Embedded-Electrode Wound Dressing for Plasma and Exudate Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wound dressings struggle to effectively manage high volumes of wound exudate while maintaining adherence to the skin surface and facilitating plasma treatment for wound healing.
Innovation Solution
A wound dressing with an embedded electrode arrangement generating dielectrically hindered plasma discharge, combined with a superabsorbent fluid absorption layer, where the electrode has gaps aligned with smaller dielectric openings to direct exudate to the absorption layer, supported by a capillary effect, and a flexible design for skin conformity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a conventional absorbent wound dressing is used, then it can absorb wound exudate, but it cannot effectively manage high volumes of exudate while maintaining adherence to the skin surface
Solution Approach 1:
The wound dressing is divided into functionally distinct layers: a plasma-generating electrode layer for wound treatment and a separate superabsorbent polymer layer for fluid management. This segmentation allows each layer to optimize its specific function without compromising the other, enabling high exudate absorption while maintaining skin adherence through the self-adhesive layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The dressing combines multiple materials with complementary properties: a dielectric material for plasma generation, a superabsorbent polymer for fluid absorption, and a self-adhesive layer for skin attachment. This composite structure resolves the contradiction by integrating materials that simultaneously provide adhesion and high-capacity fluid management.
2Adaptability or versatility
If an electrode arrangement is embedded in the dielectric for plasma treatment, then plasma discharge can be generated, but the electrode structure may interfere with fluid absorption and dressing flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode arrangement is nested within the dielectric material, with the electrode completely embedded in the planar dielectric structure. This nesting approach integrates the plasma-generating component within the dressing matrix, allowing fluid to flow around the electrode structure through gaps and dielectric openings without being blocked by exposed electrode elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The dielectric material is designed with localized properties: it contains gaps and openings in specific regions to facilitate fluid flow paths, while maintaining sufficient dielectric integrity elsewhere to support plasma generation. This local differentiation of material properties allows the structure to simultaneously support both plasma treatment and fluid absorption functions.
3Ease of operation
If the dielectric has through-holes for fluid transport, then fluid can be directed to the absorption layer, but the dielectric integrity may be compromised affecting plasma generation
Solution Approach 1:
The dielectric is designed as a porous structure with controlled through-holes and gaps that facilitate fluid transport while maintaining sufficient structural integrity for plasma generation. The porous architecture provides defined fluid pathways that do not completely compromise the dielectric barrier, allowing plasma to be generated while exudate flows through the structure to the absorption layer.
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 dressing efficiently manages high volumes of exudate by absorption, maintains adherence to the skin, and supports plasma treatment for enhanced wound healing, allowing extended use and reusability.
Implementation Method 1
Superabsorbents are materials that can absorb large quantities of fluids, such as blood and/or wound exudate, through a primarily chemical-physical bond
Implementation Method 2
The cross-sectional area (diameter) of the through-holes can be designed such that the absorption of the fluid by the fluid absorption layer is supported by a capillary effect within the through-holes
Implementation Method 3
a dielectrically hindered plasma discharge is generated between a planar surface of the electrode arrangement and a surface to be treated, which serves as a counter electrode
Implementation Method 4
an electrode arrangement for generating a dielectrically hindered plasma discharge by means of at least one electrode, which is supplied with an alternating high voltage and is completely embedded in a planar dielectric
Implementation Method 5
the wound dressing is provided with a self-adhesive layer on the wound-contact side, as described, for example, in EP 2 338 449 A1. This ensures that the wound dressing remains firmly in place over the wound being treated
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a wound dressing for placement on a wound located on a skin surface, having an electrode arrangement for forming a dielectric barrier plasma discharge by way of at least one electrode which is completely embedded in an extensive dielectric and which can be supplied with high AC voltage, wherein the dielectric forms a wound-side application side and the electrode has interstices which are distributed over its area and which are flush with passage openings in the dielectric, wherein the passage openings in the dielectric have smaller dimensions than the interstices of the electrode, such that the dielectric completely covers the electrode even in the region of the passage openings, extend from the wound-side application side as far as a rear side of the dielectric opposite to the wound-side application side, and are fluid-transmissive, characterized in that a fluid absorption layer for absorbing a fluid guided through the passage openings in the dielectric from the wound-side application side to the rear side contacts the opposite rear side of the dielectric, the absorption layer having a superabsorber or consisting thereof.