Modular Skin Treatment Device with Solid and Hollow Light Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IPL devices face inefficiencies in energy conversion, leading to excessive waste heat and complex cooling systems, which increase size, cost, and weight, and require multiple devices for effective treatment of varying body areas, making them impractical for home use.
Innovation Solution
A skin treatment device with a modular design featuring a primary solid light guide and a secondary light guide that can be configured for non-contact operation, allowing for high optical power in one configuration and safe, cooled skin contact in another, with a thermoelectric cooling system and sensors to manage temperature and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a solid light guide is used for skin contact, then treatment safety and comfort are improved, but device complexity and cooling system requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into two operational configurations: contact mode using a solid light guide for sensitive areas, and non-contact mode using a hollow light pipe for larger areas. This segmentation allows each configuration to be optimized independently, reducing the need for complex cooling systems while maintaining safety where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The device dynamically switches between contact and non-contact configurations based on treatment requirements. The solid light guide can be retracted or replaced with a hollow light pipe, allowing the cooling system to operate at reduced capacity in non-contact mode while providing full cooling only when the solid light guide is engaged.
2Productivity
If higher optical power is delivered, then treatment effectiveness and speed are improved, but waste heat generation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful waste heat is extracted and isolated from the treatment area through separate cooling pathways. The hollow light pipe configuration allows waste heat to be dissipated through the device structure rather than being transmitted to the skin, enabling higher optical power delivery without proportionally increasing skin exposure to heat.
Solution Approach 2:
A cooling intermediary system is introduced between the light source and the skin. This includes cooling channels and thermal management components that intercept waste heat before it reaches the treatment area, allowing high optical power to be delivered safely.
3Ease of manufacture
If a hollow light pipe is used for non-contact operation, then device simplicity and manufacturing cost are improved, but treatment of sensitive areas becomes less effective
Solution Approach 1:
The device is designed with multi-functionality, incorporating both hollow light pipe and solid light guide configurations in a single device. This universal design allows the device to handle both large area treatments (using the simpler hollow light pipe) and sensitive area treatments (using the cooled solid light guide), eliminating the need for multiple specialized devices.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple devices are provided for different body areas, then treatment versatility is improved, but device portability and home use practicality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple treatment configurations are merged into a single device. The hollow light pipe and solid light guide are integrated into one unit, allowing users to switch between configurations as needed. This consolidation provides the versatility of multiple devices while maintaining the portability and simplicity required for home use.
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
Enables efficient energy delivery with adjustable optical power and fluence, reducing waste heat and device complexity, allowing for effective treatment of both large and sensitive areas with a single device without significant size, cost, or weight increases.
Implementation Method 1
The light pulses are typically generated by discharging the electrical energy stored in a capacitor through a xenon flashlamp delivering light energy in the form of pulses
Implementation Method 2
a solid light guide is typically used in combination with a thermoelectric cooling system (TEC) to extract heat from the light guide to keep it cool
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(b)
Figure 2(a)~2(b)
Figure 3(a)~3(b)
AI summary
The present invention relates to a skin treatment device that generates high intensity pulses of broadband light, the skin treatment device comprises a control system for controlling delivery of light energy pulses; a primary light guide comprising a solid material for guiding light energy from the light source to the skin of a subject and defining a first skin contact surface for providing contact with a subject's skin. There is further provided a cooling arrangement for cooling the solid material. A head is arranged to be mountable and demountable to the body, where the head comprises a rearward end for releasably mounting to the body and extending to a forward end comprising a second skin contact surface, the head further comprising a secondary lightguide defining a light energy pulse transmission channel extending between the forward end and rearward end with the second skin contact surface defining an opening to the light energy pulse transmission channel, where the second skin contact surface extends around at least a part of the periphery of the opening. The device is operable in a first configuration with the head demounted from the body and a second configuration where the head is mounted to the body such that in the second configuration the first skin contact surface is spaced apart from the subject's skin and the light energy pulses pass through both the solid material of the first lightguide and the light energy pulse transmission channel of the second lightguide.