EP1028662A4 - METHOD FOR THE PLASMA CUTTING OF MATERIALS BY MEANS OF SPECIFICALLY TUNED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GENERATORS - Google Patents

METHOD FOR THE PLASMA CUTTING OF MATERIALS BY MEANS OF SPECIFICALLY TUNED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GENERATORS

Info

Publication number
EP1028662A4
EP1028662A4 EP98948457A EP98948457A EP1028662A4 EP 1028662 A4 EP1028662 A4 EP 1028662A4 EP 98948457 A EP98948457 A EP 98948457A EP 98948457 A EP98948457 A EP 98948457A EP 1028662 A4 EP1028662 A4 EP 1028662A4
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
plasma cloud
plasma
matter
electromagnetic wave
energy
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP98948457A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1028662A1 (en
Inventor
Richard J Fugo
Damian Coccio
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
FUGO RICHARD JAMES
Original Assignee
FUGO RICHARD JAMES
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US08/957,786 external-priority patent/US5958266A/en
Priority claimed from US09/112,471 external-priority patent/US6479785B1/en
Application filed by FUGO RICHARD JAMES filed Critical FUGO RICHARD JAMES
Publication of EP1028662A1 publication Critical patent/EP1028662A1/en
Publication of EP1028662A4 publication Critical patent/EP1028662A4/en
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B18/00Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
    • A61B18/04Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating
    • A61B18/042Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating using additional gas becoming plasma
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B18/00Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
    • A61B18/04Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating
    • A61B18/12Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating by passing a current through the tissue to be heated, e.g. high-frequency current
    • A61B18/1206Generators therefor
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B18/00Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
    • A61B2018/00636Sensing and controlling the application of energy
    • A61B2018/0066Sensing and controlling the application of energy without feedback, i.e. open loop control

Definitions

  • This invention relates to incisions placed in matter with a harmonious plasma cloud, specifically to harmonious plasma clouds initiated and sustained by electromagnetic energy waves transmitted from a radiofrequency signal generator system which is impedance matched, frequency matched and output power matched to the atomic particles comprising the harmonious plasma cloud that coats the activated transmitter incision probe.
  • incisions made are created with a hardened physical blade, such as a steel blade, a sapphire blade, or a diamond blade.
  • a hardened physical blade such as a steel blade, a sapphire blade, or a diamond blade.
  • Such incisions are based on factional physical interactions of a sharp, acute edge of hardened matter against a surface of the matter to be incised.
  • Such purely physical methods of one hardened matter attempting to cut through another hardened matter are inefficient and therefore experience significant frictional resistance and inefficiencies when the matter being incised is extremely solid and dense. For these reasons, others have resorted to methods such as electronically generated incisions, electro-incisions or electrosurgery of matter.
  • Lasers have also been used to incise and cut; however, these units are expensive and require a large amount of system input energy to create a laser beam with sufficient power to cut or make an incision into matter. Lasers have been used to generate plasma and are used in processing such as etching in the field of microelectronics.
  • Plasma arcing can be found in a number of areas such as welding arcs, spark plug arcs, lightening bolt arcs, neon lights and electrosurgical arcs.
  • Arcing per se, is a form of disharmonious plasma flow and represents uncontrolled, turbulent flow of ionized atomic particles in plasma as well as increased atomic particle chaos in the plasma.
  • the atomic particle turbulence in plasma arcs represents a form of atomic particle chaos and the uncontrolled nature of the atomic particle chaos causes a large quantity of energy spillover into matter outside of the intended path of incision and thereby may produce excessive heating. This energy spillover into matter surrounding the intended path of incision into matter results in energy exposure and damage to surrounding matter.
  • our invention uses an array of physical chemistry principles to minimize disharmonious plasma arcing.
  • Our invention minimizes disharmonious plasma arcing by minimizing the atomic particle turbulence in the plasma cloud thereby greatly reducing the plasma cloud atomic particle chaos and thereby creating a harmonious plasma cloud.
  • Harmonious plasma cuts in a more controlled, efficient and safer manner because the atomic particle components in a harmonious plasma cloud exist in a more stable, balanced, and controlled state with a higher order of organization and less atomic particle turbulence than disharmonious plasma.
  • Our harmonious plasma cloud is furthermore compressed, controlled, contoured and shaped by utilizing the Pinch Effect of physics. Our compressed plasma cloud is then trapped and contained by the Magnetic Bottle phenomenon well known to physicists and employed in fields such as nuclear physics.
  • Our invention is a method of creating a harmonious plasma cloud with low turbulence of atomic particles in the plasma cloud, thereby representing a state of low atomic particle chaos in the plasma.
  • Physics defines four types of matter: solids, liquids, gases and plasma.
  • plasma Although examples of plasma are uncommon on earth, the majority of the universe is comprised of plasma.
  • Our form of plasma cloud is generated by an inexpensive radiofrequency generator and amplifier similar to a standard, commercial radio transmitter.
  • the low input energy requirement of our electromagnetic generator system is partially made possible by impedance matching, frequency matching, and system output power matching the incising transmitter probe to the harmonious plasma cloud.
  • the activated transmitter incising tip creates a plasma cloud which then forms a coating over the surface of the activated transmitter incising tip.
  • our incising transmitter probe is preferably a solid, non-hollow conductor, but a hollow incising transmitter probe may also be used.
  • our radiofrequency electromagnetic transmitter When our radiofrequency electromagnetic transmitter is activated, the majority of electron flow occurs along the surface or skin of the incising transmitter or cutting tip, according to the Skin Effect of physics.
  • impedance matching the radiofrequency electromagnetic wave of the activated incising transmitter tip to the plasma cloud coating the incising electrode tip we produce a tightly coupled energy transfer system wherein a high percentage of total electromagnetic energy is transmitted into the plasma cloud whereas only a small percentage of the total electromagnetic energy is reflected back into the activated transmitter incising probe. This concept is analogous to impedance matching a standard radio transmitter antennae to atmospheric air.
  • Arcing per se, is a form of disharmonious plasma flow and represents uncontrolled, turbulent flow of ionized atomic particles in plasma that results in increased atomic particle chaos in the plasma.
  • the atomic particle turbulence in plasma arcs represents a form of atomic particle chaos and the uncontrolled nature of the atomic particle chaos causes a large quantity of energy spillover into matter outside of the intended path of incision and thereby may produce excessive heating. This energy spillover into matter surrounding the intended path of incision into matter results in thermal exposure and radiation exposure with resultant damage to surrounding matter.
  • our invention minimizes plasma arcing by minimizing the atomic particle turbulence in the plasma cloud thereby greatly reducing the plasma cloud atomic particle chaos and thereby creating a harmonious plasma cloud.
  • the harmonious plasma cloud may then be compressed, controlled, contoured and shaped by utilizing the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the active incising transmitter tip thereby employing the Pinch Effect of physics.
  • This compressed plasma cloud is then trapped and contained by utilizing the transmitted magnetic field according to the Magnetic Bottle phenomenon well known to physicists and employed in fields such as Nuclear Physics.
  • This effect thereby allows us to increase the density of the harmonious plasma coating on the incising tip.
  • Increased atomic particle density of the harmonious plasma cloud produces an increased plasma cloud energy density.
  • a combination of increased plasma harmony, increased harmonious plasma density, a thinner coating of harmonious plasma on the activated transmitter incising probe, and the Tunnelling Effect on our generated electromagnetic waveform results in a high efficiency, clean incision of matter in the intended path of incision with minimal spillover of energy into matter surrounding the intended path of incision. Decreasing spillover of energy into tissue surrounding the intended path of incision results in a significant reduction of damage to matter outside of the intended path of incision.
  • harmonious plasma is formulated to cut and incise matter more efficiently and cleaner than prior modalities of incision.
  • the oscillation frequency of our electromagnetic generator system is tuned to the molecular oscillation harmonics of the plasma cloud along the surface interface of the incising tip and matter to be incised.
  • the kinetic energy level of this thin layer of surface atomic particles becomes extraordinarily high thereby forming a cloud of high energy ions and electrons surrounding the cutting electrode.
  • the molecules in the plasma cloud are then attracted centripetally toward the cutting probe tip by a continuous or pulsed mode radiofrequency wave being fed into the cutting transmitter tip from which an electromagnetic wave is radiated. This effectively creates a highly concentrated coating of harmonious cutting plasma over the surface of the cutting probe.
  • Our invention allows us to create a cutting plasma cloud without injecting ionizable gas into the field of cutting such as occurs in plasma generating devices such as plasma torches and etching systems in plasma chambers.
  • the plasma rapidly discharges energy and the atomic particles in the plasma cloud lose the energy needed to remain in the plasma state.
  • a plasma blade may be created which cuts with the energy of the plasma atomic particles. Impedance matching the transmitted electromagnetic radiation to the plasma surrounding the incision tip is similar to impedance matching the electromagnetic radiation from a transmitter antennae into the air surrounding the antennae.
  • the electromagnetic wave passes through the layer of plasma, it passes into matter not in the intended incision path and encounters matter to which it is not impedance matched causing a high order decay of the transmitted electromagnetic signal in a manner described by the physical chemistry principle of Tunnelling.
  • the efficiency of incision is amplified in the intended path of incision while it is highly damped outside of the intended path of incision, thereby producing minimal electromagnetic radiation exposure, impact or side effects on the matter outside of the path of intended incision.
  • the end result is a safe, clean and efficient incision in matter.
  • Our method of incising matter is different from all prior methods of incising matter.
  • Our incising probe is preferably a solid, non-hollow conductor, although a partial or completely hollow incising transmitter probe is acceptable.
  • Our system is similar to a standard radio transmitter which is impedance matched to atmospheric air, whereas our system is impedance matched, frequency matched, power matched and tuned to a harmonious plasma cloud surrounding the activated incising transmitter electrode tip.
  • Plasma is the least abundant of the four types of matter to be found on earth, although it is the most abundant form of matter to be found in the universe. Examples of plasma on earth include: arc welding, spark plug arcs, neon lights, arcs around lightning discharges, and caustic plasma arcs seen in electrosurgery. Plasma is also used in fields such as semiconductor etching but is herein produced by expensive and high energy consumption systems such as lasers or elaborate plasma etching chambers.
  • Our system employs an inexpensive, electronic radiofrequency generator/amplifier system to produce and transmit a continuous or pulsed electromagnetic field from an activated incising transmitter probe.
  • Individual parameters of this electromagnetic field generator system are largely determined by the atomic particle components along the interface of the transmitter incising probe and the matter to be incised.
  • Our system utilizes the atoms along the incising transmitting probe interface to generate a plasma cloud as opposed to systems which require an ionizable gas to be injected into the field of incision and thereupon be energized and converted into plasma.
  • Our incising transmitter probe is preferably linear or curvilinear in design; however, the shape of the transmitter tip electrode is not necessarily specific in design and may even have a loop design.
  • Our system is impedance matched, frequency matched, and output power matched to generate and sustain a harmonious plasma cloud that coats the activated transmitter incising probe, thereby minimizing the classic plasma arcing occurring at the interface of the incising tip and the matter to be incised.
  • Arcing per se, is a form of disharmonious plasma flow and represents uncontrolled, turbulent flow of ionized atomic particles in plasma that results in increased atomic particle chaos in the plasma.
  • Merely reducing the cutting tip power does not by itself significantly improve the plasma harmony in as much as it does not greatly decrease the flow turbulence of the ionized atomic particles that make up a plasma arc.
  • plasma has a wide range of physical presentation including a wide range of temperature, density, flow characteristics, atomic particle components, etc.
  • plasma arcing can be found in a number of areas such as welding arcs, spark plug arcs, lightening bolt arcs, neon lights and electrosurgical arcs.
  • the high atomic particle turbulence in plasma arcs represents a form of atomic particle chaos, wherein the uncontrolled nature of the atomic particle chaos is caused by turbulent flow of the atomic particles in the plasma cloud.
  • This form of plasma represents disharmonious plasma and results in excessive heating or a large quantity of energy spillover into matter outside of the intended path of incision.
  • the electromagnetic field traverses the thin coating of harmonious plasma surrounding the activated transmitter incising probe, the electromagnetic field is slowly damped or decreased in amplitude. Finally, the electromagnetic field will pass completely through the plasma cloud and will encounter matter outside of the intended incision path which surrounds the cloud of incising plasma. According to the physical chemistry principle of Tunnelling, the generated electromagnetic wave then encounters a barrier to which it is not tuned nor impedance matched and thereby a large percentage of the total energy of the electromagnetic wave is reflected back into the harmonious plasma cloud. This reflected electromagnetic energy acts to further energize the molecular particles in the plasma cloud, thereby reducing the output energy which must be transmitted by the electromagnetic wave generator system. This process also serves to minimize the percentage of total electromagnetic radiation that penetrates into, that reacts with, and that presents potential radiation exposure damage to matter outside of the intended incision path.
  • the centripetal force of our generated magnetic field is used to control the distance between the atomic particles in the harmonious plasma cloud and the surface of the activated transmitter incising probe.
  • the Pinch Effect which has been used for many years in fields such as plasma physics is employed in our system. In this way we are able to compress, contour, shape and control the harmonious plasma cloud with a solid or hollow transmitter incising probe.
  • Increasing the density of the atomic particles in the harmonious plasma cloud allows us to increase the plasma cloud power density thereby increasing the cutting efficiency and power of the plasma cloud.
  • compressing the plasma cloud causes a decrease in the cross sectional diameter of the plasma cloud thereby decreasing the width of the intended incision path as well as minimizing side effects or potential adverse impact on matter outside of the intended path of incision.

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Surgery (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Medical Informatics (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • Surgical Instruments (AREA)
  • Plasma Technology (AREA)
  • Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
  • Arc Welding In General (AREA)
EP98948457A 1997-10-24 1998-09-24 METHOD FOR THE PLASMA CUTTING OF MATERIALS BY MEANS OF SPECIFICALLY TUNED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GENERATORS Ceased EP1028662A4 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US957786 1997-10-24
US08/957,786 US5958266A (en) 1997-10-24 1997-10-24 Method of plasma incision of matter with a specifically tuned radiofrequency electromagnetic field generator
US112471 1998-07-09
US09/112,471 US6479785B1 (en) 1998-07-09 1998-07-09 Device for plasma incision of mater with a specifically tuned radiofrequencty electromagnetic field generator
PCT/US1998/019843 WO1999021495A1 (en) 1997-10-24 1998-09-24 Method of plasma incision of matter with a specifically tuned radiofrequency electromagnetic field generator

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1028662A1 EP1028662A1 (en) 2000-08-23
EP1028662A4 true EP1028662A4 (en) 2006-11-08

Family

ID=26809987

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP98948457A Ceased EP1028662A4 (en) 1997-10-24 1998-09-24 METHOD FOR THE PLASMA CUTTING OF MATERIALS BY MEANS OF SPECIFICALLY TUNED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GENERATORS

Country Status (14)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1028662A4 (pt)
JP (1) JP2001520939A (pt)
KR (1) KR100543054B1 (pt)
CN (1) CN1176636C (pt)
AP (2) AP1248A (pt)
AU (1) AU736239B2 (pt)
BR (1) BR9813268A (pt)
CA (1) CA2307213A1 (pt)
EA (1) EA002935B1 (pt)
IL (1) IL135791A0 (pt)
NO (2) NO20002073L (pt)
NZ (2) NZ504364A (pt)
OA (1) OA11614A (pt)
WO (2) WO1999021495A1 (pt)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6479785B1 (en) * 1998-07-09 2002-11-12 Richard J. Fugo Device for plasma incision of mater with a specifically tuned radiofrequencty electromagnetic field generator
JP4834815B2 (ja) * 2005-03-23 2011-12-14 国立大学法人愛媛大学 医療用治療装置
CN106597519B (zh) * 2016-11-29 2018-10-09 华中科技大学 一种j-text托卡马克装置杂质粒子浓度测量系统

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3903891A (en) * 1968-01-12 1975-09-09 Hogle Kearns Int Method and apparatus for generating plasma
US3987795A (en) * 1974-08-28 1976-10-26 Valleylab, Inc. Electrosurgical devices having sesquipolar electrode structures incorporated therein
US4534347A (en) * 1983-04-08 1985-08-13 Research Corporation Microwave coagulating scalpel
US5108391A (en) * 1988-05-09 1992-04-28 Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc. High-frequency generator for tissue cutting and for coagulating in high-frequency surgery

Family Cites Families (9)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
BE758571A (fr) * 1969-11-06 1971-04-16 Euratom Generateur de plasma a haute frequence
US4461688A (en) * 1980-06-23 1984-07-24 Vac-Tec Systems, Inc. Magnetically enhanced sputtering device having a plurality of magnetic field sources including improved plasma trapping device and method
DE3024338A1 (de) * 1980-06-27 1982-01-21 NPK za Kontrolno-Zavaračni Raboti, Sofija Verfahren und vorrichtung fuer das schneiden von nichtmetallischen stoffen mittels plasma-bogens
US5217457A (en) * 1990-03-15 1993-06-08 Valleylab Inc. Enhanced electrosurgical apparatus
US5047649A (en) * 1990-10-09 1991-09-10 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for writing or etching narrow linewidth patterns on insulating materials
US5591301A (en) * 1994-12-22 1997-01-07 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Plasma etching method
US5518597A (en) * 1995-03-28 1996-05-21 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company Cathodic arc coating apparatus and method
JP3069271B2 (ja) * 1995-07-12 2000-07-24 勇藏 森 回転電極を用いた高密度ラジカル反応による高能率加工方法及びその装置
US5669975A (en) * 1996-03-27 1997-09-23 Sony Corporation Plasma producing method and apparatus including an inductively-coupled plasma source

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3903891A (en) * 1968-01-12 1975-09-09 Hogle Kearns Int Method and apparatus for generating plasma
US3987795A (en) * 1974-08-28 1976-10-26 Valleylab, Inc. Electrosurgical devices having sesquipolar electrode structures incorporated therein
US4534347A (en) * 1983-04-08 1985-08-13 Research Corporation Microwave coagulating scalpel
US5108391A (en) * 1988-05-09 1992-04-28 Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc. High-frequency generator for tissue cutting and for coagulating in high-frequency surgery

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See also references of WO9921495A1 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
NO20002073L (no) 2000-06-19
KR100543054B1 (ko) 2006-01-20
JP2001520939A (ja) 2001-11-06
AP2001002064A0 (en) 2001-03-31
EA002935B1 (ru) 2002-10-31
AP1248A (en) 2004-02-21
AU9502698A (en) 1999-05-17
NO20002073D0 (no) 2000-04-19
AP1357A (en) 2004-12-03
CN1176636C (zh) 2004-11-24
EP1028662A1 (en) 2000-08-23
KR20010024563A (ko) 2001-03-26
NZ509421A (en) 2003-05-30
AP2000001810A0 (en) 2000-06-30
CN1277546A (zh) 2000-12-20
WO1999021496A1 (en) 1999-05-06
WO1999021495A1 (en) 1999-05-06
AU736239B2 (en) 2001-07-26
IL135791A0 (en) 2001-05-20
NO20010130D0 (no) 2001-01-08
NZ504364A (en) 2002-11-26
EA200000458A1 (ru) 2001-04-23
BR9813268A (pt) 2000-08-22
CA2307213A1 (en) 1999-05-06
OA11614A (en) 2004-09-10

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