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United States Patent | 6,070,415 |
Dobak, III ,   et al. | June 6, 2000 |
A miniature refrigeration system and method of operation. A primary refrigerant is pressurized by a compressor to a relatively low pressure, for safety reasons. The compressed primary refrigerant is passed through a primary-to-secondary heat exchanger, to precool the gas mixture. The secondary side of the primary-to-secondary heat exchanger is cooled by a secondary refrigeration system. The primary refrigerant exiting the primary outlet of the primary-to-secondary heat exchanger passes to a primary Joule-Thomson expansion element where the high pressure gas is expanded to a lower temperature. This low temperature gas cools a heat transfer element mounted in the outer wall of the catheter or cryoprobe, to cool surrounding tissue. Return gas can flow back through a distal primary-to-primary heat exchanger to further cool the incoming high pressure gas mixture. A proximal primary-to-primary heat exchanger can be added between the primary-to-secondary heat exchanger and the primary compressor.
Inventors: | Dobak, III; John D. (Del Mar, CA); Brown; Terry L. (San Diego, CA); Ghaerzadeh; Kambiz (San Jose, CA); Yu; Xiaoyu (San Diego, CA) |
Assignee: | CryoGen, Inc. (San Diego, CA) |
Appl. No.: | 075374 |
Filed: | May 7, 1998 |
Intern'l Class: | F17C 007/02 |
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