Cold Plasma Nozzle Design for Stable Plume Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hand-held cold plasma devices face challenges in maintaining a stable cold plasma plume without electrode degradation and overheating, and they often require different sizes and configurations to suit various medical applications, which is difficult to achieve with current technology.
Innovation Solution
A hand-held cold plasma device with a housing, gas compartment, and electrode coupled to a high voltage electrical inlet, featuring a nozzle with proximal and distal apertures to maintain a stable plasma plume, along with a sterile sleeve and pulsed high voltage power supply to adjust operating parameters based on nozzle type, ensuring stable plasma generation and sterilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If positive to negative electrode configuration is used to form cold plasma from noble gases, then cold plasma can be generated, but electrode degradation and overheating occur through continuous operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the electrode entirely from the plasma generation system, replacing it with a dielectric barrier and RF induction coupling mechanism. This extraction of the electrode eliminates the direct contact between high-energy plasma and the solid electrode surface, thereby preventing electrode degradation and overheating while maintaining continuous plasma generation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional electrical contact mechanism (electrode) with a non-contact RF induction system. The RF field induces currents in the plasma through electromagnetic coupling with the dielectric barrier, substituting mechanical/electrical contact with field-based energy transfer, thus eliminating electrode wear and thermal damage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different sized devices are created to produce different sized cold plasma plumes for various medical applications, then application versatility is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs a universal device platform with a standardized dielectric barrier chamber and RF coupling system that can generate cold plasma plumes of varying sizes by adjusting operational parameters (RF power, gas flow rate, pressure) rather than requiring different physical device configurations. This single platform serves multiple medical applications from small wound treatment to larger tissue processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables control of plasma plume size and characteristics through parameter adjustments including RF power level, gas flow rate, chamber pressure, and dielectric barrier geometry modifications. These parameter changes allow the same basic device structure to produce different plasma plume sizes suitable for various medical applications without redesigning the entire device.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device effectively produces a stable cold plasma plume for diverse medical applications, overcoming electrode degradation and overheating issues, and allows for adjustable plasma shapes and sizes, enhancing treatment efficacy while ensuring sterilization and infection control.
Implementation Method 1
a pulsed high voltage power supply configured to produce electrical discharges in a gas medium to thereby produce the cold plasma
Implementation Method 2
The nozzle is configured to maintain a stable cold plasma plume exiting from the distal aperture
Data Source
AI summary
A nozzle for attachment to a cold plasma device configured to maintain delivery of a stable cold plasma. The nozzle can have many different shaped apertures to support different applications requiring different shaped cold plasma plumes. Use of a disc of foam material within a nozzle can expand the size of aperture of a nozzle while maintaining delivery of a stable cold plasma. The nozzle can be an elongated cannula tube for internal delivery of a cold plasma treatment. The cannula tube can provide an aperture at its distal end or one or more apertures along its length. A shroud can partially enclose the distal aperture of the nozzle. A sterile sleeve can be used in conjunction with a nozzle to provide a sterile means of attachment and operation of the nozzle with a cold plasma device. In addition, various shaped apertures may be deployed to provide selective targeting of the cold plasma to a treatment area, while shielding other biological structures from cold plasma exposure. Such apertures also provide an opportunity for manual manipulation of tissues in the treatment area prior to or during cold plasma treatment.