Patent Abstract:
a skin treatment device includes a roller rotatably mounted about its longitudinal axis and having needles protruding radially outwardly from its peripheral surface , and a device for establishing electrical contact between at least part of the needles and a voltage source having first and second poles , including first and second terminals capable of being electrically connected to the first and second poles , respectively , a first contacting zone electrically connected to first needles , a second contacting zone spaced and electrically insulated from the first contacting zone and electrically connected to second needles , the terminals and the contacting zones being configured such that when the first terminal is connected to the first contacting zone , the second terminal is likewise connected to the second contacting zone . the first and the second needles are each arranged in a row , the rows being separated from each other in a circumferential direction of the roller .

Detailed Description:
fig1 a and 1 b show a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a device of the invention 1 comprising a needle roller , which is connected to a voltage source 6 . the basic construction of the needle roller is substantially the same as that of the roller that has already been described in de 10063634 a1 . the needle roller comprises a roller 3 , which is mounted on a bracket 7 for rotation about its longitudinal axis 30 . a number of needles 4 project radially outwardly from the peripheral surface 31 . in addition to the needle roller described in de &# 39 ; 634 , the device of the invention 1 comprises means 5 for establishing electrical contact between at least two rows of the needles 4 and the voltage source 6 . the connection to the voltage source 6 is established in this case via a current lead 54 , which is guided from the roller 3 via the bracket 7 and through the handle 72 connected to the bracket 7 and out at the bottom end thereof towards the voltage source 6 . the voltage source 6 is a variable voltage source , by means of which a linear or pulsed direct current can be applied to the contacted needles 4 . the voltage strength and current strength can be adjusted by the user as desired according to the requirements necessary for the skin treatment . the method of establishing contact between the voltage source 6 and the needles 4 is explained in greater detail below with reference to the figures . fig2 a is a top view of the head region of a device of the invention 1 , more specifically a top view of the peripheral surface of a roller 3 mounted on a bracket 7 . fig2 b shows the device as shown in fig2 a , rotated through 90 °, i . e . it is a top view of the end face of the roller 3 supported by the bracket 7 . the establishment of the electrical contact with the voltage source 6 is effected , as already discussed with reference to fig1 a and 1 b , via a current lead 54 , which is made up of a supply line 54 a connected to the positive pole of the voltage source 6 , and a supply line 54 b connected to the negative pole of the voltage source 6 . the two supply lines 54 a and 54 b are first of all guided through the handle 72 of the bracket 7 and then separated in the forked end , the wire 54 a passing in the direction of the left - hand fork end 70 , as illustrated in the figure , while the wire 54 b is guided towards the right - hand end 71 of the bracket , as illustrated in the figure . the wire 54 a is connected in the region of the fork end 70 to a first terminal 50 , which is guided outwardly towards the inside surface of the fork region 70 and comprises a surface of contact in the direction towards the roller 3 . the second wire 54 b is connected in the same manner to a terminal 51 in the region of the right - hand fork end 71 . via the terminal 50 there is established an electrically conducting contact with a contacting zone 52 , which outwardly projects from the left - hand end face 32 of the roller 3 , as depicted in the figure . in order to ensure that there is a sufficiently good contact between the terminal 50 and the contacting zone 52 , the terminal 50 can be mounted with a spring bias such that it is pressed against the contacting zone 52 with adequate pressure . the contacting zone 52 is the end of a contact pin projecting beyond the end face of the roller 3 , which contact pin extends through an end cap 34 , which covers the end face 32 , into the roller 3 , where it is electrically connected to an associated row of needles 4 . the same row of needles is connected in the same way to a second contacting zone 53 that protrudes beyond the right - hand end face 33 of the roller 3 , as depicted in the figure . in the embodiment shown , a row consists in each case of four needles 4 . each of the total of 18 rows of needles possesses a first and a second contacting zone 52 , 53 . the establishment of electrical contact between the contact pins and the needles is described in greater detail below . the making and breaking of electrical contacts between the terminal 50 and contacting zone 52 , on the one hand , and between the terminal 51 , which can also be spring - biased , and the contacting zone 53 , on the other hand , is effected by the rotation of the roller 3 about its longitudinal axis 30 . as shown in fig2 b , the terminals 50 and 51 , which are located on opposite sides of the fork ends 70 and 71 , are staggered in the peripheral direction of the roller . as a result , the first terminal 50 comes into contact with a first contacting zone 52 of a first row of needles 40 , and the second terminal 51 , however , comes into contact with the second contacting zone 53 of a second row of needles 41 that is adjacent to the first row of needles 40 . the first row of needles 40 is thus positively charged , while the adjacent row of needles 41 is negatively charged . the position of the terminals 50 and 51 is chosen such that the two contacted rows of needles 40 and 41 pierce the skin when the needle roller is placed on the skin 2 ( cf . fig4 ). on account of the different polarities of the first and second rows of needles , a flow of ions is induced in the skin from positively charged needles 40 towards the negatively charged needles 41 to stimulate wound healing by electrostimulation . when the device 1 is advanced along the surface of the skin ( in fig4 in the direction towards the left - hand side of the sheet ), the roller 3 rotates about the longitudinal axis 30 in the anticlockwise direction ( as indicated by the arrow ). the rotation of the roller 3 causes the contacting zones 52 and 53 to move further in the anticlockwise direction and thus away from the terminals 50 and 51 which are mounted on the bracket 7 and with which they had previously been in contact . it is being assumed that the roller 3 is rotated just sufficiently as to move the first contacting zone 52 to the previous position of the second contacting zone 53 . in this way , the previously positively charged first needles 40 now become negatively charged via the second terminal 51 connected to the negative pole of the voltage source 6 . they thus become second needles 41 due to the advancement of the roller . the second row of needles previously connected to the negative pole , however , has now left the second contacting zone 53 and is therefore no longer connected to the voltage source 6 . instead , the next — in the figure the left - hand — adjacent row of needles now moves into the region of the first terminal 50 , this row of needles now being positively charged on account of its contacting zone 52 being connected to the terminal 50 . thus , an electromagnetic field is again induced in the skin between the adjacent and differently charged pairs of needle rows , which electromagnetic field flows in the same direction as the previous one . thus , when the needle roller is advanced , there is no change in the direction of flow of ions in the skin , and the ion flow retains its strength and direction . there is thus produced a constant electromagnetic field in the skin irrespective of the angular position of the device of the invention . if , during a skin treatment , it should be desired to effect reorientation of this electromagnetic field , this can be achieved by reversing the polarity at the voltage source 6 , fig5 a to 5 d serve to illustrate the interior structure of the roller 3 and the means of establishing contact between the individual needles and the contacting zones 52 and / or 53 . as shown in fig5 a , the needles 4 are embedded in individual needle carriers 8 , which have a substantially pie - shaped cross - section in the sectional view oriented at right angles to the longitudinal axis 30 of the roller 3 . each of the needle carriers 8 extends substantially across the entire width of the roller 3 . only the end faces are additionally covered by end caps 34 . each of the needle carriers 8 accommodates a row of needles 4 , and , in the present embodiment , each row consists of four individual needles , which are embedded in the needle carrier and are spaced from each other at equal intervals d of in this case approximately 2 mm . the width b of the needle carrier 8 is approximately 8 mm , and the total width including the mounted end caps is approximately 10 mm . for example , the four needles 4 of a row of needles are potted in a needle carrier 8 of plastics material . their tips project from the external periphery 31 of the needle carrier 8 or the roller 3 over a distance ( length l ) of , say , from 0 . 1 to 3 mm . the needles 4 are at least in this projecting region , outwardly tapered towards the tip 42 of the needle and are preferably provided with a machine - ground surface . the maximum diameter of the needles 4 in the region thereof projecting above the peripheral surface 31 is advantageously between 0 . 05 and 0 . 3 mm and more preferably between 0 . 08 and 0 . 2 mm . usually , the maximum diameter of the needles in this projecting region of length l will be located in the region of the needles 4 which is directly adjacent to the peripheral surface 31 . the distance a between the tips of the needles in two directly adjacent rows of needles is approximately 3 . 5 mm , in the example shown . in the case illustrated , the roller 3 comprises eighteen rows of needles and thus possesses eighteen needle carriers 8 . these are anchored in a support 9 , which is illustrated in fig5 b in the cross - section oriented at right angles to the longitudinal axis 30 of the roller 3 . the support 9 is of plastics material and has a substantially star - shaped cross - section having eighteen beams 90 , between which the needle carriers 8 are individually force fitted . the needle carriers 8 are held by a force fit between two beams 90 , wherein the drop - shaped bottom regions 80 engage corresponding spherical recesses 91 in the support 9 to form a type of locking joint , thus ensuring a firm anchorage of the needle carrier 8 in the support 9 . if desired , the needle carriers 8 can alternatively be adhesively held in position in the support 9 . there are various ways of establishing electrical contact of the needles disposed in a row and fixed in a needle carrier 8 . one such method consists in interconnecting the needles in the region of their terminal bases 43 by means of a conductive adhesive or a wire or by a similar method . in this case , however , the ability to use material for the needle carrier 8 that is conductive has been chosen . for this purpose it can be basically sufficient to produce only a sub - region of the needle carrier 8 , for example the bottom region 80 , from the conductive material . in the present case , however , the needle carrier is made entirely of a conductive plastics material , which ensures that all of the needles will be electrically interconnected and also electrically connected to the relevant contacting zones 52 and 53 . the contacting zones 52 and 53 , which , as illustrated in fig3 b , for example , are located on the different end faces of every needle carrier 8 , are here in the form of contact nipples , which are guided through matching bores in the end caps 34 and are fixed , for example by adhesion , by way of their inside surfaces to a respective face of the needle carrier 8 , and are electrically connected to the electrically conductive needle carrier 8 and / or to the needles otherwise electrically interconnected . as described above , depending on the rotary position of the roller 3 about its longitudinal axis 30 , either the first contacting zone 52 will come into electrically conductive contact with the first terminal 50 or the second contacting zone 53 with the second terminal 51 . by this means , the needles 4 will be connected either to the positive pole or to the negative pole of the voltage source 6 and be charged accordingly . short circuits between the adjacent needle carriers 8 and the rows of needles that are adjacent to each other are avoided due to the fact that the material of the support 9 is nonconductive and the individual needle carriers 8 are thus insulated from each other even when they are all made of a conductive material , 1 . foulds l ., barker a . human skin battery potentials and their possible role in wound healing . br j dermatol 1983 ; 109 : 515 - 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