Intermittent cryogen spray cooling coupled with cold air jet for heat transfer enhancement and cryogen saving of laser dermatology

Abstract

Laser dermatology has become a convenient technique for medical treatment. However, the epidermal temperature could be increased, leading to intolerable side effects. Cryogen spray cooling (CSC) is implemented to decrease epidermal damage, but the current CSC could increase cryogen wastage. In this study, the CSC is coupled with a cold air jet (CAJ) and is further subjected to intermittent strategy (ICSC) to mitigate film deposition, enhance heat transfer, and save cryogen consumption, through CAJ-to-spray interaction. The surface temperature is measured by a thin film type-T thermocouple, while the heat transfer is estimated by enhanced Duhamel theorem. The film intensity is captured by a digital single-lens reflex camera through the scattering-illumination technique. The results affirmed the benefits of using ICSC/ICSC-CAJ for laser dermatology. It demonstrated lower surface temperature, film intensity, and film resistance as well as higher convection and efficiency compared with CSC. ICSC-CAJ showed the lowest minimum temperature (1.8%–4.9% decrement) and film resistance (3.8%–17.5% decrement), the highest average convective coefficient (84%–92% increment) and efficiency (7%–9% increment) compared with ICSC. Lower frequency and moderate duties would be preferable for ICSC, while higher frequency and lower duties would be preferable for ICSC-CAJ. The efficiency increased with the saving (110% increment), which insights into our understanding of alternative enhancement toward cryogen saving strategy.