Cooling device having a plurality of controllable cooling elements to provide a predetermined cooling profile

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.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate comprises a polymeric material, elastomeric material, or both, and wherein at least one of the heat exchanging surfaces has a thermal conductivity greater than about 0.05 Watts/Meter Kelvin.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the sensing element is proximate to one of the heat exchanging surfaces and comprises a temperature sensor, a heat flux sensor, and/or a pressure sensor.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing element includes a temperature sensing element positioned to detect a temperature of the subject's skin and/or a temperature of a portion of one of the cooling elements facing the subject.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing element is proximate to one of the heat exchanging surfaces, wherein the processing unit includes a processor in electrical communication to the sensing element and configured to convert electrical signals from the sensing element into an operating parameter; and the system further comprising:

a database electrically connected to the processor to store the operating parameter.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate provides living hinges to allow the cooling elements to rotate relative to one another.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanging surfaces are close enough to one another such that the heat exchanging surfaces cooled by the cooling elements remove heat from the subcutaneous tissue to form a substantially uniform cooling layer generally below all of the heat exchanging surfaces to disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells.

8. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:

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.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a cooling unit configured to remove heat from the liquid coolant that has passed through the cooling elements; and

at least one fluid line fluidically coupling the cooling unit to the cooling elements to deliver the liquid coolant to the cooling elements.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the cooling unit includes a heat sink that absorbs heat from the liquid coolant.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein each of the cooling elements includes a fluid chamber in thermal communication with one of the heat exchanging surfaces such that the liquid coolant flows through the fluid chambers to remove heat from the subcutaneous tissue.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fluid chambers are serpentine shaped.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the cooling elements are fluidically connected in series.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling elements are embedded in the flexible substrate and positioned between the first surface and the second surface.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling elements are affixed to the substrate.

16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling elements are configured to reduce a temperature of the subcutaneous tissue such that the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells are affected while non-lipid-rich cells proximate to the heat exchanging surfaces are not significantly affected.

17. The system of claim 8 , further comprising at least one fluid line fluidically connecting the cooling elements.

18. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a sensing element proximate to one of the heat exchanging surfaces.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the sensing element comprises a temperature sensor, a heat flux sensor, and/or a pressure sensor.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the sensing element includes a temperature sensing element positioned to detect a temperature of the subject's skin and/or a temperature of an interface member of the cooling element.

21. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling elements each include a sensing element, wherein the system further comprises:

a processor in electrical communication to the sensing elements and configured to convert electrical signals from the sensing elements into an operating parameter; and

a database electrically connected to the processor to store the operating parameter.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the processor includes a control module for controlling a temperature of the subcutaneous tissue based on the operating parameter, wherein a temperature of the subcutaneous tissue is controlled based on a selected spatial temperature profile.

23. A system for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells of a subject, the system comprising:

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.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the heat exchanging surfaces are close enough to one another such that the heat exchanging surfaces cooled by the cooling elements remove heat from the subject's subcutaneous tissue to form a substantially uniform cooling layer extending below all of the heat exchanging surfaces to disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells.

25. The system of claim 23 , wherein substantially all of the back surfaces are covered by the thermoelectric coolers.