The current dental curing lamp rechargeable batteries are closed in the handle, the battery is dead after the curing lamp to be placed directly on the charger to charge, generally have to charge for more than 4 hours, so the doctor can not be used during the charging period of the curing lamp for treatment, often appear to use the phenomenon of charging in the morning, due to the impact of the doctor's use, resulting in the doctor Often have to prepare two dental curing lamps; and now the dental light curing lamps are used by various manufacturers of special rechargeable batteries, general rechargeable batteries can not be used. Once the battery is damaged, you must return to the manufacturer can be repaired and replaced, maintenance and replacement during the doctor can not use the curing lamp; some dental light curing lamps each curing time are only I gear (20 seconds / times), can not be set for a long period of time curing, due to the light curing materials on the market at present from a variety of manufacturers of materials, and therefore the requirements of the curing time are also different, in order to adapt to a variety of curing materials the doctor had to Repeatedly start the curing lamp, resulting in a continuous light curing materials can not be carried out.
An optical sensor for enabling an instrument to form a closed-loop curing instrument configured to manage the amount of energy delivered to a curable material, including a composite restoration for a tooth. The closed-loop curing instrument is configured to analyze a signal indicative of light reflected from the curable material and adjust the light output based on that analysis.
Claims
1. A dental curing instrument for curing a target comprising a restorative material that is curable in response to the application of light energy, the dental curing instrument comprising: a light source capable of outputting light energy to cure the restorative material, the light source being controllable to vary the amount of light energy that is being output; a light sensor for sensing a characteristic of the light energy; an optical feedback path operatively coupled to the light sensor, the optical feedback path operable to adjust the light output; and an optical feedback path operable to adjust the light output. optical feedback path operatively coupled to the optical sensor, the optical feedback path being disposed to direct light reflected from the target to the optical sensor, wherein the optical sensor is configured to sense a light energy property with respect to the light reflected from the target; a controller operatively coupled to the optical sensor and the light source, the controller being configured to change an operating characteristic of the light source to affect the light energy output from the light source based on the light energy property sensed by the optical sensor. output of the light energy. The dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the optical feedback path is aligned with an illumination beam of light of the light source output from the dental curing instrument such that the optical feedback is within the illumination beam. The dental curing instrument according to claim 2, wherein the optical feedback path is coaxially aligned with the illumination beam. 4. the dental curing instrument according to claim 3, wherein the optical sensor is positioned to substantially avoid obscuring the illumination beam. The dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the optical path and the photosensor form an isolated optical feedback to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to evaluate in real time the actual light intensity (mW/cm) delivered to the surface of the target, wherein the evaluation is independent of operator-induced variations caused by at least one of the distances or angles of the dental curing instrument about the target presented. The dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the light sensor provides a real-time intensity optical sensor feedback signal, wherein the controller generates a corrective adjustment by controlling the light source intensity of the light source based on the optical sensor feedback signal, whereby the controller stabilizes the actual light intensity delivered to the surface of the target. The dental curing instrument according to claim 6, wherein the controller is programmed to further use the optical sensor feedback signal as a basis for determining a time integral of the optical intensity over the target, the controller being programmed to calculate in real time the actual total energy delivered to the surface of the target. The dental curing instrument according to claim 7, wherein the actual total energy is expressed according to an energy in joules/cm equivalent to the intensity in w/cm*tsec. The dental curing instrument according to claim 7, wherein the controller uses a real-time calculation of joules/cm as the basis for controlling the light source in order to control the amount of energy delivered by further managing the time of effective exposure. 10. The dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the optical feedback path is *** shared with a light delivery path through which the light source outputs energy to the target, wherein the controller is programmed to differentially and proportionally metrically evaluate the light energy output from the light source and the light reflected from the target, wherein signals indicative of the light energy output and the reflected light are obtained from within the *** shared light delivery path. 11. a dental curing instrument according to claim 1, further comprising built-in diagnostics (BIT) based on light energy characteristics. 12. the dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the BIT includes the ability to detect at least one of a light source problem, a battery problem, and tip contamination. 13. the dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to confirm that the target is present in the path of light energy output from the light source when the curing operation is activated by the button, and de-activate the light source in response to determining that the target is not present. 14. the dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to determine the presence and de-activate the light source in a microsecond time frame. 15. a dental curing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the target is a tooth or an opaque object. 16. a method of operating a curing instrument to perform a curing operation of a photocurable material, the method comprising: generating light energy from a light source; directing the light energy toward a target surface associated with the photocurable material; generating an optical sensor feedback signal based on sensed light reflected from the target surface; and adjusting an output of the light energy from the light source based on the optical sensor feedback signal. 17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising sensing, via the optical sensor, light reflected from the target surface, wherein the light reflected from the surface is indicative of an amount of light energy actually delivered to the target surface from the light source. 18. a method according to claim 16, further comprising supplying a power signal to the light source in order to generate light energy, and wherein said adjusting the output of light energy from the light source comprises changing a characteristic of the power signal supplied to the light source. 19. a method according to claim 18, wherein the characteristic of the power signal comprises at least one of an amount of current, an amount of voltage, and a duty cycle of the power signal. 20. the method according to claim 16, wherein the curing apparatus comprises a light-applying member from which light energy is emitted, and wherein the method further comprises determining, based on the optical sensor feedback signal, whether a light-curable material is present in proximity to the light-applying member. 21. The method according to claim 16, further comprising iteratively calculating a total amount of light energy delivered to the target surface based on the optical sensor feedback signal, and determining whether the calculated amount of light energy is equal to or exceeds a prescribed amount of light energy for the light-curable material. 22. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: delivering the light energy to the target surface based on the cure distribution map; calculating an amount of light energy delivered over a certain amount of time based on the optical sensor feedback signal; determining whether the calculated amount of light energy is substantially similar to an expected amount of light energy based on the cure distribution map for the amount of time; determining whether the calculated amount of light energy is different from the expected amount of light energy based on the calculated amount of light energy; and determining whether the calculated amount of light energy is substantially similar to the expected amount of light energy based on the cure distribution map for the amount of time. different from the determination of the amount of expected light energy to adjust the output of light energy from the light source. 23. a method according to claim 16, further comprising guiding the gas past the target surface by generating a positive or negative pressure through a gas channel of the curing apparatus. 24. a curing apparatus for curing a photocurable material, said curing apparatus comprising: a light source configured to generate light energy for curing the photocurable material, said light source configured to provide an illumination beam of light energy to the photocurable material; optical drive circuitry operably coupled to said light source, said optical drive circuitry configured to provide a power signal to said light source to generate said light energy, the wherein said optical drive circuitry is configured to vary one or more operating characteristics of said power signal to vary the output of said light energy from said light source; a controller operably coupled to said optical drive circuitry, said controller being configured to control the operation of said optical drive circuitry to control the generation of said light energy from said light source; an optical feedback sensor arranged to collect light reflected from the light-curable material, said optical feedback sensor having the following features feedback sensor, said optical feedback sensor having an optical input having an optical sensing path guided to said light-curable material, wherein said optical sensing path of said optical input is surrounded by said illuminating beam of light generated from said light source; and an optical sensor optically coupled to said optical input of said optical feedback sensor, said optical sensor configured to generate an optical sensor feedback signal based on said light collected by said optical input. said light to generate an optical sensor feedback signal, wherein said controller directs said optical drive circuitry to change at least one of said one or more operating characteristics to change the output of light energy from said light source based on said optical sensor feedback signal. 25. A curing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said optical sensing path is coaxially aligned with said illumination beam of light energy, wherein said optical sensor is arranged with respect to said light source in such a manner as to substantially avoid significant shading of said illumination beam. 26. The curing apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising a gas passage coupled to a gas nozzle directing a gas through the photocurable material to affect a temperature of the photocurable material, said gas passage forming at least a portion of a coolant system.