Patent Number: 051986787
Section: summary

Cross-reference to related U.S. patents, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,984, LEINHARD U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,898, FISCHER U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,521, OPPAWSKY FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a polymerization device for treating plastic dental parts, having an irradiation space in an irradiation chamber, the space being accessible via at least one pivotable or displaceable wall, and having a light conductor and a radiation source unit; the light conductor feeds the radiation from the radiation source into the irradiation space of the irradiation chamber and forms a releasable connection between the irradiation chamber and the radiation source unit. BACKGROUND A polymerization device of this type is known from the Kulzer brochure "Translux, Hochleistungshandlichtgerate fur Praxis und Labor" (German version No. 155188/D 185 sk; English version: "Translux EC: High efficiency hand-held light unit"). One of the radiation source units shown is a tabletop unit that has a connection for a light conductor. The light conductor that can be connected to it is long and flexible and has a grip element by which the light conductor is guided about the patient's mouth by the dentist. A curved light exit end is attached to the front end of the grip element. An irradiation chamber, of the kind known from German Patent 37 08 204, can also be attached to the connection for the light conductor. The irradiation chamber rests directly on the tabletop unit and is supported by the table. This polymerization device, comprising the tabletop unit and the irradiation chamber connected to it, is dependent on the availability of a tabletop unit as the radiation source unit. Besides these tabletop units, hand-held polymerization units, the housings of which contain not only the grip element but also operation and display elements, along with the light source and the fan, and stationary polymerization units, which contain an irradiation chamber and are used predominantly in dental laboratories, are also in use. Dentists' offices, however, often have only hand-held polymerization units on hand for treating plastic dental elements; such units are used exclusively inside the patient's mouth. THE INVENTION It is accordingly the object of the present invention to create a polymerization device that makes it possible to operate an irradiation chamber for curing plastic dental elements by using a hand-held polymerization unit, and to assure easy conversion of such a hand-held polymerization unit to a stationary one. Briefly, the radiation source unit is a hand-held polymerization unit, which is retained by its housing part on a first support, disposed on a support plate of a support frame; external sheathing of the light conductor is guided in a second support of the support plate; and the irradiation chamber is supported and optionally fixed on a part of the support frame. By combining an irradiation chamber and a hand-held polymerization unit, which is achieved by means of the support frame, it is possible to use a hand-held polymerization unit as a stationary one, in combination with an irradiation chamber. Hand-held polymerization units suitable for such use are known from German Patent Disclosure Documents DE-OS 26 27 249 and DE-OS 22 01 308, or from German Patent 34 11 996. The hand-held polymerization units include a radiation source, a fan, and operation and display elements. A socket by which various light conductors can be secured to the hand-held polymerization unit is mounted on the front of the hand-held polymerization unit. The housing part of this kind of hand-held polymerization unit is fixed in a recess in the first support. The external sheathing of the light conductor is guided through an opening in the second support, is held securely and firmly, for instance by form-fitting engagement with this opening, and is fastened in the irradiation chamber. The irradiation chamber is supported on the support frame. The polymerization device according to the invention enables fast, uncomplicated conversion and stable coupling of a hand-held polymerization unit to an irradiation chamber, so that even in dentists' offices in which only a hand-held polymerization unit is available, plastic dental elements can be irradiated, cured and tempered in stationary fashion. An especially practical embodiment of the support frame provides that the first support is a platform-like part that has an opening for receiving the hand-held polymerization unit. The housing part of the hand-held polymerization unit can be inserted into this opening and held securely and firmly by form-fitting engagement with it. In a simple embodiment of the support frame, the supports are fastened vertically to the support plate. The support frame may comprise plastic, such as acrylic glass, or sheet aluminum. To simplify converting a hand-held polymerization unit to a stationary unit, the first support is slit from the opening to the outside; this assures accurate adjustment when the hand-held polymerization unit is mounted on the light conductor of the irradiation chamber. This slit can also offer the advantage that the entire hand-held polymerization unit need not be removed through the opening; instead, it suffices to pull out the housing and to run the light conductor to the outside through the slit. This simplifies the assembly and disassembly of the hand-held polymerization unit and irradiation chamber. With a view to ease of connection or disconnection, the external sheathing of the light conductor can be connected interlockingly to the irradiation chamber and/or the hand-held polymerization unit. This assures fixation of the relative position of the hand-held polymerization unit and the irradiation chamber, and assures that constant radiation conditions prevail for the plastic dental element to be treated. Advantageously, the irradiation chamber rests on the side of the second support remote from the hand-held polymerization unit, and external sheathing of the light conductor, by its face end, firmly clamps the second support in place between it and the irradiation chamber, in the interlocked state of the light conductor. This assures a stable connection between the irradiation chamber, the support frame and the hand-held polymerization unit, so that the entire polymerization device is intrinsically stable. In another advantageous arrangement, the irradiation chamber along with the light conductor is fixed by resting on the second support from the side of this support remote from the hand-held polymerization unit. Additionally, the irradiation chamber along with the externally sheathed light conductor can be secured to the support plate of the support frame. In particular, this prevents torsion of the irradiation chamber relative to the optical axis of the beam of light. Simple clamping is effected by providing the base of the irradiation chamber with two lateral ribs that partly enclose the outer contour of the support plate. To increase the stability of the polymerization device still further, it is practical to retain the hand-held polymerization unit in the first support in a manner fixed against relative rotation. This prevents the components of the polymerization device from changing position on their own, and thereby altering irradiation conditions in the irradiation chamber or impairing the polymerization process as a result of jarring caused by twisting of the hand-held polymerization unit in the support frame. The use of the polymerization device is also simplified by the torsionally fixed arrangement, because the operating or display elements on the hand-held polymerization unit, for instance, are always located at the same place and do not have to be searched for first. In the event that the hand-held polymerization unit has a protrusion on its housing serving for instance to receive a display element or a cable lead, the torsionally fixed arrangement can be attained by engagement of this protrusion with an existing slit in the first support, without requiring any special components for the purpose. To make for the simplest possible use, it is practical to fix the hand-held polymerization unit in the support frame in such a way that an activation switch on the housing is located on a side remote from the support plate. This not only makes the switch easily accessible, but also assures that the switch is always located at the same place and thus is always easy for the dentist using the unit to find. To make the construction of the support plate as simple as possible, this component is at the same time embodied as the base plate of the support frame. To make the structural design simple, the polymerization device is embodied such that the axis of the light conductor extends approximately parallel to the support plate. The device can be secured to a wall, for instance with the aid of holes located in the support plate, or can be used as a stand-alone unit, in which case the light conductor is aligned with its axis extending horizontally. An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described in detail below, in conjunction with the drawing.