Abstract
This study deals with the design of a near-field wireless power transfer (WPT) system applied to a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to treat patients with heart-failure problems. An LVAD is an implanted electrically driven pump connected to the heart and is traditionally powered by batteries external to the human body via a percutaneous driveline cable. The main challenge of wirelessly powering an LVAD implanted deep in the human body is to transfer relatively high power with high efficiency levels. Here the optimal design of the primary and secondary WPT coils is proposed to improve the performance of the WPT, avoiding possible safety problems of electromagnetic fields (EMF). As a main result, an average power of 5 W is continuously delivered to the LVAD by the WPT system working at 6.78 MHz with a total (DC–to–DC) efficiency of approximately 65% for the worst-case configuration.
Highlights
In the coming years, the diffusion of advanced heart failure globally will significantly increase
A possible solution is the adoption of the left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which is an implanted medical device based on an electric pump used to support the blood circulation of advanced-heart-failure patients
The LVAD was initially designed for a short operational period (
Summary
The diffusion of advanced heart failure globally will significantly increase. The goal of this study is to develop a wireless power supply for an LVAD in which electrical energy is wirelessly transferred from an external transmitter integrated in the battery jacket to a receiver directly integrated into the implanted device. This solution allows for replacing the traditional wired power connection (i.e., driveline cable) with a near-field wireless power transfer (WPT) system based on magnetically coupled resonators. (4) The WPT system must comply with electromagnetic-field (EMF) safety standards and regulations To meet all these requirements, the design and optimization of the WPT coil system is very important in order to find the best trade-off between performance, size, weight, and safety
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