Robust voltage-controlled transcutaneous energy transfer system for artificial anal sphincter.

Abstract

The artificial anal sphincter (AAS) system has gained significant attention as a solution for treating fecal incontinence (FI). It relies on transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) as its primary energy source. However, changes in posture or biological tissue can cause misalignment of the coil, resulting in unstable power reception. Inadequate power affects charging efficiency, while excessive power leads to excessive heating at the receiver side. Consequently, achieving safe and constant voltage charging for the AAS becomes a complex challenge. To maintain a consistent charging voltage and overcome the issue of variations in load and coil coupling strength, this article proposes a wireless charging control system that utilizes an LCC-S-type resonant network and phase shift to adjust the transmitting voltage based on feedback charging voltage in real time. In particular, the PI controller and neural network are introduced to change the phase-shift angle swiftly. The dynamic performance is then evaluated under different misalignments and presented with comparative results. The results indicate that the multilayer perceptron control system outperforms the PI. Under the complex misalignment disturbance, the average error of receiver side load voltage is only 0.007 V, with an average settling time of 960 ms. Additionally, the average temperature at the receiver side is 40.4°C. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed system effectively addresses the misalignment issue in TET during the charging, ensuring constant voltage charging at the receiver side and thermal safety.