KR101715102B1 - Near infrared radiation apparatus and near infrared radiation system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a near infrared irradiator and a near infrared irradiation system. The near infrared irradiator comprises: one or more LEDs emitting near infrared light; one or more light sensing elements capable of sensing near infrared light emitted from the LED and passed through the skin; and a shielding membrane positioned between the LED and the light sensing element and shielding near infrared light directly emitted from the LED.

Description

[0001] NEAR INFRARED RADIATION APPARATUS AND NEAR INFRARED RADIATION SYSTEM [0002]

More particularly, the present invention relates to a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiation system capable of measuring a reaction effect due to skin irradiation of an LED light of a near-infrared ray irradiator and realizing a reaction effect in real time .

Infrared Near Infrared Ray (for example, light in a wavelength range of 700 nm to 3000 nm) is known to have various effects. It is known that when such near-infrared rays are exposed to the body, nitrogen oxides are formed in the body, thereby expanding blood vessels, generating blood vessels, generating collagen, or relieving pain.

A personal treatment apparatus using an LED (Light Emitting Diode) emitting near-infrared rays with attention to such effects is known. The known personal treatment apparatus includes a plurality of near infrared ray LEDs and a substrate on which the plurality of near infrared ray LEDs are mounted, and a case for accommodating the substrate and the near infrared ray LED and isolating the substrate from the outside.

In particular, the applicant of the present invention has disclosed an invention of a personal treatment apparatus including an LED pad, a method of manufacturing an LED pad, and an LED pad (Publication No. 10-2015-0054434, May 20, 2015, KR).

This LED pad is equipped with several near infrared LEDs in flexible silicon to allow near-infrared treatment of individual by irradiating near infrared rays to the skin.

Generally, when performing treatment through a therapeutic apparatus or the like, it is necessary to know the effect of the treatment apparatus. There will be several benefits if you immediately provide the patient or individual with the effects of treatment or investigation.

There may be a measure for measuring the blood flow amount as a measure of the effect of the irradiation of the near-infrared LED. For example, the blood flow measurement is performed by measuring the amount of light using a photodetector at a predetermined distance from the LED that emits near-infrared rays, and estimating the corresponding blood flow amount therefrom.

In the conventional invention (No. 10-2015-0054434) in which several LEDs are closely arranged, the configuration of circuits or mechanisms for measuring blood flow is not suitable. In particular, a configuration is needed to measure and guide changes in blood flow.

As described above, a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiating system, which are configured to recognize the effect of light irradiation of the near-infrared LED in a personal treatment apparatus using a known near-infrared LED, are needed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiation system capable of measuring and outputting effects of a plurality of near-infrared LED irradiations provided.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiating system for outputting a change in blood flow amount with a lapse of time of a plurality of near-infrared LED irradiation so that the treatment result can be known.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiating system capable of measuring the amount of light emitted through the skin using the near-infrared LED and measuring changes in blood flow therefrom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a near-infrared ray irradiator and a near-infrared ray irradiating system which can detect the change in the blood flow rate in various skin areas by using various LEDs of the near-infrared ray irradiator as a photodetector.

The present invention also relates to a near-infrared ray irradiator for detecting a change in an accurate blood flow by preventing a near-infrared ray emitted from an LED from a LED by optically isolating a photodetector in a near-infrared ray irradiator from other LEDs, And an object of the present invention is to provide a near-infrared irradiation system.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, unless further departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be possible.

In order to achieve the above object, a near-infrared ray irradiator includes at least one LED emitting near-infrared light, at least one optical sensing element capable of sensing light passed through the skin of near-infrared light emitted by the LED, And blocking the near-infrared light emitted directly from the LED.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a near-infrared ray irradiation system comprising: at least one LED that emits near-infrared light; at least one LED capable of sensing light transmitted through the skin of the near- An optical sensing element, and a shielding layer positioned between the LED and the optical sensing element to shield near-infrared light emitted directly from the LED.

The near-infrared ray irradiator and the near-infrared ray irradiating system according to the present invention can measure and output the effects of a plurality of near-infrared LED irradiations.

In addition, the near-infrared ray irradiator and the near-infrared ray irradiation system according to the present invention as described above have an effect of outputting a change amount of the blood flow amount with a lapse of time of a plurality of near-infrared LED irradiation,

In addition, the near-infrared ray irradiator and the near-infrared ray irradiation system according to the present invention can measure the amount of light emitted through the skin using the near-infrared LED and measure the change in the blood flow rate.

In addition, the near-infrared ray irradiator and the near-infrared ray irradiation system according to the present invention as described above have the effect of knowing the change in the blood flow rate in various skin regions by using various LEDs of the near-infrared ray irradiator as a photodetector.

In addition, the near-infrared ray irradiator and the near-infrared ray irradiation system according to the present invention as described above optically isolate the photodetector in the near-infrared ray irradiator from other LEDs to prevent the near infrared rays emitted from the LED, So that it is possible to know the exact change in blood flow.

The effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description will be.

1 is a diagram showing an exemplary block diagram of a near-infrared irradiation system.
2 is a diagram showing an exemplary configuration of an LED pad of a near-infrared ray irradiator.
3 is a diagram showing an exemplary block diagram of a controller of a near-infrared ray irradiator.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an LED module capable of measuring blood flow change according to the present invention.
5 is a view showing an example of the configuration of an LED pad capable of measuring changes in blood flow at various settable distances.
6 is a view showing another configuration example of an LED pad capable of measuring changes in blood flow at various settable distances.
7 is a diagram for explaining that a near-infrared LED can be used for optical sensing.
8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary block diagram of a switching unit for a specific configuration example of an LED module.
9 is a view showing another configuration example of an LED pad capable of measuring a blood flow change.
10 is a diagram showing an exemplary block diagram of a switching unit applicable to the configuration example of FIG.
11 is a diagram showing an operation flow performed in the control unit for calculating the blood flow change.
12 is a diagram showing the absorption spectrum of hemoglobin.
FIG. 13 is a graph showing a change in the amount of light emitted and sensed through skin tissue at a certain distance when the blood flow in the skin tissue changes, according to the distance between the LED light source and the optical sensor.
FIG. 14 is a graph showing an example of a method of calculating a blood flow change according to an initial (pretreatment) light amount and a current (after phototherapy) light amount change.
15 is a view showing an example for calculating the change in the blood flow rate by sequentially selecting the LED as the optical sensing element.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another example for calculating the change in the blood flow rate by sequentially selecting the LED as the optical sensing element.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: It can be easily carried out. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram showing an exemplary block diagram of a near-infrared irradiation system.

1, the near-infrared irradiation system includes a near-infrared ray irradiator 10, a portable terminal 20, and a local area network 30. The near-infrared irradiation system may be configured in various ways according to the application form or the example of the modification. For example, the portable terminal 20 and the local area network 30 may be omitted in the near-infrared light irradiation system or other devices or devices not shown may be further included in the near-infrared light irradiation system.

The near-infrared ray irradiator 10 includes an LED pad 100 composed of a plurality of LEDs 111 (Light Emitting Diodes) for emitting near-infrared light, And a controller (200). The near-infrared ray irradiator 10 is a device capable of irradiating near infrared ray light to the skin through the LED 111 and thus bringing about various favorable effects.

The controller 200 of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 supplies direct current power to the LED pad 100 to emit near-infrared light of the LED 111 provided therein. The near-infrared light of the LED 111 is irradiated to the skin, the irradiated light is transmitted through the skin tissue, a part of the light is absorbed by the skin, and a part of the light is emitted to the outside of the skin after passing through the skin. The light emitted through the skin is sensed by the LED pad 100 of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10, and the amount of light sensed is calculated by the controller 200.

The controller 200 of the near infrared ray irradiator 10 is configured to be able to calculate a blood flow change according to the amount of light emitted through the skin and to output data indicative of a blood flow change. Data of the blood flow change may be output to the display unit 260 provided, for example, or may be transmitted to the portable terminal 20 connected through the local area network 30. The portable terminal 20 can generate an image based on the received blood flow variation data and output it through the display.

The near-infrared ray irradiator 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The portable terminal 20 can be, for example, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, a notebook, or the like, The portable terminal 20 may be connected to the local area network 30 with a local interface. The portable terminal 20 is provided with a processor (for example, an AP (Application Processor)) and an application program (for example, an app or an application) stored in a memory and executes blood flow change data And receives it from the near-infrared ray irradiator 10. The portable terminal 20 (processor of) generates an image based on the received blood flow variation data or displays the blood flow variation data and outputs the generated image to the display provided. Accordingly, each user can know the effect of near-infrared light irradiation in real time as time elapses.

The local area network 30 for transmitting and receiving data between the portable terminal 20 and the near infrared ray irradiator 10 may be a wired local area network or a wireless local area network. For example, the local area network 30 may be a wireless local area network such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and the like. Alternatively, the local area network 30 may be a wired local area network such as USB, RS232, or the like.

The portable terminal 20 and the near infrared ray irradiator 10 can be connected to each other through the local area network 30 and can transmit and receive various data through the connected local area communication channel. In particular, the portable terminal 20 receives the blood flow change data from the near infrared ray irradiator 10 from the communication channel of the connected wireless local area network and outputs it through the display. The blood flow change data may be, for example, data representing the rate of blood flow change from the start point of the near infrared ray irradiation to the point immediately before the reception of the data. The blood flow change data can be imaged and output to the display.

The portable terminal 20 can transmit various setting data to the near infrared ray irradiator 10 via the local area network 30. [ For example, the portable terminal 20 can transmit a control program used in the near-infrared ray irradiator 10, various parameters used for generating blood flow change data, and various control data to a connected communication channel. Accordingly, the portable terminal 20 can remotely control the near infrared ray irradiator 10. [ The portable terminal 20 is also capable of updating various parameters and programs available in the near infrared ray irradiator 10.

2 is a diagram showing an exemplary configuration of the LED pad 100 of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10. As shown in Fig.

Referring to FIG. 2, the LED pad 100 of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 is a pad that emits near-infrared light. The LED pad 100 is configured to be able to adhere to the skin of a body part such as an arm, a leg, and the like, and to emit near-infrared light to the skin. The LED pad 100 includes an LED module 110 having a flexible substrate and a plurality of near-infrared LEDs 111 mounted on the flexible substrate. In addition, the LED module 110 further includes a light sensing element 113.

The optical sensing element 113 is an element capable of detecting near-infrared light emitted from one or more LEDs 111 of the LED module 110 at a predetermined distance. The optical sensing element 113 is configured to perform optical detection. The optical sensing element 113 may be, for example, a photodiode dedicated for optical detection or an LED capable of emitting near-infrared light. The optical sensing element 113 may be referred to as a photodetector.

The light sensing element 113 is preferably an LED emitting near-infrared light and is of the same LED type as the LED 111 provided in the LED module 110. Accordingly, the LED module 110 is provided with one or more LEDs 111 and one or more optical sensing elements 113. The optical sensing element 113 is configured to emit near-infrared light in a specific mode (hereinafter, also referred to as 'first mode') under control of the controller 200, The light amount can be sensed. The LED 111 capable of further performing the function of optical sensing may be referred to as the LED 111 or the light sensing element 113 depending on the function.

The selection of the optical sensing element 113 is performed by the controller 200. For example, at a particular point in time in the second mode, a particular LED 111 of the plurality of LEDs 111 may be selected as the optical sensing element 113, and at another point in the second mode, (113).

The near-infrared light emitted by the LED 111 is irradiated to the skin and diffused or passed through the internal tissue of the skin. The light passing through the inside of the skin may be released to the outside of the skin through the skin again. The optical sensing element 113 is configured to be able to sense only light transmitted through the skin. That is, the LED pad 100 may be configured to block the sensing of the light sensing element 113 through a medium other than the skin tissue from the LED 111 that emits the infrared light (for example, a silicon material constituting the case) .

The LED module 110 includes a shielding film 115 interposed between the LED 111 and the optical sensing element 113 for emitting near-infrared light and shielding the near-infrared light emitted directly from the LED 111. The blocking layer 115 may be made of a material different from that of the silicon material and may be composed of, for example, a groove-like trench. The blocking film 115 may be preferably made of an opaque resin. The shielding film 115 shields the near infrared light emitted from the LED 111 from being directly incident on the optical sensing element 113 without passing through the skin tissue.

The shielding film 115 formed on the LED module 110 is provided on the silicon case 120 for accommodating the LED module 110. The LED module 110 includes a silicon case 120. The upper silicon case 120 and the lower silicon case 120 are chemically bonded to each other and the upper silicon case 120, Infrared light of the LED 111 is irradiated to the skin using transparent silicone.

The upper silicon case 120 has a shielding film 115 which is configured to have a different light transmittance from the transparent silicon case 120. For example, the barrier 115 may comprise a trench or a trench filled with opaque resin.

The shape of the blocking film 115 may be variously configured. The blocking film 115 is configured to block transmission of the near infrared light emitted from the LED 111 adjacent to the optical sensing element 113 through the medium of the silicon case 120. The blocking film 115 may shield the single light sensing element 113 from the LED 111 or block the light from the adjacent LED 111 to each of the plurality of the light sensing elements 113 according to the shape thereof. Each of the LEDs 111 in the LED module 110 may also be used as the light sensing element 113. That is, each of the LEDs 111 adjacent to each other can be used as the light sensing element 113, and each of the adjacent LEDs 111 is optically isolated from each other through the blocking film 115.

The shape of the blocking film 115 will be described in more detail below.

3 is a block diagram showing an exemplary block diagram of the controller 200 of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10. As shown in Fig.

3, the controller 200 includes a light amount measuring unit 210, an AD converter 220, a switching unit 230, an output power control unit 240, a communication interface 250, a display unit 260, (270) and a control unit (280). The block diagram of Figure 3 preferably shows a hardware block diagram. Some of the blocks of FIG. 3 may be omitted in accordance with the design variant. Or other blocks not shown in Fig. 3 may be further included in this block diagram.

Referring to FIG. 3, the light amount measuring unit 210 measures the light amount measured by the light sensing element 113 in the LED module 110. Referring to FIG. The light amount measuring unit 210 can measure the voltage or the amount of current in the output signal of the light sensing element 113 through the connection cable 300, for example. The measured voltage or current output signal may be amplified. The light amount measuring unit 210 includes circuits necessary for measurement and amplification of a voltage or an amount of current.

The AD (Analog to Digital) converter 220 converts the analog signal of the voltage or current output from the light amount measuring unit 210 into a digital signal of a specified number of bits. For example, the AD converter 220 converts an analog signal having a light quantity between 0 and 1V into a digital signal quantized to 8 bits or 16 bits.

The communication interface 250 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data through the local area network 30. The communication interface 250 can transmit blood flow data to the portable terminal 20 through a local area network 30 such as a wired USB or RS232. Or the communication interface 250 can transmit blood flow data to the portable terminal 20 through a local area network 30 such as wireless Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Bluetooth.

The communication interface 250 may receive various setting data, programs, and the like from the portable terminal 20. [ Various setting data and a drive program are stored in the memory 270 through the control unit 280, and the control unit 280 is available for this.

The memory 270 stores various data and programs. Memory 270 includes non-volatile memory and may further include volatile memory. Various data stored in the memory 270 are used by the control unit 280 and various programs can be executed by the control unit 280. [

The control unit 280 controls the blocks provided in the controller 200. The control unit 280 can control other blocks by loading programs stored in the memory 270 and various setting data. Particularly, the control unit 280 can recognize the irradiation effect of the near-infrared light through the LED pad 100. The control unit 280 is configured to be able to calculate a blood flow change before and after irradiation of the near-infrared light.

The control unit 280 includes one or more execution units capable of executing instruction codes of a program. The control unit 280 may be composed of one single chipset or a plurality of chipsets depending on the design type. The execution units of the control unit 280 may load the instruction codes allocated to the respective execution units from the memory 270 and execute the instruction codes to calculate a blood flow change or the like. One or more chipsets may also include other blocks. For example, a particular chipset may include memory 270, communications interface 250, and / or AD converter 220, and the like.

The calculation of the blood flow change is calculated using the light amount measurement unit 210. [ Blood flow change is an index that shows the typical improvement effect of near-infrared light skin examination. The control unit 280 controls the LED 111 of the LED pad 100 to irradiate the skin with near infrared light for a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) to calculate the blood flow change. The amount of light emitted through the skin tissue of the irradiated light can be determined through the light amount measuring unit 210 and the AD converter 220.

The control unit 280 configured to recognize the treatment or improvement effect of the individual according to the irradiation of the near-infrared light is provided with a mode ('first mode') for irradiating all the LEDs 111 which can be controlled for the near- After the first mode, a mode ('second mode') for measuring the effect according to the first mode is set and the operation in each mode is controlled using another block.

The various control flows in the control unit 280 may vary depending on the type of the LED module 110. [ Various control flows in the form of various LED modules 110 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The display unit 260 includes a display module such as an LCD, an LED, a dot matrix, and the like, and outputs data from the control unit 280 to the display module. For example, the display unit 260 may receive two-digit or three-digit numerical data indicating the blood flow rate of change and output it to the dot matrix.

The output power control unit 240 generates power to be supplied to the LED 111 of the LED module 110 from the battery or DC power provided in the controller 200. The generated power is supplied as a power signal through the connection cable 300 to the LEDs 111 in the LED module 110. [

The output power control unit 240 is configured to control the level (magnitude) of the voltage supplied to the LED 111 with a control signal by the control unit 280, for example, or to adjust the level (amount) of the current. The power regulated through the output power control unit 240 can be supplied to the LED 111 through the switching unit 230 according to its configuration.

The switching unit 230 is a block included when one or more LEDs 111 of the LED pad 100 are also used as the light sensing element 113. The switching unit 230 is connected to the control unit 280 in the first mode for each LED 111 for all the LEDs 111 (including the LEDs 111 available to the optical sensing element 113) DC power is connected to one end (power terminal) of the LED 111 according to a control signal. The switching unit 230 also allows one end of the LED 111 selected by the light sensing element 113 to be connected to the light amount measuring unit 210 in accordance with the control signal received by the control unit 280 in the second mode And switches the DC power source to be connected to one end of the LED 111 selected to emit near-infrared light.

In this manner, the switching unit 230 prevents the DC power from being connected to the power supply terminal of the LED 111 selected as the optical sensing element 113 in the second mode. The switching unit 230 may be omitted when the usable optical sensing element 113 is a dedicated photodiode. The switching unit 230 may be configured to apply a reverse voltage to the selected LED 111 instead of not connecting the DC power to the selected LED 111. [ Thus, the switching unit 230 may connect the DC power source to the LEDs in the first mode and may not connect the DC power source to the LEDs 111 selected in the second mode, or may apply the reverse voltage (reverse voltage).

Depending on the configuration of the LED module 110, the configuration of the switching unit 230 may also be changed. Hereinafter, the configuration of the LED module 110 will be described in detail.

4 is a diagram showing an example of configuration (hereinafter, also referred to as 'first configuration example') of an LED pad 100 capable of measuring a blood flow change according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the LED module 110 of the present exemplary embodiment includes a plurality of LEDs 111 arranged in a direction different from the one direction of the LED pad 100 and a dedicated light sensing element 113. Each of the LEDs 111 is configured to emit near-infrared light, and the light sensing element 113 is a dedicated element capable of detecting light emitted through the skin tissue of the light emitted from the LEDs 111. [ The optical sensing element 113 may be, for example, a photodiode.

In the first configuration example, the light sensing element 113 and the adjacent LEDs 111 are optically isolated. That is, on the silicon case 120 on the upper part of the LED pad 100, there is a shielding film 115 for isolating the light emitted directly from the adjacent LEDs 111 and the optical sensing element 113 at a certain distance . The shielding film 115 is formed in a circular shape so as to maintain a certain distance between the adjacent LED 111 and the optical sensing element 113 and has a distance of 5 mm from the position where the optical sensing element 113 is disposed, . Accordingly, the optical sensing element 113 is configured to be able to detect light emitted through the skin tissue while maintaining a constant distance from the light emitted from the light source.

In the first configuration example, the controller 200 may omit the switching unit 230. [ The control unit 280 controls the LED pad 100 according to the first configuration example to calculate the blood flow change.

For example, the control unit 280 controls the output power supply control unit 240 to connect the DC power to the LEDs 111 of the LED pad 100 for a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) And is supplied through the cable 300.

The control unit 280 determines the amount of light measured by the light sensing element 113 through the light amount measuring unit 210 at the start of the supply of the DC power and thereafter for a predetermined period (for example, one minute). The determined amount of light can be stored in the memory 270.

The control unit 280 can calculate the blood flow change according to the measured light amount. For example, the control unit 280 may calculate the change in the blood flow volume using the ratio of the measured amount of light after a predetermined period of time to the initial amount of light measurement at the start of power supply. The calculated blood flow change can represent the ratio of the blood flow that has changed relative to the initial value (for example, the relative change rate when the initial is 100%).

5, 6, and 9 are diagrams illustrating exemplary configurations of an LED pad 100 capable of measuring changes in blood flow while using an LED 111 as an optical sensing element 113. FIG. 5 ) And FIG. 6 (also referred to as a 'third configuration example' hereinafter) are examples of an LED pad 100 capable of measuring changes in blood flow at various settable distances.

Infrared LED 111 is used as the light sensing element 113 to measure changes in the blood flow volume so that the specific LED 111 is used as the light sensing element 113. In the second and third configurations, It is set in advance. The light sensing element 113 here can emit out-of-sight light like the other LEDs 111. [ In addition, the light sensing element 113 can sense the light emitted from the LED 111 at a certain distance through the skin.

In the second configuration example, a series of one or more LEDs 111 is designated as the optical sensing element 113. Each optical sensing element 113 is configured to be able to measure the amount of light by sensing light under the control of the control unit 280.

Each optical sensing element 113 is configured to sense near-infrared light emitted to the skin from the LED 111, which is separated by a certain distance, through the skin tissue and again emitted to the outside of the skin. One light sensing element 113 is configured to sense the light emitted from the LED 111 at a distance of 5 mm through the skin and the other light sensing element 113 is configured to sense light emitted from the LED 111 at a distance of 10 mm And is configured to sense light. Another light sensing element 113 is configured to sense the light emitted from the LED 111, such as 15 mm or 20 mm apart.

At least two LEDs 111 corresponding to the respective light sensing elements 113 and spaced apart by a certain distance are turned on (turned on) by control by the control unit 280 and the remaining LEDs 111 are turned off . Each of the LEDs 111 corresponding to the optical sensing element 113 and used for measuring the light amount can be optically isolated from the optical sensing element 113 by the blocking film 115. The shielding film 115 preferably passes through only the skin tissue between the LED 111 and the light sensing element 113 and is emitted to the outside of the skin to be transmitted to the light sensing element 113, (The same shape as the LED 111) surrounding the LED 111 so that light can be incident on the LED 111. The control unit 280 at a short distance (e.g., 5 mm or 10 mm) is capable of calculating blood flow changes near the skin epidermis and at a long distance (e. G., 15 mm or 20 mm) It is possible to calculate the blood flow change inside the skin (deep).

The third configuration example is also similar to the second configuration example. As can be seen in the third configuration example, the specific LEDs 111 of the LED pad 100 are designated as the light sensing elements 113 and the LEDs 111 separated by a certain distance from the light sensing elements 113 And is turned on at the time of measuring the light amount. For example, a particular LED 111 may be configured to measure the amount of light at a distance of 5 mm and include one or more LEDs 111 (e.g., 5 mm apart from the light sensing element 113) The left side, the right side, and the upper and lower LEDs 111) are turned on at the time of measuring the light amount. The other LED 111 is set to measure the light amount at a distance of 10 mm and one or more LEDs 111 separated by 10 mm are turned on at the time of measuring the light amount.

In the second and third exemplary embodiments, the specific one or more LEDs 111 are designated as the optical sensing elements 113 and correspond to the respective optical sensing elements 113 and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance (Hereinafter also referred to as " near-infrared light emission LED ") is turned off when the light amount measurement is performed, and the remaining LEDs 111 113 are configured as general near infrared LEDs and all LEDs 111 are configured to emit near infrared light.

More specifically, the optical sensing elements 113 should be used as a general LED that emits near-infrared light at a specific point in time, In order to measure the quantity of light through the light source, the quantity of light should be measured instead of the emission of the near-infrared light.

The LED 111 emits light from a forwardly biased junction as an element emitting light. When a voltage is applied to one terminal of the LED 111 of the LED module 110 and the forward bias is applied thereto, light is emitted in the neutral region near the junction through the injection electroluminescence effect.

Semiconductor samples, on the other hand, can be used as photoconductors with a change in conductivity proportional to the optical generation rate. Designed to respond to photon absorption using a junction device is commonly referred to as a photodiode and the photodiode can be used as a photodiode detector (photodetector) for the response of a pn junction to the optical generation of an electron-hole pair .

On the other hand, when a backward voltage (-V) or a zero voltage (0V) is applied to the voltage terminal of the LED 111 with respect to the LED 111 as the light emitting device and the LED 111 is irradiated with light The applicant has found that the LED 111 to which reverse bias or zero bias (hereinafter referred to collectively as "reverse bias") is applied responds to light. Also, the response was proportional to the quantity of light to be irradiated.

Fig. 7 shows this. Fig. 7 (a) shows the relative response rate of the LED 111 when the LED light of 45 mA is applied to the reverse-biased LED 111. Fig. As can be seen from FIG. 7 (a), it can be seen that the LED 111 has a high response rate with respect to near-infrared light (for example, 870 nm).

7B shows a change in the optical voltage characteristic according to the change of the near-infrared light intensity when the general photosensor and the near-infrared LED 111 are used as the optical sensing element 113. FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 7 (b), the near-infrared LED 111 instead of a photodiode composed of a silicon material, which is a general photodiode, is also proportional to the amount of light (for example, A photovoltage that responds to the light is generated. It has been found that the near infrared ray LED 111 has a higher reaction voltage than a general silicon photodiode.

7C shows a photocurrent characteristic that occurs in accordance with a change in the amount of light of the LED 111 when the near-infrared LED 111 is used as the light sensing element 113. [ The photocurrent responding to the change in the amount of light of the LED 111 (for example, the change in the amount of the driving current) is generated in a proportional manner. In addition, if the light source and the light detection sensor are made of the same material, the light source and the light sensor are affected by the same change in the surrounding environment, and the accuracy of the light detection sensing is maintained even if the ambient environment changes.

If the light sensing element 113 can be configured with the LED 111 emitting near-infrared light, it is not necessary to use a separate photodetector (photodetector), and it is possible to know the trend of the blood flow rate change in a cost- There will be.

8, the switching unit 230, which reflects the first configuration example and the second configuration example, in order to configure the near-infrared LED 111 as the optical sensing element 113, includes a near-infrared light emitting LED (Power supply terminal) of each optical sensing element 113 by controlling the first selector 231 and the optical sensing element 113 for selecting and connecting the DC power to the optical sensing elements 113 The second selector for connecting the selected light quantity measuring signal to the light quantity measuring unit 210 and the light quantity measuring LEDs 111 corresponding to the respective light sensing elements 113 are controlled to output the corresponding light quantity measuring LED 111, And a third selector 237 for selecting and connecting the DC power output to the DC power supply.

8, the LEDs 111 for emitting near-infrared light of the LED module 110 are connected to the output power source 230 through the first selector 231, And is connected to the direct current power outputted through the control unit 240 or to the ground direct current power. The first selector 231 connects the DC power source or the ground to the LED 111 used only for the purpose of emitting the near-infrared light according to the first selection signal of the control unit 280. According to the connection of the DC power source, the LED 111 is supplied with DC power at one end and accordingly emits near infrared light. Further, the LED 111 stops the emission of the near-infrared light according to the connection of the ground.

The second selector is composed of two selectors. The 2-1 selector 233 connects the DC power or ground to the 2-2 selector 235. The 2-2 selector 235 is present in the number (n, n is equal to or more than 2) of the optical sensing elements 113 included in the LED module 110, and each of the 2-2 selector 235 selects 1 selector 233 is connected to one end of the optical sensing element 113 or a light amount measurement signal of one end of the selected specific optical sensing element 113 is supplied to the light amount measuring unit 210 Connect. The light amount measuring unit 210 can quantify the amount of light sensed by the specific light sensing element 113 using a specific light amount measuring signal.

The second-1 selector 233 of the second selector is composed of a single selector and is connected to the DC power supply or grounded by the second power supply selection signal output by the control unit 280. When DC power is supplied, the optical sensing element 113 is used as the near-infrared LED 111 to emit near-infrared light. When the ground (or reverse power) is connected, the optical sensing element 113 is used for measuring the amount of light It is possible. A specific one of the plurality of optical sensing elements 113 is used for measuring the amount of light at a specific point in time. The control unit 280 can select the specific optical sensing element 113 among the various optical sensing elements 113 as an element for measuring the light amount and output the second optical sensing element selection signals to the second 2-2 selector 235, .

Each of the selection signals controls each of the second -2 selectors 235 so that a signal at one end of the specific light sensing element 113 is provided to the light amount measurement module. The light amount measuring unit 210 is preferably configured to receive the light amount measurement signal from one optical sensing element 113 and the control unit 280 is configured to receive one of the selection signals of the second- And the other selection signals are configured differently.

The third selectors 237 are composed of a plurality of third select signals, and each of the third select signals connects the DC power source or the ground to the LED 111 for measuring the amount of light. The control unit 280 sets the third selection signal so that the DC power is supplied to the light amount measuring LED 111 corresponding to the light sensing element 113 that outputs the light amount measurement signal. And the control unit 280 generates a third selection signal so that the ground is connected to the other light quantity measuring LED 111.

The control flow for generating each selection signal by the control unit 280 will be described in more detail below.

9 is a diagram showing another configuration example (hereinafter, also referred to as a fourth configuration example) of the LED pad 100 in which the LED 111 is used as the optical sensing element 113 and the blood flow change can be measured. Unlike the second and third embodiments, in the fourth configuration, most of the LEDs 111 are connected to the light sensing elements 113 (for example, the LEDs 111 except for the LEDs 111 at the left and right ends) (Which can be used as the sensing element 113).

The fourth configuration example is different from the second and third configurations in that the LED 111 having the specified distance is selected by the LED 111 for measuring the amount of light and the LED 111 is selected as the optical sensing device 113 Lt; / RTI > According to the fourth configuration example, it is possible to monitor the change in the blood flow at any point of the LED module 110.

Each optical sensing element 113 is configured to sense near-infrared light emitted to the skin from the LED 111, which is separated by a certain distance, through the skin tissue and again emitted to the outside of the skin. Each light sensing element 113 is configured to sense light emitted from a distant LED 111, such as 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, etc., through the skin, and each LED 111 (or light sensing element 113 ) Are optically isolated from each other through the blocking film 115. The shielding film 115 is configured to block near-infrared light emitted through the LED 111 from being transmitted to the optical sensing element 113 through the silicon or the like of the LED module 110 without passing through the skin tissue. The blocking layer 115 is made of, for example, black opaque resin and the opaque resin is configured to fill a trench on the silicon.

10 is a block diagram of the switching unit 230 reflecting the fourth configuration example. 10, all or most of the LEDs 111 of the LED module 110 serve as the optical sensing element 113, the light amount measuring LED 111 and the near-infrared light emitting LED 111 To be performed.

To this end, the switching unit 230 includes a plurality of second-1 selectors 233 and a plurality of second-second selectors 235 having the same function as that of FIG. The number of the 2-1 selector 233 and the number of the 2-2 selector 235 serves as at least the light sensing element 113, the light amount measuring LED 111 and the near-infrared light emitting LED 111 at a specific point in time It is more than the number of LEDs 111 that can be performed.

Each of the 2-1 selector 233 connects the DC power or ground signal to the corresponding 2 < 2 > -2 selector 235 in accordance with the corresponding second power selection signal. Each of the 2-2 selector 235 selects one of the LEDs 111 to which a DC power or ground signal of the 2-1 selector 233 connected in accordance with the corresponding second optical sensing element selection signal is connected To the terminal for connection).

According to the second optical sensing element selection signal, the specific LED 111 is not connected to the DC power or ground signal, and one end of the LED 111 is connected to the light amount measurement unit 210 as a light amount measurement signal.

The switching unit 230, which is a combination of the 2-1 selector 233 and the 2-2 selector 235 and the selection signal, is used to switch the functions of the first selector 231 and the third selector 237 Can be performed.

The control unit 280 outputs the second selection signals and the second light sensing element selection signals to select the specific LED 111 as the light sensing element 113 and the specific LED 111 as the light amount measuring LED 111 ).

A specific control flow in the control unit 280 will be described with reference to FIG.

11 is a diagram showing an operation flow performed in the control unit 280 for calculating the blood flow change. The operation flow of FIG. 11 is an explanation covering the first to fourth configuration examples. Individual descriptions according to the individual configuration examples may be accompanied below if necessary.

First, the control unit 280 of the controller 200 sets various environments for calculating the blood flow change in the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 (S101). For example, the control unit 280 controls the operation time (for example, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 through the input interface (not shown) provided in the communication interface 250 or the controller 200, (For example, 5 mm, 10 mm, etc.) between the light sensing element 113 and the light amount measuring LED 111. The control unit 280 can select the light quantity measuring LED 111 which is separated by a specified distance according to the distance between the light sensing element 113 and the light quantity measuring LED 111. [ In this way, the control unit 280 can change the distance between the light amount measuring LED 111 and the optical sensing element 113.

In addition, the control unit 280 is configured to select the light emission mode and the light amount measurement mode. For example, the control unit 280 may determine the duration of the light emission mode and the duration of the light amount measurement mode through the internal program or communication interface 250 and / or the input interface.

The light emission mode is used to indicate a state of emitting near-infrared light using the available near-infrared LED 111 of the LED module 110. The light amount measurement mode is used to indicate the state of measuring the light amount through the specific light sensing element 113 in order to measure the effect of the emission of the near-infrared light after the light emission mode.

Then, the control unit 280 selects and measures at least one optical sensing element 113 at an initial light amount before emission of the near-infrared light through all of the LEDs 111 for measuring the effect of the irradiation of the near-infrared light.

For example, in accordance with the environment setting, the control unit 280 supplies DC power to the LED 111 for measuring the light amount at a predetermined distance and outputs the sensed light amount from the selected light sensing element 113 to the light amount measuring unit 210 .

In the first configuration example, the control unit 280 supplies DC power to all the LEDs 111 and receives the light amount from the optical sensing element 113 through the light amount measuring unit 210 and the AD converter 220 . In the second and third configurations, the control unit 280 sets the first selection signal of the first selector 231 to select the ground, and controls the second power source 220 to receive the light amount measurement signal from the selected optical sensing element 113. [ And sets the selection signal and the second optical sensing element selection signals. The light sensing elements 113 are also available as LEDs 111, so that the second power selection signal of the second-1 selector 233 is set to select the ground for the light amount measurement instead of the near-infrared light emission, And the selection signal of the second-2 selector 235 corresponding to the second-1 selector 113 is set not to be connected to the second-1 selector 233. And the other selection signals of the second-2 selector 235 are set to be connected to the second-1 selector 233. One end of the selected optical sensing element 113 is connected to the light amount measuring unit 210 through the second -2 selector 235 and the light amount measuring unit 210 senses the light amount of the selected optical sensing element 113 Can be quantified.

The fourth configuration example is also similar to the second and third configuration examples. For the fourth configuration example, the control unit 280 controls the LEDs 111 (e.g., LEDs 111 on the left and right sides of a set distance) to a predetermined distance from the LED 111, which is the selected light sensing element 113, 1 selector 233 of the switching unit 230 so that the DC power is supplied only to the second power source of the switching unit 230. [ And sets the second power selection signal of each of the second-1 selectors 233 so that the ground signal is connected to the remaining LEDs 111. [ The control unit 280 controls the DC power or ground signal through the second-1 selector 233 to measure the amount of light from the selected LED 111 (the LED 111 selected by the optical sensing element 113) The second light sensing element selection signal of the second -2 selector 235 is set such that it is not connected to the second light sensing element 111. [ And the other selection signals of the second-2 selector 235 are set to be connected to the corresponding second-1 selector 233.

The control unit 280 measures the amount of light sensed from the selected optical sensing element 113 and stores the measured initial amount of light in the memory 270. The measured initial light amount is then compared with the measured amounts of light in real time so that the change in blood flow can be calculated accordingly.

The control unit 280 is a light amount measuring mode (first mode) in which all of the LEDs 111 emit near-infrared light in accordance with environment setting and time lapse or a light amount measuring mode Second mode) can be selected. The control unit 280 releases (S105) the near-infrared light for a predetermined time (e.g., one minute) using all the LEDs 111 available in the light emission mode.

In the first mode, the control unit 280 controls the switching unit 230 so that the DC power is supplied to the power terminals of all the LEDs 111 emitting the near-infrared light. In the first configuration example, the control unit 280 supplies DC power to all the LEDs 111 through the output power control unit 240. [ In the second and third configuration examples, the control unit 280 supplies DC power to all of the LEDs 111 (the near-infrared light emitting LED 111, the light sensing element 113, and the light amount measuring LED 111) So as to control the switching unit 230 as much as possible. The control unit 280 sets the first selection signal so that the direct current power is supplied to the LED 111 for the near infrared ray light emission and the second selection signal is supplied to the second sensing element 113, -1 selector 233 and the 2-2 selector 235 and sets the selection signals of the third selector 237 so that the DC power is supplied to the light amount measuring LED 111. [

The control unit 280 sets the power selection signal of all the second-1 selectors 233 so that the direct-current power is connected to all the LEDs 111, so that the selected direct-current power is connected to the LED 111 And sets the selection signal of all the second -2-selectors 235.

Then, the control unit 280 monitors the passage of time and determines whether to transition to the light amount measuring mode with time (S107). For example, the control unit 280 determines whether or not one minute has elapsed since the transition to step S105, and decides to transition from the light emission mode to the light amount measurement mode at the lapse of one minute.

If not more than one minute has elapsed, the control unit 280 continuously emits near-infrared light through the LED 111, and if the transition to the light amount measuring mode is decided, the control unit 280 controls the light amount The light sensing element 113 to be measured is selected and the amount of light is measured through the selected light sensing element 113. It is preferable that the selected optical sensing element 113 and the optical sensing element 113 selected in step S103 are the same. Step S103 may select and measure a plurality of optical sensing elements 113. [ Similarly, selection and measurement for a plurality of optical sensing elements 113 may also be performed in step S109.

The selection and measurement of the optical sensing element 113 in step S109 is functionally the same as the selection and measurement in step S103. For example, a specific optical sensing element 113 is selected using the selectors of the switching unit 230 according to each configuration example, and the amount of light from the optical sensing element 113 is quantified through the light amount measuring unit 210 It can be stored in the memory 270.

In step S109, the control unit 280 determines a light sensing element 113 to be sensed among the plurality of light sensing elements 113 and outputs a direct current (DC) voltage to the adjacent LED 111 for a predetermined distance to the determined light sensing element 113 So that power is supplied. For example, the control unit 280 may select a specific one of the light sensing elements 113 that can be sensed and set the LED 111, which is a distance distant from the light sensing element 113, And the control unit 280 measures the amount of light from the light sensing element 113 by selecting the light-measuring LED 111 for measurement. The amount of light from each optical sensing element 113 in the second mode may be sequentially measured.

For example, the control unit 280 may select the first optical sensing element 113 at the first point in the second mode and set the selectors to measure the amount of light therefrom, and the second selected optical sensing And sets the selectors to measure the amount of light from the device 113. As described above, the light amount at each point can be measured using the various optical sensing elements 113 even in the second mode. The measured light amount data may be stored together with the index of the light sensing element 113.

In addition, the control unit 280 can differently select the light sensing element 113 selected in step S109 and the light sensing element 113 selected for measurement in the previous step S109 according to the iterative performance. In this manner, all the light sensing elements 113 are selected in the light amount measurement mode at one point, and the light amount need not be measured. Instead, multiple light sensing elements may be selected and measured at various points in time of the light intensity measurement mode.

The control unit 280 calculates the change in the blood flow amount in accordance with the light irradiation of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 using the initial light amount data stored in the memory 270 and the light amount data measured in step S109 (S113).

When a single optical sensing element 113 is used, data of a single blood flow change is calculated. When a plurality of optical sensing elements 113 are used, blood flow change data is calculated for each optical sensing element 113. Each calculated blood flow change data may represent the blood flow change rate calculated using the change rate of the initial light amount and the currently measured light amount. The blood flow rate change rate represents the blood flow rate change rate improved by the irradiation of the near-infrared light light as compared with the initial point of step S103.

The control unit 280 stores data such as the measurement time, the measured light amount, and the calculated blood flow amount in step S115.

The control unit 280 outputs data indicating the change in blood flow at the point corresponding to the optical sensing element 113 through the communication interface 250 or the display unit 260 in step S117. Accordingly, the portable terminal 20 can output the received blood flow change data through the display, and the controller 200 can display the blood flow change through the display unit 260.

The control unit 280 determines whether or not the end point according to the environment setting has been reached in step S119. If the end point is reached, the operation of the LED 111 and the optical sensing element 113 is stopped while maintaining the output value of the display in step S200.

If the end point has not yet been reached, the control unit 280 returns to step S105.

When a single optical sensing element 113 is used, data of a single blood flow change is calculated. When a plurality of optical sensing elements 113 are used, blood flow change data is calculated for each optical sensing element 113. Each calculated blood flow change data may represent the blood flow change rate calculated using the change rate of the initial light amount and the currently measured light amount. The blood flow rate change rate represents the blood flow rate change rate improved by the irradiation of the near-infrared light light as compared with the initial point of step S103.

으로 나타낼 수 있다. 여기서 I₀는 용액에 입사하는 광의 강도이고, I는 용액을 통과한 광의 세기, ε는 흡광계수이며, 입사광의 파장에 따른 용액 물질 특유의 상수이다. 이 법칙은 광세기의 감쇠가 광을 흡수하는 물질의 두께에 비례한다는 램버트(Lambert)의 법칙과, 광세기의 감쇠가 광을 흡수하는 물질의 농도(c)에 비례한다는 비어(Beer)의 법칙을 합한 것이다. 따라서 혈류량 변화의 산출은 광을 피부에 조사하고 일정한 거리에 떨어져 있는 지점에서 피부에 조사된 광이 내부 피부 조직을 통해서 통과하고 다시 피부 외부로 방출된 광을 측정하여 조사된 광과 방출된 광 세기의 변화(혹은 광세기 변화율)를 측정하고 램버트-비어 법칙을 사용하여 계산할 수 있다. The relationship between the light transmittance, the distance the light travels through the solution (light path length L), and the concentration of the solution (c) when light passes through any solution material is given by the Lambert-Beer law,

. Where I ₀ is the intensity of the light incident on the solution, I is the intensity of the light passing through the solution, ε is the extinction coefficient, and is a constant specific to the solution substance according to the wavelength of the incident light. This law is based on Lambert's law that the attenuation of the light intensity is proportional to the thickness of the light absorbing material and the Beer's law that the attenuation of the light intensity is proportional to the concentration of the light absorbing material (c) . Therefore, the calculation of the blood flow change is performed by irradiating the light to the skin, passing the light irradiated to the skin through the inner skin tissue at a certain distance, measuring the light emitted to the outside of the skin, (Or the rate of light intensity change) can be measured and calculated using the Lambert-Beer law.

The calculation of the rate of change in blood flow rate is made by using a change in the amount of oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin included in blood vessels in the skin tissue to be calculated and a change in the light absorption rate thereof. Oxy-hemoglobin is oxygenated hemoglobin and dioxy-hemoglobin is non-oxygenated hemoglobin. It is known that hemoglobin in each state has different absorption spectrum depending on whether or not oxygen is present.

As can be seen from Fig. 12, oxy-hemoglobin and dioxy-hemoglobin vary in absorption rate depending on the wavelength of the light to be irradiated.

The optical sensing element 113 configured to block the near infrared ray light directly emitted through the blocking film 115 at a certain distance according to different absorption rates senses different amounts of light according to the absorption rate due to the emission of the near-infrared light. Therefore, when the amount of light measured by the optical sensing element 113 is less than the initial value, it means that the blood flow rate has increased, meaning that a relatively large amount of light is sensed, which means that the blood flow is relatively lowered .

Further, it can be seen that as the irradiation time of the near-infrared ray light passes, the blood flow rate is relatively continuously increased and the rate of change of the blood flow rate is increased.

13 shows the change in the amount of light emitted and sensed through the skin tissue at a certain distance when the blood flow in the skin tissue changes according to the distance between the LED light source and the optical sensor. In FIG. 13A, "original" means the initial blood flow (100%), and 300%, 600%, 900%, and 1500% means that the blood flow is increased three times, six times, nine times, and fifteen times do. As shown in Fig. 13 (a), the amount of light measured according to the increase of the blood flow at each distance is lowered.

FIG. 13 (b) is a graph showing the change in the blood flow amount in accordance with the change in the relative amount of light at each distance. In this figure, it can be seen that the change in the blood flow rate at a certain distance can be related to the intensity change ratio measured by the optical sensing element 113. For example, if the light sensing element 113 is at a distance of 10 mm from the light source and the initial (phototherapeutic) light amount and the current (after phototherapy) measured light amount is reduced by about 72%, the blood flow is about 1500% (About 15 times).

The graph of FIG. 13 is constructed by applying the respective intrinsic parameters of a specific body part (for example, an arm, a sole, forehead, etc.) to a known blood flow variation curve. The graph of Figure 13 is generated by applying body parameters to the blood flow conversion diffuse reflectance in known papers. (Paper 1: Grossweiner, LI; Rogers, BHG; Grossweiner, An Introduction / by Leonard I. Grossweiner, James B. Grossweiner, BH Gerald Rogers, edited by Linda R. Jones Dordrecht: Springer, 2005., 2005, ISBN 9781402028854, Biol. 44, 967 (1999)). < tb > < tb > < SEP >

FIG. 14 is a graph showing an example of a method of calculating a blood flow change according to an initial (pretreatment) light amount and a current (after phototherapy) light amount change.

The X-axis in FIG. 14 represents the relative value (i.e., the rate of change of light amount) of the currently measured light amount with respect to the initial light amount, and the Y-axis represents the changed blood flow rate relative to the initial blood flow rate (100% blood flow). The blood flow change curve is a graphical representation of the blood flow rate change rate at a specific distance (see FIG. 13 (b)), and the current light amount change measurement is a ratio of the measured light amount to the initial light amount (for example, the currently measured light amount value / Value) as a percentage. At this time, the light amount value can be represented by the light voltage or photocurrent value measured by the light sensing element 113. As shown in FIG. 14, the Y-axis value of the blood flow curve corresponding to the point corresponding to the light amount change measurement value represents the initial blood flow change rate.

The blood flow change curve may be stored in the memory 270 and stored as blood flow change data with respect to time. For example, data for representing a blood flow change curve can be stored as a pair of an X-axis value and a Y-axis value. The control unit 280 can calculate the blood flow rate change rate by applying the ratio of the currently measured amount of light to the blood flow rate variation curve.

Step S113 is performed a plurality of times from the initial measurement point (S103) to the end point. Accordingly, the control unit 280 may calculate the rate of blood flow change over a plurality of times from the initial point to the end point and store the rate of change in the memory 270. Step S103 is also performed in the light amount measurement mode.

Body parts used for calculation of blood flow rate change may be different from each other. The memory 270 may separately store parameters for each body part and may generate or store a blood flow variation curve using parameters corresponding to specific body parts according to the environment setting at step S101. The body part may be, for example, an arm, a leg, an abdomen, a sole, a back, a knee, a forehead, Each body part may be different in amount of water, amount of blood, hemoglobin level, degree of saturation, etc., and accordingly the corresponding blood flow change curve is also different.

In this manner, the control unit 280 can measure the amount of light through the optical sensing element 113 in the light amount measuring mode and calculate the blood flow rate change rate therefrom.

On the other hand, the second mode (light amount measurement mode) is repeatedly set a plurality of times before the end, and the control unit 280 is configured to detect one optical sensing element 113 at one point in the second mode and near- It is possible to select the LED 111 that emits the near infrared light and the other one of the light sensing element 113 at the other time point of the second mode and the LED 111 that emits near infrared light at the time of measuring the light amount. The control unit 280 may calculate the blood flow rate change rate at each point compared with the initial light amount for each selected optical sensing element 113. [ The blood flow change curve at each point can be stored in the memory 270 and stored as blood flow change data according to the position, and the result can be output by two-dimensional area mapping of the measurement site.

15 and 16 are views showing this example. 15 and 16 are preferred embodiments of the fourth configuration example.

15, and 16, the control unit 280, when setting the environment (S101), detects light from the LEDs 111 adjacent 5 mm from the optical sensing element 113 The amount of light can be measured. The control unit 280 sequentially measures the initial light amount for the LEDs 111 selectable by the light sensing element 113 as shown in FIG. 15 and stores it in the memory 270 in step S103.

Subsequently, the control unit 280 supplies DC power to all the LEDs 111 in step S105 to emit near-infrared light. 15, the control unit 280 successively selects the light sensing elements 113 sequentially for each LED 111 and measures the amount of light (S109). Thereafter, the control unit 280 measures the blood flow amount (S113).

Thus, the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 according to the present invention can observe the change in blood flow rate at each point of the near-infrared ray irradiator 10 by sequential scanning.

Fig. 16 shows an example in which the amount of light can be measured from the LEDs 111 adjacent 10 mm at the time of setting the environment. 15 and 16, the control unit 280 can measure the amount of light from various distances. The measurement of light intensity from various distances and the calculation of blood flow changes also reveal the change in blood flow according to the depth of the skin.

That is, the blood flow change data at a distance of 5 mm represents the blood flow change rate in the shallow skin, and the blood flow change data at the distance of 10 mm or more can show the blood flow change rate in the deeper skin.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The present invention is not limited to the drawings.

10: near infrared ray irradiator
100: LED pad
110: LED module 111: LED
113: optical sensing element 115:
120: Silicone case
200:
210: light quantity measuring unit 220: AD converter
230: switching unit
231: first selector 233: second-1 selector
235: 2nd-2 selector 237: 3rd selector
240: Output power control unit
250: communication interface 260: display unit
270: memory 280: control unit
300: Connecting cable
20: Portable terminal 30: Local area network

Claims (10)

delete One or more LEDs emitting near-infrared light;
At least one light sensing element capable of sensing light transmitted through the skin of near-infrared light emitted by the LED; And
And a blocking layer disposed between the LED and the optical sensing element to block near infrared light emitted directly from the LED,
Wherein the light sensing element is capable of sensing an amount of light passed through the skin in a second mode and capable of emitting near infrared light in a first mode,
Near infrared ray irradiator. 3. The method of claim 2,
A light amount measuring unit for measuring a light amount of the light sensed through the optical sensing element; And an AD converter for converting an analog signal of a measured light amount into a digital signal,
Near infrared ray irradiator. 3. The method of claim 2,
A DC power supply is connected to one end of the optical sensing element in the first mode according to the received control signal and the DC power is not connected to one end of the optical sensing element in the second mode according to the received control signal, Further comprising:
Near infrared ray irradiator. 3. The method of claim 2,
And a control unit for selecting the first mode or the second mode at a designated time point,
Wherein the at least one LED and at least one light sensing element are each composed of a plurality of light sensing elements,
Wherein the control unit determines a light sensing element to supply DC power to the plurality of LEDs and the plurality of light sensing elements in the first mode and to perform sensing among the plurality of light sensing elements in the second mode, And to cause DC power to be supplied to the LED adjacent to the determined light sensing element by a predetermined distance,
Near infrared ray irradiator. 6. The method of claim 5,
And a light amount measuring unit for measuring the light amount of the light sensed through the determined light sensing element,
Wherein the control unit repeatedly selects the second mode a plurality of times with the elapse of time and controls the first light amount measured by the light amount measuring unit and the second light amount measured by the second point of time of the second mode Calculating a blood flow change from the second light amount measured by the light amount measuring unit to the second time point,
Near infrared ray irradiator. The method according to claim 6,
The calculation of the blood flow change is made by comparing the rate of change between the first light amount at the first time point and the second light amount at the second time point, which is the initial measurement time, with respect to the blood flow rate change curve calculated by applying the parameters used at the designated human body part Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the control unit is operable to change the specified distance through selection of an adjacent LED,
Near infrared ray irradiator. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the control unit repeatedly selects the second mode a plurality of times over time,
A first optical sensing element determined at a first time point of the second mode and a second optical sensing element determined at a second time point of the second mode and adjacent LEDs are different from each other,
Wherein the control unit calculates the blood flow change through the first light sensing element at the first time point and calculates the blood flow change through the second light sensing element at the second time point,
Near infrared ray irradiator. 3. The near-infrared ray irradiation system according to claim 2, 10. The method of claim 9,
And a portable terminal connected to the near-infrared ray irradiator through a wireless local area network,
Wherein the portable terminal receives blood flow change data through the local network and outputs the received blood flow change data through a display,
Near Infrared Ray Irradiation System.

Images