JPH0417650B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a body temperature measuring device used for measuring various body temperatures in a short period of time, including a woman's basal body temperature and body temperature during surgery.

(Prior Art) It is known that infrared temperature measurement is excellent for measuring various temperatures in a short time. This infrared temperature measurement section is located away from the object to be measured and captures infrared rays emitted from the object to measure the temperature in a non-contact manner.

However, when the object to be measured is a human body with a surface temperature distribution, it is difficult to determine the measurement points in order to measure the temperature (body temperature) using the principle of infrared temperature measurement. In addition, conventional electronic thermometers that use a mercury column or a thermistor have the drawback that they take a long time to measure temperature because the temperature measuring part is brought into direct contact with the human body and the temperature is measured after waiting for the temperature measuring part to reach thermal equilibrium.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In order to avoid this drawback, the present applicant first inserted the ear canal into the ear canal ostium, which is close to the body temperature deep within the human body and has high reproducibility, and received infrared rays emitted from the membrane of the ear canal. discloses an apparatus for measuring body temperature using the principle of infrared thermometry (see Japanese Patent Application No. 144998/1999).

This body temperature measurement device is installed in a thermally insulating case that is inserted into the opening of the ear canal, and is located away from the membrane of the ear canal, which is the object to be measured.It captures infrared rays emitted from the membrane of the ear canal to measure temperature without contact. It is equipped with a temperature measuring section.

However, the body temperature measurement device disclosed earlier,
The infrared thermometer is held in a thermally insulating case,
Temperature is measured using infrared rays emitted from the membrane of the ear canal, but due to the effects of heat and infrared rays transmitted through the thermally insulating case, it takes some time for the infrared temperature measuring part to reach thermal equilibrium. The drawback was that measurements could not be taken in an extremely short period of time.

An object of the present invention is to avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks and provide a body temperature measuring device in which an infrared temperature measuring section can sense heat and measure body temperature in a shorter time.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a thermally poor conductor case with a built-in infrared temperature sensor, and a body temperature sensor that is attached to the tip of the thermally poor conductor case so as to be placed close to the infrared measuring temperature sensor. an ear contact member that sometimes comes into contact with the opening of the external auditory canal; the ear contact member is made of a metal cylindrical body with a small heat capacity and has an annular hollow part through which infrared rays penetrate. The present invention provides a measuring device.

(Function) As described above, if a metal ear contact member with a small heat capacity is provided at the tip of the thermally poor conductor case in which the infrared temperature sensor is built so that it is placed close to the infrared temperature sensor, the external auditory canal The infrared rays in the inner ear immediately reach the infrared temperature sensor through the annular hollow part and are sensed, but at the same time, the metal earpiece rapidly becomes thermally balanced with the surface body temperature around the opening of the external auditory canal. Since the secondary infrared rays re-radiated from the earpiece reach the infrared temperature sensor in an amount proportional to body temperature, the measurement proportional to body temperature is obtained as the sum of the direct (primary) infrared rays from the ear canal. Can be done quickly. In addition, the ear contact member is
Since the infrared rays introduced into the annular hollow part, which is the infrared penetrating part inside the infrared rays, are reflected and inflow, the same effect as the incident angle of the infrared rays entering the infrared temperature sensor is widened, and this effect is superimposed. This allows the infrared temperature sensor to operate with high sensitivity.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a body temperature measuring device 1 according to the present invention.
0, and this body temperature measuring device 10 includes a thermally poor conductor case 14 incorporating an infrared temperature sensor 12;
An ear contact member 16 is attached to the tip of the thermally poor conductor case 14 so as to be placed close to the infrared temperature sensor 12, and comes into contact with the ear canal opening when measuring body temperature.
It consists of. The thermally poor conductor case 14 is made of a thermal insulator such as plastic. The infrared temperature sensor 12 can be, for example, a thermopile type temperature sensing element such as a thermocouple, and this temperature sensing element is connected to an electronic circuit (not shown) by a lead wire 13, and this electronic circuit Upon receiving the temperature output from the temperature sensor 12, the measured temperature is displayed on a temperature display (not shown).

The ear member 16 is made of a cylindrical body 18 made of a metal such as aluminum that has good thermal conductivity, has a small wall thickness, and has a small heat capacity. This cylindrical body 1
8 has an annular hollow part 20 inside thereof through which infrared rays emitted from the membrane of the external auditory canal penetrates, and the opening at the tip is designed so as not to cause pain to the ear when inserted into the opening of the external auditory canal. It has an edge portion 18a that is bent inward to widen the contact surface.
The annular hollow portion 20 has a polished inner surface to enhance the reflection of infrared rays on the inner surface and increase the amount of infrared rays incident on the infrared temperature sensor 12.

In the illustrated embodiment, an environmental temperature correction sensor 22 is provided within the thermally poor conductor case 14 . This environmental temperature correction sensor 22 usually consists of a temperature sensing element such as a thermistor, and this temperature sensing element is connected to the electronic circuit described above via a lead wire 13. This environmental temperature correction sensor 22 has a slower temperature measurement speed than the infrared temperature sensor 12, and depending on the room temperature or the temperature of the hand holding the thermally poor conductor case 14, the infrared temperature sensor
2. The temperature measurement standard level fluctuations experienced by 2 are gently corrected.

The body temperature measuring device 10 of the present invention, when measuring body temperature,
The user holds the thermally poor conductor case 14 in his hand and inserts the ear contact member 16 into the ear canal opening.
When the earpiece 16 is brought into contact with the opening of the ear canal in this manner, infrared rays emitted from the skin of the ear canal and the eardrum pass through the annular hollow part 20 of the earpiece 16 while being reflected, and reach the infrared temperature sensor 12. Reach immediately. At the same time, the ear contact member 16 receives heat conduction from the surface body temperature of the external auditory canal opening due to its contact with the external auditory canal, but since the ear contact member 16 has good heat conduction and a small heat capacity, the heat is dissipated in an extremely short period of time. A state of equilibrium is reached. Therefore, in the earpiece 16, the infrared rays emitted from the earpiece 16, which is in a state close to the surface temperature of the opening of the ear canal due to thermal equilibrium, are superimposed on the infrared rays that pass through the skin of the ear canal and the eardrum as described above. The infrared temperature measurement sensor 12 outputs the temperature measurement. In this way, the infrared temperature sensor 12
Body temperature can be measured in an extremely short period of time due to its two functions: infrared penetration function and infrared radiation function through heat conduction.

FIG. 2 shows a temperature measurement characteristic curve of the body temperature measuring device according to the present invention shown in FIG. Infrared temperature sensor 1 compatible with measurement temperature
This shows the output voltage after amplifying the output of No. 2 at a constant rate. In this temperature measurement characteristic curve, the curved portion up to point A indicates an output that rapidly increases as the infrared temperature sensor 12 receives direct infrared rays from the skin of the external auditory canal and the eardrum, and the curved portion passing through point B is a tangent. The infrared rays secondarily radiated by the ear member 16 are superimposed on the directly radiated infrared rays, and the output increases. The curve portion passing through this point B reaches the maximum output value when the temperature rise of the ear contact member 16 reaches thermal equilibrium. The thermally poor conductor case 14 also receives heat from the user's hand holding it and the heat from the earpiece 16, and its temperature gradually rises, causing the temperature of the envelope of the infrared temperature sensor 12 to increase. Rise.

When the infrared temperature sensor 12 is a thermopile type temperature sensing element, when the temperature of the envelope that connects the cold junction of the thermocouple increases, the output of the infrared temperature sensor 12 decreases, and the temperature sensor 12 decreases. Therefore, the temperature measurement characteristic curve decreases after passing the maximum output point, as shown by curve C in FIG. The environmental temperature correction sensor 22 senses the environmental temperature and corrects the measured temperature, but its operation is slow, so it does not appear in the temperature measurement characteristic curve in FIG. Therefore, the highest output point in FIG. 2 can be adopted as a value proportional to the body temperature of the subject. As can be seen from Figure 2, this maximum output point is achieved approximately 15 seconds after setting up the device. Earpiece member 16
When removed from the ear canal orifice, thermally defective conductor case 1
4 and the ear contact member 16, the temperature decreases, but since the ear contact member 16 heats rapidly, the temperature decreases quickly.

In order to compare the characteristics of the body temperature measuring device 10 of the present invention with other devices, as shown in FIG. A body temperature measuring device 20 having a homogeneous ear insertion portion 14a extending integrally from the body temperature measuring device 20 was manufactured, and a temperature measurement characteristic curve obtained by this body temperature measuring device 20 is shown in FIG. The curve part of this temperature measurement characteristic curve up to point D is the same as the curve part up to point A in FIG. The output increases rapidly. Thereafter, the ear insertion part 14a receives surface body temperature from the external auditory canal orifice that it comes into contact with, and its temperature gradually rises.As a result, secondary radiation of infrared rays starts from the ear insertion part 14a, and the infrared temperature sensor 12 detects the primary infrared radiation. The output increases as shown by E in Fig. 4 as a result of receiving both radiation and secondary radiation, but since the ear insertion portion 14a is a poor thermal conductor, the increase is gradual and does not reach the maximum output point. It took about 40 seconds to reach it. Moreover, when the ear insertion part 14a of the thermally poor conductor case 14 is removed from the ear canal opening, the temperature decreases as heat is radiated from the thermally poor conductor case 14 and its ear insertion part 14a.
Since the ear insertion part 14a is a poor thermal conductor, the heat dissipation from the ear insertion part 14a is slow, so the temperature decreases slowly, causing trouble in repeatedly measuring body temperature.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, as described above, a metal earpiece member having a small heat capacity is attached to the tip of the thermally poor conductor case in which the infrared temperature sensor is built, so as to be placed close to the infrared temperature sensor. Therefore, the infrared rays in the ear canal immediately reach the infrared temperature sensor and are detected, but at the same time, the earpiece also quickly reaches a state of thermal equilibrium with the surface body temperature around the opening of the ear canal, and is re-radiated from the earpiece. The secondary infrared rays generated reach the infrared temperature sensor in an amount proportional to body temperature, and therefore, the amount of secondary infrared rays proportional to body temperature is the sum of the direct infrared rays from the ear canal and the secondary infrared rays from the earpiece. Measurement can be carried out rapidly, and since the infrared rays introduced into the infrared penetrating part inside the ear piece reflect and flow into the ear piece, the angle of incidence of the infrared rays entering the infrared temperature sensor is widened, and this effect is further superimposed. There is a practical benefit in that an infrared measuring temperature sensor can be operated with high sensitivity.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the main parts of the body temperature measuring device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the temperature measurement characteristics of the body temperature measuring device of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing body temperature for comparison with the present invention. FIG. 4, which is a sectional view of the main part of the measuring device, is a diagram showing the temperature measurement characteristics of the device shown in FIG. 3. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Body temperature measurement device, 12... Infrared temperature measurement sensor, 14... Heat poor conductor case, 16... Earpiece member, 20... Annular hollow part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermally poor conductor case with a built-in infrared temperature sensor, and an ear contact member that is attached to the tip of the thermally poor conductor case so as to be placed close to the infrared temperature sensor and comes into contact with the ear canal opening when measuring body temperature. A body temperature measuring device, characterized in that the earpiece member is made of a metal cylindrical body having a small heat capacity and having an annular hollow part through which infrared rays pass.