Temperature measurement device

• US 7,981,046 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2009
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medisim Limited
• Original Assignee: Medisim Limited
• Inventors: Barak, Menashe, Yarden, Moshe
• Primary Examiner(s): Hindenburg; Max
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lloyd; Emily M
• Application Number:
  US12/318,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20090187115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 600/549, 374/44, 374/100, 374/110
• US Class Current: 600/549
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0022 for sensing the radiation of moving bodies
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0025 Living bodies ear thermometers G01J5/0011; detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/08 Optical arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0887 Integrating cavities mimicking black bodies, wherein the heat propagation between the black body and the measuring element does not occur within a solid; Use of bodies placed inside the fluid stream for measurement of the temperature of gases; Use of the reemission from a surface, e.g. reflective surface; Emissivity enhancement by multiple reflections
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/165 for application in zero heat flux sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/20 Clinical contact thermometers for use with humans or animals
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/42 Circuits effecting compensation of thermal inertia; Circuits for predicting the stationary value of a temperature

Abstract

A device for non-invasive measurement of the internal temperature of a physical body or thermal resistivity, the body comprising a thermally conductive medium between an internal region with a substantially constant internal temperature and an external surface with a surface temperature. The device comprises: a patch comprising one or more contact components for attachment to the external surface and an insulating cover for substantially thermally insulating the contact component from ambient thermal conditions; a reader for acquiring one or more thermal magnitudes on the patch; a processing unit for processing the thermal magnitudes to derive the internal temperature of the internal region or the thermal resistivity of the conductive medium.

Claims

1. A temperature measurement device for a non-invasive measurement of the internal temperature of a physical body or thermal resistivity, the body comprising a thermally conductive medium between an internal region with a substantially constant internal temperature and an external surface with a surface temperature, the device comprising:

a patch for attachment to an external surface of a body having an internal temperature, the patch comprising;

at least three contact components, which are configured to contact the external surface of the body at different, respective measurement locations and to have at least three different thermal boundary conditions; and

an insulating cover for thermally insulating said at least three contact components from ambient thermal conditions;

a reader for acquiring at least three respective thermal magnitudes from the said at least three contact components; and

a processing unit for processing said at least three respective thermal magnitudes in order to derive the internal temperature of the body.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein gas is provided between the insulating cover and the at least three contact components.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the gas is transparent to infra-red radiation.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the gas is air.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein a vacuum is provided between the insulating cover and the at least three contact components.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement locations are characterized as having distinct properties selected from the group of properties consisting of:

different thermal conductivity, different thickness, or different emissivity.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said measurement locations are characterized in that each measurement location facilitates two or more measurement spots facilitating different thermal boundary conditions on the external surface.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the different thermal boundary conditions are characterized as having distinct properties selected from the group of properties comprising:

different thermal conductivity or different thickness.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the measurement locations are separated by thermal insulation.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein said two or more measurement spots are separated by a distance that is substantially smaller than the distance separating adjacent measurement locations.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the patch is provided with at least one pair of thermally separated heat or temperature transducers for each measurement location, each transducer provided with leads to terminals external to the patch, which the reader can contact for reading.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the reader is an infra-red radiation radiometer.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the insulating cover is provided with a point of access through which the radiometer can acquire one or more thermal magnitudes on the patch.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the point of access is selected from the group consisting of:

a window, an opening, a diaphragm, or a shutter.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the at least three contact components comprises one location of substantially low thermal resistivity and substantially low emissivity, the cover has low emissivity, and wherein the cover is large enough to avoid lateral heat flux, thereby allowing at a thermal steady state the temperature on each of the at least one contact components to be substantially equal to the internal temperature.

16. The device of claim 1, further comprising a user interface for enabling a user to calibrate and operate the reader and to be informed of the calculated internal temperature.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the patch further comprises identification information about the physical body, the reader further comprises means for reading identification information.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the means for reading the identification information is a bar code reader.