Abstract
We present a high-energy local power supply based on a flexible and solid-state supercapacitor for miniature wireless implantable medical devices. Wireless radio-frequency (RF) powering recharges the supercapacitor through an antenna with an RF rectifier. A power management circuit for the super-capacitive system includes a boost converter to increase the breakdown voltage required for powering device circuits, and a parallel conventional capacitor as an intermediate power source to deliver current spikes during high current transients (e.g., wireless data transmission). The supercapacitor has an extremely high area capacitance of ~1.3 mF/mm2, and is in the novel form of a 100 μm-thick thin film with the merit of mechanical flexibility and a tailorable size down to 1 mm2 to meet various clinical dimension requirements. We experimentally demonstrate that after fully recharging the capacitor with an external RF powering source, the supercapacitor-based local power supply runs a full system for electromyogram (EMG) recording that consumes ~670 μW with wireless-data-transmission functionality for a period of ~1 s in the absence of additional RF powering. Since the quality of wireless powering for implantable devices is sensitive to the position of those devices within the RF electromagnetic field, this high-energy local power supply plays a crucial role in providing continuous and reliable power for medical device operations.
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Acknowledgment
This work was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) MTO under the auspices of Dr. Jack Judy through the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific Grant/Contract No. N66001-11-1-4029. The authors also would like to acknowledge Dr. Arthur L. Chlebowski for his help in the experimental setup of wireless RF powering, Guoping Xiong for his supply of the CNT paper and Dohyuk Ha for his help in Au deposition on the CNT paper.
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Meng, C., Gall, O.Z. & Irazoqui, P.P. A flexible super-capacitive solid-state power supply for miniature implantable medical devices. Biomed Microdevices 15, 973–983 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-013-9789-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-013-9789-1