The present invention relates to a measurement device for measuring a core temperature of a measurement target such as a living body.
Conventionally, a technique for non-invasively measuring a core temperature of a living body is known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for estimating a core temperature of a living body by assuming a pseudo one-dimensional model in a living body B, a measuring instrument 50 including a temperature sensor and a heat flux sensor, and outside air.
In the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a core temperature of a living body is estimated by assuming a one-dimensional model of biological heat transfer illustrated in
In Patent Literature 1, a core temperature of a living body is estimated from the following relational expression (1).
Core temperature(Tbody)=temperature(Tskin) of contact point between temperature sensor and skin+coefficient of proportionality A×heat flux(Hsignal)flowing into temperature sensor (1)
The coefficient of proportionality A can be generally obtained by giving a rectal temperature or an eardrum temperature measured using a sensor such as another temperature sensor as a core temperature (Tbody), and thus the core temperature of the living body can be estimated by measuring a heat flux (Hsignal) flowing into the temperature sensor.
However, in a case where a one-dimensional model is assumed as a heat transfer model of a living body as in Patent Literature 1, when outside air is disturbed due to generation of wind or the like and heat flows into the sensor from the outside air, a part of the heat flux Hsignal that should originally flow into the sensor deviates from the sensor. Thus, it becomes impossible to measure the core temperature accurately. Therefore, it is desirable to have a structure for suppressing an influence of disturbance of outside air as a configuration of the measurement device for measuring the core temperature.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a measurement device having a structure capable of suppressing an influence of disturbance of outside air and accurately measuring a core temperature.
In order to solve the above-described problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a measurement device including: a thermal resistor in which a measuring instrument for measuring a heat flux transported from a measurement target is installed; a first member including a bottom frame and a side frame in which the thermal resistor is installed at a predetermined position; a second member that is disposed in a housing including the bottom frame and the side frame of the first member, has a shape covering the thermal resistor, and is made of a material having thermal conductivity; and a third member that seals an upper surface portion of the housing in which the second member is disposed, in which the second member is positioned with respect to the housing by fitting a protrusion or a protruding piece provided in the second member into a through hole provided in the bottom frame of the first member, and the protrusion or the protruding piece is exposed to the outside of the bottom frame through the through hole and is configured to be able to contact the measurement target.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a measurement device having a structure capable of suppressing an influence of disturbance of outside air and accurately measuring a core temperature.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following embodiment, a measurement target is a living body, and a measurement surface on which a measurement device is disposed is a surface of the skin of a living body that is the measurement target.
A measurement device of the present invention includes: a first member in which a thermal resistor in which a temperature sensor that is a measuring instrument for measuring a heat flux transported from a measurement target is installed is installed; a second member that is disposed in a housing including a bottom frame and a side frame of the first member and suppresses an influence of disturbance of heat transfer to the measuring instrument due to outside air flow or a change in temperature; and a third member that seals an upper surface portion of the first member.
The bottom frame of the first member is provided with a through hole, and the second member is provided with a protrusion or a protruding piece for fitting into the through hole 13 of the first member. By fitting the protrusion or the protruding piece provided in the second member into the through hole provided in the bottom frame of the first member, the second member is positioned with respect to a housing including the bottom frame and the side frame of the first member, whereby the relative position of the second member 20 with respect to the first member can be fixed.
The protrusion or the protruding piece of the second member is exposed to the outside of the bottom frame through the through hole of the first member, and at least a part of the protrusion or the protruding piece is configured to be able to contact the measurement target. Thus, an internal structure for transporting a heat flux from a measurement target outside the thermal resistor to the upper portion of the thermal resistor and suppressing the influence of disturbance of the outside air on the thermal resistor can be configured.
According to the measurement device of the present embodiment, the housing of the measurement device, the internal structure for suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air, and the thermal resistor in which the temperature sensor is installed can constitute the measurement device having the structure relatively positioned and fixed by the combination of the members having a simple structure, and the measurement device having a structure capable of suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air and accurately measuring the core temperature can be provided.
In addition, if the first member constituting the housing of the measurement device and the thermal resistor including the sensor for estimating the core temperature are integrally molded, the relative position between the housing and the thermal resistor can be fixed.
Furthermore, if the thermal resistor is configured to include a hole for installing the temperature sensor at a predetermined position of the thermal resistor, the relative position between the temperature sensor of the thermal resistor and the housing can be fixed.
Hereinafter, specific examples of members constituting the measurement device of the present embodiment will be described.
The first member 10 is made of a material having a heat capacity smaller than that of the skin of a living body that is a measurement target. For example, it can be made of a material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).
Note that the outer shape of the first member 10 is not limited to the cylindrical shape illustrated in
On the bottom frame 11 of the first member 10, the thermal resistor 40 in which a temperature sensor for estimating the core temperature of the living body is installed is integrally molded at a predetermined position. The thermal resistor 40 is made of a material having a predetermined thermal resistance. The thermal resistor 40 includes a hole 41 for fixing a temperature sensor at a predetermined position of the thermal resistor 40. By inserting the temperature sensor into the hole 41, the temperature sensor can be fixed at a predetermined position of the thermal resistor 40.
The hole 41 for fixing the temperature sensor of the thermal resistor 40 has a depth such that a temperature measurement unit of the temperature sensor is disposed at the center of the thermal resistor 40. The cross-sectional view of the hole 41 may be configured to have a cross section whose width decreases toward the lower side of the thermal resistor, that is, toward the bottom frame 11. With such a configuration, the temperature measurement unit of the temperature sensor can be disposed at the center of the thermal resistor 40.
The bottom frame 11 of the first member 10 is provided with through holes 13 into which protruding pieces 24 of the second member 20 are fitted. The bottom frame 11 of the first member 10 is coupled to the side frame 12 by a beam 14 disposed between the through holes 13. By fitting the protruding piece 24 provided in the second member 20 into the through hole 13, the relative position of the second member 20 in the radial direction with respect to the housing of the first member 10 is positioned.
The shape of the through hole 13 is determined according to the shape of the protruding piece 24 to be fitted. In the configuration example of
The side frame 12 of the first member 10 may be provided with a wiring slit 15 for drawing electrical wiring to the outside of the housing when a wired sensor such as a thermistor or a resistance temperature detector is used as the temperature sensor of the thermal resistor 40.
The shape of the second member 20 is determined according to the shape of the housing of the first member 10. The second member 20 in
In the configuration example of
A truncated cone 22 having a truncated cone shape of the second member 20 may be provided with a hole 23 penetrating the second member 20. By appropriately adjusting the size of the hole 23 penetrating the second member 20, it is possible to adjust the depth to be estimated in a case of estimating the core temperature of the living body.
The second member 20 may be provided with a wiring slit 26 for drawing electrical wiring to the outside of the housing when a wired temperature sensor such as a thermistor or a resistance temperature detector is used as the temperature sensor.
The configuration of the protruding piece 24 of the second member 20 is not limited to the configurations of
As illustrated in
The shape of the second member 20 is not limited to the truncated cone shape as long as it can exhibit the function of covering the thermal resistor 40, and various shapes such as other cone shapes and frustum shapes can be employed. For example, as illustrated in
In the second member 20, the protruding piece 24 is fitted into the through hole 13 of the first member 10, the relative position of the second member 20 in the radial direction with respect to the housing of the first member 10 is positioned, and the second member is exposed to the outside of the bottom frame 11 through the through hole 13, so that the second member can be brought into thermal contact with the measurement target. With such a configuration, an internal structure for transporting a heat flux from a measurement target outside the thermal resistor 40 to the upper portion of the thermal resistor 40 and suppressing the influence of disturbance of the outside air on the temperature sensor of the thermal resistor 40 can be configured.
According to the measurement device of the present embodiment, the housing of the measurement device, the internal structure for suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air, and the thermal resistor in which the temperature sensor is installed can constitute the measurement device having the structure relatively positioned and fixed by the combination of the members having a simple structure, and the measurement device having a structure capable of suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air and accurately measuring the core temperature can be provided.
The first member 10 has a cylindrical shape, the bottom frame 11 has a thickness of 1 mm, and the side frame 12 has an outer diameter of 30 mm and a thickness of 1 mm. The through hole 13 provided in the bottom frame 11 has a radial length of 4 mm, and the beam 14 between the through holes 13 has a width of 1 mm and a length of 4 mm. The thermal resistor 40 has a cylindrical shape, and has a height of 4 mm and an outer diameter of 8 mm when viewed from the bottom frame 11 in contact with the measurement target.
The second member 20 has a truncated cone shape, the truncated cone 22 has a height of 5 mm and an outer diameter of a dimension corresponding to the outer shape of the first member 10 on which the second member 20 is disposed. The outer diameter of the upper surface portion of the truncated cone 22 is 12 mm, and the thickness of the tapered portion 21 having a truncated cone shape is 0.5 mm. The outer shape of the hole 23 provided in the truncated cone 22 is 2 mm. The protruding piece 24 formed on the circular edge of the tapered portion 21 having a truncated cone shape has a shape and a dimension corresponding to the through hole 13 of the first member 10.
The third member 30 has a thickness of 0.1 mm and an outer diameter of a shape and a dimension corresponding to the outer diameter of the side frame 12 of the first member 10.
The measuring instrument 50 disposed inside the thermal resistor 40 includes a sensor for measuring a heat flux transported from a living body B. The second member 20 having a truncated cone shape covering the thermal resistor 40 is configured to transport the heat flux from the living body B outside the first member 10 to an upper surface portion of the thermal resistor 40. Furthermore, although not illustrated in this drawing, the measurement device 1 includes an arithmetic circuit or the like for estimating the core temperature of the living body B using the measurement result of the sensor in addition to the configuration of the measurement device 1 of
The measuring instrument 50 disposed inside the thermal resistor 40 includes a temperature sensor 50a configured to measure the temperature of the skin SK as a measurement surface, and a temperature sensor 50b disposed at a position immediately above the temperature sensor 50a to face the temperature sensor 50a.
In the configuration example of
In the configuration example of
According to the measurement device of the present embodiment, the first member 10 in which the thermal resistor 40 in which the temperature sensor that is a measuring instrument for measuring a heat flux transported from a measurement target is installed is installed, the second member that is disposed in a housing including the bottom frame 11 and the side frame 12 of the first member 10 and suppresses an influence of disturbance of heat transfer due to outside air flow or a change in temperature, and the third member 30 that seals the upper surface portion of the first member 10 are included. The housing of the measurement device, the internal structure for suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air, and the thermal resistor 40 in which the temperature sensor is installed can constitute the measurement device having the structure relatively positioned and fixed by the combination of the members having such a simple structure, and the measurement device having a structure capable of suppressing the influence of the disturbance of the outside air and accurately measuring the core temperature can be provided.
A configuration of the measurement device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to
The measurement device 1 includes, for example, the measuring instrument 50, the arithmetic circuit 60, the memory 70, the communication circuit 80 that functions as an I/F circuit with the outside, and the battery 90 that supplies power to the arithmetic circuit 60, the communication circuit 80, and the like on a sheet-like base material 100.
The arithmetic circuit 60 calculates an estimated value of the core temperature Tbody from the temperatures Tskin and Ttop measured by the temperature sensors 50a and 50b included in the measuring instrument 50 using Expression (1).
The memory 70 stores the information on the one-dimensional biological heat transfer model based on the above-described Expression (1) and the estimation result of the core temperature. The memory 70 can be realized by a predetermined storage area in a rewritable non-volatile storage device (for example, a flash memory or the like) provided in the measurement system.
The communication circuit 80 outputs the time-series data of the core temperature Tbody of the living body B generated by the arithmetic circuit 60 to the outside. As the communication circuit 80, when data or the like is output by wire, an output circuit to which a USB or other cables can be connected is used, but for example, a wireless communication circuit conforming to Bluetooth (registered trademark), Bluetooth Low Energy, or the like may be used.
The sheet-like base material 100 functions as a base for placing the measurement device 1 including the measuring instrument 50, the arithmetic circuit 60, the memory 70, the communication circuit 80, and the battery 90, and further includes wiring (not illustrated) for electrically connecting these elements. Assuming that the measurement device 1 is connected on the skin of a living body, it is desirable to use a deformable flexible board for the sheet-like base material 100.
Here, the measurement device 1 is realized by a computer. Specifically, the arithmetic circuit 60 is realized by, for example, a processor such as a CPU or a DSP executing various data processing according to a program stored in a storage device, such as a ROM, a RAM, and a flash memory, including the memory 70 provided in the measurement device 1. The program for causing the computer to function as the measurement device 1 can be recorded on a recording medium or provided through a network.
Although the embodiments of the measurement device of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and various modifications that can be assumed by those skilled in the art can be made within the scope of the invention described in the claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/036215 | 9/25/2020 | WO |