Experimental Study of a TET System for Implantable Biomedical Devices

Time-varying magnetic fields can be used to transfer power across the skin to drive implantable biomedical devices without the use of percutaneous wires. However, the main challenges of a transcutanoues energy transfer (TET) system are the temperature rise caused by power loss in the implanted circuitry and the changes in positioning between the external and internal coils due to fitting and changes in posture. This study presents a TET system with a closed-loop frequency-based power regulation method to deliver the right amount of power to the load under variable coil coupling conditions. After implanting a TET system into adult sheep, the temperature rise in the internal and external coils of a TET system was measured for power delivery in the range of 5 W to 15 W. The sheep was housed in a temperature controlled (16 +/- 1 degrees C, humidity 50 +/- 10%) room, in accordance with the standard protocols implemented at the University of Auckland for sheep studies. A power-loss analysis for the overall system was performed. The system was capable of regulating power for axially aligned separations of up to 16 mm. The maximum power efficiency of the overall system was 82.1% and a maximum temperature rise of 2.7 degrees C was observed on the implanted secondary coil.