Patent Application
20210244614
The invention generally relates to an automatic acupuncture device, a needle gadget to be used in conjunction with the automatic acupuncture device, and a method to do acupuncture with the automatic acupuncture device.
Acupuncture has a history of more than 2000 years in China. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that there is Qi and blood in the human body to keep the basic functions. Acupuncture can regulate the Qi and blood and improve health. On the body, there are also meridians and acupuncture points which are more effective to do acupuncture. During acupuncture, an acupuncturist inserts acupuncture needles into a patient's body with certain angles, uses lifting-thrusting and twisting-rotating acupuncture manipulations to enhance acupuncture effect to treat diseases.
Patients generally see acupuncturists during the daytime for acupuncture treatment. However, according to the acupuncture theory, each meridian has its own active time. Thus, the best time for treatment may be at night or early in the morning. In addition, the onset time of various diseases, such as insomnia, headache, are not limited to the daytime. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an acupuncture device that can be used conveniently at home whenever needed.
In the past, there have been some patents trying to solve this problem.
Patents CN108392412A, CN204521567U, CN204910065U, CN109125062A have designed acupuncture robot systems with mechanical arms. Although they can achieve automatic acupuncture function, the designs are complex, the systems are huge, and the prices are high. They are not portable and not suitable for home use.
Patents CN108743367A, KR9600102433Y1, KR20384866Y1, KR201800247777A, TW201012459A, CN108309788B, CN103126883A, WO2006095944A1, CN203208351U, 203802802U and CN201692306U have designed another group of acupuncture device, which are in pen shapes or gun shapes. These acupuncture devices are manual acupuncture needle ejectors. When in use, the user holds the device in hand and press a switch to eject a needle out of a needle barrel built in the acupuncture device to insert the needle. Since this type of acupuncture devices need users' action to insert needles, they are not suitable for patients to use at home by themselves. Moreover, the acupuncture needles currently available on market have sharps exposed to the air when in use or after using and may cause injury to people or transmit diseases.
Patents CN202179694U and CN206508245U are manual acupuncture devices as well. In these designs, an acupuncture needle is packaged with a spring inside a needle tube and the spring is pre-compressed by a movable bolt in the needle tube. When in use, the user puts the needle device against the human body, pulls the movable bolt and allows the spring to extend from its compressed state, which pushes the needle into the human body. This type of acupuncture device needs manual operation and cannot be attached on the body during treatment. In addition, after the use, the needle is exposed outside of the needle tube and can cause injury.
Patent CN2086142U designed another type of acupuncture device with ejection spring for needle insertion and needle clamper for needle holding. When in use, the user needs to load the needle manually and press a button for needle releasing and insertion. This kind of acupuncture device is complex to operate and cannot be made into wearable devices. Also, the needles are easy to get contaminated.
Patent CN111150648A presents an automatic acupuncture device which uses negative pressure to drive a piston and push the needle for insertion. The design needs to press the instrument repeatedly to create negative pressure. It is inconvenient to use.
Patent CN107496164A designs an acupuncture device for automatic manipulation. Before use, the user manually loads a needle into the device, manually set the acupuncture depth and other parameters. Then the user powers on the device to insert the needle. The device will do the manipulation automatically. The use of this automatic acupuncture device is complex, and the acupuncture needle may touch with various parts of the acupuncture device directly and can use possible cross contamination.
Patent CN110123629A designs an automatic acupuncture device that allows to choose needles of different sizes. It characterizes with a needle barrel loaded with different sizes of needles in different chambers. A second barrel has an ejector chamber that can align with these different chambers of needles. The insertion of needle itself is manual. This type of device is complex to use and the needles are exposed to the device directly and can cause contamination.
Patents CN105963132A and CN206239727U present an automatic acupuncture system, including a positioning part, a power system, an acupuncture device, and a drone to carry the acupuncture device to the desired body parts, etc. The system is complex and more important, it uses the same acupuncture needle repeatedly, only with spray disinfection.
In view of the above medical needs and previous inventions, the present invention proposes an automatic acupuncture device that is portable, convenient to use, with the consideration of safety.
According to one aspect of the invention, an automatic acupuncture device is provided, which comprises: a case; one or more motors or electromagnets that are configured to provide force to move a needle driver linearly after powered on; one or more needle drivers that are configured to move linearly under the force of the motors or electromagnets to push acupuncture needles in needle gadgets into human body, where a needle gadget includes a needle tube and an acupuncture needle inside the needle tube, the needle gadget is configured to keep the acupuncture needle with the needle tube before, during and after acupuncture treatment, so that the acupuncture needle will not be exposed to air outside of the needle tube to cause injury; one or more needle gadget chambers that are configured to house the needle gadgets, allowing the needle gadgets being put into or taken out of the needle gadget chambers detachably.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device further comprises one or more locking-releasing structures that are configured to lock the needle gadgets in the needle gadget chambers so that the needle gadgets will not fall out of the needle gadget chambers during acupuncture treatment, and that are also configured to release the needle gadgets from the needle gadget chambers after acupuncture treatment.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device further comprises a control circuit, which is configured to control device starting, needle insertion, needle manipulations, needle removing, and/or user interface displaying.
Optionally, the motor is configured as a rotary motor and its motor shaft rotates when powered on, wherein the automatic acupuncture device further comprises a transmission system that converts a rotary motion to a linear motion.
Optionally, the transmission system of the automatic acupuncture device comprises a screw rod connected to the motor shaft; a guide rail or a guide rod; a screw nut around the screw rod that slides along the guide rail or guide rod when the screw rod rotates, to move the needle driver linearly.
Optionally, the motor is configured as a linear motor with a needle driver connected on its motor shaft, when powered on, the motor shaft and the needle driver move linearly.
Optionally, the motor shaft and therefore the needle driver move linearly as well as rotate, which drives the needle to move linearly and rotate through an uneven surface coupling between the needle driver and the needle top, to perform rotating and thrusting acupuncture manipulation.
Optionally, the needle driver is a bar, and the top of the needle tube of the needle gadget has a hole to allow the needle driver entering the needle tube along the direction of the needle, getting in touch with the needle top, and pushing the needle out through the needle tube.
Optionally, the needle driver is a bar, the top of the needle tube of the needle gadget has a hole, the side of the needle tube has a slit, the slit and the hole are connected, and when in use, the needle driver enters the needle tube through the hole and the slit, moves down through the slit on the side of needle tube and touches the needle top to push the needle out of the need tube.
Optionally, the needle driver is a bar, the side of the needle tube of the needle gadget has a slit with a width wider than the needle driver, and when in use, the needle driver enters the needle tube through the slit on the side of the needle tube, makes contact with the needle top to move the needle.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device further comprises an ejector spring in the needle gadget chamber, which is configured as following: when the needle gadget is pushed into the needle gadget chamber, the ejector spring is compressed, and a locking-releasing structure locks the needle gadget in the chamber; when the locking-releasing structure unlocks the needle gadget, the ejector spring extends and pushes out the needle gadget from the needle gadget chamber.
Optionally, the locking-releasing structure comprises a locking head, and the needle tube of the needle gadget has a locking notch, and when the needle gadget is pushed into the needle gadget chamber and the locking head is forced into the locking notch of the needle tube, the needle gadget is locked in the chamber.
Optionally, the locking-releasing structure is a magnetic piece inside the needle gadget chamber, which attracts ferromagnetic materials attached on the needle tube to lock the needle gadget.
Optionally, the locking-releasing structure comprises a sliding button, a flat spring, a mounting point for the flat spring to mount on the device case, a locking head on the flat spring, a needle gadget ejector spring, a locking notch on the needle tube, and the locking-releasing structure works as following: before acupuncture, the needle gadget is pushed in, the locking head is pressed into the locking notch and the needle gadget is locked, meanwhile the ejector spring is compressed; after acupuncture, the sliding button is pushed to flatten the flat spring and bring the locking head out of the locking notch, which allows the compressed ejector spring to eject the needle gadget out the needle gadget chamber.
Optionally, the needle gadget chamber has an opening for the needle gadget to enter the chamber, the locking-releasing structure comprises push plates, push rods, connectors on the push plates to connect with the push rods, locking heads that protrude into the chamber opening at resting state, sliding rods around which the locking heads moves, connector rings on the locking heads to connect with the push rods, push plate springs, wherein the needle gadget is configured to have a locking notch on the needle tube, and the chamber, the locking-releasing structure and the needle gadget work together as following: when pushing the needle gadget into the chamber opening, the locking heads are pushed away from the chamber; meanwhile the push plate springs are compressed until the locking heads are facing the locking notch and pushed back into the chamber by the compressed push plate springs to lock the needle gadget inside the chamber; when releasing the needle gadget, users push the push plate to move the locking head away from the needle tube locking notch, allowing the ejector spring to eject the needle gadget out.
Optionally, the needle gadget chamber has an opening for the needle gadget to enter the chamber, the locking-releasing structure comprises a rotatable frame, a locking head on the rotatable frame that protrudes into the chamber opening at resting state, a frame spring mounted between the rotatable frame and a mounting point on the case of the automatic acupuncture device, a press button accessible to the user to rotate the frame and release the locking head, the needle gadget is configured to have a locking notch on the needle tube, and the needle gadget chamber, the locking-releasing structure and the needle gadget work together as following: when pushing the needle gadget into the needle gadget chamber, the locking head will be pushed away; at the same time, the rotatable frame is rotated and the frame spring is stretched or compressed until the locking head is facing the locking notch on the needle tube; the locking head is pulled back or pushed back into the chamber opening by the frame spring and pressed into the locking notch on the needle tube to lock the needle gadget inside the needle gadget chamber; when releasing the needle gadget, users push the press button and rotate the frame to push the locking head away from the needle gadget and release the locking head from the needle tube's locking notch.
Optionally, the needle gadget chamber has an opening for the needle gadget to enter the chamber, the locking-releasing structure comprises a locking head, a sliding button which is accessible and movable by users and connected with the locking head, a stopper to restrict the sliding button's motion range, a spring mounted between the sliding button and a mounting point on the case of the device. the locking-releasing structure works as following: the locking head protrudes into the needle gadget chamber at resting state; when the needle gadget is pushed into the needle gadget chamber, the needle gadget pushes the locking head and the sliding button away from the needle gadget; meanwhile the spring is compressed by the sliding button until the locking head is facing the locking notch on the needle tube of the needle gadget; the locking head is pressed back into the chamber by the compressed spring and the needle gadget is locked inside the chamber; when releasing the needle gadget, users slide the sliding button in the direction that is away from the needle gadget chamber, which in turn releases the locking head from the needle tube's locking notch.
Optionally, the locking-releasing structure comprises a sliding plate, a pull rod, a hook at the tip of the pull rod, a sliding rod on which the sliding plate slides, a spring connecting the sliding plate and the device case, connectors to fix the two ends of the spring, a locking head, connectors to connect the locking head to the sliding plate, a rising groove, a falling groove and a notch island on the sliding plate, a notch on the notch island for the hook to hook on, a guiding peninsula, wherein the rising groove becomes shallower towards the notch island, and the notch becomes deeper again at the end of rising groove, and the locking-releasing structure works as following: when the needle gadget is pushed into the needle gadget chamber for the first time, the sliding plate and the locking head are pushed in; the hook slides towards the notch island along the rising groove; when the needle gadget reaches the bottom of the chamber, the hook reaches the end of the rising groove, falls into the deep notch on the notch island and gets hooked on the notch; at the same time, the locking head is pressed into a locking notch on the needle tube, locks the needle gadget in the needle gadget chamber and the spring is stretched; when the pushing force is released from the needle gadget, the needle gadget stays in the needle gadget chamber and is ready for acupuncture treatment; when needle gadget is pushed again after acupuncture treatment, the hook is released from the notch and guided into the falling groove; at the same time, the stretched spring pulls the sliding plate back towards the opening of the needle gadget chamber, releases the locking head from the locking notch, and pulls the needle gadget out for user to take out completely.
Optionally, the needle driver has a shape of a fork or a clip, which is used to clamp on the needle top to move the needle.
Optionally, the device case includes a first case part and a second case part, with the first case part and the second case part movable relative to each other, wherein the second case part houses the needle gadget chamber; when the first case part and the second case part are relatively opened, the needle gadget chamber is exposed and allows the needle gadget to be inserted; after the needle gadget is inserted, the first case part and the second case part are closed and the needle gadget is locked inside the needle gadget chamber for acupuncture treatment.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device further comprises a rechargeable battery to power the motor or the electromagnet.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device is in the shape of a cylinder, the diameter of the cylinder is less than 30 mm, and the height is less than 25 mm.
Optionally, the needle gadget is completely inserted into the needle gadget chamber from the bottom, side or top surface of the cylinder, and no parts bulge out from the cylinder.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a needle gadget used with an automatic acupuncture device is provided, when the needle gadget is inserted into the needle gadget chamber from the bottom, side or top surface of the acupuncture device, it is completely contained inside the automatic acupuncture device and no parts bulge out from the cylinder. The needle gadget comprises a needle tube; an acupuncture needle inside the needle tube, comprising a needle tip, a needle shaft and a needle top with a larger diameter than the needle shaft; a hole on top of the needle tube and/or a slit on side of the needle tube, through which the needle driver of the automatic acupuncture device enters the needle tube and exerts force on the needle top; a needle outlet at bottom of needle tube, through which the needle tip and shaft are pushed out of the needle tube and inserted into human body; a needle-holding spring sheathed outside the needle shaft and enclosed inside the needle tube, between the needle tube bottom and the needle top, which is configured as: before the needle gadget is used, the acupuncture needle is kept inside the needle tube by the needle-holding spring to prevent the needle tip from exposing to air outside of the needle tube and accidently injuring people; during acupuncture treatment, when the needle driver pushes the needle into human body, the needle-holding spring is compressed; after acupuncture treatment, the needle driver removes force from the needle top, the needle-holding spring extends and presses the needle back into the needle tube.
Optionally, the needle top has an uneven surface and couples with an uneven surface of the needle driver to transmit the rotary motion from the needle driver to the needle, to perform rotating acupuncture manipulation.
Optionally, the diameter of the hole on the needle tube top is smaller than the diameter of the needle top of the acupuncture needle, to prevent the needle from falling out of the needle tube, and the diameter of the needle outlet is smaller than the diameter of the needle-holding spring, to prevent the needle-holding spring from falling out of the needle tube.
Optionally, the diameter of the needle tube bottom is larger than that of the rest of the needle tube, and/or the side of the needle tube has a bulging column or indented groove that matches the shape of the needle gadget chamber in an automatic acupuncture device, to control the needle gadget's insertion direction.
Optionally, the needle tube has a bulging column or indented groove for a locking head on an automatic acupuncture device to lock the needle gadget inside the automatic acupuncture device when the needle gadget is inserted into the needle gadget chamber of the automatic acupuncture device, to prevent the needle gadget from falling out of the automatic acupuncture device during acupuncture treatment.
Optionally, the needle gadget chamber has a larger diameter at the entrance than that of the rest of the chamber, and/or has a bulging column or indented groove on the side to match a groover or column on a needle tube, for the needle gadget insertion direction control.
Optionally, the needle tube bottom protrudes into the needle tube a hollow column with an outer diameter smaller than that of the needle-holding spring to allow the needle-holding spring sitting around it and an inner diameter in the center of the column bigger than the needle shaft to allow the needle to pass through, and the hollow column helps to prevent the needle from bending during insertion.
Optionally, the needle tube has a ferromagnetic piece and is attracted to a magnet piece inside the needle gadget chamber when being inserted into the chamber, to prevent the needle gadget from falling out of the chamber during acupuncture treatment.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method to do acupuncture with an automatic acupuncture device is provided, including: inserting a needle gadget into a needle gadget chamber of the automatic acupuncture device and locking it inside; attaching the automatic acupuncture device onto human body surface; powering on the automatic acupuncture device automatically or manually; running a computer program stored in a control circuit of the automatic acupuncture device to start a motor or electromagnet, to control a needle driver, to push an acupuncture needle, and/or to perform acupuncture manipulations; allowing the acupuncture needle to stay in human body for a preset period of time; after the preset period of time, controlling the motor or electromagnet to remove force from the needle top and allow a needle-holding spring in the needle gadget to pop out the needle from human body, or to exert a pulling force on the needle top to pull the needle out of human body, or to exert a trigger force to pop out the needle from human body; after the acupuncture treatment, detaching the automatic acupuncture device from the body.
Optionally, the method to attach the automatic acupuncture device onto human body surface is to use a double-sided adhesive tape to stick the acupuncture device on to human body and/or use a strap to wear the device onto human body.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method to do acupuncture with an automatic acupuncture device, when needles are inserted into the skin of the human body, needle are inserted in a vibration mode, like mosquitos insert the tips of their mouthparts into human being skin.
Optionally, the vibration mode is in a frequency of 0.2-16 Hz.
Optionally, the vibration distance is in the range of 0.1 mm to 2 mm.
According to the embodiments of the invention, the automatic acupuncture device, the needle gadget being use with the automatic acupuncture device, and the acupuncture method have one or more of the following advantages: 1) automatic; 2) the operation is simple; 3) the automatic acupuncture device and the needle gadget are small and easy to carry; 4) patients can do acupuncture by themselves at any time whenever needed; 5) there is no pain or only slight pain; 6) the needle gadget is disposable, and can be put in or taken out of the automatic acupuncture device detachably, 7) the acupuncture needle is safe: before, during and after the acupuncture, the acupuncture needle is always kept with the needle tube, and will not be exposed to the air outside of the needle tube, to avoid the needle contamination, accidentally sticking into the people or polluting the environment; 8) it can achieve lifting-thrusting and twisting-rotating acupuncture effect.
The automatic operation of the acupuncture device is achieved through a motor or electromagnet. During operation, the user only needs to insert the needle gadget into the needle gadget chamber of the automatic acupuncture device and attaches the acupuncture device to a specific part of the body through double-sided adhesive tape or a strap. After that, the motor or electromagnet can start to do acupuncture according to a program stored in the control circuit.
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device is in the shape of a cylinder, the diameter of the cylinder is less than 30 mm, and the height is less than 25 mm. In one design according to an embodiment of the present invention, the cylinder's diameter is 28 mm and the height is 21 mm. It is designed very small and light and very convenient to wear, carry, store and operate.
In an embodiment, after the needle gadget is inserted into a needle gadget chamber of an automatic acupuncture device, no parts of the needle gadget bulge out of the automatic acupuncture device.
In an embodiment, the automatic acupuncture device comprises one motor or one electromagnet, one needle driver, one needle gadget chamber, where one needle driver drives one needle in a needle gadget. In other embodiments, more than one needle gadgets can be inserted into an automatic acupuncture device. The needle drivers can be driven by multiple motors or electromagnet, or the needle drivers can be driven by one motor or electromagnet.
One thing to point out, the acupuncture device does not have to have the locking-release structure. The needle gadget can be secured inside the acupuncture device through tap or through strap.
The embodiments of the present invention are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The inventive ideas of the invention are described as following: the acupuncture needle is pushed into the skin by a mini-motor or electromagnet to achieve the effect of acupuncture; two modes are preferred: 1), the motor moves the needle driver and the needle driver pushes the needle into the human body, which completes the insertion action; the acupuncture needle is ejected out from the human body by a spring attached to the needle, which is compressed during needle insertion; 2), the needle driver is made into a shape of a fork or a clip, which clamps on the needle top and moves the needle to do acupuncture; this type of automatic acupuncture device can both insert and remove needles. Electromagnetic acupuncture uses electromagnet to generate magnetic force and moves the needle through needle driver.
As shown in
The motor is preferably a mini-motor and there is a screw rod 140 connected to its shaft. When the mini-motor is powered on, its rotating shaft drives the screw rod to rotate, and the rechargeable battery 160 supplies power to the mini-motor. The rechargeable battery can be charged through USB charging or through wireless charging. If the wireless charging is adopted, a wireless charging receiver should be added to the acupuncture device.
In the embodiment shown in
The control circuit 170 controls the device starting, needle insertion, needle removing, needle manipulation and/or user interface displaying. In this example, the automatic acupuncture device uses a rotary motor. The screw rod 140 is coupled with a screw nut 130. The screw nut moves linearly on the screw rod when the screw rod rotates. One end of the screw nut is connected with a needle driver 180, which moves up and down with the screw nut, to insert the acupuncture needle into the skin or allow the removal of the needle. The guide rail 120 makes the screw nut 130 sliding more stably and prevents the screw nut 130 from rotating with the screw rod. The acupuncture device also includes a locking-releasing structure 191-198 for locking and releasing the needle gadget, which will be explained in detail in conjunction with
Optionally, the automatic acupuncture device is in the shape of a cylinder, the diameter of the cylinder is less than 30 mm, and the height is less than 25 mm. In one design according to an embodiment of the present invention, the cylinder's diameter is 28 mm and the height is 21 mm. It is very small, light and convenient to wear, carry, store and operate.
Accordingly, the needle gadget is also very small. In an embodiment, the diameter of the needle tube of the needle gadget is less than 4 mm. The diameter of the needle tube bottom is less than 10 mm. The length of the needle tube is less than 18 mm. In a specific design, the diameter of the needle tube is 2 mm. The needle tube bottom has a diameter of 6.6 mm. Then length of the needle tube is 14 mm.
In an embodiment, after the needle gadget is inserted into a needle gadget chamber of an automatic acupuncture device, no parts of the needle gadget bulge out of the automatic acupuncture device.
In an embodiment, the automatic acupuncture device comprises one motor or one electromagnet, one needle driver, one needle gadget chamber, where one needle driver drives one needle in a needle gadget. In other embodiments, more than one needle gadgets can be inserted into an automatic acupuncture device and can be moved by multiple needle drivers. The needle drivers can be driven by multiple motors or electromagnet, or the needle drivers can be driven by one motor or electromagnet.
The automatic acupuncture device is operated by small motor or electromagnet. When in use, the user inserts the needle gadget into the needle gadget chamber of the acupuncture device and attaches the acupuncture device on the body through double-sided tape or through a strap. The motor or electromagnet then starts the acupuncture treatment according to specific signal (timer or physiological signal detected from the body). One thing to point out, the acupuncture device does not have to have the locking-release structure. The needle gadget can be secured inside an acupuncture device through tap or through strap.
When operating the automatic acupuncture device described above, the users do not need to hold it. Instead, the device is attached on the human body through double-sided tape or a strap.
In
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the needle gadget is very compact, as a small cylinder with a diameter of 2 mm and a height of 14 mm.
After the needle gadget is manufactured and shipped out from factories, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the needle will be always kept with the needle tube of the needle gadget. Before, during and after acupuncture, the acupuncture needle will never be exposed to the air outside the needle tube, thereby preventing accidental injury to people and is environmentally friendly.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method to do acupuncture with an automatic acupuncture device is provide. When insert a needle into the skin of the human body, the needle is inserted in a vibration mode, in a way mosquito inserts the tip of its mouthpart into human being skin.
The vibration frequency is in the range of 0.2 to 16 Hz.
The vibration distance is in the range of 0.1 mm to 2 mm.
Various embodiments of the invention have been described above, which are illustrative, not exhaustive, and are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments, many modifications and changes are obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the protection scope of the invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claim.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17067880 | Oct 2020 | US |
| Child | 17223086 | US |
