Re: CS>iontophoresis
From: Jason
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 22:56:37
[...]
> All of the devices I currently have still can produce too much
> current; the current is fine for tissues that are healthy, but
> with damaged tissue, the conductivity increases, and dramatically.
> The ideal device would allow absolute current control, according
> to the specs laid out by Dr. Robert O. Becker, and be used with a
> conductive gel and two silver electrodes. The electrode spacing
> should be adjusted to the edges of the area being treated. DC
> current should be used, with a pulsing mechanism to help control
> the current travel (paths of current flow) in the body (we only
> want to deliver a small amount of silver ions into the body, not
> utilize the current and electricity for therapuetic purposes).
> Based only upon my rough estimates from personal experience, it
> takes between 2-5 seconds for paths of current to be established
> in the body's tissues. 10 second pulses, I estimate, would be
> about right if one is using the "proper" amount of current, with,
> perhaps, two second pauses... HOWEVER, this is based only upon my
> subjective and limited experimentation, and much more work needs
> to be done.
> All of that said, my experimentations to date HAVE been amazingly
> effective. Bacteria and virii can be effectively killed using
> "silver iontophoresis", where silver applied topically fails.
> However, I still do not have a device that performs the way I'd
> like it to; potentiometers can be used to allow "scalable"
> adjustments to the amount of current being delivered, and there
> should be an "indicator" that indicates when a circuit has
> actually been established. We then need to study the miminal
> amount of current flow required to effectively deliver silver ions
> to the "treatment area". This will, likely, vary from situation to
> situation.
> I like to leave the "engineering" of such things to those who are
> proficient in engineering. Such devices exist, but they are wildly
> over-priced, at least for "my" purposes!
[...]
> Best Regards,
> Jason
Jason,
The subject of injecting controlled current into body tissue comes
up in sci.electronics.design from time to time. The body resistance
is highly variable, so high voltages may be required to achieve the
desired current. This leads to safety and reliability issues to
prevent electrocuting the victim as you have described.
The problem of tissue damage from too much current is often
recognized, and attempts are made to limit the output to prevent
damage.
A recent thread discusses voltage-to-current converters which could
be controlled from a DAC under control of software, or a simple
potentiometer for manual adjustment. The thread starts at
Subject: Bipolar current source for muscle stimulations
http://tinyurl.com/4ujjh
The initial proposal uses an op amp with the output short circuited
to ground. I really don't like this approach due to the large
recovery time needed after the op amp saturates during transients.
After much discussion, Ian proposed a dramatically simpler approach:
From: Ian ([email protected])
Subject: Re: Bipolar current source for muscle stimulations
http://tinyurl.com/4cbq4
And a bit of additional refinement would indeed make this the
preferred method. I found balanced opposing current sources to be an
extremely reliable and safe method, and have used them since 1970.
An example is shown in Figure 2B in my Data Recovery patent
3,810,234. See the differential bridge made with 2N4209 and 2N5851
on page 4:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/add.automation/patents/3810234.htm
A basic circuit to meet your requirement could be made with
inexpensive NPN's and PNP's for under several dollars in parts cost.
A simple modification to an ordinary sound card would allow software
control of the current, and would allow pulsing the current if
desired.
Potentiometers from an old monitor could be used for manual control.
A simple 555 timer could be used if pulsing the current is needed.
Probably the power supply would be the most expensive item, since
the required voltage depends on how much current you wanted to
achieve in dry skin. However, ensuring the skin is damp should
greatly reduce the supply voltage needed.
I'm not sure conductive gel might not react with the silver ions.
Bear in mind that currents above about 5 ma start to paralyze
muscles, and control is lost around 25mA or so. I have more detailed
info on the effects of current in humans, but the url is not handy
at the moment. I'd definitely recommed studying this aspect
carefully and incorporate the needed controls to prevent
electrocution.
Best,
Mike Monett
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