This invention relates to a plasma generation device employed to place an incision into matter with a harmonious plasma cloud, specifically to harmonious plasma clouds initiated and sustained by electromagnetic energy waves transmitted from a radiofrequency signal generator system. This system is impedance matched, frequency matched and output power matched to the incising harmonious plasma cloud which is initiated, sustained and controlled by our device and in the process coats the activated transmitter incision probe of our invention.
Hardened physical blades, such as a metal blade, a sapphire blade, or a diamond blade are the devices most frequently employed to place an incision into matter. Such incisions are based on frictional physical interactions between a sharp, acute edge of hardened matter against a surface of the matter to be incised. Such purely physical methods of one hardened matter attempting to cut through another hardened matter are inefficient and therefore experience significant inefficiencies such as frictional resistance when the matter being incised is solid and dense such as biologic tissue, wood products or even metal. For these reasons, others have resorted to devices such as electronically generated incisions, electro-incisions or electrosurgery of matter. When these types of devices are used to place an incision into matter, uncontrolled plasma arcs induce substantial burns or volatilization of matter while electrical ohmic resistance in the matter to be incised creates a heating effect due to phenomenon such as dielectric hysteresis and eddy currents. These last two phenomenon produce an effect known as diathermy which may result in a physical reaction that can produce an incision in matter. This approach has received limited use since its shortcomings include extensive damage to matter outside of the intended incision path with the resultant production of burning and charring which frequently causes unpleasant smelling fumes. The inefficiency of classic electro-incision units is manifested by the high power needed to produce a cutting effect at the incising tip, usually in excess of 50 watts of power. This relatively high power output needed in classic electro-cutting or electrosurgical units is secondary to the cutting inefficiency of these units which operate on a combination of classic ohmic diathermy as well as unstable, uncontrolled, caustic plasma arcing which is a form of disharmonious plasma.
Lasers have also been used to incise and cut; however, these units are expensive and require a large amount of system input energy to create a laser beam with sufficient power to cut or make an incision into matter. Lasers have been used to generate plasma and are used in processes such as etching in the field of microelectronics.
Plasma arcing can be found in a number of areas such as welding arcs, spark plug arcs, lightening bolt arcs, neon lights, fluorescent lights, and electrosurgical arcs. Uncontrolled arcing, per se, is a form of disharmonious plasma flow and represents uncontrolled flow turbulence of ionized atomic particles in plasma with a substantial level of atomic particle chaos in the plasma. The atomic particle turbulence in plasma arcs represents a form of atomic particle chaos and the uncontrolled nature of the atomic particle chaos causes a substantial quantity of energy spillover into matter outside of the intended path of incision and thereby may produce excessive heating. This level of substantial heating is produced when unwanted arcing occurs with classic electrocutting or electrosurgical units. This energy spillover into matter surrounding the intended path of incision into matter results in energy exposure and damage to the surrounding matter. Merely reducing the cutting tip power does not by itself significantly reduce the level of the plasma atomic particle chaos in as much as it does not greatly decrease the flow turbulence of the ionized atomic particles that comprise a plasma arc. Moreover, our invention uses an array of physical chemistry principles to minimize the atomic particle chaos of classic disharmonious plasma arcing as well as control the physical characteristics of the plasma produced by our device. Our invention minimizes disharmonious plasma arcing by reducing the atomic particle turbulence in the plasma cloud thereby greatly reducing the plasma cloud atomic particle chaos and thereby creating a harmonious plasma cloud. Harmonious plasma cuts in a more controlled, efficient and safer manner because the atomic particle components in a harmonious plasma cloud exist in a more stable, balanced, and controlled state with a higher order of organization and less atomic particle turbulence than disharmonious plasma. Our harmonious plasma cloud is furthermore compressed, controlled, contoured and shaped by utilizing the Pinch Effect of physics. Our compressed plasma cloud is then trapped and contained by the Magnetic Bottle Phenomenon well known to physicists and employed in fields such as nuclear physics. As opposed to classic electrocutting or electrosurgical units, our device cuts with a harmonious controlled plasma cloud rather than classic ohmic diathermy.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) to provide an incisional device that uses an inexpensive electronic radiofrequency signal generator, amplifier, impedance matching and output conditioning network, as well as a transmitter probe to generate, amplify, condition and transmit an electromagnetic wave.
(b) to employ a solid, non-hollow conductive radiofrequency transmitter probe to create maintain and control plasma. Nonetheless, the transmitter probe may be completely hollow or partially hollow in design.
(c) to produce a plasma cutting blade from an electronic electromagnetic field generator system which requires lower system input energy relative to other electrocutting incisional methods presently in use, even as low as 2 watts of average input power. Likewise, this system requires lower system output energy relative to other electrocutting incisional methods presently in use, even as low as 1 watt of average output power.
(d) to create a cutting plasma cloud without the necessity of injecting an ionizable gas into the field of cutting as is seen in plasma generating devices such as plasma torches and etching systems in plasma chambers.
(e) to create a harmonious plasma cloud with substantially reduced atomic particle chaos and turbulence than other plasma cutting devices by impedance matching and conditioning the energy from our electromagnetic generator system to the plasma cloud that surrounds and coats the activated transmitter incising electrode tip.
(f) to create a harmonious plasma cloud with substantially reduced atomic particle chaos and turbulence than other plasma cutting devices by frequency matching the energy from our electromagnetic generator system to the atomic particle oscillation harmonics and precession frequencies of the plasma cloud which coats and surrounds the activated transmitter incising electrode tip.
(g) to create a harmonious plasma cloud with substantially reduced atomic particle chaos and turbulence than other plasma cutting devices by power matching our electromagnetic generator system output power to the power requirements needed to initiate and sustain a harmonious plasma cloud.
(h) to produce a tightly coupled, high efficiency transfer of the electromagnetic waveform generator energy into the plasma cloud surrounding and coating the activated transmitter incising electrode tip thereby reducing the radiofrequency generator/amplifier output power needed to initiate and sustain a harmonious plasma cloud surrounding the activated transmitter incising electrode tip.
(i) to utilize the physics principle known as the Pinch Effect in order to concentrate, compress and contour the harmonious plasma cloud coating the activated transmitter incising electrode tip.
(j) to employ the physics principle known as the Magnetic Bottle Effect to trap and contain the harmonious plasma cloud and thereby eliminate the need of a solid matter confinement container to encase the plasma cloud. We thereby eliminate the need for a hollow plasma retention chamber near the activated transmitter incising electrode tip.
(k) to utilize the physical chemistry principle of Tunnelling to reflect the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the activated transmitter incising electrode tip off of matter surrounding the harmonious plasma cloud and thereby reflect the electromagnetic wave back into the harmonious plasma cloud surrounding the activated transmitter incising electrode tip. In this manner, we are employing the Tunnelling Effect to create an electromagnetic shield which minimizes transmitted electromagnetic radiation from interacting and penetrating into matter outside of the intended path of incision. This system acts to minimize the potential side effects of electromagnetic radiation exposure. Furthermore, this electromagnetic radiation reflected back into the plasma cloud acts to further energize the harmonious plasma cloud thereby further reducing the output energy required from the electromagnetic generator system to sustain the plasma cloud for effective cutting.
(l) to use a harmonious plasma cloud condensed around the activated transmitter incising electrode tip to focus the kinetic energy of the cutting plasma into a thinner cutting path in order to produce a discrete, clean incision into matter with minimal impact or side effects to matter outside of the intended path of incision.
(m) to produce an alternative to purely physical energy cutting techniques such as knives and metal blades, while also providing a more efficient, more effective, more precise, and cleaner cutting device than other cutting modalities presently available.
(n) to produce a less expensive cutting device than other high technology cutting devices commercially available, such as laser.