A simple wireless power transfer scheme for implanted devices

Abstract

Efforts to transfer power wirelessly began in earnest with the commissioning of Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower in 1901 which used the disturbed charge of ground and air method for wireless power transfer at large distances. Modern day efforts, however, have largely been concentrated on using resonant magnetic induction coupling for powering consumer electronics and other portable devices. Of particular interest to us in this paper is using wireless power transfer for powering biomedical implanted devices for biosensing, drug delivery or therapeutic applications. Two parameters that are used to characterize any wireless power transfer scheme are its Power Delivered to the Load (PDL) and Power Transfer Efficiency (PTE). Designs have been proposed that maximize PDL and/or PTE for various applications, usually resulting in a tradeoff between the two. Here, we will analyze our design based on both criteria and compare our model against pre-existing schemes as a means of comparison.