Skin treatment apparatus using fractional plasma

Abstract

The present invention relates to a skin treatment apparatus using plasma, in which a plasma generator includes an electrode plate an upper dielectric body independent electrode parts and a lower dielectric body. The independent electrode parts are a plurality of pieces of silver paste or flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs) which are spaced a certain distance apart from each other. According to the present invention, electrode parts operate independently to prevent a plasma concentration phenomenon and uniformly generate plasma. According to the present invention, a plasma generator configured as described above is easy to form in a convex shape, and a convex plasma generator is applicable to a curved region of the skin to be treated, e.g., a palm. Furthermore, the convex plasma generator is capable of more uniformly generating plasma and is particularly effective for treatment of a long and round cylindrical object to be treated, e.g., the vagina of a woman.

Claims

1. A skin treatment apparatus using fractional plasma, comprising: a high-voltage module including a transformer; and a plasma generator, wherein the skin treatment apparatus conducts skin treatment using plasma generated by the plasma generator, the plasma generator comprises: an electrode plate connected to the high-voltage module; an upper dielectric body below the electrode plate; a plurality of independent electrode parts located below the upper dielectric body and spaced a certain distance from each other, the plurality of electrode parts acting as cell capacitors and being unconnected to an external power source; and a lower dielectric body below the plurality of independent electrode parts, the lower dielectric body impeding flow of current between the plurality of independent electrode parts and skin, and wherein power which is supplied to the electrode plate by the high-voltage module is supplied to the upper dielectric body, the plurality of independent electrode parts, and the lower dielectric body to generate plasma in a space between the lower dielectric body and the skin.

2. The skin treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plasma generator is convex toward the skin.

3. The skin treatment apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plasma generator is formed in a shape among a cylindrical shape, a cylindrical fragment shape, a spherical shape, and a partially spherical shape.

4. The skin treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of independent electrode parts comprise silver paste or flexible printed circuit boards.

5. The skin treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the high-voltage module further includes a controller, a signal generator and an amplifier.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 illustrates a skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to the related art.

(2) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an overall structure of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating main components of a plasma generator according to the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating independent electrode parts of a plasma generator according to the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 is an equivalent circuit of the independent electrode parts of FIG. 4.

(6) FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a convex plasma generator according to the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a plasma generator having a cylindrical convex fragment shape according to the present invention is attached to an outer circumferential surface of a skin treatment apparatus.

(8) FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a plasma generator having a cylindrical convex fragment shape according to the present invention is attached to an entire outer circumferential surface of a skin treatment apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(9) Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(10) As illustrated in FIG. 2, a skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to the present invention includes a power supply 100, a high-voltage module 300, and a plasma generator 400. The high-voltage module 300 includes a controller 310, a signal generator 321, an amplifier 322, and a transformer 323.

(11) The power supply 100 may be an external power source or may be a small-sized portable battery.

(12) The controller 310 of the high-voltage module 300 controls direct-current (DC) power output from the power supply 100 to be converted into high-frequency and high-voltage alternating-current (AC) power. The signal generator 321 of the high-voltage module 300 generally generates a frequency of 20 kHz or more. The amplifier 322 of the high-voltage module 300 is matched with impedance in a range of 5 to 50 W.

(13) 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 400 to generate plasma.

(14) FIG. 3 illustrates main components of the plasma generator 400 which generates plasma using high-voltage and high-frequency power output from the high-voltage module 300.

(15) The plasma generator 400 includes a power connection part 410 for transmitting power from the transformer 323 of the high-voltage module 300, an electrode plate 420 to which high-voltage and high-frequency power is supplied via the power connection part 410, and an upper dielectric body 430 and a lower dielectric body 450 below the electrode plate 420. A plurality of independent electrode parts 440 are printed between the upper dielectric body 430 and the lower dielectric body 450 to be spaced a certain distance from each other.

(16) The skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to the present invention configured as described above operates as described below.

(17) First, when a skin treatment device of the present invention is placed on a region of the skin to be treated and a start button is pressed, the power supply 100 supplies DC power to the high-voltage module 300, and the high-voltage module 300 converts the DC power into high-voltage and high-frequency AC power via the controller 310, the signal generator 321, the amplifier 322, and the transformer 323 and supplies the AC power to the electrode plate 420 via the power connection part 410 of the plasma generator 400.

(18) The power supplied to the electrode plate 420 passes through the upper dielectric body 430 and the independent electrode parts 440 printed between the upper dielectric body 430 and the lower dielectric body 450.

(19) The independent electrode parts 440 may be a plurality of pieces of silver paste or FPCBs which are spaced a certain distance from each other as illustrated in FIG. 4.

(20) An equivalent circuit of the independent electrode parts 440 is as illustrated in FIG. 5. That is, the independent electrode parts 440 may act as cell capacitors and thus may be represented by C1, C2, . . . Cn. The values of the cell capacitors C1, C2, . . . Cn may be adjusted by adjusting the cross-sectional areas of the independent electrode parts 440. That is, because a capacitance is proportional to a cross-sectional area, a capacitance of a cell capacitor may be increased by increasing a cross-sectional area of an independent electrode part or reduced by reducing the cross-sectional area of the independent electrode part or all cell capacitors may be adjusted to have the same capacitance.

(21) As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of electrode parts formed of silver paste or FPCBs are not directly connected to the electrode plate 420 and operate independently, and thus, a phenomenon in which plasma is concentrated on a side that occurs in the related art may be prevented and plasma may be uniformly generated at the independent electrode parts.

(22) In addition, the present invention employs thin independent electrode parts such as silver paste or FPCBs and thus a convex plasma generator described below may be easily configured.

(23) There is a curved object to be treated, such as a palm. Such an object is inconvenient to treat using a flat plasma generator. In this case, when the plasma generator 400 according to the present invention is formed in a convex shape, a curved object to be treated, such as a palm, may be effectively treated therewith.

(24) In addition, a more uniform amount of plasma may be generated by a convex plasma generator as described with reference to FIG. 6 below.

(25) Because all components of the plasma generator of FIG. 6, i.e., an electrode plate, an upper dielectric body, and a lower dielectric body are in a convex shape, the distances d1, d2, . . . , dn between the electrode plate 420 and the independent electrode parts 440 are the same. Because a capacitance is affected by the distance between two electrodes and the distances d1, d2, . . . , dn are the same, capacitances between the electrode plate 420 and the independent electrode parts 440 are the same and thus plasma may be evenly emitted to the skin.

(26) When a plasma generator is formed in a convex shape, e.g., a cylindrical fragment or a cylindrical shape, the skin of a long and round cylindrical shape, such as the vagina of a woman, may be effectively treated.

(27) As illustrated in FIG. 7, the plasma generator 400 may be formed in a convex shape (a cylindrical fragment) and attached in an arch along an outer circumferential surface of an end of a skin treatment apparatus within a range of 30° to 180°. Preferably, the arch is 90 degrees.

(28) In this case, the plasma generator 400 may have a size of about 8 mm in width and 20 mm in length.

(29) Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the plasma generator 400 may be formed in a convex (cylindrical) shape and attached to the entire outer circumferential surface of an end of the skin treatment apparatus. Similarly, the plasma generator 400 may be about 20 mm long.

(30) As described above, when a plurality of pieces of silver paste are printed between two dielectric bodies to be spaced a certain distance apart from each other and the dielectric bodies are formed in a convex shape, a long and round cylindrical object to be treated may be more effectively treated.

(31) A skin treatment apparatus using plasma according to the present invention described above is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications may be made therein by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the technical scope claimed in the following claims.