JP2000060869A - Laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To automatically stop laser oscillation when laser irradiation is not performed for a predetermined time after laser oscillation. SOLUTION: A predetermined time until automatic stop is displayed on a set time display 321 of a laser automatic stop setting display section 32. The time setting switch 14 sets a predetermined time T1 until the laser irradiation automatically stops. When the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11 of the laser oscillation setting display unit 31 when the automatic stop setting switch 13 is in the on state, and the actual laser irradiation is not performed, the predetermined time T
After one, laser oscillation stops. Further, when actual laser irradiation is performed after the laser oscillation, the laser oscillation stops after time T1 from the laser irradiation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser device, and more particularly, to a laser device which automatically stops laser oscillation when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time during laser oscillation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a medical laser device is used by a doctor to irradiate a treatment area of a patient with a laser beam by holding a handpiece in his hand and turning a switch on and off with his hand or foot. is there. A laser device using such a laser as a light source is mainly used for measurement, diagnosis, surgery and the like. In the past, the laser was continuously oscillating even when the laser was not actually irradiated during the laser oscillation.

[0003]

Conventionally, once the start switch is turned on to cause laser oscillation, the laser oscillation is continued until the stop switch is manually operated. Therefore, even when the laser irradiation is not performed for a long time after the start switch is turned on, the laser oscillation state is continued, power is wasted, and the laser life is shortened. Conventionally, in order to eliminate such waste of power consumption and prolong the life of the laser, it is necessary to frequently manually operate the start switch and the stop switch, which is troublesome.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser device which automatically stops laser oscillation when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after laser oscillation. The present invention automatically stops the laser oscillation when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after the start switch is turned on or when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after the irradiation operation is performed. By doing so, it is an object of the present invention to simplify the operation of the laser device and reduce the wasteful time of laser oscillation.

[0005]

According to the solution of the present invention, there is provided a laser head section for oscillating a laser using a laser as a light source, and a start switch for instructing the laser head section to start the laser oscillation. When the start switch is turned on, the laser head unit is controlled to oscillate, and if the laser is not irradiated for the first predetermined time during the laser oscillation, the laser oscillation of the laser head unit is automatically performed. There is provided a laser device including a laser oscillation control unit for controlling so as to stop.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a laser device related to the present invention. The laser device includes an irradiation switch unit 1, a control panel 2, an optical section 3, a laser head section 4, an electrical equipment section 5, a cooling section 6, and a light irradiation section 7.

The control panel 2 has a control board, operation switches, an audible display section, a visible display section, a light receiving section for calibration, and the like. The optical unit 3 has a shutter, an optical connector, and the like. The laser head unit 4 includes a laser rod, a laser mirror, a flash lamp and the like.
The electrical component section 5 includes a laser power source section, a control electrical component section, a power plug, and the like. The cooling unit 6 includes a radiator, an ion exchange resin,
It is equipped with a pump filter, a tank, and various sensors. The light irradiation unit 7 includes a handpiece body, a handpiece tip (straight type, curved type), and the like, and is connected to the optical unit 3 by an optical fiber body, an optical connector, and the like.

An operator of the laser device such as a doctor first starts laser oscillation of the laser head section 4. Next,
The operator holds the handpiece in his hand, and turns on and off the irradiation switch unit 1 with his or her hand or feet to control the optical unit 3 and appropriately perform laser irradiation.
At that time, an appropriate operation mode can be set by the control panel 2. For example, in continuous mode,
It is possible to irradiate the laser for a period of time while the laser irradiation switch is being pressed or for a time close to that time. In addition to the normal continuous irradiation, the continuous irradiation mode includes a case where continuous irradiation is performed in a pulsed manner and a case where continuous irradiation is periodically performed with an appropriate output waveform. It should be noted that the irradiation switch can be provided not only in the irradiation switch unit 1 but also in an appropriate component such as the handpiece body and the control panel 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control panel according to the present invention. The control panel 2 includes a start switch 11, a stop switch 12, an automatic stop setting switch 13, a time setting switch 14, a pulse setting unit 15, an irradiation detection unit 16, a laser oscillation control unit 17, a display control unit 18, a display unit 19, and the like. Prepare

When the laser device irradiates the laser through the optical unit 3 using the laser head unit 4 as the light source, the laser oscillation control unit 17 of the control panel 2 sets and controls the irradiation mode. The irradiation mode includes, for example, a single mode in which the laser is irradiated by one pulse by turning on the irradiation switch, a timer mode in which the laser is irradiated for a set period, and a pulsed laser. There are a pulse number mode in which the laser is controlled to be irradiated by the number of pulses set in 1), a continuous mode in which the laser is continuously irradiated while the irradiation switch is on.

The start switch 11 and the stop switch 12 are switches for starting and stopping the laser oscillation of the laser head section 4. The automatic stop setting switch 13 is a switch for setting or canceling automatic stop. The time setting switch 14 is a switch for setting a predetermined time for automatically stopping the automatic stop setting.

The pulse setting section 15 is for setting the laser irradiation conditions in detail for the laser oscillation control section 17. The laser irradiation conditions include, for example, energy per pulse or unit time (mJ /
Pulse or mJ / ms), pulse frequency or repetition frequency (Hz), irradiation time (s), etc. Irradiation detector 1
6 is an irradiation switch 1, an optical unit 3, or a laser head unit 4.
It is detected that the laser is actually irradiated based on the information from the above.

The laser oscillation control section 17 includes various switches 11 to 14, a pulse setting section 15 and an irradiation detection section 16.
The laser oscillation and the laser irradiation are controlled by appropriately controlling the optical unit 3, the laser head unit 4, the electrical equipment unit 5 and the like in accordance with the above. The display control unit 18, with respect to the display unit 19,
Laser automatic stop setting information, pulse setting information, total counter information, laser oscillation start / stop information, etc. are displayed.

FIG. 3 shows an explanatory view of the control panel. In an example of the control panel as shown,
In the “laser oscillation setting display section 31 (LASER)”, a start switch 11 and a stop switch 12 are provided. "Laser automatic stop setting display section 32 (LASER AUTO ST
OP) ”is provided with an automatic stop setting switch 13, a time setting switch 14, and a set time indicator 321. The set time indicator 321 displays a predetermined time (for example, min unit) until the automatic stop. In the "pulse setting display section 33 (PULSE SETTING)", for example, energy (mJ / pulse) per pulse and irradiation time (sec) are set and displayed.

[Total counter display section 34 (TOTAL COU
“NTER)”, a total pulse number display 341, a total energy display 342, and a time display 343 are provided to display each counted total amount. The total pulse number display 341 displays the total pulse number (Shots) actually irradiated, and the energy display 342 and the time display 343 respectively display the total energy and total time actually irradiated. . Further, the reset switch 344 resets the counted total number of pulses.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a first example of automatic stop.
7 shows a time chart of the embodiment. The operation when the automatic stop setting switch 13 is set to automatically stop the laser irradiation in the above-described configuration will be described below. Here, it is assumed that a predetermined time T1 for automatically stopping the laser irradiation is set by the time setting switch 14. As shown in FIG. 4A, the start switch 1
1 causes the laser of the laser head unit 4 to oscillate, and when the actual laser irradiation is not performed, the laser oscillation stops after the predetermined time T1. In FIG. 4B, when the actual laser irradiation is performed after the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11, for example, the laser oscillation of the laser head unit 4 is stopped after the time T1 from the time when the laser irradiation is finally completed. . As shown in FIG. 4C, when the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11 and the actual laser irradiation is performed, the laser oscillation is stopped after a predetermined time T1 from the start point of the last laser irradiation. You may

Next, FIG. 5 shows a second example of automatic stop.
7 shows a time chart of the embodiment. In this embodiment, the first predetermined time T1 for automatically stopping the laser irradiation is set.
In addition to the above, it is an example in which another second predetermined time T2 is set. As the configuration of the device, the time setting switch 14 and the set time indicator 321 shown in FIGS.
It suffices to provide a plurality of the like. Here, the case where the first predetermined time T1 is longer than the second predetermined time T2 will be described. As shown in FIG. 5A, when the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11 and the actual laser irradiation is not performed, the laser oscillation is stopped after the time T1.
However, in FIG. 5B, when the actual laser irradiation is performed after the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11, the laser is emitted after the second predetermined time T2 (<T1) from the time when the laser irradiation is finally finished. Oscillation stops. Note that, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11 and then the actual laser irradiation is performed, the laser oscillation is started after the second predetermined time T2 from the start point of the last laser irradiation. You may make it stop. In such an embodiment, for example, when the time intervals of a series of laser irradiation are close,
The laser oscillation can be stopped more effectively and automatically.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a third example of automatic stop.
7 shows a time chart of the embodiment. In this embodiment, the first predetermined time T1 for automatically stopping the laser irradiation is set.
And the second predetermined time T2 can be set, but here, the first predetermined time T2 is the second predetermined time T2.
The case where it is larger than 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6A, when the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11 and the actual laser irradiation is not performed, the laser oscillation is stopped after the time T1. However, in FIG. 6B, when the actual laser irradiation is performed after the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11, the laser is emitted after the second predetermined time T2 (> T1) from the time when the laser irradiation is finally completed. Oscillation stops. As shown in FIG. 6C, when the actual laser irradiation is performed after the laser is oscillated by the start switch 11, the laser oscillation is started after the second predetermined time T2 from the start point of the last laser irradiation. You may make it stop. In such an embodiment, for example, when the time until the first laser irradiation in the series of laser irradiation is performed in a relatively short time from the start of laser oscillation, the laser oscillation can be more effectively and automatically stopped. You can

In addition, in the second and third embodiments, it is possible to provide a switch for setting the first and second predetermined times at substantially the same time. Further, the time counting start reference is not limited to the last laser irradiation, and the first laser irradiation may be used as the reference. Further, an appropriate time point can be set as a reference based on the start or end of laser irradiation.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after the laser oscillation,
A laser device capable of automatically stopping laser oscillation can be provided. According to the present invention, when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after the start switch is turned on, or when the laser is not irradiated for a predetermined time after performing the irradiation operation, the laser is automatically oscillated. The laser device can be stopped, the operation of the laser device can be simplified, and the wasted time of laser oscillation can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a laser device related to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a control panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a control panel.

FIG. 4 is a time chart of the first embodiment regarding automatic stop.

FIG. 5 is a time chart of the second embodiment regarding automatic stop.

FIG. 6 is a time chart of a third embodiment regarding automatic stop.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 control panel 3 Optics 4 Laser head 12 stop switch 13 Automatic stop setting switch 14 hour setting switch 15 pulse setting section 16 Irradiation detector 17 Laser oscillation controller 18 Display control unit 19 Display

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A laser head unit for oscillating a laser using a laser as a light source, a start switch for instructing the laser head unit to start laser oscillation, and a laser switch when the start switch is turned on. A laser oscillation control unit that controls the head unit to oscillate and automatically controls the laser oscillation of the laser head unit when the laser is not irradiated for a first predetermined time during the laser oscillation. Equipped laser device. 2. The laser oscillation control unit automatically stops laser oscillation when laser irradiation is not started for a second predetermined time after starting or stopping laser irradiation by an irradiation switch. The laser device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The laser oscillation control unit further comprises a laser automatic stop switch for selecting whether or not to stop the laser oscillation automatically when the laser is not irradiated for the predetermined time. The laser device according to. 4. The laser device according to claim 1, further comprising a time setting switch for setting the predetermined time until the laser oscillation of the laser head unit is automatically stopped. 5. The laser device according to claim 2, wherein the first and second predetermined times are set to be substantially equal to each other. 6. An irradiation detection unit for detecting laser irradiation is further provided, and the laser oscillation control unit performs automatic stop control of laser oscillation based on a detection result of the irradiation detection unit. 5. The laser device according to any one of 5 above. 7. The start time of counting the predetermined time is the start or end of the first or last laser irradiation, or an appropriate time based on them.
The laser device according to any one of 1.