Projects:2017s1-191 Power Electronics for Inductive Power Transfer (IPT)

Project Title- Pacemaker Wireless Charging System

Project team

Garth Fernandez (a1670552), Tuo Jiang (a1656056) and Delana Seneviratne (1670515)

Supervisor- Dr Andrew Allison

Advisor- Dr Said Al-Sarawi

Abstract

Conventional pacemaker technology currently relies on non-rechargeable batteries to power a cardiac pacemaker. This technology has resulted in patient deaths due to the invasive surgery component of replacing the non-rechargeable battery when battery capacity diminishes. The project explores the benefits of a wireless charging system to power a rechargeable battery inside the body. These benefits include longevity and a reduced need for repetitive surgery. The pacemaker will be treated as a black box. The system needs to provide desirable voltage and current characteristics to charge the battery efficiently, such that the patient doesn’t have to wear the transmitter coil for extended lengths. The wireless charging system consists of a set of transmitter and receiver coils, electronics and a rechargeable battery. The transmitter coil will sit on the skin near the left shoulder while a smaller receiver will be implanted at a distance of up to 1cm in the skin.

Background

Pacemaker consists of three main modules which are power source, pulse generator and electrodes. Pacemakers monitors heart activity through the electrode leads connected to the heart. The electrodes send a signal to the pulse generator to excite an electrical pulse to control abnormal heart rhythms.

Aim

Develop wireless charging system for pacemaker

Utilize a simple circuit model for a pacemaker to build WPT charging system.

System Design

The system includes three modules, which are transmitter module(with coil), receiver module(with coil) and battery charging module.

Performance

The system can provide around 400mA to the rechargeable battery.

Challenges

The feedback and the battery capacity are two main challenges for the project.