Study on thermal characteristics of ionized gas coagulation equipment

Abstract

Low energy ionized gas coagulation equipment (LE-IGCE) using low temperature nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasmas has been attracting special attention with the popularization of minimally invasive surgery. In this work, the thermal characteristics of a commercial high energy ionized gas coagulation equipment (HE-IGCE) and a specially designed LE-IGCE have been studied using an infrared camera and optical emission spectroscopy during their treatments. The four substrates used for the treatments were pork meats, copper (Cu) plates, wet tissues, and glass plates. In the HE-IGCE treatment, the surface temperature of the pork meat rose to 350°C, and the rotational temperatures of nitrogen molecules in plasmas were 450 to 1630 K, depending on which substrate was used during HE-IGCE treatments. In the LE-IGCE treatment, the surface temperature of pork meats was lower than 40°C, and the rotational temperatures of nitrogen molecules were lower than 350 K. The results show that the LE-IGCE can maintain the temperature of biological tissue below the threshold that would cause irreversible tissue damage.