Cooling device having a plurality of controllable cooling elements to provide a predetermined cooling profile
First Claim
1. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:
- a plurality of spaced apart cooling elements, wherein the individual cooling elements are configured to contain a liquid coolant and include a heat exchanging surface and a sensing element;
a flexible substrate including a first surface and a second surface, the flexible substrate carrying the cooling elements such that the cooling elements are movable relative to one another and the heat exchanging surfaces and the first surface of the substrate face a subject when the heat exchanging surfaces remove heat from subcutaneous tissue of the subject to affect subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of the subject;
a cooling unit in fluid communication with the cooling elements, the cooling unit is configured to remove heat from the liquid coolant that has absorbed heat from the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells; and
a processing unit in communication with the sensing element and programmed to individually control the cooling elements such that the cooling elements cool the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of the subject to a sufficiently low temperature for at least 10 minutes so as to selectively disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cooling device for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject having skin is provided. The cooling device includes a plurality of cooling elements movable relative to each other to conform to the contour'"'"'s of the subject'"'"'s skin. The cooling elements have a plurality of controllable thermoelectric coolers. The cooling elements can be controlled to provide a time-varying cooling profile in a predetermined sequence, can be controlled to provide a spatial cooling profile in a selected pattern, or can be adjusted to maintain constant process parameters, or can be controlled to provide a combination thereof.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:
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a plurality of spaced apart cooling elements, wherein the individual cooling elements are configured to contain a liquid coolant and include a heat exchanging surface and a sensing element; a flexible substrate including a first surface and a second surface, the flexible substrate carrying the cooling elements such that the cooling elements are movable relative to one another and the heat exchanging surfaces and the first surface of the substrate face a subject when the heat exchanging surfaces remove heat from subcutaneous tissue of the subject to affect subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of the subject; a cooling unit in fluid communication with the cooling elements, the cooling unit is configured to remove heat from the liquid coolant that has absorbed heat from the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells; and a processing unit in communication with the sensing element and programmed to individually control the cooling elements such that the cooling elements cool the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of the subject to a sufficiently low temperature for at least 10 minutes so as to selectively disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:
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a plurality of cooling elements, the individual cooling elements configured to contain a liquid coolant and including heat exchanging surfaces; a flexible substrate including a first surface and a second surface, wherein the flexible substrate carries the cooling elements such that the flexible substrate provides a living hinge between adjacent cooling elements; a processing unit configured to individually control each of the cooling elements and being programmed to control the cooling elements such that the heat exchanging surfaces cooled by the cooling elements remove heat from subcutaneous tissue of the subject to form a substantial uniform cooling layer generally below the heat exchanging surfaces to disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of the subject. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:
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a plurality of cooling elements movable relative to one another, wherein each cooling element includes a thermally conductive plate with a heat exchanging surface and a back surface, a thermoelectric cooler positioned to cool the back surface, a fluid chamber configured to hold liquid coolant in thermal communication with the thermoelectric cooler while the thermoelectric cooler cools the back surface, and a sensing element; a cooling unit in fluid communication with the cooling elements, wherein the cooling unit is configured to remove heat from liquid coolant that has absorbed heat from the thermoelectric coolers; and a processing unit in communication with the sensing elements and programmed to individually control each cooling element based on output from one or more of the sensing elements such that the heat-exchanging surfaces cool the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells to a sufficiently low temperature for selectively disrupting the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification