JPS5825459B2 - Affected area cooling device using cryogenic gas refrigerant - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an affected area cooling device suitable for low-temperature treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, etc., which has recently attracted attention.

Traditionally, the treatment for rheumatoid arthritis has been to warm the affected area, keep it at rest, and administer appropriate medications.
Recently, a new treatment method has been developed in which the affected area is cooled to a fairly low temperature and the joints are exercised in this cooled state, rather than by cooling the affected area.

The present invention relates to an affected area cooling device used to carry out this new treatment method, and its purpose is to completely eliminate the risk of frostbite on the human body.

Conventionally, this type of device is simply configured to provide a refrigerant jet nozzle A at the end of a refrigerant supply device (not shown) as shown in Fig. 1, and to directly jet the refrigerant onto an affected area B such as an elbow joint. .

In this case, the gas refrigerant C made of liquid nitrogen or a mixture of nitrogen and liquid oxygen is sprayed onto the affected area B.
Not only does it cause pain to the patient, but it also causes discomfort to the patient because it cools strongly only locally, and a considerable amount of the refrigerant is not used to cool the affected area, but is dissipated into the outside air. However, there was also the disadvantage that there was a lot of wasteful consumption of refrigerant.

What is more important is that the refrigerant is simply sprayed onto the affected area B, so although nitrogen gas refrigerants are originally dry gases with a low dew point, when the refrigerant is released into the air and sprayed onto the affected area B, There is a risk that the surrounding air will be sucked in and the moisture in the air will condense on the affected area, causing frostbite, and gas refrigerants such as liquid nitrogen will be released into the patient's room. , the problem of air pollution also arises.

The present invention is an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems, and will be described in detail with reference to the embodiment shown in FIG. The liquefied gas is sent from the liquefied gas source 2 through the transfer pipe 3 to the heat exchanger 4, and the liquefied gas is heated by the electric heater 5 provided in the converter 4, and as a result, the liquefied gas is turned into liquid nitrogen. The gas refrigerant is converted into a gas refrigerant, and the gas refrigerant is obtained at the discharge end 6 connected to the heat exchanger 4.

Further, this heat exchanger 4 is provided with a temperature sensor 7 that detects the temperature of the gas refrigerant, and a temperature regulator 8 controls the power supplied to the electric heater 5 based on the detection result of the sensor 7. Since it is connected, the gas refrigerant is controlled to a desired temperature set by the regulator 8.

The heat exchanger 4 shown in FIG. A heat transfer channel 12 is formed on the outer periphery of the electric heater 5 installed inside the heater 5, and the flow channel 12 is provided with a heat transfer medium 13 filled with porous sintered metal, thin metal wire, etc. While the liquid gas flowing into the container body 9 from the heat transfer medium 13 flows through the narrow gap held by the heat transfer medium 13, it undergoes heat exchange due to the heat generated by the electric heater 5, and is converted into a gas medium. There is.

The present invention is characterized in that the gas medium obtained from the supply source 1 according to the embodiment described above is not simply sprayed onto the affected area B from its discharge end 6, but an outside air blocking device 14 is connected to the discharge end 6. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the cylindrical main body 15 is formed of a material having low temperature resistance such as silicone rubber, and can be attached to a desired cylindrical location on the human body. After inserting it from the tip of the hand to the elbow joint of the arm as shown in the figure, operate the fasteners 17 and 17' provided on the open ends 16 and 16' of the main body 15, such as fasteners 17 and 17', to tighten the open end 16. , 16' are brought into close contact with the arm, thereby forming a shielded space 18 defined by the human body and the outside air shield 14.

In this 5, the fasteners 17 and 17' can be used without using a tightening cord, by forming the open ends 16 and 16' to be thinner than the arms, and by making the outside air blocking device 14 itself elastic. The parts 16, 16' themselves can also be used as fasteners 17, 1γ.

Further, the cylindrical main body 15 and the discharge end 6 of the outside air blocker 14 may be fixed in advance with an adhesive or a fastener, or may be screwed together removably as necessary. The end opening σ of 6 is arranged so as to open into the shielded space 18 .

In the present invention, a discharge port 19 is provided so that an appropriate amount of the gas refrigerant discharged from the end fitting into the shielded space 18 is discharged from the space 18, but in the embodiment shown in FIG. A discharge port 19 is provided, and it is preferable that the discharge port 19 be configured to be able to be opened and closed as necessary, or to be configured with a cap having a structure that allows the amount of discharge to be adjusted.

Next, the outside air blocking device 14 shown in FIG. 3 is composed of a cup-shaped main body 15', and a shielding space 18 is formed by pressing the pressing opening 20 of the main body 15' against an affected area such as a shoulder. In this case, it is desirable that the entire body 15' or the pressing opening 20 be made elastic.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 above, the outlet 19 is connected to the main body i.
s, 15', but of course it is also possible to make the body itself of a breathable material and have the discharge ports 19 distributed over its entire surface.
In addition, as shown in Figure 4, heat-retaining belts 2L and 21 wrapped around the arms, etc.
For example, by attaching the outside air blocking device 14 so as to straddle the opening end 16 and the heat insulating band 21, the discharge port 19
It can also be used as

To use the above device, it is sufficient to operate the supply source 1 and discharge the gas refrigerant adjusted to a predetermined low temperature from the discharge end 6 into the shielded space 18. At this time, the exhaust volume of the discharge port 19 is appropriately set. If this is done, the gas refrigerant necessary and sufficient to cool the affected area B will be supplied, and the minimum amount of gas refrigerant can be released from the discharge port 19, and the gas refrigerant will not come into direct contact with the outside air. This prevents moisture in the air from condensing on the affected area.

As explained above, the present invention connects the gas refrigerant discharge end 6 supplied from the cryogenic gas refrigerant supply source 1 to the outside air shield 14 attached to a desired part of the human body, and also isolates the human body from the outside air. The outside air blocking device 14 transmits the gas refrigerant discharged from the discharge end 6 into the shielding space 18 formed by the device 14 and the discharge port 1 formed between the blocking device 14 and the human body.
A heat exchanger 4 is provided between the gas refrigerant supply source 1 and the discharge end 6, and the heat exchanger 4 includes:
An electric heater 5 for heating and gasifying the cryogenic gas refrigerant supplied from the supply source 1 and a temperature sensor 7 for detecting the temperature of the gas refrigerant are provided. Since the heater 5 is characterized by being connected to a temperature regulator 8 that responds to the detection output of the temperature sensor 7, the affected area can be cooled to protect the human body from the risk of frostbite as described above. Instead of cooling the affected area by spraying the gas refrigerant from the discharge end to the affected area, the entire arm in the shielded space 18 is cooled by the gas refrigerant in the outside air blocking device 14, so it is not necessary to spray the gas refrigerant locally to the patient. Not only does it not cause discomfort, it also reduces wasteful dissipation of the gas refrigerant, thereby reducing the consumption of refrigerants such as liquid nitrogen.

In addition, the present invention includes a heat exchanger 4 between the gas refrigerant supply source 1 and the discharge end 6, making it possible to adjust the temperature of the gas refrigerant. It is now possible to spray the refrigerant and gradually lower the temperature of the refrigerant, and therefore it is possible to avoid giving the patient discomfort due to sudden extreme cooling, as would be the case if the extremely low temperature gas refrigerant was sprayed onto the affected area B from the beginning. The temperature of the gas refrigerant sprayed onto the affected area B can be adjusted depending on the severity of the symptoms and the progress of treatment, making it possible to perform effective low-temperature treatment for a variety of symptoms. can.

If the outside air shield 14 is made of a translucent material, there will be no problem for the doctor to observe the affected area, and an extension hose or the like can be used instead of simply opening the outlet 19 into the room. Since the gas refrigerant can be discharged outdoors, the problem of indoor air pollution can be easily solved by adopting such a method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view showing how a conventional affected area cooling device using cryogenic gas refrigerant is used, FIG. 2 is an overall explanatory view showing an example of the same device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are FIG. 2 is a perspective explanatory view of the main part and a partially cutaway side view of the main part, respectively, when an outside air blocking device different from that in FIG. 2 is used. 1... Supply source, 4... Heat exchanger, 5.
...Electric heater, 6...Discharge end, 7...
... Temperature sensor, 8 ... Temperature regulator, 14
...... Outside air blocker, 15... Tubular body,
15'...Cup-shaped body, 16.16'...
... Open end, 17, 17'... Fastener, 1
8... Shield space, 19... Outlet, 2
0...Press opening.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A discharge end of a gas refrigerant supplied from a source of cryogenic gas refrigerant is connected to an external air blocking device attached to a desired part of the human body, and a device formed by the human body and the external air blocking device The gas refrigerant discharged from the discharge end can be freely discharged into the shielded space through the discharge port formed between the isolation device and the human body, and the gas refrigerant is connected between the supply source of the gas refrigerant and the discharge end. A heat exchanger is provided in between, and this heat exchanger is provided with an electric heater for heating and gasifying the cryogenic gas refrigerant supplied from the above-mentioned supply source, and a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the gas refrigerant. . A cooling device for an affected area using a cryogenic gas refrigerant, characterized in that a temperature regulator that responds to the detection output of the temperature sensor is connected to the electric heater for power supply to the electric heater. 2. The outside air shield consists of a cylindrical body made of a low-temperature resistant material and a fastener provided to bring both open ends of the body into contact with the human body. An affected area cooling device using a cryogenic gas refrigerant according to claim 1. 3. The external air blocking device is characterized in that a cup-shaped main body made of a low-temperature resistant material is provided with a pressing opening that comes into contact with the human body, and the cup main body is provided with a discharge port. A cooling device for affected areas using cryogenic gas refrigerant.