WO2019122544A1

WO2019122544A1 - Cryotherapy device

Info

Publication number: WO2019122544A1
Application number: PCT/FR2018/000263
Authority: WO
Inventors: Germain KEMP
Original assignee: Cryo Evolution
Priority date: 2017-12-18
Filing date: 2018-12-13
Publication date: 2019-06-27
Also published as: EP3727250A1; FR3075033A1; FR3075033B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a cryotherapy device including a cabin for treating a person, connected to a system for producing and transporting a cryogenic fluid, said system including at least one tank for storing a pressurised cryogenic liquid supplying, through means for diffusing said liquid, an evaporation pipe leading, through gas-diffusion means, into said treatment cabin; - means for circulating the cryogenic fluid, having heating means upstream and said evaporation pipe downstream, characterised in that: - said storage tank comprises a cryogenic liquid kept at a pressure of 1 to 1.5 bars; and - said evaporation pipe, which extends from said at least one storage tank to said gas-diffusion means, has a contraction.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Title: CRYOTHERAPY DEVICE

The present invention is in the field of cryotherapy cabins.

The term "cryotherapy" refers to medical, aesthetic or well-being techniques or procedures consisting of localized or generalized treatment of the body at low temperatures. This cold therapy uses a cold gas of carbon dioxide C0 ₂ or nitrogen N _{2 type} and allows, using cold:

to reduce body heat in order to reduce pain,

promote blood circulation, thanks in particular to vasoconstriction,

to relax the muscle fibers, to treat skin lesions such as eczema, psoriasis or neuro - dermatitis.

In known manner, for a whole-body treatment in gas cryotherapy, that is to say for the part of the body going from the soles of the feet to the top of the shoulders, the person is placed in a closed cabin called "cryotherapy cabin" "Cryotherapy chamber", "cryogenic chamber" or

"Cryosauna". This cryotherapy cabin is connected to a cold source generally consisting of an external nitrogen container under pressure. During treatment, when the person is in the booth, the pressurized nitrogen is evaporated, then transferred and injected into the cryotherapy booth to cool to the treatment temperature. The person will then be in contact with the nitrogen gas, that is to say at temperatures between -70 ° C and 150 ° C, preferably - 110 ° C and - 150 ° C maximum for 3 min. This person contact / nitrogen gas is the treatment.

Nevertheless, the techniques and equipment existing in the prior art have a number of disadvantages.

Generally liquid nitrogen is kept in a tank under a pressure of 4 to 7 Bars. Then the pressurized liquid nitrogen is evaporated on contact with a stream of air using a fan. In order for the evaporation to take place, the air stream must have a flow rate and a temperature sufficient for the transformation into gas, in contact with the liquid nitrogen under pressure, to occur. Therefore, in known devices, a large fan and a power ³ to 600 Watts is often necessary.

The need to produce a sufficient air current for the phenomenon of evaporation to take place has several disadvantages.

The size of the power fans ³ to 600 Watts is often substantial, therefore a corresponding space must be available to receive it near the cryotherapy cabin.

In addition, the power of these fans is such that its operating noise can be disturbing and stressful for the person being treated. Indeed, during treatment, the person can hear and hear deafening noise of the rotational movement of the fan blades generating the air stream, which can destabilize.

In addition, the present existing devices require a consumption of 5 to 7 L of liquid nitrogen under pressure between 4 and 7 Bars to treat a person. However, on this volume of liquid nitrogen under pressure in stock, only about 65% of the liquid nitrogen under pressure will actually be evaporated, the other non-evaporated part constituting a pure loss. Existing devices are therefore not suitable to avoid nitrogen losses. In general, the liquid nitrogen container is connected to an evaporation tank of a cryotherapy cabin by a piping device. In the container, the nitrogen is kept under pressure between 4 and 7 Bars and it is necessary to proceed to a degassing step to decrease the pressure before transferring the nitrogen to the evaporation tank. This leads to a loss of gas, so a significant economic cost.

Thus, in the known devices, the transformation yield of the liquid nitrogen under pressure into evaporated nitrogen is not yet satisfactory. This has the disadvantage of consuming a lot of liquid nitrogen and regularly changing the empty container between a series of people to another.

In addition, it is customary for the conversion of liquid nitrogen to evaporated nitrogen to take place outside the treatment cabin of a person. This is why the known devices often have evaporated nitrogen storage means connected to means for conveying this evaporated nitrogen to the treatment bath where the person is located.

These storage means of the evaporated nitrogen have the disadvantage of occupying an important place in the room. Consequently, a room of substantial size must exist, just for the establishment of the cryotherapy cabin.

A way should be found to minimize the space occupied by the cryotherapy cabin.

In addition, the means for conveying the evaporated nitrogen further increase the risk of possible nitrogen loss between the liquid nitrogen container and the treatment bath where the person is.

In known manner, document FR 2 981 268 discloses a gas cryotherapy device comprising

at least one storage tank for a liquid under pressure,

at least one cryotherapy chamber,

at least one evaporation tank of said liquid in gas, at least one intermediate tank connected to said storage tank and to the evaporation tank.

This device, which has at least three tanks, has several disadvantages.

First, the three tanks, necessary for operation, are bulky and take up space.

In addition, the transfer of nitrogen from one tank to another has the disadvantage of increasing the risk of nitrogen losses between the first tank to the cryotherapy chamber. As a result, the losses between the different reservoirs increase the nitrogen consumption required to treat a patient. In addition, in this known device, as visible in Figure 2, the pressurized liquid at the outlet of the intermediate reservoir, arrives in the crucible where the evaporation reaction takes place. Then the evaporated gas passes through a

5 heating resistance and through a ventilation system before opening into the cryotherapy chamber. There is recovery of the gas output of the cryotherapy chamber to either return to the crucible or out to another conduit. In document FR 2 981 268, the heating resistor heats the already evaporated gas for its entry into the cryotherapy chamber. Nevertheless, heating the evaporated gas increases the risk of loss and decreases the percentage of cryogenic liquid that is converted into gas arriving in the cryotherapy chamber. The multiplication of nitrogen transport means to the cryotherapy chamber increases the risk of loss because evaporation is not done during the transport path.

As a result, the apparatus of the prior art has a number of disadvantages which must be remedied. Indeed, it is necessary to find a cryotherapy cabin that is both compact, non-noisy and with a production yield of maximum cryogenic flow to optimize the overall operation of said cabin.

More specifically, it is necessary to reduce the total space requirement in a room of the cryotherapy cabin, as well as to reduce its operating noise while minimizing the nitrogen consumption necessary for a person.

An alternative solution to the cryotherapy booth device, which has both operating noise and reduced energy consumption, should be found, while increasing the conversion efficiency of liquid nitrogen to evaporated nitrogen, in order to optimize operating costs of the cryotherapy booth for the treatment of a person.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the state of the art by proposing a cryotherapy device comprising a treatment cabin. of a person, said cabin being connected to a system for producing and transporting a cryogenic fluid, said system comprising:

at least one storage tank for a pressurized cryogenic liquid supplying, via means for diffusing said liquid, an evaporation duct opening through gas diffusion means into said treatment cabin.

Thus, the liquid under pressure is transformed into gas within the evaporation duct and then injected into the treatment booth to reach and treat the person.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, said system consists of a storage tank for a pressurized cryogenic liquid supplying, via a means of diffusion of said liquid, an evaporation conduit opening, through means gas diffusion in said treatment cabin. Thus, according to this particular embodiment, the circuit for conveying nitrogen to the treatment cabin is both a direct nitrogen transport circuit, a nitrogen chemical transformation circuit and a temperature rise circuit to a temperature acceptable to the patient. In this embodiment, the transformation efficiency of the liquid nitrogen into gas diffused into the treatment booth is at least greater than or equal to 90%.

Said system also comprises means for circulating the cryogenic fluid, having upstream heating means and downstream said evaporation duct.

These circulation means of the cryogenic fluid allow its displacement in a certain direction of circulation but also its change of chemical state, ie the passage of a liquid to gaseous state to achieve the evaporation reaction.

According to a specificity of the invention, said storage tank comprises a cryogenic liquid maintained at a pressure of between 1 and 1.5 bar.

This low pressure has the advantage of facilitating the storage but also the transfer of the liquid under pressure to the duct where the evaporation reaction will take place. Indeed, during the transfer of the liquid under pressure to said conduit, the opening of the storage tank causes degassing causing loss of liquid. The higher the tank pressure, the greater the losses when opening for transfer. Thus, in order to limit the losses when opening the storage tank for the transfer of the liquid, the pressure has been minimized to the maximum. It has been specifically found that a pressure of between 1 and 1.5 bars makes it possible to transfer and evaporate at least 90% of the cryogenic liquid within the conduit.

According to an additional specificity of the device of the invention, said evaporation duct, extending from said at least one storage tank to said gas diffusion means, has a narrowing.

The presence of a narrowing of the dimensions of said evaporation duct promotes the evaporation reaction. The shrinkage thus increases the transformation efficiency of the cryogenic liquid, introduced into said conduit, into a cryogenic gas that can be used to treat the person within the treatment cabin.

In addition, according to other characteristics of the cryotherapy device of the invention:

said cryogenic liquid consists of liquid nitrogen under pressure at 1 or 1.5 bar,

said heating means consist of at least one resistor.

According to other additional features of the cryotherapy device of the invention:

said means for circulating the cryogenic fluid comprise at least one fan,

said fan is an action fan with a power of between 55 and 70 Watts.

According to a specific embodiment, the power of the fan can be further reduced by being between 30 and 70 watts.

Said fan has the advantage of operating at a power in Watt low, so to limit the energy consumption necessary for the operation of the cryotherapy device. In addition, the fan in operation makes it possible to generate both the circulation of the cryogenic fluid within the device and to contribute to the evaporation reaction. Indeed, the air stream leaving the fan coming into contact with the cryogenic liquid under pressure will allow its evaporation gas.

According to other advantageous features of the device of the invention:

- said treatment cabin comprises at least one cryogenic gas suction opening present within said treatment cabin, said at least one suction opening opening on a gas recovery conduit present within said treatment cabin;

said heating means are integrated within said recovery duct so as to increase in temperature the cryogenic gas passing through said recovery duct;

said circulation means are positioned at the intersection between the recovery duct and the evaporation duct, and are intended to draw gas from said treatment booth through the suction openings in order to return it to said duct; 'evaporation.

Thus, the presence of the heating means upstream of the circulation means makes it possible to heat the cryogenic fluid upstream of the circulation means and thus to avoid the formation of possible frost on the blades of the fan that can block their operation.

Indeed, between two treatment sessions, when the person is not in the treatment booth, the heating means are put into operation and the cryogenic liquid supply under pressure is stopped to allow the fluid circulating in the device of warm up and de-ice the means of circulation.

In addition, the system for producing and transporting the cryogenic fluid is a semi-closed circuit which limits the maximum loss of cryogenic fluid. Indeed, the gas injected into the treatment booth is recycled. The recycled gas contributes to the evaporation reaction transforming the liquid under pressure at the outlet of the gas diffusion means intended to be used to treat the person.

In order to further limit the losses of the cryogenic fluid circulating within the device, said transformation / evaporation conduit comprises means for receiving the cryogenic liquid under pressure intended to recover the cryogenic liquid under unvaporated pressure within said transformation conduit. / evaporation.

The cryotherapy device of the invention makes it possible to reduce the energy consumption, to avoid noise nuisances necessary for its operation while limiting the consumption of cryogenic liquid necessary for the treatment of a person by an increase in the evaporation efficiency. said liquid.

The cryotherapy device therefore has an economic advantage for the users.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments of the invention, with reference to the appended figures, in which:

- Figure 1 shows schematically a view of the cryotherapy device of the invention.

The present invention relates to a cryotherapy device 1 comprising a treatment booth 2 of a person 3, as illustrated in FIG.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the cryotherapy device of the invention, said treatment cabin 2 comprises an access door for the entry and exit of a person 3 and an opening on the top to hold the head of the patient. the person 3 outside said treatment cabin 2.

Said processing cabin 2 is connected to a production and transport system 4 for a cryogenic fluid 5.

Said cryogenic fluid 5 may be, for example, a gas, in particular of the N 2 dinitrogen type; CO 2 carbon dioxide; or 02 oxygen, or any of the possible combinations. It should be noted that according to the invention, said cryogenic fluid 5 may be in different chemical states depending on its position and its displacement within the system 4. For example, said cryogenic fluid 5 may be in the form of cryogenic liquid under pressure or in the form of gas.

According to the invention, said system 4 comprises at least one storage tank 6 of a cryogenic liquid under pressure.

"Cryogenic liquid under pressure" is understood to mean the cryogenic fluid 5 having predominantly a liquid form and which is contained in said reservoir 6.

Preferably, said cryogenic liquid under pressure consists of nitrogen stored in liquid form at a temperature <-196 ° C within the storage tank 6. Nevertheless, because of the pressure inside the storage tank Part of this nitrogen may be in the form of nitrogen gas.

Said storage tank 6 consists for example of a tank of 20 to 1000 L, preferably 2 to 4 L containing liquid nitrogen under pressure.

Said storage tank 6 supplies, with said cryogenic liquid under pressure, an evaporation duct 7.

Said cryogenic liquid under pressure can, after an evaporation reaction, be transformed into a gas circulating in said system 4, in particular within said evaporation duct 7.

Diffusion means 8 of said liquid, at the outlet of the storage tank 6, make it possible to feed said evaporation pipe 7 with said cryogenic liquid under pressure.

Advantageously, said diffusion means 8 consist of at least one jet nozzle of said cryogenic liquid under pressure within said evaporation pipe 7.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said diffusion means 8 consist of a diffusion nozzle which will allow transfer of the liquid nitrogen under pressure from the storage tank 6 to the evaporation duct 7.

Said evaporation duct 7 opens into said treatment booth 2 of a person 3.

The flow of cryogenic fluid 5, in the form of a gas, present within the evaporation duct 7, will enter said cabin 2 to reach the person 3 and treat it. The passage and the displacement of the cryogenic fluid contained in said evaporation pipe 7 towards said cabin 2 is possible thanks to gas diffusion means 9.

Said gas diffusion means 9 consist for example of at least one gas diffusion nozzle whose opening can be controlled by a valve system.

Preferably, said gas diffusion means 9 are positioned on the upper part of said treatment booth 2, so that the diffusion of the gas takes place at the level of the shoulders of the person 3.

Within the evaporation duct 7, an evaporation reaction of the cryogenic liquid under pressure takes place, thus the pressurized liquid is transformed into a gas which will be able to come into contact with the person 3 installed in the cabin 2.

According to the invention, said system 4 also comprises means 10 for circulating the cryogenic fluid through the cryotherapy device 1.

Advantageously, said fluid circulation means 10 comprise at least one centrifugal fan, preferably a three-phase centrifugal fan.

Said circulation means 10 have the effect of transporting said cryogenic fluid 5 within the system 4 and to give it a direction of movement, represented by the arrows in FIG. 1.

In addition, said fan-type circulation means 10 provide a stream of air within the evaporation duct 7. In contact with the cryogenic liquid under pressure at the outlet of the diffusion means 8, said air stream, which has a temperature> that of the cryogenic liquid under pressure, will allow the evaporation reaction, that is to say the transformation of the cryogenic liquid under pressure gas.

In other words, said circulation means 10 in addition to transporting and giving a direction of circulation to the cryogenic fluid 5, will allow its change of chemical state by promoting the evaporation reaction.

Specifically to the invention, said fan Centrifugal is of a power between 55 and 70 Watts, preferably 60 Watts. Thus, the operating noise of the cryotherapy device 1 of the invention is reduced compared to the devices of the prior art which use power fans of the order of 600 Watts.

The device 1 has the advantage of operating by reducing as much as possible the power required by the circulation means 10 for carrying out the evaporation reaction, that is to say the transformation of the liquid into a cryogenic gas, while decreasing the operating noise.

Thus, the production of cryogenic gas, reaching the person 3 installed in the treatment booth 2, is less noisy, less expensive energy, resulting in an economic gain.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, said fan is a three-phase centrifugal fan with action, that is to say that it has vanes inclined towards the front.

During operation of the fan, the inclination forward of the blades has the advantage in a humid environment of limiting the attachment of the water molecules on the blades. Thus, at temperatures below 0 ° C, the risk of creating frost on the blades is reduced by the lack of fixation of the water molecules.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, said fan is provided with several flat blades, wide and spaced apart. Flat blades have the advantage of sliding cryogenic gas molecules, especially water, to avoid their attachment to the surface of the blades thus preventing the formation of ice on the blades at temperatures at 0 ° C, which are the circulation temperatures of the cryogenic fluid 5 within the device 1. Thus in this specific embodiment, the ice pick up of the blades during operation of the cryotherapy device 1 is not possible. The spacing of the blades between them allows a good circulation of the cryogenic fluid 5 through said fan, which however retains its circulation action of the cryogenic fluid 5 favored by the width of the blades. Said production and transport system 4 of said cryogenic fluid also comprises, upstream of said circulation means 10, heating means 11. These are present within a recovery conduit 12.

Said heating means 11 consist, for example, of a heating resistor. Such a resistance has for example a power of the order of 1 Watt.

Said heating means 11 make it possible to raise the temperature within the recovery duct 12, thus raising the temperature of the fluid circulating within the recovery duct 12.

According to FIG. 1, the recovery duct 12 opens onto the evaporation duct 7, said circulation means 10 of the cryogenic fluid 5 within the system 4 are positioned at the junction of the recovery duct 12 with the duct Evaporation 7.

Thus, said heating means 11 being upstream of the circulation means 10, the gas, circulating in the recovery duct 12 and passing through the circulation means 10, has a temperature> that of the cryogenic liquid injected into the evaporation duct 7.

Consequently, the heating of the gas flowing in the recovery duct 12 has the effect, at the same time, of contributing to the evaporation reaction which takes place downstream of the circulation means 10 and at the outlet of the diffusion means 8 of the liquid , but also to prevent frost formation on said circulation means 10.

Thus, the change of the circulation means 10 or their deicing is no longer a necessity with the device 1 unlike the device of the prior art.

In addition, said recovery conduit 12 allows the recovery and circulation of the gas initially present in the treatment booth 2, for example after the treatment of a person 3.

More specifically, said treatment booth 2 comprises suction openings 13 for the gas still present in the treatment booth 2. These suction openings 13, opening onto the recovery duct 12, are intended to transport the gas from the treatment booth 2 to the heating means 11.

The suction openings 13 allow a recycling of the gas initially present in the treatment booth 2.

The operation of the circulation means 10 will allow the circulation of the cryogenic fluid 5 in the direction indicated by the arrows of FIG. 1. The suction of the gas through said suction openings 13 will take place, notably thanks to the movement of the blades of the fan positioned at the junction between the recovery duct 12 and the evaporation duct 7.

In other words, according to the invention, the cryogenic fluid 5 flows from the storage tank 6 to the evaporation duct 7, then to reach the treatment booth 2 where the person 3 is located, then it is sucked through openings 13, to come into contact with the heating means 11 and go towards the circulation means 10 to finally return within the evaporation duct 7.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the cryogenic fluid circulates within the device 1 according to the direction of movement indicated by the arrows.

According to a feature of the invention, said storage tank 6 comprises a cryogenic liquid under pressure of between 1 and 1.5 bar, or between 0.2 and 1.5 bar, unlike the devices of the prior art where the cryogenic liquid under pressure is between 4 and 7 Bars.

The pressure maintained in the storage tank 6 of the cryogenic liquid is minimal. Thus, unlike the prior art, at the time of transfer of the cryogenic liquid to the place where the evaporation reaction occurs, when the opening of the tank 6 degassing occurs, nevertheless the gas losses are limited.

Indeed, it limits the loss of cryogenic liquid when opening the storage tank 6 because the pressure difference between said storage tank 6 and the evaporation duct 7 is low. Thus, the pressure management within the device 1 is optimized to limit the losses during degassing. In addition, limiting the losses of cryogenic liquid when the tank 6 is opened makes it possible to increase the transformation efficiency of the cryogenic liquid into cryogenic gas.

Indeed, in the device 1, the cryogenic liquid can directly enter the evaporation duct 7 and evaporate directly in contact with the hot air stream exiting the fan.

With the device 1, it has been shown that more than 90% of the cryogenic liquid contained in the tank 6 evaporates to cryogenic gas within the evaporation pipe 7, unlike the device of the prior art where the transformation efficiency the average liquid content in the storage tank is <90%.

A high conversion efficiency, due to an initial low cryogenic liquid pressure, has the advantage of minimizing the amount of liquid needed to treat a person 3. As a result, the cryogenic liquid losses during the treatment procedure of a person 3 by cryotherapy are minimized.

According to a particular embodiment, the non-transformed cryogenic liquid / evaporated gas in the evaporation pipe 7 is recovered, upstream of the gas diffusion means 9, using means for receiving said liquid.

These reception means allow the recovery and possible recycling of the non-evaporated cryogenic liquid within the evaporation duct 7.

Advantageously, in order to increase the conversion efficiency of the cryogenic liquid and to promote the evaporation reaction, said evaporation pipe 7 has a narrowing of these dimensions between its part associated with the storage tank 6 up to its opening part. on the gas diffusion means 9 in the treatment booth 2. This narrowing of the evaporation duct 7, extending from the storage tank 6 to the gas diffusion means 9, accentuates the conversion of the cryogenic liquid into gas cryogenic, that is to say, promotes the evaporation reaction, increases the efficiency of transformation of the liquid into gas and decreases the losses of said cryogenic liquid. Advantageously, the part of the evaporation duct 7, which opens onto the gas diffusion means 9 within the treatment booth, is at least twice as small as its part associated with the storage tank 6, so that that the evaporation of the nitrogen is done very quickly to have a conversion efficiency of at least 90% of the liquid nitrogen gas opening in the treatment cabin.

Thus, the configuration and the means of the cryotherapy device 1 has the advantage of optimizing its operation by limiting the cryogenic fluid losses to a maximum, by reducing the general operating noise and by preventing the deposition of frost on the fan. This allows the cryotherapy device 1 to be able to chain the number of people who will undergo treatment in said treatment booth 2, limiting general operating and maintenance costs.

Claims

Cryotherapy device (1) comprising a treatment booth (2) for a person (3) connected to a production and transport system (4) for a cryogenic fluid (5), said system (4) comprising :

at least one storage tank (6) of a pressurized cryogenic liquid supplying, via diffusion means (8), an evaporation conduit (7) opening through gas diffusion means (9); ) in said treatment booth (2),

circulating means (10) for the cryogenic fluid (5), having upstream heating means (11) and downstream said evaporation pipe (7), characterized in that:

said storage tank (6) comprises a cryogenic liquid maintained at a pressure of between 1 and 1.5 bar;

said evaporation duct (7), extending from said at least one storage tank (6) to said gas diffusion means (9), has a narrowing.

2. Cryotherapy device (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said cryogenic liquid consists of liquid nitrogen under pressure at 1 or 1.5 Bars.

3. Cryotherapy device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said circulation means (10) of the cryogenic fluid (5) comprise at least one fan.

4. Cryotherapy device (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said fan is a fan with a power of between 55 and 70 Watts.

Cryotherapy device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said heating means (11) consist of at least a resistance.

6. Cryotherapy device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said treatment cabin (2) comprises at least one suction opening (13) of the cryogenic gas present in said treatment cabin (2), said at least one suction opening (13) opening on a recovery line (12) of the gas present in said treatment cabin (2).

7. Cryotherapy device (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said heating means (11) are integrated within said recovery duct (12) so as to increase in temperature the cryogenic gas passing through said duct recovery (12).

Cryotherapy device (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that said circulation means (10) are positioned at the intersection between the recovery duct (12) and the evaporation duct (7), and are for sucking gas from said treatment booth (2) through the suction openings (13) to return it to said evaporation line (7).

9. Cryotherapy device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said evaporation duct (7) comprises means for receiving the cryogenic liquid under pressure for recovering the cryogenic liquid under pressure not evaporated at room temperature. within said evaporation duct (7).