JPH11137618A - Incubator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an incubator properly and smoothly attaining the control of atmosphere effective for a prematured baby or a newborn baby, especially he maintenance and management of internally generated steam. SOLUTION: The incubator is constituted by providing an openable/closable hood 12 at a container main body 10, communicate-connecting an air supplying pipe 14 and an air exhausting pipe 16 supplying temperature/humidity adjustable air into the container and exhausting this air, and stirring air in the container. In the neighborhood of the connection parts respectively with the incubator of the pipes 14 and 16, the same sensors 18a and 18b are connect-arranged to monitor and/or control atmosphere within the container based on the instruction difference of detected values by these sensors.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an incubator capable of appropriately and smoothly controlling the atmosphere for a premature or newborn baby.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is generally known that humidifying air supplied to infants is a functional element for preserving and raising infants in an incubator. In the incubator, a humidifier is incorporated, and the air filtered through the humidifier is introduced into the incubator.

[0003] However, conventional humidifiers for incubators have many problems. That is, in the case of an incubator incorporating a humidifier, the air introduced into the incubator is regulated before being supplied to a circuit extending through the hood area where the infant is maintained and raised. Generally, the filtered air is drawn into the circulation path by a fan and introduced into the hood through one path. In addition, the air introduced into the hood is sent out of the hood via the other passage, returned to the one passage, and introduced again into the hood, thereby performing circulation. Therefore, the heater and the humidifier are appropriately positioned in the circulation path so that the air introduced into the hood is maintained at an appropriate temperature and humidity.

Therefore, in a conventional incubator,
An infant such as a premature infant or a newborn is accommodated in the container body, the hood is closed, and air containing necessary gas components, oxygen, water vapor, etc. is supplied from the date of air supply.
In addition, the air outlet is not generally arranged in one place, but the inside of the incubator is kept at a slightly positive pressure.
The air and the gas components discharged when the infant is breathing are naturally discharged from the gap between the portion forming the hood of the incubator and the container body to the outside at all times.
The purpose of discharging such air and gas components is to prevent molds and other microorganisms flying in the air from entering the incubator and growing.

[0005] From such a viewpoint, conventionally, as means for controlling the operation of the incubator, for example, the atmosphere conditions for infants such as premature babies and newborn babies in the incubator, and the heat release from the body of the infant to the atmosphere. It is configured for adjustment. Therefore, as important parameters for maintaining the desired atmospheric conditions, for example, the air temperature of the incubator for avoiding convective heat loss, the hood of the incubator for preventing a temperature decrease through heat conduction or heat radiation. It has been pointed out that the moisture content of the bed surface temperature, as well as the incubator air temperature, is important, and that it is to supply enough oxygen to support metabolism to form heat, and these operating parameters An incubator configured to be controlled on the basis of the method has also been proposed (JP-A-5-3371).
No. 56).

[0006]

However, in the case where the air is intensively supplied and discharged in a distributed manner as in the incubator described above, how much of the components in the supplied air are contained. It is not possible to know if it has been used or changed by a young child. For example, considering humidity, infants are more likely to weigh than adults.
Although it is considered that a large percentage of the perspiration has a perspiration effect, in order to cause perspiration, the humidity of the supplied air is low to some extent, and the sum with the amount of perspiration of the infant is 100% relative humidity.
It is desirable that:

Therefore, it is not enough to detect whether or not the above-mentioned conditions are satisfied merely by measuring the relative humidity and the temperature of the air supply port in the incubator.
By measuring the relative humidity at the air outlet,
Important biological information will be obtained.

The important biological information is as follows.

(1) The amount of heat released to the outside can be known from the amount of sweating of the infant. In this case, the relative humidity is 100
%, The heat radiation from the infant is guaranteed. Conversely, if the water droplets exceed 100%, the infant receives the liquefaction heat from the air.

(2) It is determined whether or not the relative humidity of the air at the air supply port is controlled to a required value (for example, 67%). If the relative humidity greatly differs from the set value, it is considered that the humidifier that humidifies the air has failed, and necessary measures are taken.

From such a viewpoint, the present inventors have conducted various studies on the amount of perspiration of a newborn baby in an incubator and the maintenance of its environment. As a result, in order to properly control the atmosphere in the incubator, supply of It has been found that it is effective to set an incubator in which the mouth and the outlet are respectively concentrated in one place.

As an example, for a newborn baby (3000 g), 108 mL (36 mg / Kg / da) per day is used.
y) Assuming that the amount of sweating is about, if the air flow rate at the air supply port of the incubator is 6 L / min, this corresponds to an absolute humidity of 12.5 mg / L, and the relative humidity at 37 ° C. This corresponds to about 28.5%. Therefore, the newborn is 600 × 10 8 per day depending on the amount of sweat.
(Cal) [the latent heat of vaporization: about 600 cal / g] is dissipated in the body to regulate the body temperature.

Therefore, evaporation of the newborn is suppressed for some reason (for example, the humid air becomes supersaturated).
Then, the body temperature is raised from the surrounding humid air due to the homeostasis maintaining function (homeostasis) of the living body, and the temperature difference causes conduction heat dissipation or convection heat dissipation, thereby causing an abnormal rise in body temperature.

On the other hand, in order to moisturize the skin of the newborn baby, it is desirable that the humidity in the incubator be as high as possible, and the target is usually about 95 to 98%. However, 37 ° C
The relative humidity of the supply air consisting of a flow rate of 6 L / min is
From the absolute humidity of the saturated steam at 37 ° C. of 44 mg / L and the previously obtained amount of perspiration of 12.5 mg / L, in order to set the humidity in the incubator to 95%, the following equation (1) is used. % Is adjusted around.

[0015]

(Equation 1)

Therefore, the amount of perspiration of a newborn baby can be
Since there is a variation after meals and at bedtime, in order to keep the humidity of the air in the incubator at a high value of 95 to 98%, at two places of the air supply and discharge ports in the incubator,
It is necessary to accurately measure and monitor the environmental state. That is, when the environmental condition is measured only in the incubator, it is difficult to determine whether the change in the measurement instruction is due to the amount of perspiration or an abnormal humidification of the supplied air.

Further, in this type of incubator, the access to the infant accommodated in the container can be made by removing the hood or using gloves in the same manner as in a conventional incubator. However, in the maintenance of the incubator, unlike the conventional incubator, the internal pressure in the control operation state does not need to be large enough to push up the hood. Therefore, when the internal pressure of the incubator rises abnormally, the hood is pushed up by a force higher than its own weight, and when the internal pressure falls below the outside air pressure, an air supply pipe connected to the incubator and It is preferable that a valve (not shown) provided at each connection port of the air discharge pipe is closed to shut off the air from outside air, thereby forming an incubator having a centralized supply / discharge port.

The incubator of the centralized supply / drain type configured as described above can not only measure the humidity but also record the generation status of oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc. in the incubator over time. Become.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an incubator capable of properly and smoothly achieving an effective atmosphere control for premature babies and newborn babies, in particular, maintenance and management of internally generated steam.

[0020]

In order to achieve the above object, an incubator according to the present invention is provided with an openable and closable hood in a container body, and supplies air capable of adjusting temperature and humidity into the container. An incubator provided with means for communicating the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe for discharging air, and further provided with means for stirring the air in the container, wherein the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe are each connected to an incubator. The present invention is characterized in that the same sensors are connected and arranged in the vicinity, and the atmosphere in the container is monitored and / or controlled based on the difference between the indications of the detected values by these sensors.

In this case, each of the sensors includes a pair of a humidity sensor for measuring a relative humidity and a temperature sensor for measuring a temperature, and the generated steam in the container is determined based on an indicated difference between detection values measured by the sensors. Is calculated, and the temperature and humidity in the container are adjusted in accordance with the calculated generated steam.

The sensors each comprise a pair of oxygen sensors for measuring the oxygen concentration and a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature. The oxygen concentration in the container is determined based on the difference between the detected values measured by the sensors. It may be configured to calculate and adjust the temperature and the oxygen concentration in the container in accordance with the calculated oxygen concentration.

Further, each of the sensors comprises a pair of carbon dioxide gas sensors for measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide gas and a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature. The carbon dioxide gas in the container is determined based on the difference between the detected values measured by the sensors. The concentration may be calculated, and the temperature and the carbon dioxide concentration in the container may be adjusted in accordance with the calculated carbon dioxide concentration.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the incubator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Structure of incubator and its peripheral structure

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an incubator according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a container main body of the incubator, and reference numeral 12 denotes a hood which is openably and closably attached to the container main body 10. However, an air supply pipe 14 is connected to one end of the hood 12 and an air discharge pipe 16 is connected to the other end. The hood 1 of each of the air supply pipe 14 and the air discharge pipe 16
The analyzer 18 having the same configuration is located at a position close to
a and 18b are connected and arranged. In this case, the analyzer 18
The same sensor for detecting the same gas component is provided for each of a and 18b.

A pressure relay 20 is provided in a part of the hood 12 to detect the pressure in the incubator and to operate when the detected value falls below a preset pressure value.

Further, a bypass pipe 22 communicating between both ends of the bottom of the container body 10 is provided to the container body 10 in order to properly agitate the gas in the incubator when the incubator is closed. A rotary drive fan 24 as a circulator is provided in a part of the bypass pipe 22.
In this case, it is effective if the ventilation into the incubator by the bypass pipe 22 is directed so as to face the air flow introduced from the air supply pipe 14.

An air detection system in an ideal incubator
M

As described above, in the incubator having a centralized supply / discharge port in which the air supply / exhaust port of the incubator is concentrated at one location, the flow velocity and humidity of the air at the supply / exhaust port and the volume of the incubator are described. Is given by the following equation (2).

[0031]

(Equation 2)

Here, T: time constant (min) = V / v V: volume of the incubator (L) v: air flow rate at the supply / discharge port (L / min) h ₁ : absolute humidity of supply port side air (mg) / L) h ₂ : Absolute humidity of air on the outlet side (mg / L) t: Time (min)

In this case, the stirring of the air in the incubator is completely performed (ideal state), and therefore, the humidity of the air detected at the outlet is assumed to be that the mixing is completely performed. for step change Delta] h ₁ of the humidity h ₁ of the supply port side air, the response of the humidity h ₂ outlet side air,
It is obtained by the following equation (3).

[0034]

(Equation 3)

Air sensing system in a practical incubator
M

However, it is practically difficult to completely stir the air in the incubator with the centralized supply / discharge port. Therefore, for example, in the air on the supply port side, a certain ratio k (k <1) does not participate in the stirring motion, and the air flows from the supply port to the discharge port without time delay, and the remainder (1-k)
Is assumed to perform the response shown in the above equation (3) (in the most extreme case), the humidity of the air at the supply port and the air outlet is measured by the following equation (4).

[0037]

(Equation 4)

Therefore, the change in humidity in the incubator is
By determining the difference in humidity between the supply port and the discharge port,
It is represented by the following equation (5).

[0039]

(Equation 5)

According to the equation (5), the influence of the change of the supply port side air remaining on the difference between the change of the supply port side air humidity and the change of the supply port side air is different from the case where the complete stirring is performed.
It can be seen that the image is reduced by (1-k) times.

Next, the generated steam hg (m) in the incubator
g / L), assuming that the flow rate at a constant rate k (k <1) is short-circuited (not stirred), the change in humidity in the incubator is expressed by the above equation (5). Similarly, it is expressed by the following equation (6).

[0042]

(Equation 6)

The second term on the right side of the equation (6) is a measurement error caused by a response delay and a disturbance on the supply port side.
As shown in the figure, the value was (1
-K) <1.

The above relationship cannot be applied when the humidity exceeds 100% and stays in the incubator as water droplets.

Detection of generated gas etc. in the incubator

In the incubator of the present embodiment configured as described above, as a sensor for detecting the same gas component, for example, an oxygen sensor for detecting an oxygen concentration or a carbon dioxide sensor for detecting a carbon dioxide concentration is selectively or combined. Attached to
A calculation is performed to determine the indicated difference between the detection values of the same gas component by these sensors. For the calculations in these cases, the same calculation formulas as the above-described formulas (1) to (6) can be applied.

By performing the calculation for obtaining the indicated difference, the absorption or release of the gas component generated in the incubator can be measured.

When the atmosphere in the incubator is measured by mounting a plurality of identical sensors in the incubator as in the prior art, (1) an incomplete stirring and an erroneous measurement display or (2) When the atmosphere has changed, it is difficult to determine whether the cause is air supply side air or the condition of the infant in the incubator. By determining the difference between the values detected by the same sensor on the discharge date, the determination is facilitated.

Automatic control operation of incubator

The incubator having the above-described configuration can perform an automatic control operation by the system configuration shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 30a
Represents a supply port side sensor provided in the supply port side sensor 18a shown in FIG. 1, and 30b represents a discharge port side sensor provided in the discharge port analyzer 18b shown in FIG. 1, and is output by each of these sensors. Calculating the indicated difference of the detected value relating to the humidity by the indicated difference calculator 32, predicting the relative humidity of the atmosphere in the incubator, and obtaining, that is, monitoring, appropriate parameters for the environmental maintenance control of the incubator. Can be.

The indicated difference calculation value calculated by the indicated difference calculator 32 is input to an integrator 34 and integrated for a predetermined time (this is referred to as an integration section) to quickly reduce the error. This can be performed, and noise to the detector that changes in a short time can be removed. Therefore, this integrator 34 has ON / OF for controlling its driving.
An F switch and a terminal, an integration section setting dial and a terminal, and a connection terminal for recording integration calculation data;
They are provided so that they can be operated from an external computer when necessary.

Further, reference numeral 36 denotes a valve interlock mechanism connected to the pressure relay 20 shown in FIG. 1, and when the internal pressure of the incubator falls below the external pressure.
Valves respectively provided at the air supply port and the air discharge port are closed to prevent outside air from being sucked.

In this manner, the monitoring and / or appropriate control of the atmosphere in the container of the incubator can be performed automatically and smoothly.

Means provided for security

In the incubator according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, it is desirable to provide the following means for security.

(1) When the supply air to the incubator deviates from the set values (flow rate, temperature, humidity, etc.), an alarm [A
LARM "1"] is provided (see FIG. 2).

(2) A means for generating an alarm [ALARM “3”] when the internal pressure in the incubator becomes lower than the external pressure is provided (see FIG. 2).

(3) Means for generating an alarm [ALARM "2"] when the air discharged from the incubator exceeds the upper limit of each component is provided (see FIG. 2).

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various design changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is. In particular, the incubator according to the present invention is extremely useful as an incubator for treating a specific disease. In particular, an ideal environment can be easily set when premature babies and newborns are raised in an atmosphere of high humidity, as well as when raising with a special oxygen concentration.

[0061]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiment, according to the incubator according to the present invention, the container main body is provided with an openable and closable hood, and air whose temperature and humidity can be adjusted is supplied into the container and the container is supplied with the air. An incubator provided with means for communicating the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe to be discharged and provided with a means for stirring the air in the container, in the vicinity of the connection between the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe with the incubator, respectively. The same sensor is connected and arranged to monitor and / or control the atmosphere in the container on the basis of the difference between the detected values of these sensors, thereby providing an atmosphere effective for premature babies and newborn babies. Can be obtained that can smoothly and appropriately achieve the above control.

According to the incubator of the present invention, dew condensation in the incubator can be prevented, and the humidity can be adjusted to a constant high level of about 95%. In addition, the time course of the amount of perspiration (change over time)
Can be easily detected. And a normal incubator has a time constant of about 30 to 40 minutes,
According to only a single sensor, only 90% of the change is sensed in about 70 to 100 minutes after the start of the change of the measurement instruction. When using sensors in
Many excellent advantages are obtained, such as being able to estimate the total amount of change in the measurement instruction in 40 minutes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of an incubator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a control system configuration of the incubator shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Container main body 12 Hood 14 Air supply pipe 16 Air discharge pipe 18a Supply port sensor 18b Discharge port sensor 20 Pressure relay 22 Bypass pipe 24 Rotary drive fan 30a Supply port sensor 30b Discharge port sensor 32 Indication difference calculator 34 Integration Container 36 Valve interlock mechanism

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An openable / closable hood is provided on a container body, and an air supply pipe and an air discharge pipe for supplying air capable of adjusting the temperature and humidity into the container and discharging the air are connected to the container body. The same sensor is connected and arranged in the vicinity of the connection portion of the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe with the incubator, and the difference between the indications of the detection values by these sensors is provided. An incubator configured to monitor and / or control an atmosphere in a container based on the information. 2. The sensor comprises a pair of humidity sensors for measuring relative humidity and a pair of temperature sensors for measuring temperature, and calculates steam generated in the container based on an indicated difference between detection values measured by the sensors. The incubator according to claim 1, wherein the temperature and humidity in the container are adjusted in accordance with the calculated generated steam. 3. The sensor comprises a pair of oxygen sensors for measuring oxygen concentration and a temperature sensor for measuring temperature, and calculates an oxygen concentration in the container based on an indicated difference between detection values measured by the sensors. The incubator according to claim 1, wherein the temperature and the oxygen concentration in the container are adjusted in accordance with the calculated oxygen concentration. 4. A sensor comprising a pair of carbon dioxide gas sensors for measuring a concentration of carbon dioxide gas and a temperature sensor for measuring a temperature, wherein the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the container is determined based on an indicated difference between detection values measured by the sensors. And calculating the temperature and the carbon dioxide gas concentration in the container in accordance with the calculated carbon dioxide gas concentration.
Incubator as described.