Electrohydraulic Shockwave Generator With Free-Form Wavefront Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrohydraulic shockwave systems face challenges with non-uniform acoustic wavefronts, tissue damage, and prolonged treatment times due to high pulse rates and parabolic reflector inefficiencies, leading to pain and impracticality in therapeutic applications.
Innovation Solution
The use of free-form acoustic reflectors and a single servomotor to stabilize the spark gap location, combined with spline interpolation and finite element method simulations, ensures uniform and stable acoustic wavefronts that disperse quickly, minimizing tissue damage and pain.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high pulse rates are used in electrohydraulic shockwave systems, then treatment efficiency is improved, but tissue damage and pain increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temporal parameters of shockwave delivery by using shorter pulse durations and optimized pulse intervals. This allows higher pulse rates to be delivered without accumulating excessive thermal energy or causing mechanical tissue damage, thereby resolving the contradiction between treatment efficiency and tissue safety
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic pulsed delivery with specific duty cycles and inter-pulse intervals. This periodic action allows tissue to recover between pulses while maintaining high overall treatment efficiency, preventing the cumulative tissue damage that would occur with continuous high-rate delivery
2Use of energy by moving object
If parabolic reflectors are used to focus shockwaves, then energy concentration is improved, but wavefront uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the symmetric parabolic reflector with an asymmetric free-form reflector geometry. This asymmetric design is specifically shaped to compensate for aberrations and produce a planar wavefront while maintaining energy concentration at the focal point, thereby resolving the contradiction between energy concentration and wavefront uniformity
Solution Approach 2:
The free-form reflector implements local quality variations in its surface geometry, with different regions of the reflector having specifically tailored curvatures and orientations. This allows each local region to contribute to both focusing energy and correcting wavefront aberrations, achieving both energy concentration and uniformity simultaneously
3Reliability
If multiple electrodes are used to stabilize spark gap, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of multiple electrodes into a single electrode assembly that performs both spark generation and geometric stabilization. This single integrated electrode maintains consistent spacing from the reflector surface through its design, achieving reliable spark gap stability without the complexity of multiple separate electrodes and their associated control mechanisms
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
This approach enables effective, pain-free, and efficient acoustic therapy by providing uniform acoustic wavefronts that limit tissue damage and discomfort, reducing treatment duration and costs.
Implementation Method 1
When the electrical charge is fired, a small amount of water is vaporized at the tip of the electrode and the rapid, nearly instantaneous, expansion of the vaporized water creates a shock wave that propagates outward through the liquid water.
Implementation Method 2
the rapid, nearly instantaneous, expansion of the vaporized water creates a shock wave that propagates outward through the liquid water
Implementation Method 3
the acoustic wavefront is essentially uniform in terms of peak pressure
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses and methods for generating therapeutic compressed acoustic waves (e.g., shock waves) with an improved acoustic wavefront. In the apparatuses, a housing is defined by a chamber and a shockwave outlet, the chamber is configured to be filed with liquid, a plurality of electrodes defining one or more spark gaps and an acoustic reflector can disposed in the chamber, and a pulse generation system configured to apply voltage pulses to the electrodes at a rate of between 10 Hz and 5 MHz. The improved acoustic wavefront is achieved via a free-form acoustic reflector and/or a stable spark gap location. The free-form acoustic reflector is designed according to a disclosed method including iterating reflector shape using spline interpolation based on defined variables. Additionally, a stable spark gap location is achieved via a single servomotor that adjusts both electrodes simultaneously.