2019 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 79-84
Acupuncture and moxibustion are forms of oriental medicine that are used in medical treatment to stimulate the nerves of the body. In moxibustion treatment, thermal stimulation is applied through heat conduction from the outside of the skin by burning moxa near the skin, so there is an inevitable disadvantage of burning the skin. In this paper, we propose a novel applicator system of non-contact induction heating for avoiding this disadvantage. The acupuncture inserted in the skin is heated by electromagnetic induction heating and heat stimulation is applied selectively near the target to be stimulated. In addition, the configuration of the exciting coil of the proposed applicator allows the inside of the skin to be heated, so a thermal stimulation is possible near subcutaneous cells. We discussed the magnetic flux density distribution, heat capacity, and rising temperature theoretically and experimentally. We confirmed that the proposed is effective.
