After I hit the send button on my last note, I realized that although
the commonly-available inexpensive safety glasses are usually a one-
piece molded plastic (and two more pieces that form the temple pieces
that go over the ear), I could use my little hand-held griding tool
to remove the lens area, except for enough plastic to serve as a
frame.
One reader has expressed a concern about whether IR radiation might
be rough on the eye. I suspect that he was confusing UV with IR.
However, if someone would like to do a little research, perhaps they
would like to see if there is any medical info that shows a health
concern about infrared (IR) radiation.
The difference between UV and IR is that UV (ultraviolet) light is
highly energetic. That is, it has a shorter wavelength that visible
light. In low doses, it can be used to help kill bacteria and other
microbes in hospitals and kitchens. In higher doses, it can cause
skin tanning or even sunburn. On the other hand, IR (infrared) is a
lower energy wavelength than visible light wavelengths. In fact, IR
is all around us, even when it's dark. IR is really just heat energy.
At room temperature, everything is giving off IR radiation. We are
bathed in it. We generate it ourselves.
The specific wavelengths that IR LEDs emit is nothing we don't run
into all the time. Granted, they put out more energy at their
specific wavelengths than we get from our ambient environment. But
it's just heat. Something we get from an electric heater that glows
red. What you can't see (because it's IR) is that the electric heater
is putting out a lot of radiation across a huge range of wavelengths.
Including the wavelengths represented by the LEDs that Anodyne puts
into its LED products.
Naturally, you want to check with your doctor about what kind of
treatment regimen you should follow when using an IR device like the
Anodyne system. You should have your eyes tested before and after
treatments to see if there is any change for the better or worse.
But you don't need me to tell you this. It's only common sense.
Are there any other questions people would like to ask?
By the way, as I'm putting a lot of hours into making this first hand-
wired device, the idea of getting printed circuit boards made is
looking more attractive. Are there any kind souls out there who could
help me do the layout for a simple circuit card composed of LEDs and
resistors? There are sites that offer free circuit board layout
software, but my PC is in no shape to try to load up that kind of
application. It's all I can do to nurse it along the way it is. Maybe
somebody who is a little familiar with eletrical stuff could load up
one of the free applications and move my hand-drawn layout into the
software. I need to generate the proper file formats that the card
fabrication houses want card layouts submitted in, before I can get
some cards made. If I get cards made, it would make it much easier to
get LED therapy devices made for people who need them the most.
--- In SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com, "Terry" <tpuffies_at_h...> wrote:
>
> Rather than glue the LEDs into a lens, I was thinking of making a
> board with tabs to hang it from the frames. That way, it could be
> moved from one side to the other, or put on different frames.
>
>
Received on Sat Mar 06 2004 - 15:40:55 CST