Diathermy applicator garment
View Patent ↗A therapeutic diathermy applicator is proposed which minimizes the common problem of burning of patients' skin. The heat distribution arising as a result of unwanted capacitive effects is modeled as a manifestation of ‘conservative’ energy. A specific spatial characteristic of RF stimulation is determined and incorporated into the design of the applicator in order to achieve these goals.
1. A diathermy applicator garment comprising RF stimulation produced by a sequence of coils of a continuous conductor wherein
said coils are wound with respect to an axis and wherein
said coils reach a termination and wherein
spacing of said coils is varied approaching said termination and wherein further at least one point along said conductor is characterized according to a distance u measured from said termination along the length of the applicator and wherein spacing of said point with respect to point of its nearest section of greater u is reduced according to a perturbation factor v′ from an evenly distributed spacing and wherein further v′ is determined according to the table
u={ 10,5,2,1,5,0}
v′={ 0.177,0.179,0.206,0.258,0.311,0.398}.
2. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 1 wherein a target for said RF stimulation is a target designated for medical treatment.
3. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 1 wherein the surface of said RF radiation target is skin.
4. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein further v′ is determined according to the equation
v ′=tan γ 0 *[e (u′-u 0 ′) −1]+ v′ 0
and wherein u′ is a perturbed distance measured from said termination along the length of the applicator at a surface of said skin and
where u′ 0 is approximately 1.24 and
where v′ 0 is approximately 0.942 and
where γ 0 is approximately 37.4°.
5. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the coils of said garment are wound substantially in the shape of a cylinder and said axis is parallel to the axis of said cylinder.
6. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the coils of said garment are wound substantially in the shape of a cone and said axis is parallel to the axis of said cone.
7. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the coils of said garment are wound substantially in the shape of an ellipse
and said axis is perpendicular to a diameter of said ellipse.
8. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein said RF radiation target is an area designated for warming of a body part in a cold environment.
9. The diathermy applicator garment of claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the coils of said garment are wound substantially in the shape of a circle
and said axis is perpendicular to a diameter of said circle.