WO2016167516A1

WO2016167516A1 - Skin treatment device using plasma

Info

Publication number: WO2016167516A1
Application number: PCT/KR2016/003746
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김병철
Original assignee: 주식회사 서린메디케어
Priority date: 2015-04-13
Filing date: 2016-04-08
Publication date: 2016-10-20
Also published as: CN107427693B; CN107427693A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a skin treatment device using plasma. The purpose of the present invention is to generate plasma, which is uniformly distributed, and prevent an injury of the skin by forming a substrate part having a plurality of substrates formed therein, to prevent leakage of plasma by installing a gap-maintaining part over the entire bottom portion of a housing, and to more stably induce plasma by forming an air layer between the substrate part and a dielectric part.

Description

Skin treatment device using plasma

The present invention relates to a skin treatment apparatus using plasma, and more particularly, to a plasma apparatus configuration capable of smoothly generating plasma on the skin through dielectric barrier discharge.

The state of matter can be divided into solids, liquids, and gases. When energy is applied to a gaseous substance, electrons are separated from atoms or molecules, and the plasma state is a mixture of electrons, ions, and neutral particles (molecules and atoms). Becomes

In such a plasma state, electrons can be easily accelerated by various methods, neutral particles collide with molecules of the object to generate chemically active species, and ions can cause chemical reactions on the surface of the object to be treated. By forming the active species, the active species causes active chemical action on the surface.

These plasmas contain, for example, oxy-, hydroxyl-, and nitrogen radicals, electronically excited atoms or molecules, and chemically active species such as ultraviolet (UV) photons, ions, and radicals, which are affected by movement along the electric field. Lightly and gently tapping like a shower will irritate and sterilize the affected area.

Plasma is easier to generate in a low pressure vacuum of 1 mTorr to 100 Torr than at atmospheric pressure, but in order to generate plasma at such low pressures, it is necessary to build a vacuum vessel and install a vacuum pump to maintain the vacuum. There are some constraints. For this reason, many studies on the method of generating plasma at atmospheric pressure instead of vacuum have recently been made possible to generate plasma at atmospheric pressure or higher.

Plasma has been used in various fields of the industry due to the development of plasma characteristics and production methods. Practical attempts in medical fields such as microbial sterilization, hemostasis of wounds, teeth whitening, and cancer cell death using this technology are increasing. In particular, the use of plasma, especially for skin treatment, has proved its potential earlier than in other fields, and in-depth research has been conducted.

On the other hand, the plasma can be divided into thermal plasma discharge and non-thermal plasma discharge according to the method of generating, thermal plasma discharge is a method of ionizing the gas using heat, non-thermal plasma method minimizes the heating of the gas mainly It is a method of ionizing by heating electrons. The nonthermal plasma method is also referred to as non-equilibrium plasma because only electrons have a high temperature and the remaining ions and neutral particles are thermally unbalanced by maintaining a low temperature.

Generation of the nonthermal plasma occurs by the following process. If two plane conductors are separated by a distance d and a voltage V is applied to the conductor, the electric field E is created under the condition that E = V / d. At this time, when the intensity of the voltage reaches a certain degree or more, the charged particles (electrons) are accelerated by the electric field E, and the charged particles (electrons) receive energy and collide with neutral gas atoms or molecules. Thus, atoms and molecules are ionized and become a plasma state in which electrons, ions, and neutral particles (molecules and atoms) are mixed.

The present invention relates to a nonthermal plasma method, which typically uses a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD).

Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) is widely used in the industry because it can generate high output discharge at atmospheric pressure and there is no need for complicated pulsed power supply, especially in ozone generation, ultraviolet light source, pollutant treatment.

A method of generating a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is as follows. A dielectric is provided between two parallel conductor electrodes, and an alternating current (AC) type high voltage is applied to the conductor electrodes. When voltage is applied to the electrode, a build-up phenomenon occurs in the dielectric around the electrode, and electrons accumulated in the dielectric are released, and a large number of micro discharges are formed between the electrodes, and a high concentration is formed by the micro discharge. The electrons generate radicals and ions between the electrodes.

Such dielectrics used in dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are insulated, thus limiting current, preventing arc formation, and being dielectric, allowing charge accumulation.

On the other hand, particularly important in the field of biotechnology, including the 'skin treatment apparatus using the present invention plasma' is to ensure the stability of the human body to electrical shock.

By the way, in the prior art, the skin tissue has a lot of flexion and is not flat, so there is a protruding portion in the skin tissue, whereby the plasma is concentrated to the protruding portion or the skin tissue close to the dielectric, and thus the skin is damaged. have. In other words, it is difficult to generate uniform plasma.

In addition to the problem of the stability of the human body in the prior art, there is also a problem that the control of power is not easy when the electrode is a single flat electrode.

In addition, the conventional technology maintains an interval for generating plasma between the dielectric and skin tissue, but also has a problem in that the gap is present in an open form, which causes the plasma to leak to the outside to reduce the therapeutic effect.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of through-holes in the substrate to evenly distribute the generation of plasma to prevent damage to the skin, by providing a gap maintaining portion in the entire lower portion of the housing It provides a skin treatment device using plasma that prevents the leakage of plasma, separates the electrode into a plurality of shapes, makes power control easier, and forms an air layer between the substrate and the dielectric part to induce more stable current flow. It is.

The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the skin treatment apparatus using a plasma according to the present invention, the skin treatment apparatus for treating the skin using the plasma generated from the plasma generator, the plasma generator, the housing; An electrode positioned inside the housing to transfer power for skin treatment; A substrate having a plurality of through holes positioned below the electrode and having an inner surface coated or plated by a conductive material and electrically connected to the electrode; And a dielectric part positioned below the substrate, wherein power from the electrode is supplied to the dielectric part through a through hole formed in the substrate to generate plasma in a space between the dielectric part and the skin.

In the apparatus for treating skin using plasma according to the present invention, the plasma generator further includes an air layer between the substrate and the dielectric part, and power from the electrode is passed through the air layer and through holes formed in the substrate. Characterized in that supplied to the negative.

In the skin treatment apparatus using a plasma according to the present invention, the electrodes are characterized in that separated in a dot form arranged independently.

In the skin treatment apparatus using the plasma according to the present invention, the dielectric part is characterized in that any one of quartz, sapphire, glass, ceramic, polymer film, polyetherimide (PEI).

In the skin treatment apparatus using the plasma according to the present invention, the lower end portion of the housing is characterized in that it further comprises a spacing portion protruding downward.

In the skin treatment apparatus using the plasma according to the present invention, the gap maintaining part is characterized in that it is installed on the entire lower end of the housing.

The present invention configured as described above prevents skin damage by evenly distributing the plasma in the space between the dielectric part and the skin, thereby reducing plasma concentration due to the bending of the skin.

In addition, by forming an air layer between the dielectric part and the substrate, the current flowing into the dielectric part can be controlled to stably and comfortably treat the skin.

In addition, in order to bring the output density uniformly without a separate control device, it is possible to make a plurality of separate and independent electrodes instead of one flat electrode.

The gap maintaining part forms a constant plasma active region between the dielectric part and the skin and separates it from the outside so that plasma leakage does not occur, thereby increasing the therapeutic effect.

1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of the present invention.

2 is a view showing a cross-sectional structure of a plasma generator according to the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view of a plasma generator having an air layer according to the present invention.

4 is a view showing the bottom portion of the plasma generator according to the present invention.

5 is an equivalent circuit of the plasma generator according to the present invention.

6 is an equivalent circuit of a plasma generator having an air layer according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, among the drawings, like elements or parts will be described in detail with the same reference numerals as much as possible. In describing the present invention, detailed descriptions of related well-known functions or configurations are omitted in order not to obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

The terms used in this specification have the meanings indicated unless they are required to have a different meaning or are not indicated otherwise. Unless otherwise stated, the singular forms "a", "an", "the" and "the" are intended to be interpreted as generally including the singular.

As used herein, the terms "about", "substantially", and the like, are used at, or in close proximity to, numerical values when manufacturing and material tolerances inherent in the meanings indicated are intended to aid the understanding of the invention. Accurate or absolute figures are used to assist in the prevention of unfair use by unscrupulous infringers.

Skin treatment apparatus using a plasma according to the present invention, as shown in Figure 1, is composed of a power supply unit 100, a high voltage module 300, a plasma generator 200, the high voltage module 300 is a control unit 310 ), A signal generator 321, an amplifier 322, and a transformer 323.

The power supply unit 100 may be an external power source, or may be a battery to be used as a miniaturized portable device.

The control unit 310 of the high voltage module 300 controls the DC power output from the power supply unit 100 to be converted into high frequency and high voltage AC power. The signal generator 321 of the high voltage module 300 is usually 20 kHz or less. Generates a frequency of, and the amplifier 322 of the high voltage module 300 is matched with an impedance of 5 ~ 10W.

The transformer 323 of the high voltage module 300 supplies the frequency output from the amplifier 322 of the high voltage module 300 to the plasma generator 200 to generate plasma.

The plasma generator 200 is surrounded by a housing 210 as shown in Figure 2, the housing 210 may be cylindrical or polygonal cylindrical shape, the material is preferably non-conductive.

In the present invention, the skin (S) of the human body is used as a ground electrode for generating a plasma, but by using the skin (S) as a ground electrode, the electrode structure is simplified, there is an advantage that large area discharge is possible. In addition, only when the skin S is close to the electrode, plasma discharge occurs and unnecessary discharge is suppressed, so that power consumption can be reduced.

The plasma generator 200 is an electrode 220 that receives a high voltage and a high frequency from the transformer 323 through the electrode pin 221, and a portion that is in contact with the electrode 220 while being positioned on the lower surface of the electrode 220. The substrate 230 having a disc shape having a plurality of through holes 231 at uniform intervals in the vertical direction, the dielectric portion 240 and the dielectric portion 240 contacting the lower surface of the substrate 230. ) And the space maintaining part 211 between the skin (S).

In the electrode 220, in order to obtain a uniform output density without a separate control device, it is necessary to make a plurality of separate and independent electrodes instead of a single flat electrode, preferably cm ^{2 in} a dot shape having a diameter of 1 mm. The output density can be controlled by arranging 25 dot electrodes per.

In the present invention, in order to induce the dielectric barrier discharge plasma on the face, which is an electric shock-free and stable sensitive skin, the output power per unit area is 0.1-2W (preferably 1.53W) / cm, and the output voltage is 4-20 (preferably). 9.5-10) kV, the frequency can be implemented 1 ~ 30 (preferably 25) kHz.

The through hole 231 is formed in the substrate 230 similar to the hole shape of the shower in the substrate 230, and the inner surface of the through hole 231 may be coated or plated with a conductive material.

The thickness and dielectric constant of the dielectric part 240 are related to each other. The larger the dielectric constant, the thinner the dielectric part 240 becomes, and the smaller the dielectric constant, the thicker the dielectric part 240 causes insulation breakdown with respect to the applied voltage. High density plasma can be discharged without.

The dielectric portion 240 in the present invention may be formed of a material such as quartz, sapphire, glass, ceramics, polymer film, polyetherimide (PEI), the thickness is about 0.1mm ~ 3mm, relative dielectric constant Is about 4 to 18, and the greater the dielectric constant of the dielectric part 240, the less the risk of electric shock and heat dissipation, thereby increasing the applied power to increase discharge efficiency.

Polyetherimide (PEI) among the materials of the dielectric part 240 is preferred in the present invention because it exhibits excellent performance as an insulating material under severe conditions due to its high radiation resistance characteristics.

Plasma gap 212 is maintained at a constant interval by the gap holding unit 211, the interval is preferably 0.5 to 5 mm.

The gap maintaining part 211 may protrude downward along the entire circumference of the lower edge of the housing 210.

The power supplied from the electrode 220 is supplied to the dielectric part 240 evenly through a plurality of through holes 231 of the substrate 230, similarly to the shower method, wherein the skin S and the dielectric part 240 are in contact with each other. The plasma P is generated evenly by the smooth dielectric barrier discharge of the plasma shower method.

On the other hand, the output power of about 1W is preferable in order to obtain a smooth dielectric barrier discharge plasma (P) harmless to the human body, and the voltage, frequency, dielectric part applied by the high voltage module 300 to obtain the optimal operating conditions The capacitance of the dielectric material constituting 240 and the capacitance value between the dielectric part 240 and the skin are appropriately adjusted.

In addition, a blue LED (not shown) is further mounted inside the housing 210, preferably above the dielectric part 240, which has a wavelength of about 400 to 680 nm. Since passing through 240 is irradiated to the skin (S) has the effect of calming the skin (S).

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the air layer 250 is further provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, the plasma generator 200 may form the dielectric part 240 at a position spaced apart from the lower surface of the substrate 230. In this case, an air layer 250 is formed between the substrate 230 and the dielectric part 240. And the air layer 250 may have a thickness of 0.1 ~ 1mm preferably 0.5mm.

When the air layer 250 is formed between the substrate 230 and the dielectric part 240 (FIG. 3), rather than when the substrate 230 is in contact with the dielectric part 240 (FIG. 2), the sensitive skin is more sensitive to skin. The plasma can be induced stably. The process will be described later.

Looking at the operating state of the skin treatment apparatus using the plasma configured as described above are as follows.

In the present invention, the skin treatment process will be described as an example when applied to the skin with acne.

First, by placing the skin treatment device of the present invention in the treatment site with acne, pressing the operation start button, the power supply unit 100 supplies DC power to the high voltage module 300, the high voltage module 300 is the control unit 310 The signal generator 321, the amplifier 322, and the transformer 323 convert the direct current power into high voltage and high frequency alternating current power and supply it to the electrode 220 through the electrode pin 221 of the plasma generator 200. do.

Since the electrode 220 is composed of a plurality of separated and independent electrodes instead of one flat electrode, the output density can be uniformly controlled without a separate control device.

In addition, the power supplied to the electrode 220 is evenly distributed through the plurality of through holes 231 and supplied to the dielectric part 240, thereby providing a plasma in the space between the dielectric part 240 and the skin S acting as an electrode. Is evenly distributed.

That is, the plasma generator 200 and the affected part generate plasma by the dielectric barrier discharge DBD through the dielectric part 240, and the dielectric part (through the plurality of through holes 231 formed in the substrate 230). A plasma having an even distribution in the space between the 240 and the skin S is generated.

Since the gap maintaining part 211 is formed to protrude downward along the entire circumference of the lower edge portion of the housing 210, the plasma gap 212 in which the plasma P is generated is isolated from the outside to prevent leakage of the plasma. It is not generated can enhance the therapeutic effect, and the plasma can be evenly distributed by keeping the plasma active region between the dielectric part 240 and the skin S constant.

5 (a) is an equivalent circuit of the plasma generator 200 shown in FIG. 2, where 'C _a ' is equivalent to the plasma gap 212 and 'C _g ' is equivalent to the dielectric part 240.

FIG. 5B is an equivalent circuit before the initial discharge occurs, and FIG. 5C is an equivalent circuit when the plasma is generated in a normal state after the initial discharge has occurred.

With this structure, when the electrode 220 is initially supplied with power to induce plasma to the skin S, the impedance change is until the plasma gap 212 is an insulating layer until just before discharge occurs, as shown in Fig. 5 (b). _a c 'acts as a value, occurs, the insulation layer is destroyed and discharge as in the plasma gap 5 212 is also a conductor (c)' acts as _a resistance value of R '. Therefore, since the plasma amount is controlled not only by Ra 'but also by Cg', it is possible to prevent the plasma amount from increasing instantly.

6 shows the case where the air layer 250 is formed in the second embodiment.

6 (a) is an equivalent circuit of the plasma generator 200 shown in FIG. 3, where 'C _a ' is equivalent to the plasma gap 212, and 'C _g ' is equivalent to the dielectric portion 240, and 'Cb Is the equivalent of the air layer 250. That is, the air layer 250 'C _b ' is formed between the dielectric portion 240 'C _g ' and the substrate 230.

Fig. 6B is an equivalent circuit before the initial discharge occurs, and Fig. 6C is an equivalent circuit when the plasma is generated normally after the initial discharge has occurred.

When power is initially supplied to the electrode 220 to induce plasma to the procedure site, the change in impedance is measured until the plasma gap 212 and the air layer 250 are insulated layers with values of C _a and C _b until just before discharge occurs. action and, once the insulation layer is destroyed and a discharge occurs, acts as a resistance value of R _a and R _b plasma gap 212 and the air layer 250 is a conductor.

Referring to FIG. 6 in comparison with FIG. 5, it can be seen that there are additionally 'C _b ' and R _b corresponding to the air layer 250 in FIG. 6.

That is, when discharge occurs and the plasma is normally maintained, the air layer 250 between the dielectric part 240 and the substrate 230 acts as a resistance value of R _b as a conductor. This prevents the generation of excessive plasma due to the rapid discharge in the early stage of discharge, and can stably induce the plasma on sensitive skin.

What has been described above is just one embodiment for carrying out the skin treatment apparatus using the plasma according to the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and deviates from the gist of the invention claimed in the claims below Without this, anyone skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will have the technical idea of the present invention to the extent that various modifications can be made.

Claims

In the skin treatment apparatus for treating the skin using the plasma generated from the plasma generator,

The plasma generator 200,

A housing 210;

An electrode 220 positioned inside the housing 210 to transfer power for skin treatment;

A substrate 230 positioned below the electrode 220, the inner surface of the substrate having a plurality of through holes 231 coated or plated by a conductive material and electrically connected to the electrode 220;

It is provided with a dielectric portion 240 positioned below the substrate 230,

Power from the electrode 220 is supplied to the dielectric part 240 through the through hole 231 formed in the substrate 230 so that plasma is generated in the space between the dielectric part 240 and the skin S. Skin treatment apparatus using a plasma, characterized in that configured.
The plasma generator 200 further includes an air layer 250 between the substrate 230 and the dielectric part 240.

Power from the electrode 220 is a skin treatment apparatus using a plasma, characterized in that supplied to the dielectric portion 240 through the through-hole 231 and the air layer 250 formed in the substrate (230).
The apparatus for treating skin using plasma according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes are separated in a dot form and arranged independently.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dielectric part 240 is any one of quartz, sapphire, glass, ceramic, polymer film, and polyetherimide (PEI).
The skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to claim 1, further comprising a space keeping portion 211 protruding downward from a lower end portion of the housing 210.
The skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to claim 6, wherein the gap maintaining part 211 is installed at the entire lower end of the housing 210.