JPS6314616B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for measuring the degree of scattering and transmission within the skin of a light beam incident on the skin of a living body, and in particular, the measuring section can be made compact.

Light rays projected onto the skin of a living body undergo diffuse reflection on the skin surface, and the remaining light rays enter the interior of the skin, repeating transmission, refraction, absorption, and scattering in each layer of the skin, and then emerge onto the skin surface again. The effect of light on the skin in this process is determined by the reflection of the light on the skin surface and the degree of transmission and absorption of the light within the skin, and the amount of light emitted from the skin surface determines the unique color of the skin. At the same time, it is considered to be a factor that determines the action of light. For this reason, the translucency of the skin (the degree of scattering and transmission within the skin of light rays incident on the skin)
It is considered to be an indicator that can express the comprehensive characteristics of all the physicochemical compositions that make up the complex skin, and is used not only for pure medical purposes such as diagnosing lesional skin, but also for research on makeup and skin color. ing.

By the way, in order to measure the light transmittance of biological skin, the conventional method is to convert the reference light from a light source into a parallel light beam using an optical lens, irradiate it onto the skin surface, and receive the reflected light with a photoelectric conversion element. There is a known method that measures light transmittance as an electrical signal corresponding to the brightness. However, in such conventional measurement devices, the photoelectric conversion element is placed in the center of the optical lens, so it is not possible to send all the reference light from the light source to the skin in an efficient manner. Its diameter reached several centimeters, and it could only be used on the flat skin of living organisms.

Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-60683, it has been proposed to use an optical fiber bundle for illumination and an optical fiber bundle for light reception, thereby making it possible to reduce the diameter of the measuring section. However, this JP-A-53-
In the method disclosed in Publication No. 60683, a portion of the illumination light emitted from the optical fiber bundle connected to the light source is not reflected on the skin surface and directly enters the optical fiber bundle for light reception, resulting in a large measurement error. There is a risk of inviting Moreover, when using a reference light with only a specific wavelength such as ultraviolet light, or when changing the brightness of the reference light according to the surrounding brightness, the light source itself must be replaced, which is extremely inconvenient. It was hot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional skin transmittance measuring device, to provide a skin transmittance measuring device that has a compact measuring section and does not require replacing the light source.

The structure of the skin translucency measuring device of the present invention that achieves this objective is to face the skin surface across a gap, receive reflected light from the skin, and convert it into an electrical signal corresponding to its brightness. a photoelectric conversion element for conversion, a light guide whose tip is formed into an annular shape around the photoelectric conversion element and is pressed against the skin surface from which the reference light enters the skin; a light-shielding ring pressed against the skin surface so as to surround the photoelectric conversion element; a light source that faces the proximal end surface of the light guide and causes reference light to enter the light guide from the proximal end surface of the light guide; a filter that is interposed between the base end surface of the light guide and that adjusts the amount of the reference light or transmits only light of a specific wavelength; and this filter is detachably attached to the photoelectric conversion element and the light. It consists of a guide, a cylindrical main body in which the light shielding ring and the light source are incorporated.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 showing the cross-sectional structure of the measuring part and FIG. 2 showing the shape of the tip surface thereof.
A light-shielding ring 13 with a photoelectric conversion element 12 such as cadmium sulfide fixed in the center and a holding member 14 surrounding this light-shielding ring 13 are fitted into the tip of the cylindrical main body 11. Between the attached inner light-shielding ring 13 and the outer holding member 14 fixed to the inner circumferential wall of the main body 12, a tip portion of a light guide 15 formed by bundling a large number of optical fibers into a ring shape is disposed. It is in a fixed state. Octopus light guide 15 with an annular tip
The tips of the light guides 15 are bundled together and supported by a holding member 16 fitted into the center of the main body 11.
A lamp house 18 housing a lamp 17 serving as a light source is built into the main body 11 above the base end of the lamp. A light guide 15 is provided in the main body 11 located between the lamp house 18 and the holding member 16.
A filter mounting window 21 is cut into which a filter holder 20 to which a filter 19 is fixed, which is interposed between the proximal end surface of the lamp 17 and the lamp 17, is removably mounted. By pulling the filter holder 2 to the left,
0 can be removed from the main body 11. As this filter 19, a colored filter, a neutral filter for adjusting the amount of light, or an interference filter that transmits only a specific wavelength is used depending on the measurement purpose, but a turret type filter holder can also be used instead of the filter holder 20 as in this embodiment. good.
In addition, in FIG. 1, a signal line 22 connected to the photoelectric conversion element 12 and a power line 23 connected to the lamp 17 are connected to an ammeter and a power source (not shown) via a cable 25 from a power distribution box 24 built into the upper part of the main body 11. are connected to each.

With this configuration, when the tip of the main body 11 is pressed so that the tip surface of the light guide 15 is in close contact with the surface of the skin 26 to be measured and electricity is transmitted to the lamp 17, the light from the lamp 17 is It passes through the filter 19 and enters the light guide 15 from the base end surface of the light guide 15.
It enters into the skin 26 from the distal end surface of 5. A portion of the reflected light enters the photoelectric conversion element 12, which becomes a current corresponding to its brightness and is detected by an ammeter to determine the degree of light transmittance. At this time, since the tip of the light shielding ring 13 is in contact with the surface of the skin 26 together with the light guide 15, there is no possibility that the reference light from the light guide 15 will directly enter the photoelectric conversion element 12.

Therefore, most of the reference light from the lamp 17 is sent to the surface of the skin 26 by the light guide 15, and since there is no possibility that the reference light will be shaded by vignetting by the photoelectric conversion element 12, the reference light should be bright. is possible. For this reason, the light guide 15
There is no influence of error due to light leakage from the lamp 17.
Coupled with the fact that heat from the skin is not easily transmitted to the skin 26, highly reliable measurement values can be obtained. or,
Since a light guide 15 made of bundled optical fibers is used instead of a conventional optical lens, the main body 11
Since it is possible to make the diameter smaller and more compact, it is also possible to measure the surface of the skin 26 which is somewhat uneven.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a measuring section in an embodiment of the skin transmittance measuring device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a bottom view thereof. In the drawings, 11 is the main body, 12 is the photoelectric conversion element, 13 is the light shielding ring, 15 is the light guide, and 17
1 is a lamp, 19 is a filter, 20 is a filter holder, 21 is a filter attachment part, and 26 is the skin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A photoelectric conversion element that faces the skin surface with a gap in between and receives reflected light from the skin and converts it into an electrical signal corresponding to its brightness, and a ring-shaped tip around the photoelectric conversion element. a light guide formed into a shape and pressed against the skin surface to allow reference light to enter the skin from there; a light-shielding ring pressed against the skin surface so as to surround the photoelectric conversion element inside the light guide; a light source that faces the proximal end surface of the light guide and makes the reference light enter the light guide from the proximal end surface of the light guide; and a light source that is interposed between the light source and the proximal end surface of the light guide and that makes the reference light A filter that adjusts the amount of light or transmits only light of a specific wavelength; and a cylindrical body to which the filter is detachably attached and in which the photoelectric conversion element, the light guide, the light shielding ring, and the light source are incorporated; A skin translucency measuring device consisting of: