periment process, individual differences of human body
infrared radiation are still quite great. However, all curve
peaks are 7.5 Pm or so and the main radiation range is 5ü
12 Pm, which occupies over 90% of the total intensity of
infrared radiation. Therefore, the temperature distribution
of human body surface detected with the infrared thermal
imaging system is mainly the outcome of radiation of
these wave bands.
can be amplified 100000 times or so, and the other signals are
filtered. The amplified signals are sent to the oscilloscope and
the computer for observation and data processing.
Seven healthy adults including 6 men and 1 woman
are selected as experiment objects. The air temperature is
25ćf2ć, and the fluctuation of the indoors temperature
is within 1ć. The humidity is 35%ü40%. There is no
obvious airflow and no strong noise or electromagnetism
field. The doors and windows are closed and curtained
with opaque curtains. Two fluorescent lamps (40 W) are
used for illumination. Experiment objects enter the spot
30 min before the experiment begins and expose their
body areas to be detected. The objects sit quietly to adjust
themselves to the circumstances. Acupoints and their con-
trastive points are located by an experienced acupunctist.
The objects are entirely in natural conditions and normal
sitting status. Pre-arm is on the table vertically. Detected
area of skin touches the narrow seam. The area of the
seam is 6 cmh6 cm, and other area is covered with cloth
that infrared radiation cannot pass through. The light route
is adjusted, so the transducer can detect the most intensive
light signal. The infrared spectrometer scans spectrums
ranging from 1.5 to 16 Pm, recording the intensity of in-
frared signals shown on the transducer. Each point is
scanned from low wave band to high wave band then
backwards and is averaged. Each object is detected at
three acupoints (Neiguan, Laogong and Hegu) and corre-
sponding contrastive points beside the radius and the ulna.
The two boundaries of acupoint area and contrastive area
are at a distance of over 5 mm. The three spectrum curves
of one acupoint and its two contrastive points are grouped
as one section. It costs about 20 min to detect one spec-
trum curve. Therefore, after one section, to avoid weari-
ness, objects are given 30 min to rest before another curve
is detected. Thus 21 sections, namely 63 spectrum curves
are recorded. To contrast the radiative intensities of acu-
points and their contrastive points, statistic t-method is
employed to examine correlations.
The main reason why infrared radiation spectrums
shown in fig. 2 differ greatly from each other is that there
are great distinctions of body surface temperature among
individuals. To eliminate this factor, we divide every
curve by its own average intensity (a variable corre-
sponding to body surface temperature) and get the uni-
fiedspectrum shown in fig. 3. Seven thin lines are unified
individual curves and the thick line is the average of the
seven. Judging by the curves, individual differences of
unified spectrums are very small. All curves are close to
the average curve. The results can also be concluded, as
far as Laogong, Hegu acupoints and their contrastive
points are concerned. Therefore, only average curves of 7
samples are to be compared in the following context.
(ξ) Distinction of characteristic of infrared radiation
spectrum between acupoints and their contrastive areas.
Fig. 4 shows unified average spectrum curves of Neiguan
acupoint and its contrastive points beside ulna and ra-
dius.The solid line in fig. 4 is detected at the acupoints
while the dash line and dotted line are respectively de-
tected at the contrastive area beside ulna and radius. At all
bands, there is no difference between unified spectrums of
Neiguan acupoint and of its contrastive point (P>0.05). At
all bands except 10.5 Pm, there is no difference (P>0.05)
between spectrums of acupoint and of its radius contras-
tive one, either. At 10.5 Pm, there is difference (t = 2.33,
P<0.05). As far as Laogong and Hegu acupoints are con-
cerned, we get the same results by the same method.
There is no difference between spectrum curves of
Laogong acupoint and of its contrastive ones (P>0.05) at
all bands. However, the distinction between spectrum
curves of Hegu acupoint and of its two contrastive ones is
great at bands from 2 to 2.5 Pm (t = 2.45, P>0.05). Aver-
age spectrums of the three acupoints differ, which indi-
cates that there exist differences of infrared radiation of
different acupoints. As shown in fig. 5, the most intensive
one is of Neiguan (dash line), the less Laogong (solid line)
and the least Hegu (dotted line).
In order to analyze the distinction of infrared spec-
trum, using this device, we detected infrared spectrum of
blackbody radiation for reference. The blackbody radia-
tion was produced by a K-300 blackbody radiation gen-
erator made in Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics,
the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the temperature
was set on 35ćf0.05ć.
2
Experimental result
(ο) There is infrared radiation caused by other fac-
tors besides thermal infrared radiation at acupoints.
(ν) Human body infrared radiation. Individual
difference of intensity is great while characteristic of
spectrum is comparatively identical. Fig. 2 shows infra-
red spectrums of Neiguan acupoint detected with the set
of device. 7 spectrum curves are respective outcomes of
different objects. We can see from the curves that although
many factors are under the strict control during the ex-
Thermal radiation is the main radiation of human body.
However, besides thermal radiation, what people are in
terested in is whether other infrared photon radiation ex-
ists. We, therefore, using the same system shown in fig. 1,
detect spectrums of blackbody (35ć) radiation. We divide
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 46 No. 8 April 2001
679