HAIR REMOVAL DEVICE

• US 20170215958A1
• Filed: 01/30/2017
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Beerwerth, Frank, Neyer, Christian, Dadic, Dalibor, Heinemann, Felix
• Granted Patent: US 10,524,861 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 26/00 Hair-singeing apparatus; Apparatus for removing superfluous hair, e.g. tweezers removing hair using electrosurgical instruments A61B18/04, A61B18/18
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/18 by applying electromagnetic radiation, e.g. microwaves radiation therapy A61N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1815 using microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00476 Hair follicles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/1807 using light other than laser radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0652 Arrays of diodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0659 infrared
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/0617 Hair treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0753 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/147 the light sources and the devices sensitive to radiation all being semiconductor devices characterised by potential barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/486 adapted for surface mounting
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/60 Reflective elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/62 Arrangements for conducting electric current to or from the semiconductor body, e.g. lead-frames, wire-bonds or solder balls
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/642 characterized by the shape

Abstract

The present invention is concerned with a hair removal device having a light emission unit having a substrate and a plurality of first LED dies that are mounted on the substrate on an area of at least 0.2 cm², in particular of at least 1 cm², the first LED dies having a peak emission wavelength in the far red or infrared wavelength range of between 700 nm and 980 nm, wherein the hair removal device is arranged to emit a treatment light pulse having a pulse length in the range of between 60 ms and 120 ms and the first LED dies have a radiant flux such that a radiant fluence on the skin of a user in the range of between 3 J/cm² and 7 J/cm² is achieved by application of the treatment light pulse.

Claims

1. A hair removal device comprising a light emission unit comprising a substrate and a plurality of first LED dies that are mounted on the substrate on an area in the range of between about 0.2 cm² and about 100 cm², the first LED dies having a peak emission wavelength in the far red or infrared wavelength range of between about 700 nm and about 980 nm, wherein the hair removal device is arranged to emit a treatment light pulse having a pulse length in the range of between about 60 ms and about 120 ms and the first LED dies have a radiant flux such that a radiant fluence on the skin of a user in the range of between about 3 J/cm² and about 7 J/cm² is achieved by application of the treatment light pulse.

2. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first LED dies have a peak emission wavelength in the infrared range of between about 800 nm and about 900 nm.

3. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first LED dies are mounted on the substrate on an area in the range of between 1.0 cm² and about 10 cm².

4. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 2, wherein the first LED dies emit at a peak wavelength of about 850 nm.

5. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pulse length is in a range of between about 80 ms and about 120 ms.

6. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a control unit for controlling the plurality of first LED dies and for activating each of the first LED dies to emit light at a selected radiant flux.

7. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one second LED die is arranged for emitting light with a peak emission wavelength in the visible wavelength range of between about 400 nm and about 700 nm at a radiant flux lower than the radiant flux required for temporal hair removal.

8. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 4, where the control unit is arranged to control the at least one second LED die to selectively emit visible light at a radiant flux in a range of between about 0.1 mW and about 100 mW also outside of the time period during which a treatment light pulse is emitted.

9. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a control element for selecting an active area of the plurality of first LED dies mounted on the substrate.

10. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the plurality of first LED dies are mounted on the substrate with a density of at least about 8 LED dies per square centimeter.

11. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the mounted substrate area is surrounded by a casing defining an inner chamber of essentially the shape and area of the mounted substrate area, the casing having inner walls that are reflective with respect to the light emitted by the first LED dies so that the radiant flux of the first LED dies per unit area is essentially preserved until an exit opening of the casing.

12. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 4, wherein the light emission unit comprises at least one sensor for measuring at least one skin property, which sensor is coupled with the control unit for controlling the light emission of at least one first LED die of the plurality of first LED dies based on the measured skin property.

13. The hair removal device in accordance with claim 1, further comprising an exit opening, wherein the vertical distance between each of the first LED dies and the area of the exit opening is in a range of between about 0.1 mm and about 10 mm.

14. A method of cosmetic hair removal comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate on which a plurality of first LED dies is mounted on an area in the range of between about 0.2 cm² and about 100 cm², which first LED dies are arranged for emitting light with a peak emission wavelength in the far red or infrared range of between about 700 nm and about 980 nm; and

controlling the plurality of first LED dies to emit a treatment light pulse having a pulse length in the range of between about 60 ms and about 120 ms, wherein the plurality of first LED dies is controlled to emit at a radiant flux such that a radiant fluence on the skin of a user in the range of between about 3 J/cm² and about 7 J/cm² is achieved by application of the treatment light pulse.

15. The method in accordance with claim 14, further comprising the step of:

providing at least one second LED die mounted on the substrate that is arranged to emit light with a peak emission wavelength in the visible wavelength range of between about 400 nm and about 700 nm; and

controlling the at least one second LED die to emit visible light, in particular at a radiant flux in the range of between about 0.1 mW and about 100 mW per second LED die.

16. The method in accordance with claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

selecting an active area of the plurality of first LED dies;

controlling at least two second LED dies mounted on the substrate to selectively indicate the selected active area.