KR20150069221A - Blood viscometer using time of falling - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device measuring a difference of falling time in accordance with viscosity and measuring viscosity thereby. The present invention develops a low-cost and small device which enables a falling object to free fall inside a capillary tube where blood to be measured is contained and is capable of measures the viscosity of blood through the difference of the falling time through a blood viscosity measurement device including a falling time measurement unit and a viscosity calculation unit to enable an individual to easily measure the viscosity of the blood in home.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a blood viscosity measuring device,

More particularly, to a device for measuring the free fall time of an object in accordance with the viscosity of blood and measuring the viscosity of blood through it.

Many vascular diseases caused by changes in eating habits are becoming a big issue for modern people. The viscosity of blood is an important risk factor for vascular disease. The device that can measure the viscosity of blood to prevent vascular diseases or to maintain health at a certain level plays a very important role, There are not many low-cost and compact equipment available.

The present invention has developed a low-cost and small-sized instrument capable of measuring the viscosity of blood through the difference in falling time according to the viscosity, so that an individual easily measures the viscosity of blood in the home.

The apparatus for measuring blood viscosity using a falling time according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a falling time measuring unit for measuring a falling time of a drop body dropping freely on a capillary containing blood, And a viscosity calculating unit for deriving the viscosity of the blood through a predetermined algorithm predetermined according to the measured falling time.

1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for measuring blood viscosity using a falling time according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a configuration diagram of a falling time measuring unit according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the function of the angle adjusting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a falling time measuring unit according to an embodiment to which an optical sensor and a manual rotary stage are applied by an equalization method.
FIG. 4B is a left side view of a drop time measuring unit according to an embodiment to which a sensor and a manual rotary stage are applied.
Figure 5 is a diagram of the hydrophilicity of the inner surface of a capillary according to one embodiment and the method of chemical treatment of an anticoagulant and the resulting chemical reaction.
6A is a table showing the viscosity of a standard fluid by glycerin concentration.
FIG. 6B is a graph illustrating a measurement result of a falling rate of glycerin concentration using a blood viscosity measuring apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 6C shows measurement results of falling speeds of glycerin concentration by 30 to 70% by using a blood viscosity measuring apparatus having an angle between 20 and 90 degrees among the measurement results shown in FIG. 6B.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a blood viscosity measurement method using a falling time according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when an element is referred to as "comprising ", it means that it can include other elements as well, without excluding other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for measuring blood viscosity using falling time according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for measuring blood viscosity using a falling time according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, the blood viscosity measuring apparatus 100 may include a falling time measuring unit 110 and a viscosity calculating unit 120.

The falling time measuring unit 110 can measure the time taken for falling by allowing a certain object to freely fall from the blood to be measured so as to obtain the viscosity of the blood to be measured.

The reason for measuring the dropping time is to use a method of obtaining a viscosity by using such a difference because a material having a high viscosity will take a relatively long fall time than a material having a low viscosity due to its viscosity.

The falling time measuring unit 110 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The viscosity calculating unit 120 can obtain the viscosity of the object to be measured through the falling time measured by the dropping time measuring unit 110 on the target substance,

As a method of obtaining the viscosity, a method of calculating the falling time at the corresponding viscosity by angle in advance through experiments and comparing the falling time measured by the falling time measuring unit 110 according to the result, Can be used.

Calculating the viscosity of the object to be measured by collating the measured falling time can be derived according to a predetermined algorithm, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a blood viscosity measuring apparatus using a falling time according to an embodiment.

2, the apparatus 100 for measuring blood viscosity using the dropping time includes a cap 210, a capillary 220, a drop body fixing unit 230, a sensor unit 240, and an angle adjusting unit 250 Can,

The drop body 210 can be produced so as to have a specific gravity enough to allow free fall in the blood.

According to one embodiment, the dropping body 210 may include a ferromagnetic material such as Fe, Ni, Co, or the like so as to be magnetized by the electromagnet 241.

The dropping body 210 has a predetermined width smaller than the inner diameter of the capillary tube 220. According to an embodiment, the dropping body 210 may have a circular shape with a diameter of 0.7 mm, but is not limited thereto If the width of the drop body 210 is smaller than the inner diameter of the capillary tube 220, it can be used without limitation.

The capillary tube 220 may contain a drop body 210 and blood having a viscosity measured therein and may have a longer length than an inner diameter of the drop body 210 so that the drop body 210 can freely fall through the capillary tube 220.

When the lengthwise side is set vertically so that the drop body 210 can fall freely from both ends of the capillary tube 220, the upper end is held at the measurement start point 235, (245).

According to one embodiment, the size of capillary 220 may be 50 mm in length and 1 mm in inner diameter, but this is for illustrative purposes only, and the capillary 220 may have a smaller inner diameter than the drop body 210, If it is not too wide to interfere with the fall, it can be used without limitation.

At this time, the surface of the inner diameter of the capillary 220 can be surface-treated to be hydrophilic so that blood can be easily collected.

Also, since the blood to be measured for viscosity is stored in the capillary 220 and the blood can not be measured accurately when the blood coagulates, the surface of the inner diameter can be chemically treated with an anticoagulant to prevent this.

The chemical treatment for the hydrophilic modification and the chemical treatment for the anticoagulant chemical treatment on the inner surface of the capillary 220 and the chemical reaction therebetween will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The dropping body fixing part 230 may be formed by attaching a fixing body 231 to both sides of the capillary 220 at a measurement starting point 235 of the upper end of the capillary tube 220 and fixing the dropping body have.

The dropping body fixing unit 230 is located at the measurement start point 235 and thus the dropping body 210 can be fixed to the measurement start point 235 in order to measure the viscosity of the blood, It is possible to measure the dropping rate at the slope and derive the viscosity through the measured time, so as to derive an accurate result value.

In order to derive an accurate result value, it is important that the drop body 210 freely falls at a constant position to keep the fall distance constant. Therefore, in order to always start a free fall at the measurement start point 235, The fixing member 230 fixes the dropping body 210 to the measurement start point 235 with the fixing body 231 and at the same time as the measurement is started, .

A plurality of electromagnets attached to a side surface of the capillary 220 form a magnetic field when a power source is supplied and a magnetic force generated from a magnetic field generated is applied to the drop body 210 Can be used to fix the capillary 220 to the measurement start point 235 which is the upper end of the capillary 220 regardless of the inclination of the capillary tube 220 and to stop the flow of current at the start of the measurement, A physical button for physically fixing the electromagnet without using the electromagnet and for releasing the falling body by externally applying a force by a user's operation can be used.

The fixture 241 is not limited to the electromagnet or the physical button described above and can be used without limitation as long as the fixture and separation can be controlled so that the drop body can freely fall for measurement of the drop time.

The sensor unit 240 is positioned at the measurement end point 245 of the lower end of the capillary 220 and is positioned at the measurement end point 245 of the capillary 220 so as to measure the free fall time from the measurement start point 235 to the measurement end point 245. [ And may include a plurality of sensors 241 on both sides.

At this time, the sensor 241 for measuring the free fall time may be an optical sensor, a chemical / electrical sensor, a magnetic field sensor or the like according to an embodiment. Any kind of sensor can be used as long as it can measure the time when the drop body 210 falls freely from the measurement start point 235 to the measurement end point 245. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

According to one embodiment, the optical sensor is located at the side of the capillary 220 at the measurement end point 245 and attaches a laser diode (PD) and a photodiode (PD) to both sides of the capillary 220, 210 reach the measurement end point 245, the LD and PD can sense this and measure the drop time,

Here, a laser diode (LD) means that a large forward current is supplied to the pn junction of the diode to generate laser light. Single crystals of gallium arsenide, which is used for modulation when a laser is used for communication and made by liquid phase growth, is generally used. The characteristic of the laser diode is that the device itself can directly modulate the laser beam by a current of a small size and a small driving power with a size of about several hundred micrometers (square), and by the selective combination of the semiconductor material, Emitting wavelengths other than the above-mentioned wavelengths are obtained.

PD (photodiode) is also a type of optical sensor that converts light energy into electrical energy. This is the addition of a photodetection function to the PN junction of the semiconductor. The photodiode is characterized in that the response speed is high, the sensitivity wavelength is wide, and the linearity of the photocurrent is good. It is mainly used for electronic appliances such as CD players, fire alarms, remote control receiver of television, and is also used to accurately measure light intensity.

PD is similar to LD but has the opposite function. LD converts electrical energy into light energy, but PD converts light energy into electrical energy.

The LD and PD are attached to both sides of the capillary tube 220 to supply power to the LD to transmit the laser to the PD. The PD receives the laser and reduces it to electrical energy. At this time, when the drop body 210 reaches the measurement end point 245, the drop body 210 prevents the laser from reaching the PD in the LD, and PD measures the point at which the laser can not be reduced to the electric energy, The time can be calculated.

The falling time measuring unit 110 actually implementing the sensor unit 240 using the optical sensor will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The chemical / electrical sensor according to an embodiment has two metal bars attached to both sides of the measurement end point 245 at the lower end of the capillary 220, and the metal bar is connected to the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the power source, respectively . When power is supplied, ionization phenomenon occurs due to the blood, which is an electrolyte, so that anions are attached to metal bars connected to the positive electrode, and positive ions are collected to metal bars connected to the negative electrode.

At this time, when the dropping body 210 reaches the measurement ending point 245, such ionization phenomenon is interfered with by the dropping body 210, so that the dropping time can be derived from the measured time of the interference, The power source may be an alternating current according to one embodiment.

The magnetic field sensor according to one embodiment includes a plurality of electromagnets 231 capable of forming a magnetic field attached to the capillary 220 side of the measurement end point 245 at the lower end of the capillary 220, And a sensor capable of measuring the time when the drop body 210, which is a drop sensing body, senses and falls freely from the measurement start point 235 to the measurement end point 245.

Here, the method of measuring the falling time is a method of measuring the falling time of the fixed body 231 attached to both sides of the lower end of the capillary 220 when the falling body 210 falls freely from the measurement start point 235 to the measurement end point 245 ) Detects the change occurring in the magnetic field formed by releasing the fixing of the drop body, and measures the free fall time by measuring the time based on the detected change.

The angle adjusting unit 250 can change the measurement angle by changing the inclination of the capillary, thereby making the dropping body 210 fall at a different speed.

At this time, the falling speed of the drop body 210 varies depending on each angle. The reason why the angle is changed is that, in order to increase the accuracy of the measurement according to the viscosity of the object to be measured, Objects with low viscosity can be measured at small angles.

Measuring this method will result in a longer fall time of the drop body 210 due to the viscosity of the object having a higher viscosity and an effect on the measured value if the fall time is excessively long or the drop is stopped due to viscosity As the accuracy of locomotion may deteriorate, it is possible to use a method of measuring at a large angle where the kinetic energy is relatively large due to the large potential energy.

On the other hand, when the object having a low viscosity is low, the dropping time of the dropping body 210 will be short because the viscosity is low, and if the dropping time is excessively short, the time difference will be small and the accuracy of the measured value may be affected. It is possible to use a method of measuring at a small angle where the kinetic energy is relatively small because the position energy is not too fast.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the blood viscosity measuring apparatus 100 of the angle adjusting unit 250 is vertical with respect to the ground, it is set to be 90 degrees. You can see the function.

According to one embodiment, the angle regulating unit 250 may be a manual rotary stage to support the capillary 220 and to adjust the inclined measurement angle, but not limited thereto, a capillary (not shown) 220 can be used without restriction as long as they can support the angle and fix it during measurement.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a falling time measuring unit 110 according to an embodiment in which an optical sensor and a manual rotary stage are applied by an equalization method. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a falling time measurement And the left side of FIG.

4A and 4B, when the LD and the PD are attached to both sides of the lower end of the capillary tube 220 and the drop body 210 located inside the capillary tube 220 drops free and arrives at the measurement point, The laser which has passed through the beam path 415 crossing the measurement end point 245 is blocked by the drop body 210 and the time at which the PD can not receive the laser beam emitted by the LD is measured to calculate the drop time You can. The insertion of the O-ring 450 and the attachment of the cap 460 prevent the blood from flowing down.

In addition, the inclination of the capillary 220, that is, the measurement angle, can be changed during the drop time measurement by using the manual rotary stage with the angle adjusting unit 250.

Figure 5 is a diagram of the hydrophilicity of the inner surface of a capillary according to one embodiment and the method of chemical treatment of an anticoagulant and the resulting chemical reaction.

Referring to FIG. 5, the following method may be used to chemically treat the internal surface of the capillary 220 to be hydrophilic.

According to one embodiment, the hydrophilic modification of the inner surface of the capillary 220 is performed by adding sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide to the inside of the capillary 220 and heating at 90 degrees for 1 hour. At this time, Si-O-Si on the surface of the capillary 220 may be oxidized by sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide to convert into Si-OH, and the surface may be modified to be hydrophilic (510).

The anticoagulant may be chemically treated on the inner surface of the capillary 220 chemically treated as described above.

 An anticoagulant is a generic term for substances that inhibit blood clotting. There are physiological and pathological ones, and they are generally classified into four kinds.

First, there is an anticoagulant that inhibits coagulation by adding it to blood. It is mainly oxalate and citrate, which bind to Ca2 + and inhibit coagulation. In addition, ion exchange resin, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and the like are used.

Second, there are physiological anticoagulants of blood against active blood coagulation factors present in blood, antithrombin III inhibiting the action of various blood coagulation factors such as thrombin, and heparin specifically binding thereto .

Third, it is an anticoagulant substance that reversibly and irreversibly inhibits the activity of blood coagulation factors, which is acquired from a pathological state. A known inhibitory substance to Factor VIII, which is thought to be a kind of antibody, is made after blood transfusions in people with hemophilia. Antibodies to factor IX, factor V, factor VII, and factor XIII are also known. In addition, patients with autoimmune disease may exhibit blood clotting disorders due to specific or nonspecific anticoagulants.

Fourth, it is an anticoagulant which inhibits the activity of the coagulation factor by oral administration. The combination of coumarin (eg, warfarin) and indanthione, or the like, inhibits the reduction of vitamin K, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors Ⅱ, Ⅶ, Ⅸ and Ⅹ in hepatocytes .

In the present invention, an anticoagulant that inhibits coagulation by adding to blood is used as an anticoagulant, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) may be used according to one embodiment (520). However, May be used.

In this way, the inner surface of the capillary 220 can be subjected to a chemical treatment 510 for modifying it by hydrophilicity and a chemical treatment 520 by an anticoagulant, and two chemical treatment processes.

The chemical reaction occurs due to the two kinds of chemical treatment, and the hydroxyl group and the anticoagulant on the inner surface of the capillary 220 can be bonded by hydrogen bonding as shown in FIG. 5 (530).

6A is a table showing the viscosity of a standard fluid by glycerin concentration.

Referring to FIG. 6A, various concentrations can be prepared by mixing glycerin concentration from 0 to 80% with water. When the glycerin concentration is 60%, it is equal to the whole blood viscosity. When the glycerin concentration is 40% . The reason for measuring the viscosity according to the concentration of glycerin is that since the viscosity of the blood to be measured is different for each person, the blood viscosity of the blood between 3.72 cps (Centipoises / mPa.s) The viscosity of the blood will be determined so that a solution having a viscosity between plasma and whole blood is generated by adjusting the concentration of glycerin to measure the falling time according to the viscosity so that the viscosity of the blood to be measured can be calculated based on this data to be.

FIG. 6B is a graph showing the results of measurement of the falling speed of each glycerin concentration using the blood viscosity measuring apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 6C is a graph showing a blood viscosity measuring apparatus having an angle between 20 and 90 degrees 100) was used to measure the drop rate of each 30-70% glycerin concentration.

6B or 6C is a graph of drop time measured at a capillary 220 angle of 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 90 degrees for each glycerin concentration using a blood viscosity measuring apparatus. As shown in Fig. 6 (b), the tendency of concentration of glycerin is shown. Among them, FIG. 6c shows an enlargement of the concentration of glycerin of 30 to 70%, which corresponds to whole blood and plasma.

As shown in FIG. 6C, the angle suitable for measuring blood is in the range of 20 to 30 degrees, which is the longest time width according to the concentration, but the total measurement time is not too long. Do not.

6, the viscosity calculating unit 120 collates the measurement angle and the falling time measured by the dropping time measuring unit 110 according to a predetermined result to determine an algorithm capable of deriving the viscosity The viscosity of the blood can be derived.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a blood viscosity measurement method using a falling time according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, the blood to be measured is introduced into the capillary 220 of the dropping time measuring unit 110 (S10).

At this time, the falling body 210 influenced by magnetism is contained in the capillary 220 into which the blood is injected, and the capillary 220 can contain the drop body 210 and the blood having the viscosity measured therein , And may have a longer length relative to the inner diameter so that the drop body 210 can freely fall through the capillary tube 220.

Also, the capillary can be chemically treated in duplicate by the hydrophilic reforming chemical treatment (510) and the anticoagulant chemical treatment (520).

After the blood is injected, the measurement angle is adjusted according to the viscosity of the blood (S20).

The reason why the measurement angle is adjusted is that the dropping rate of the drop 210 varies depending on each angle. In order to increase the accuracy of the measurement depending on the viscosity of the object to be measured, The object can be measured from a small angle.

After the angle is adjusted, the fixed body 231 attached to the upper end of the capillary tube 220 is controlled to move the drop body 210 from the measurement start point 235 at the upper end of the capillary tube 220 to the measurement end point (S30).

Here, an electromagnet and a physical button may be used as the fixing body 231 of the dropping body fixing part 230. [

In this way, the time during which the dropping body 210 falls freely from the measurement start point 235 to the measurement end point 245 is measured through the plurality of sensors 241 (S40).

At this time, the sensor 241 for measuring the dropping time can be used without limitation as long as it is a sensor 241 capable of measuring fall time such as an optical sensor, a chemical / electrical sensor, a magnetic field sensor, and the like.

According to one embodiment, the optical sensor is located at the measurement end point 245 of the lower end, and attaches a laser diode (PD) and a photodiode (PD) to both sides of the capillary 220, A laser is sent to the PD, which receives the laser and converts it to electrical energy. At this time, when the drop body 210 reaches the measurement end point 245, the drop body 210 prevents the laser from reaching the PD in the LD, and PD measures the point at which the laser can not be reduced to the electric energy, Time can be measured.

The viscosity is derived from a predetermined algorithm determined in accordance with the measured falling time (S50).

At this time, the predetermined algorithm is a method in which the falling time measured by the falling time measuring unit 110 is compared with the measurement result of the falling velocity of the blood according to the viscosity measured in advance according to the measurement angle, The viscosity of the blood can be determined.

The derived viscosity is output to the user (S60).

At this time, the form of outputting the viscosity value is not limited to a specific method of providing visual data, auditory data, or the like, as long as it can provide information to the user.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, Various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention are also within the scope of the present invention.

100: blood viscosity measuring apparatus 110: falling time measuring unit
120: viscosity calculating unit 210:
220: capillary tube 230:
231: Fixture 235: Starting point of measurement
240: sensor part 241: sensor
245: Measurement end point 250:

Claims (1)

A falling time measuring unit for measuring a falling time of the drop body by dropping the drop body through a fixing body for fixing and separating the drop body to a capillary containing blood, And
And a viscosity calculating unit for deriving the viscosity of the blood through a predetermined algorithm predetermined according to the falling time measured by the falling time measuring unit.

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