JPH039701Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention is applied to a nursery school equipped with an airflow sensor that measures the airflow in a nursery room that houses a physically immature infant, for example, in order to protect and raise a physically immature infant. It is related to vessels.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, incubators are used to protect and raise physically immature premature infants, such as preterm infants, in an optimal environment that is cut off from outside air.

The general structure of such an incubator is that a bed for a premature baby is placed on a pedestal, and the bed is covered with a transparent hood made of acrylic resin or the like to isolate it from the outside air. The temperature and humidity of the air inside the nursery room are controlled to their optimum conditions. For example, the air inside the nursery room is drawn into an air supply path provided at the bottom of the nursery room, and if necessary, this air is mixed with fresh air from outside, and the mixed air is heated to an appropriate temperature. After the water is humidified, it is circulated inside the nursery room. For this purpose, in the air supply path, from the upstream side, there is an air merging chamber for mixing the air drawn from the nursery room with fresh air from outside, and the air mixed in this air merging chamber is heated to an appropriate temperature. An air heating chamber for heating the air and a humidity adjusting section for adjusting the humidity of the air heated in the air heating chamber are provided, respectively.

By supplying air in this manner, the nursery room will not run out of oxygen even though it is isolated from the outside air. Furthermore, since the supplied air is controlled to an appropriate temperature, the internal temperature is maintained at an appropriate temperature. Supplying air into the nursery room is extremely important in order to supply oxygen to the nursery room or to maintain a constant temperature within the nursery room, and this air supply stops. This endangers the lives of premature infants housed in nursery rooms.

Therefore, conventionally, incubators have been provided with airflow sensors for detecting whether air is being properly supplied into the nursery room. Conventionally, this airflow sensor has been equipped with a single self-heating thermistor, which uses a heating means to constantly heat the thermistor and the temperature of the thermistor decreases when the airflow hits it. Ta.
The arrangement position was near a circulation fan installed in an air supply path for supplying air to the nursery room.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

As described above, incubators have conventionally been provided with airflow sensors, and this airflow sensor constantly detects whether or not air is being supplied smoothly into the nursery room. However, in the case of the conventional incubator, only one self-heating type thermistor was provided as described above, so malfunctions were very common. this is,
This is because conventionally, the alarm means was operated in the following manner.

In other words, the heat dissipation of a self-heating thermistor changes depending on the size of the surrounding airflow, so when the airflow is large, the detected temperature is low, and when the airflow stops or becomes very small, the detected temperature is high. Become. Therefore, a certain reference temperature has been set, and when the temperature detected by the self-heating type thermistor becomes higher than this reference temperature, an alarm means is operated to notify an abnormality.

However, the detection temperature of a self-heating thermistor is
It does not only rise when the surrounding airflow stops, but also when the surrounding temperature rises. Conventionally, even when the detected temperature rises due to a rise in ambient temperature, the alarm means is activated when the detected temperature becomes higher than the reference temperature.

Furthermore, as described above, the conventional airflow sensor is located near the circulation fan that is installed to supply air into the nursery room. Therefore, although it is possible to detect that air is being supplied into the nursery room, it is not possible to accurately measure the speed of airflow within the nursery room. This is because both air drawn from the nursery room and air drawn in from outside the incubator are flowing near the circulation fan, and this does not accurately reflect the actual airflow state inside the nursery room. Because I can't say it.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an incubator 1 equipped with an airflow sensor 10 for measuring airflow in a nursery room 2 that accommodates a baby, including an outlet 25 for leading out air from the nursery room 2 to an air supply path 3, and an incubator. a through hole 35 for drawing external air from the air supply path 1 into the air supply path 3;
5 into the air supply path 3 and air drawn into the air supply path 3 through the through hole 35 into the nursery room 2. Airflow sensor 1
0 has a self-heating thermistor 11 that has a heating means and is heated by the heating means, and a thermistor 12 that does not have a heating means, and the pair of thermistors 11 and 12 are connected to the conductor. Exit 25
This relates to an incubator 1 characterized in that the incubators 1 and 2 are disposed close to each other in a relatively narrow passage portion in which the air drawn into the air supply path 3 through the through hole 35 does not substantially pass through. be.

[Effect]

A pair of thermistors 1 constituting the airflow sensor 10
1 and 12 are located close to each other in a relatively narrow passage portion near the outlet 25 and through which the air drawn into the air supply path 3 through the through hole 35 does not substantially pass through. The flow of air coming out of the can be measured well. This measurement is
This is done by utilizing the characteristic that the heat dissipation of the self-heating thermistor 11 changes depending on the size of the air flow, and the detected temperature changes. The temperature detected by the self-heating thermistor 11 changes depending on changes in the ambient temperature, but when the thermistor 12 detects the ambient temperature,
Self-heating type thermistor 11 due to changes in ambient temperature
The error in the detected temperature is corrected.

〔Example〕

First, in FIG. 4, 1 is an incubator, 2 is an incubation room, and 3 is an air supply path. The nursery room 2 is provided to protect and raise physically immature infants 4, such as premature infants, in a suitable environment that is isolated from the outside world. 5
is surrounded by a hood 6 made of transparent acrylic resin.

The air supply path 3 is provided to supply air suitable for the protection and growth of infant bodies 4 such as premature infants housed in the nursery room 2, and is shown on the right side in FIG. An air merging chamber 30, a heating chamber 31, a humidity adjusting section 32, and a mixing chamber 105 are provided in this order from the upstream section 27 side shown on the left side to the downstream section 28 side shown on the left side. The air confluence room 30 is the nursery room 2
It communicates with the nursery room 2 through an air outlet 25 formed near one end of a partition plate 23 that partitions the air supply path 3 and the air supply path 3 . Further, the mixing chamber 105 provided at the downstream end of the air supply path 3 is connected to the partition plate 2.
3 is connected to the nursery room 2 through an air inlet 24 formed near the other end.

A circulation fan 34 that sucks air from the air suction port 37 is disposed in the air merging room 30, and the circulation fan 34 sucks air from the nursery room 2 from the air outlet 25, and also removes air as needed. In such a case, it has the function of sucking fresh air from outside through the through hole 35 provided in the inner wall surface 30a of this merging chamber 30, merging the air, and sending it into the heating chamber 31 provided on the downstream side. There is.

An electric heater 36 is disposed in the heating chamber 31, and the air sent from the air merging chamber 30 side is heated by the electric heater 36 as necessary, and then heated to a humidity adjusting section provided on the downstream side 28. Sent to 32.

The humidity adjusting unit 32 is directly connected to the mixing chamber 10 without humidifying the air flowing from the upstream side.
The humidity of the air supplied to the nursery room 2 is adjusted as appropriate by passing the air through the air filter 5 or by humidifying all or a portion of the air.

The incubator 1 supplies air whose temperature and humidity are controlled into the nursery room 2 as described above. By constantly supplying air in this manner, the interior of the nursery room 2 will not run out of oxygen even though it is cut off from the outside air. Furthermore, since temperature-controlled air is constantly supplied, the temperature inside the nursery room 2 is maintained at an appropriate temperature.

Also, the air in the nursery room 2 needs to be constantly moving. This is necessary to regulate the body temperature of the baby 4, and if the air around the baby 4 is not moving,
Due to the sweating action and heat dissipation action of the baby's body 4, the body temperature of the baby's body 4 cannot be lowered appropriately. On the other hand, if the air around the baby's body 4 moves too quickly, too much heat will be taken away from the baby's body 4 and returned, which is undesirable. Therefore, a fairly light airflow must always exist in the nursery room 2.

On the other hand, if the supply of air into the nursery room 2 has stopped, it is necessary to reliably detect this and notify the operator of the incubator. When the air supply to nursery room 2 stops,
In order to reliably detect this, it is important to arrange the airflow sensor at a position where it can reliably detect the airflow in the nursery room 2.

The airflow sensor 10 of this embodiment is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the air inside the nursery room 2 is supplied to the air supply path 3.
It is arranged directly below the air outlet 25 formed to draw the air into the air. This position is a position where the air drawn into the air supply path 3 through the through hole 35 does not substantially pass through, but approximately the entire amount of air supplied into the nursery room 2 passes through, and the air outlet 25 is It is narrowly formed. Because of this, the flow velocity is faster, so it is possible to accurately measure not only the presence or absence of air flow, but also the wind speed. The wind speed is considered to reflect the airflow condition inside the nursery room 2 quite accurately.

Furthermore, the airflow sensor 10 of this embodiment includes a self-heating thermistor 11 and a self-heating thermistor 1.
Since the thermistor 12 for measuring the environmental temperature of the air conditioner 1 is arranged close to each other, it is possible to correct errors caused by changes in the environmental temperature and accurately measure airflow. This embodiment shows an example in which thermistors are disposed above and below the air outlet 25, with the self-heating thermistor 11 disposed above and the thermistor 12 disposed below.

FIG. 2 shows an example of airflow measurement, and the detected temperature T _H (Air) of the self-heating thermistor 11 is
has been added to. Further, the detected temperature T _H of the thermistor 12 for detecting the environmental temperature is added to the comparison temperature generating section 14 . This comparison temperature generating section 14
is provided to generate a reference temperature T _Ref for comparison with the temperature T _H (Air) detected by the self-heating thermistor 11. The comparison temperature generating section 14 generates the reference temperature T _Ref in the following manner.

That is, first, initial value settings are performed. This initial value setting is performed by measuring the detected value (voltage) of the thermistor 12 when the incubator 1 is operating normally, that is, when the airflow is normal, and inputting this voltage value. In this example, assuming that the incubator 1 is operated in a temperature range of 28°C to 38°C, the detected values (voltage) of the thermistor 12 at 28°C, 32°C, and 38°C are measured, respectively. Compare the voltage value of temperature generator 1
Enter 4. And based on these voltage values
Calculate the temperature gradients between 28℃ and 32℃ and between 32℃ and 38℃, and apply the voltages corresponding to the temperatures between 28℃ and 32℃ and between 32℃ and 38℃ to the above temperature gradients. The correspondence is determined by calculation.

In this way, the detection value (voltage) of the thermistor 12 is set when the incubator 1 is operating normally (air is flowing normally) in the temperature range of 28°C to 38°C. . Then, the value obtained by adding a predetermined voltage (for example, 15 mV) to these set values is set as the reference voltage T _Ref at each temperature.

The detection value T _H of the thermistor 12 is always input to the comparison temperature generation section 14, and the reference temperature T _Ref corresponding to the input detection value T _H of the thermistor 12 is outputted from the comparison temperature generation section 14. Then, this reference temperature T _Ref is input to the comparison section 13. As described above, this comparison section 13 has the detected temperature T _H (Air) of the self-heating thermistor 11.
is input, and this temperature T _H (Air) and the reference temperature T _Ref are compared in the comparator 13. Then, when the comparator 13 determines that T _H (Air)>T _Ref , it means that the air flow has stopped, so the alarm means 15 is activated to notify of the abnormality.

Also, the detection value T _H of the self-heating thermistor 11
(Air) and the detected value T _H of the thermistor 12 for environmental temperature measurement are input to the temperature correction section 16, respectively.
The temperature correction unit 16 includes a detection value _T
As correction data to correct the error of (Air),
The correct detection value of the self-heating thermistor 11 when air is flowing normally is set as an initial value.
This initial value setting is performed by inputting the detection values of the self-heating thermistor 11 at 28°C, 32°C, and 38°C, respectively, similarly to the comparison temperature generating section 14.

In this way, correct detection values at each temperature are input into the temperature correction unit 16, so the temperature T _H (Air) actually detected by the self-heating thermistor 11 can be compared to the environmental temperature at that time. The display unit 1 can be corrected by taking into account the correct wind speed.
7 can be displayed.

When setting the reference voltage T _Ref , if it is set to, for example, about 70% of the detection temperature T _H (Air) of the self-heating thermistor 11 when the air flow completely stops, the air flow The alarm means 15 can be operated before the power has completely stopped, for example, when it has decreased to about 30% of the normal value.

Further, in order to treat or care for the baby body 4 housed within the hood 6, a treatment window provided in the hood 6 may be opened, or the hood 6 may be opened entirely. In such a case, the airflow at the location where the airflow sensor 10 is disposed may decrease, causing the alarm means 15 to operate.
In order to prevent this, for example, a delay circuit may be provided between the comparator 13 and the alarm means 15, so that the alarm means 15 operates only when the air flow decreases for a predetermined time or more. . Even in this case, the alarm means 15 is set to operate immediately if the air flow completely stops.

Further, in this embodiment, an airflow sensor 10 is disposed directly below the air outlet 25 for guiding the air from the nursery room 2 into the air supply path 3. Therefore, the flow rate of air passing through the air outlet 25 can be calculated based on the opening area and flow velocity of the air outlet 25. On the other hand, the volume of the nursery room 2 can be determined by calculation. Therefore, the airflow velocity within the nursery room 2, which was conventionally difficult to measure directly because the airflow velocity was weak, can be determined fairly accurately by calculation. For this reason, for example, in cases where extremely premature babies are housed, the airflow in the nursery room 2 can be set to be sufficiently small, making it possible to sufficiently reduce transpiration from the extremely premature babies. . Moreover, even when the airflow inside the nursery room 2 is made sufficiently small in this way, there is an advantage that when the airflow stops, it can be reliably detected.

However, the airflow sensor 10 may be placed elsewhere as long as it is in the vicinity of the outlet 25 and is a relatively narrow passageway through which the air drawn into the air supply path 3 through the through hole 35 does not substantially pass. You may.

Further, the wind speed does not necessarily have to be displayed.

Furthermore, the circulation fan 34 may be automatically controlled based on the airflow data measured as described above.

[Effect of idea]

A self-heating thermistor having a heating means and a thermistor for measuring environmental temperature without a heating means are installed near the air outlet for leading out air from the nursery room housing the infant and in a transparent place. Because they are placed close to each other in relatively narrow passages through which the air drawn into the air supply passage through the holes does not substantially pass through, the air actually drawn out of the nursery room can be directly measured. The velocity of the air coming out of the nursery room can be accurately measured in a manner that reflects the airflow conditions inside the nursery room. Even if the velocity of the air is weak, it can be easily measured.In particular, since it measures the environmental temperature and performs temperature correction while measuring the airflow, there is no error due to fluctuations in the environmental temperature. Accurate airflow measurements can be made.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The attached drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an airflow sensor, Fig. 2 is a measurement block diagram,
Figure 3 is a graph showing the relationship between detected temperature and airflow.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the upper part of the incubator. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...incubator, 2...nursery room, 3...air supply path, 10...
Airflow sensor, 11... Self-heating thermistor, 1
2...Thermistor, 25...Air outlet, 34...
...Circulation fan, 35...Through hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] An incubator equipped with an airflow sensor that measures the airflow in a nursery room in which a baby is housed, including an outlet for leading air from the nursery room to an air supply path, and an air outlet outside the incubator. a through hole for drawing air into the air supply path; and a through hole for introducing air led into the air supply path through the outlet and air drawn into the air supply path through the through hole into the nursery room, respectively. a circulation fan, and each of the airflow sensors includes a self-heating thermistor that has a heating means and is heated by the heating means, and a thermistor that does not have a heating means; An incubator characterized in that the thermistors are disposed close to each other in a relatively narrow passage portion which is near the outlet and through which air drawn into the air supply passage through the through hole does not substantially pass.