摘要:
A charging system for an Implantable Medical Device (IMD) is disclosed having a charging coil and one or more sense coils preferably housed in a charging coil assembly coupled to an electronics module by a cable. The charging coil is preferably a wire winding, while the sense coils are preferably formed in one or more traces of a circuit board. One or more voltages induced on the one or more sense coils can be used to determine a phase angle between the voltage and a driving signal for the charging coil. The determined phase angle can then be used to determine the position of the charging coil relative to the IMD. Additionally, more than one parameter (phase angle, magnitude, resonant frequency) may be determined using the voltage may be used to determine position, including the radial offset and depth of the charging coil relative to the IMD.
摘要:
An improved external charger for an implantable medical device is disclosed in which charging is at least partially controlled based on a determined position of the external charger, which position may be indicative of the pressure between the external charger and a patient's tissue. The improved external charger includes one or more position determination elements, e.g., an accelerometer or gyrometer, and control circuitry for controlling the external device in accordance with the determined position. The determined position of the external charger can be used to control charging, for example, by suspending charging, by adjusting the intensity of charging, by adjusting a maximum set point temperature for the external charger, or issuing an alert via a suitable user interface. By so controlling the external charger on the basis of the determined position, the external charger is less likely to create potentially problematic or uncomfortable conditions for the user.
摘要:
An improved external controller / charger system for an implantable medical device is described herein, in which the external controller/charger system provides automatic switching between telemetry and charging without any manual intervention by the patient. The external controller/charger system includes an external controller which houses a telemetry coil and an external charging coil coupled to the external controller. Normally, a charging session is carried out using the external charging coil, and a telemetry session is carried out using the telemetry coil. However, when a patient requests to carry out telemetry during a charging session, the external charging coil is used instead of the internal telemetry coil. Specifically, in one embodiment, the external controller/charger system automatically decouples the external charging coil from the charging circuitry and couples it to the telemetry circuitry. The device and the implantable medical device then carry out the desired telemetry via the external charging coil. After a predetermined time, or after the telemetry session is complete, the external controller/charger system automatically decouples the external coil from the telemetry circuitry and recouples it to the charging circuitry.
摘要:
A charging system for an Implantable Medical Device (IMD) is disclosed having a charging coil and one or more sense coils. The charging coil and one or more sense coils are preferably housed in a charging coil assembly coupled to an electronics module by a cable. The charging coil is preferably a wire winding, while the one or more sense coils are preferably formed in a conductive layer printed or deposited on an inside surface of the charging coil assembly housing or on an insulative substrate in contact with the inside surface. The conductive layer may also form traces in the charging coil assembly to couple to various electronic components within the housing, including for example a tuning capacitor for the charging coil, and one or more temperature sensors.
摘要:
An improved circuit board for an implantable stimulator device is disclosed having components embedded within the device's circuit board, and in particular having embedded components in the electrodes current paths, such as various numbers and/or combinations of DC-blocking capacitors, EMI filtering capacitors, and EMI filtering inductors. By embedding at least some of these components, the improved circuit board can accommodate additional IPG circuitry, or can be made smaller, which is significant given the trend to increase the number of electrodes in such devices. In a preferred embodiment, at least the filtering capacitors are embedded in the circuit board, while the DC-blocking capacitors are traditionally surface mounted, without reducing the number of DC-blocking capacitors compared to the number of electrodes the IPG supports.
摘要:
The disclosed system for providing closed loop charging between an external charger and an implantable medical device such as an IPG involves the use of reflected impedance modulation, i.e., by measuring at the external charger reflections arising from modulating the impedance of the charging coil in the IPG. During charging, the charging coil in the IPG is periodically pulsed to modulate its impedance. The magnitude of the change in the coil voltage produced at the external charger ΔV as a result of these pulses is assessed and is used by the controller circuitry in the external charger as indicative of the coupling between the external charger and the IPG. The external charger adjusts its output power (e.g., Icharge) in accordance with the magnitude of ΔV, thus achieving closed loop charging without the need of telemetering coupling parameters from the IPG.
摘要:
An improved embodiment of an external device for an implantable medical device system is described herein, where the external device has both circuitry for charging the implantable medical device and circuitry for telemetering data to and from the medical implant contained within a single housing. The external device in one embodiment includes orthogonal radiators in which both the radiators are used for data transfer, and in which at least one of the radiators is used for power transfer. Having charging and data telemetry circuitry fully integrated within a single external device conveniences both patient and clinician.
摘要:
An improved implantable medical device system having dual coils in one of the devices in the system is disclosed. The dual coils are used preferably in an external device such as an external controller or an external charger. The dual coils are wrapped around axes that are preferably orthogonal, although other non- zero angles could be used as well. When used to transmit, the two coils are driven (for example, with FSK-modulated data when the transmitting data) out of phase, preferably at 90 degrees out of phase. This produces a magnetic field which rotates, and which reduces nulls in the coupling between the external device and the receiving coil within the implanted device. Moreover, implementation of the dual coils to transmit requires no change in the receiver circuitry of the implanted device. Should the device with dual coils also receive transmissions from the other device (e.g., the implanted device), the two coils are used in conjunction with optional receiver circuitry which likewise phase shifts the received modulated data signals from each coil and presents their sum to typical demodulation circuitry.
摘要:
A charging system for an Implantable Medical Device (IMD) is disclosed having a charging coil and one or more sense coils. The charging coil and one or more sense coils are preferably housed in a charging coil assembly coupled to an electronics module by a cable. The charging coil is preferably a wire winding, while the one or more sense coils are concentric with the charging coil and preferably formed in one or more traces of a circuit board. The magnitude of one or more voltages induced on the one or more sense coils can be measured to determine the position of the charging coil relative to the IMD, and in particular whether the charging coil is (i) centered, (ii) not centered but not misaligned, or (iii) misaligned, with respect to the IMD being charged, which three conditions sequentially comprise lower coupling between the charging coil and the IMD.
摘要:
A charging system for an Implantable Medical Device (IMD) is disclosed having a charging coil and one or more sense coils. The charging coil and one or more sense coils are preferably housed in a charging coil assembly coupled to an electronics module by a cable. The charging coil is preferably a wire winding, while the one or more sense coils are concentric with the charging coil and preferably formed in one or more traces of a circuit board. The magnitude of one or more voltages induced on the one or more sense coils can be measured to determine the position of the charging coil relative to the IMD, and in particular whether the charging coil is (i) centered, (ii) not centered but not misaligned, or (iii) misaligned, with respect to the IMD being charged, which three conditions sequentially comprise lower coupling between the charging coil and the IMD.