only the right massage device (10) will be described below, but the left massage device (11) has the same configuration.

Massage device for massaging the upper right half
As shown in FIG. 4, the (10) comprises a casing (43) fixed to the right rack (37) and a pair of upper and lower treatment fingers (46) and (48). The lower surface of the casing (43) is fixed to the upper surface of the right rack (37), and the support shaft (35) described above slidably penetrates through the front portion of the casing (43). Treatment fingers (46) (48)
As shown in FIG. 4, a thick disk-shaped contact portion (70) (71) for applying massage to the affected area of the user (15) and the contact portion
It is composed of arms (47) and (49) having tips (70) and (71) respectively. On the casing (43) of the massage device (10), the arms (47) and (49) of the pair of treatment fingers (46) and (48) can be rotated in the same vertical plane by the shafts (44) and (44). The arm (47) (49) is pivotally supported up and down with a predetermined opening angle, and the tip of the arm (47) (49) projects from the front opening of the casing (43). Partial gears (51) (51) are formed with the supporting portion as the center of rotation. Inside the casing (43) is the treatment finger (46).
A treatment finger drive means (75) for swinging the (48) in a vertical plane is provided. In the present embodiment, as the treatment finger drive means (75), two treatment finger drive motors (63) (64) for independently driving the treatment fingers (46) (48) are used, but one drive The treatment fingers (46) and (48) can be moved toward and away from each other by a motor. Worm gears (65) (66) are fitted on the rotary shafts of the treatment finger drive motors (63) (64), respectively.
Are worm wheels pivotally supported by the casing (43).
(67) It meshes with (68). The worm wheel (67) is integrally formed with an intermediate gear A, and the intermediate gear A is meshed with the partial gear (51) of the upper arm (47). Also,
An intermediate gear B is formed integrally with the worm wheel (68), and the intermediate gear B is provided with a partial gear of the lower arm (49).
(51) meshes.

When the treatment finger drive motors (63) and (64) are driven by switching between forward and reverse, the treatment fingers (46) and (48) oscillate around each pivot portion through the respective gears and approach each other. And a separating operation.
The treatment finger drive motors (63) (64) are controlled by the control unit (80).
Reverse rotation and stop control are performed.

The left massaging device (11) has the same structure as the right massaging device (10) and includes a casing (43).
Is fixed to the upper surface of the left rack (38).

The overload preventing mechanism of the massage machine (13) will be described. The overload prevention mechanism, as shown in FIG.
It is mainly composed of a control unit (80) to which each motor is connected.
The control unit (80) includes a control circuit (81), and forward / reverse rotation and stop of each motor are controlled by a signal from the control circuit (81). Each motor is equipped with a detector (83) for detecting an abnormal rotation of the motor. As the detector (83), as shown in FIG. 5, a comparator (86), one of which has a current threshold value Icc corresponding to a corresponding motor, can be cited. The comparator (86) outputs a signal zero when the current value of the corresponding motor is smaller than the threshold value, and outputs a signal 1 when the current value exceeds the threshold value. That is, the treatment finger (4
6) When (48) applies an overload to the user (15), the current value of either motor exceeds the threshold value and the comparator (86)
Outputs a signal 1. 6 comparators in total
It is connected to the OR circuit (82). The OR circuit (82) outputs a signal zero if the signals from all the comparators are zero, and outputs a signal 1 if the signals from at least one comparator are one. The OR circuit (82) is a control circuit (81).
Connected to. When the control circuit (81) detects the signal 1 from the OR circuit (82), it stops the normal massage operation,
A treatment finger drive motor (63) that drives the treatment finger (46) above each massage device (10) (11) and an approach / separation motor (40) that causes the massage devices (10) and (11) to approach and separate from each other. Drive the upper treatment finger (46) and massage device (10) (11),
The person to be treated (15) is moved in a direction to release it from the chair (14). Specifically, the treatment finger drive motor (63) is driven to move the upper treatment finger (46) in the direction of arrow C in FIG.
The approaching / separating motor (40) is driven to move the left and right massage devices (10) (11) in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 2, and the upper treatment finger (46) and the massage device (10) (11) are moved. Away from the person to be treated (15).

The massage operation of the massage machine (12) having the above structure will be described. When performing a sandwiching and kneading operation on the shoulder (18) of the user (15), first, the chain drive motor (29) and the approaching / separating motor (40) are driven to massage the massage device (10).
Move (11) to the position of the shoulder (18) of the person to be treated (15), and place the upper treatment finger (46) on the top of the shoulder (18) of the person to be treated (15) or from the top to the front. The lower treatment finger (48) is applied to the back (19) or shoulder (18) of the user (15). Next, the treatment finger drive motors (63) and (64) of the massage devices (10) and (11) are repeatedly rotated forward and backward to massage the affected area. When one of the treatment finger drive motors (63) (64) is stopped and the other treatment finger drive motor is driven, the stopped treatment finger supports the upper body of the user (15). The affected part can be massaged by the swinging treatment finger.

When the person to be treated (15) performs lateral massaging of the affected area, the chain drive motor (29) is driven to move the height of the massage devices (10) and (11) to the position of the affected area. Then, the treatment finger drive motors (63) (64) are adjusted to a desired opening angle. Then, the approaching / separating motor (40) is repeatedly rotated in the forward and reverse directions to move the massage devices (10) and (11) to the left and right, whereby lateral rubbing can be performed. At this time, the treatment finger drive motors (63) (64) may be simultaneously driven.

Further, when the person to be treated (15) desires a back stretching massage, the distance between the massage devices (10) and (11) is adjusted, and the treatment finger drive motors (63) and (64) are opened. Adjust the angle. Next, the chain drive motor (29) is repeatedly rotated in the forward and reverse directions to move the massage devices (10) and (11) up and down, whereby the back muscles can be stretched and massaged.

When the above massages are performed normally, the detected value of the current from each motor is smaller than the threshold value, so the output signal from each comparator (86) and the OR
Both output signals of the circuit (82) remain zero, and the massage operation can be continued.

During the massage, when the person to be treated (15) moves his / her upper body or the like, an overload is applied from the treatment fingers (46) (48) to the affected part of the person to be treated (15). The detected value of the current becomes equal to or more than the threshold value, and the output signal from the corresponding comparator (86) becomes 1. Upon receiving this output signal, the OR circuit
The output signal of (82) also becomes 1, and the control circuit (81) includes a treatment finger drive motor (63) for driving the treatment finger (46) located above,
The approaching / separating motor (40) is driven so as to release the user (15) from the chair (14). As a result, the massage device (10) (11) and the upper treatment finger (46) move in a direction away from the user (15), so that an overload is prevented. Further, the massage device (10) (11) and the upper treatment finger (46) move in a direction that does not prevent the user (15) from getting out of the chair (14), so that an overload is applied and The action of the user (15) trying to get up from the chair (14) is not blocked.

In the above embodiment, when an overload is applied, both the upper treatment finger (46) and the massage device (10) (11) are moved in a direction that does not prevent the user (15) from escaping. However, one of the treatment finger (46) and the massage device (10) (11) may be moved. Also, the upper and lower treatment fingers (4
6) (48) can be moved close to or separated by a single drive motor. In this case, if an abnormality is detected, the upper and lower treatment fingers
(46) and (48) simultaneously move away from the person to be treated (15).

As a different embodiment of the present invention, as shown by the chain double-dashed lines in FIGS. 3 and 4, an encoder (87) is attached to each motor or the rotary drive system of the motor to detect the abnormal rotation angle of the rotary drive system. Detect with encoder (87), same as above
The control unit (80) may be configured to perform an overload prevention operation.

As shown in FIG. 4, a sensor (89) for measuring the pressing force of the upper treatment finger (46) on the affected area, for example, a strain gauge is attached, and the detected value of the sensor (89) is controlled by the control section (80). It is also possible to carry out an overload prevention operation by transmitting to the.

Further, the massage device (10) (11) itself can be swung with respect to the backrest of the chair, and when the swing is performed by a motor (not shown), the current value of the motor, the rotation angle, etc. May be similarly detected and transmitted to the control unit to perform the overload prevention operation.

Further, the present invention can be applied to the conventional chair type massage machine (90) shown in FIG.

[0025]

[Effects of the Invention] During massage, when the user (15) moves his / her upper body and the like, an overload is applied to the affected part of the user (15) from the treatment fingers (46) (48), the position is moved upward. The treatment finger drive motor (63) for driving the treatment finger (46) and the approaching / separating motor (40)
The massager (10) (11) and the upper treatment finger (46) are driven from the user (15) by driving the user (15) in the direction of releasing the user (15) from the chair (14). Since it moves in the direction away from the user (15), no overload is applied to it. Also,
The massage device (10) (11) and the upper treatment finger (46) move in a direction that does not prevent the user (15) from getting out of the chair (14), and therefore an overload is applied to the user to be treated. The movement of (15) trying to get up from the chair (14) is not blocked.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a chair-type massage machine.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the massage device as viewed from the rear.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the massage device of FIG. 3 taken along the line YY.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a control unit.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional chair-type massage machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (10) Massage device (11) Massage device (12) Massage machine (46) Upper treatment finger (63) Treatment finger drive motor (83) Detector

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A pair of treatment fingers (46) (48) are provided on arms (47) (4).
Formed by providing contact parts (70) and (71) at the tip of 9),
The proximal ends of (47) and (49) are connected to the treatment finger drive means (75) whose drive is controlled by the control unit (80), and the treatment fingers (46) and (48) are connected.
Is swingable, and the treatment finger drive means (75) includes a detector (83) for detecting the drive status of the drive means and transmitting a detection signal to the control section (80), the detector (83) When the controller detects an abnormality in the drive means, the control unit (80) includes an overload prevention mechanism that drives the treatment finger drive means (75) in the direction of separating the treatment finger (46) from the user (15). A massage device characterized in that 2. The treatment finger drive means (75) is a treatment finger drive motor.
The massage device according to claim 1, further comprising (63), wherein the detector (83) detects a current value of the motor. 3. The treatment finger drive means (75) is a treatment finger drive motor.
The massage device according to claim 1, further comprising (63), wherein the detector (83) is an encoder (87) for detecting a rotation angle of the rotary drive system. 4. The massage device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is provided on a backrest (17) of a massage chair (14) so that a treatment finger (46) protrudes forward. Chair type massage machine. 5. A pair of massage devices (10) (11) are arranged on the backrest (17) of the massage chair (14) on the left and right, and each massage device (10) (11) has a treatment finger (46). The treatment finger (46) is formed by providing a contact portion (70) at the tip of the arm (47), and the proximal end of the arm (47) is provided with a treatment finger driving means ( 75), the treatment finger (46) is swingable,
The massaging devices (10) and (11) can be moved in a direction toward and away from each other by the approaching / separating means (39), and the approaching / separating means (39) detects the drive status of the means and controls
(80) is provided with a detector (83) for transmitting a detection signal, and when the detector (83) detects an abnormality in the driving means, the control unit (80)
Is a chair-type massage machine having an overload preventing mechanism that drives an approaching / separating means (39) in a direction of separating the massage devices (10) and (11) from each other. 6. The approaching / separating means (39) is a motor (4) for approaching / separating.
The chair type massage machine according to claim 5, wherein the detector (83) detects a current value of the motor. 7. The approaching / separating means (39) is a motor (4) for approaching / separating.
Chair type massage machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the detector (83) is an encoder (87) for detecting the rotation angle of the rotary drive system.