Design of constant temperature cooling device for melanoma screening by dynamic thermography

Abstract

Dynamic thermography is a promising new non-invasive diagnostic technique for melanoma screening. This paper proposes a novel experimental setup of an active cooling device for dynamic thermography using a metal disc and a Peltier module. The aim is to achieve constant cooling temperature that induce deep cooling penetration and, therefore, better thermal contrast. The paper covers the numerical analysis of the device design parameters like thermocouple position, disc thickness and regulation coefficient prior to building it. Simulation is based on a numerical model of skin tissue with melanoma and the metal disc. The Peltier module has been modeled indirectly through a boundary condition simulating the device active cooling. For effective solving of the direct problem, the BEM has been used. Results showed that the thermocouple position for cooling regulation is not as important as the value of the regulation coefficient or disc thickness. A thicker disc improves the initial cooling due to higher thermal capacity. However, a thinner disc is recommended due to the faster regulation and more constant cooling temperature. Results also showed that lesion size did not affect the cooling temperature, meaning that it can be used for investigation in any tumour stage.