Cooling device having a plurality of controllable cooling elements to provide a predetermined cooling profile
AssigneeZeltiq Aesthetics, Inc.
InventorsMitchell E. Levinson, Jesse N. Rosen, William P. Pennybacker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims18
1-14. (canceled)
A cooling system, comprising:
- a cooling device including a first cooling element, a second cooling element, a first temperature sensor, and a second temperature sensor, wherein the cooling device is configured to surround a target region of a subject such that the first temperature sensor is positioned between the target region and the first cooling element and the second temperature sensor is positioned between the target region and the second cooling element;
- and
- a processing unit in communication with the cooling device and configured to individually control each of the first and second cooling elements, the processing unit is programmed to
- receive a first signal from the first temperature sensor,
- receive a second signal from the second temperature sensor, and
- automatically control the first and second cooling elements based on the received first and second signals, respectively, such that the cooling device cools a continuous subcutaneous layer of subcutaneous lipid-rich cells at the target region to a sufficiently low temperature to selectively disrupt the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells, wherein the first cooling element is configured to cool a first area of the subject's skin to cool a first region of the continuous subcutaneous layer and the second cooling element is configured to cool a second area of the subject's skin to cool a second region of the continuous subcutaneous layer, wherein the cooling device is configured to cool a third area of the subject's skin to cool a third region of the continuous subcutaneous layer between the first and second regions.
A cooling system, comprising:
- a cooling device configured to be applied to a subject's skin, the cooling device including
- a first cooling element with a first temperature sensor, and
- a second cooling element with a second temperature sensor, the second cooling element is connected to the first cooling element;
- and
- a processing unit in communication with the cooling device and programmed to receive a first signal from the first temperature sensor,
- receive a second signal from the second temperature sensor, and
- while the cooling device is applied to and stationary relative to the subject, automatically control the cooling device such that the cooling device selective disrupts, via cooling, subcutaneous tissue located below and between the first and second cooling elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.