JPS63144224A - Electronic clinical thermometer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a clinical thermometer with which a measured value of significant temperature is grasped sensually by displaying a warning color in number display equipment at least some part when the measured bodily temperature exceeds a predetermined specific temperature measured value. CONSTITUTION:A probe 2 for introducing a thermistor 3 as a heat sensitive resistance element is fitted atop of the main body 1 of the clinical thermometer at a temperature inspection position. A three-digit number display device 4 and a power switch 4 are provided on the surface of the display device 5. The display device 5 is composed of number display parts 9A and 9B consisting of light emitting diodes for displaying the digit of units and decimal fraction of the numeral and a surface light emitting diode 10 for displaying the digit of tens. Then the light emitting element is so constituted to display a number '3' in green below 40 deg.C and a number '4' in red above 40 deg.C by the selective light emission of the red light emitting element 11A and green light emitting element 11B of the surface light emitting diode 10, so when the digit numeral of tens of the bodily temperature exceeds 40 deg.C, a light emission display is made in red as the warning color and a high-temperature state is grasped sensually.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electronic thermometer, and in particular, it is capable of measuring the value of body temperature in multiple digits by outputting an electrical signal from a heat-sensitive resistance element such as a thermistor in accordance with the value of the sensed body temperature. This invention relates to an electronic thermometer that displays luminescent numbers.

[Conventional technology]

So-called electronic thermometers, which have been developed in recent years as an alternative to conventional glass mercury thermometers, have excellent advantages such as less risk of breakage, shorter temperature measurement time, and easy reading due to digital display.

However, conventional analog mercury thermometers have the advantage of displaying the part corresponding to a warning body temperature, such as 37 degrees Celsius, in red numbers, and when the mercury column exceeds this, it is possible to intuitively understand the "fever" state of the body temperature. Users have also become accustomed to this method of use for many years. On the other hand, with digital electronic thermometers, the digital display of numbers is judged conceptually, so the distinction between "normal temperature" and "fever" cannot be made intuitively like with mercury thermometers, and there is still a sense of reluctance when using it. are doing.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

For this reason, some high-end electronic thermometers with built-in control circuits such as microcomputers are designed to memorize a predetermined basal body temperature and generate a warning sound with a buzzer when the thermometer exceeds this value.

However, this kind of thermometer naturally increases the cost,
Furthermore, depending on the size of the warning sound, it may disturb the rest of the person whose temperature is to be measured, or the warning sound may be missed, so it is not necessarily suitable for general use.

[Means for solving problems]

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an electronic thermometer that can intuitively grasp a measured value of body temperature that has a specific meaning.

The present invention provides an electronic thermometer that has a thermoelectric conversion element that senses body temperature and a numeric display that displays the sensed body temperature in a multi-digit number based on an electrical signal output from the thermoelectric conversion element, in which the numeric display is The display portion of at least one digit of is made to emit light in different hues with a predetermined specific temperature measurement value as a boundary.

[Effect]

In other words, the present invention focuses on the fact that body temperature is generally perceived based on a specific numerical value in a specific digit, for example, when it exceeds 30 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius, it is understood as a "high fever" state. However, if the measured temperature value exceeds such a predetermined value, the luminous display value will be emitted in a warning color different from the color for temperatures below that value, so that the ``alarm condition'' can be intuitively understood. is being done.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an electronic thermometer as an embodiment of the present invention, and the tip of the body 1 of the thermometer has a sublingual tube.

Thermistor 3 as a heat-sensitive resistance element is placed at the temperature measurement location such as under the armpit.
A probe 2 with a length of 7 to 80 fi is attached for introducing the. On the surface of the main body 1, there is provided a three-finger numeric display 5 with a Celsius unit display ("C"). 4 is a power switch.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, the output side of the thermistor 3 is connected to an A/D converter 6 that converts its sensing output, and its digital output is sent from a decoder, timer, etc. for controlling the digital display. The controller 7 is connected to the numeric display 5 via a controller 7. Numeric display 5. A/D
Converter 6. The controller 7 is connected to the battery 8 via the power switch 4, and these are all housed in the body 1 of the thermometer.

In this embodiment, the numeric display unit 5 includes a numeric display section 9 (9A, 9B) consisting of a 7-segment numeric light emitting diode that displays the first digit and the first decimal place of the numerical value of the celcillus display unit, and the 10th digit. It is formed from a surface emitting diode 10 that displays. As shown in FIG. 3, the numeric display section 9 consists of a red light emitting diode with a plastic lens with a character height of approximately 3 squares, while the surface light emitting diode 10 is a red light emitting diode with a character height of about 6 squares, which is larger than each numeral display section 9. It is formed of a red light emitting element 11A, a green light emitting element 11B, and a milky white diffusion screen 12 covering them. Above the surface emitting diode 10, there is a red transparent mask 13 including a colorless and transparent region 13A shaped like the number "3" and a green transparent mask including a colorless and transparent region 14A shaped like the number "4". 14 are arranged one on top of the other. The red transparent mask 13 has an area that covers not only the surface emitting diode 10 but also the upper part of the numeric display parts 9A and 9B.

Numeric display 5. The A/D converter 6, controller 7, etc. are driven by a battery 8 via the power switch 4,
The red light emitting element 11A and the green light emitting element 11B in the surface emitting diode 10 of the numeric display 5 are controlled by the controller 7 according to the output from the thermistor 3 for a predetermined temperature measurement value.
In other words, in this embodiment, the green light emitting element 11B is selectively driven to emit light under the control of the temperature value below 40°C; The red light emitting elements 11A each emit light, and at this time, the light emitting output of the red light emitting elements is set to be sufficiently larger than the light emitting output of the green light emitting elements.

The light emitting display operation during temperature measurement of the electronic thermometer of this embodiment will be described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

When the power switch 4 of the main body 1 of the thermometer is turned on, power from the battery 8 is supplied to the controller 7, A/D converter 6, thermistor 3, etc. In the non-linear region of the temperature/electrical resistance characteristics of the thermistor 3 at the beginning of temperature measurement, the numerical display section 9A of the 7-segment diode in each display section of the display device 5
.

9B displays rOJ rOJ, respectively. This does not actually display the temperature, but rather indicates that the thermometer is in an energized state to confirm that temperature measurement is possible, and also to prevent unnecessary consumption of the battery 8 due to forgetting to turn off the switch.

When the temperature of the thermistor 3 enters a range where the accuracy of the thermometer can be ensured, the green light emitting element 11B of the surface emitting diode 10 emits light according to a control command from the controller 7, and the display parts 9A and 9B of each digit of the numerical display part 9 emit light. The number corresponding to the digital output from the A/D converter 6 is displayed by light emission.

Here, the light emitted from the green light emitting element 11B is emitted from the diffusion screen 12.
It is diffused and emitted as green light of 611 angles,
Since the red transparent mask 13 is placed above the surface emitting diode 10, most of the green light is absorbed by this mask and passes only through the transparent region 13A shaped like the number "3". Next, the green light that has passed through the number "3" region 13A enters the green transparent mask 14, but since the green light is not substantially absorbed here, the surface emitting diode 1
The green light from 0 is displayed as the green light of the number "3" in the 10th digit (Figure 4). Note that this mask 14 has a transparent region 14A shaped like the number "4", but since the absorption of green light is almost the same between the green region and the transparent region, it is necessary to confirm the number "3". There is no practical problem.

Next, when the measured temperature value becomes 40° C. or higher, the power supply to the surface light emitting diode 10 is switched from the green light emitting element 11B to the red light emitting element 11A under the control of the controller 7, and the surface light emitting diode 10 emits red light at 6 degrees Celsius. This red light emission passes through the red transparent mask 13 in its entire area, but as for the green transparent mask 14, it passes only through the transparent area part 14A shaped like the number "4", so the red light from the surface emitting diode 10 10 as the colored light of the number "4"
A luminescent display is displayed on the digit (Figure 5).

In this embodiment, the 10-digit light-emitting element of the electronic thermometer is illuminated in green by the surface-emitting diode IO and selectively by the light-emitting elements 11A and 11B. In the above example, the number "4" is displayed in red, so if the number in the 10th digit of body temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius, a red light will be displayed as a warning, and you will feel that you are in a "high fever" state. can be understood in terms of This conforms to the normal sense of general users who perceive a body temperature of 40° C. or higher as abnormally high fever, and improves the reliability window or ease of use from an ergonomic point of view.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a comparatively inexpensive surface emitting diode 10 including red and green light emitting elements 11A and 11B is used as a light emitting display means for the 10th digit in place of the conventional 7 segment diode. 3” and “
3J, r
Since selective red and green luminescent display is obtained for the 4J digits, the manufacturing cost of the entire display can be reduced. In addition, this makes it possible to improve readability by increasing the size of the surface-emitting diode in the display area for the 10th digit, and to improve the warning effect by increasing the output of the red light element, with a sufficient cost balance.

In the above embodiment, the purpose is to obtain an effective warning display for body temperature in the 40°C range, but according to the present invention, different hues based on a specific temperature measurement value set arbitrarily may be used. It is also possible to display light emission. For example, in the case of a women's thermometer, it is desirable that the fact that the measured temperature value exceeds the basal body temperature and has risen to a predetermined value can be recognized more reliably and easily than by reading specific numerical values at the time of temperature measurement.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment for such a case. This embodiment is basically constructed in the same manner as the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, except that the green transparent mask 14 is omitted. The light emission switching temperature of the red and green light emitting elements 11A and 11B in the surface emitting diode 10 is made to correspond to a preset value around 37°C.

When the currently measured temperature value is below this switching temperature, the green light emitting element 11B of the surface emitting diode 10 emits light, and the number "3" is displayed in green light in the 10th digit through the colorless transparent area of the number "3" in the red transparent mask. be done.

On the other hand, when the body temperature exceeds the set temperature, the green light emitting element 11
The red light emitting element 11A emits light instead of B, and the red light emitted by the surface emitting diode 10 is uniformly obtained over the entire transparent mask 13. In this case, the numerical display of the 10th digit becomes indistinguishable due to the red background, but for the purpose of this example, it is sufficient if only the fact that the temperature exceeds a specific set temperature is recognized; rather, the entire surface emits red light. By doing so, it is possible to clearly warn of the "danger day" condition, which is the main purpose of this embodiment. Further, the female thermometer of this embodiment functions sufficiently practically as a normal thermometer. In other words, even if the 10th Ni display part emits red light, if the 1st digit is 3 or less, clinical data indicates that the 10th digit is 3 (i.e., body temperature is 33°C or less). If you can't think of anything and the one digit display is 7 to 8, it's 1
The 0th digit is 4 (i.e. body temperature 47-48℃)
is unthinkable, so in each case the body temperature is 40
It can be easily estimated that the temperature is in the 30°C range. Even with conventional glass mercury thermometers, it is rather common for the 10th digit value on the scale display to be attached only to specific areas, and the user does not use it except in specific cases, such as 6 degrees 7 minutes or 8 degrees 3 minutes. As people are familiar with understanding body temperature using the first and lower digits, it is not always necessary to display the tenth digit value when using the device, even though there is a difference between analog and digital display formats.

〔effect〕

According to the electronic thermometer of the present invention, the electronic thermometer of the present invention displays the body temperature in a different hue when the temperature is above a certain set temperature than in the temperature range below that temperature, making it possible to sense that the body temperature is being applied. can be understood in terms of

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing electrical connections of various parts in the embodiment, Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of main parts of the embodiment, Figs. The figure is an explanatory diagram showing the usage state of the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the usage state of another embodiment of the present invention. 5... Numerical display 7... Controller 9 (9A, 9B)... 7 segment numeric display section 10.
...Surface emitting diode 11A...Red light emitting element 11B...Green light emitting element 13...Red transparent mask 14...Green transparent mask. Applicant Kyushu Hitachi Maxell Co., Ltd. Representative Takashi Fukuhara - yJ 1 ζ 2 concave 3 color 4 mouth 5 mouth heat c, I! 1 Procedural amendment (voluntary) January 26, 1986

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an electronic thermometer that has a thermoelectric conversion element that senses body temperature and a numerical display that lights up and displays the sensed body temperature as a multi-digit number based on the electrical signal output from this thermoelectric conversion element, the measured body temperature is An electronic thermometer characterized in that a warning color is displayed on at least a part of the numeric display device when a predetermined specific temperature measurement value is exceeded.