Ultrasonic wireless power transmission for implantable electronic devices

Seminar 2015

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Back ground and Motivation
Advances in micromachining technologies and in low power electronics create
ever-increasing opportunities in personal healthcare devices. These opportunities include
new wearable and implantable medical systems for continuous and non-invasive
monitoring of physiological parameters of the human body (diagnostic devices) as well as
controlling and minimally-invasive treatment of its various diseases (therapeutic devices).
The application areas of diagnostic devices range from common measurements such
as ECG (electrocardiogram), blood pressure, sugar level, temperature, respiratory rate, and
oxygen saturation to others like gastrointestinal endoscopy, monitoring physical activity
and strain in orthopaedic devices, personal tracking, and fall detection. Unlike these,
therapeutic devices are designed to interfere with the human body by supporting or
restoring the functionality of diseased parts and organs (e.g. pacemakers, cardiac
defibrillators, drug and insulin pumps, neuro stimulators etc.) or replacing them (e.g.
cochlear and retinal implants, artificial hearts and joints, vascular grafts etc.).[2]
Generally, the in-vivo devices need the internal battery. The time that the internal
battery can operate is limited, the replacement of the battery is necessary. To replace the
battery, the surgical operation is demanded to the patient. It attends with the risk and the
physical pain of the patient. For overcoming of this problem, the wireless power
transmission technology is studied. In this study, the electric power is supplied to the invivo device from outside of the human body by electromagnetic wave. However, the
human body is made of around 60% of water so, electromagnetic wave greatly attenuates in
the human body. And the influence of electromagnetic wave on the human body is feared.
Therefore, the wireless power transmission technology by ultrasonic is studied.
Ultrasonic is used in the observation of the baby in the womb; it is good at medical
viewpoint. And there is no influence of the electromagnetic radiation on biological
systems.[1]
Depending on the application, the requirements for implantable medical devices
vary in terms of the size, mode of operation (continuous or intermittent), lifetime, and, in
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Ultrasonic wireless power transmission for implantable electronic devices

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particular, energy supply. The latter is a key factor for most implantable systems. Table 1.1
illustrates some of the existing and emerging implantable medical devices along with their
power requirements.

Table 1.1: Power requirements for existing and emerging implantable medical devices
New implantable medical devices are used for monitoring biological parameters of
the human body, as well as devices aimed at improving human body treatment, reducing
discomfort and promoting better health and wellbeing. Biomedical implants have been
powered mainly by batteries so far. However, batteries frequently dominate the size and the
cost of the device and have to be replaced or recharged occasionally. As the devices get
smaller these facts make them less attractive as the primary power source. Therefore
alternative techniques of energizing implantable microdevices are needed. Energy
harvesting is an attractive alternative to batteries in low-power biomedical implants and has
received increasing research interest in recent years. Ambient motion is one of the main
sources of energy for harvesting, and a wide range of motion powered energy harvesters
have been proposed or demonstrated, particularly at the microscale.
Another alternative to batteries is wireless power delivery, where a receiver, instead
of harvesting ambient energy, is energized wirelessly by sending a signal of a particular

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frequency. One of the most widespread and well established methods of wireless power
delivery is via inductively coupled coils. However this tends to have low efficiency at
larger distances, and as the size of the receiving device decreases this becomes an ever
greater problem. For inductive powering the coil size to separation ratio is the key issue. Its
efficiency can be improved up to a point by increasing the operating frequency, but this is
limited by higher cost, higher tissue attenuation and increased radiation for a given coil
size.
To date power delivery by ultrasound has been used mainly in the fields of nondestructive testing and remote sensing. Several groups reported systems for delivering
power through a steel wall. Acoustic waves, due to their lower speed, have much smaller
wavelengths than radio waves for a given frequency, which means that more directional
transmitters and receivers can be achieved at reasonable frequencies. For powering
embedded sensors, in the body or in structures, acceptable attenuation levels can also be
reached.[3]

1.2 Literature review

Ultrasound in the human body is primarily used for medical imaging. Typical
frequencies for this application are in the range 36 MHz, and with acoustic velocities in
human tissues from 15002000 m/s, this results in wavelengths of 0.30.7 mm. With
transducers of overall dimensions of at least a few millimeters, in either single element or
array form, this allows reasonably directional transmission. This makes ultrasonic power
delivery an attractive method of energizing implanted microdevices wirelessly and it
receives increased attention today.
The idea of using acoustic waves to transmit energy was proposed by Cochran et al.
as early as 1985 [4]. The system they built is an internal fixation plate that contains a
piezoelectric element generating current when excited mechanically by external ultrasound.
This current is then delivered to the electrodes at a bone fracture site in order to stimulate
healing or prevent nonunion. Using an ultrasonic transducer (with input voltage of 1020 V
at a frequency of 2.25 MHz) the authors performed external excitation of piezoceramic
samples (of 5 5 0.9 mm size) deeply implanted in living soft tissues (near femur site of
beagles) [5]. It was shown that the system is able to generate direct (rectified) currents of
20 A providing power output of approximately 1.5 mW/cm2.
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Suzuki et al. reported a combined system for delivering power and data to an
implantable medical device [6]. The optimal operating frequency of 1 MHz was found for
piezo oscillators of 30 mm diameter, giving a maximum efficiency of 20%. During the
experiment the distance between source and receiver varied in the range 7100 mm. Philips
et al.designed a peripheral nerve stimulator powered by externally applied ultrasound [7].
The piezoceramic test chips of 3.5 mm diameter were implanted inside a living tissue (near
sciatic trunk of large American Bullfrogs) and excited externally by a 6 mm transducer at a
frequency of 2.25 MHz. With the output power of up to 1.5 mW/cm2 the ultrasonic system
was capable of providing enough energy to the peripheral nerve micro stimulator.
Shih et al. presented a subcutaneously implantable device which receives energy
though externally applied ultrasound [8]. It has a bulk piezoelectric resonator packaged by
biocompatible cohesive gel (in cubic, spherical and irregular shapes) and incorporating an
acoustic antenna which can receive refracted waves propagating inside the package.
During the experiment the spherical package of 7.8 mm radius implanted inside the soft
tissue (streaky pork) at 0.58 cm separations was excited externally by an ultrasonic
transducer at frequencies in the range of 5100 kHz. The maximum power transmission
efficiency of -40 dB (0.01%) was obtained at a frequency of 75 kHz and 2.5 cm separation.
Arra et al. built and tested an ultrasonic powering system with the potential to be used in
implantable applications [9]. Their acoustic link operates in degassed water at a frequency
of 840 kHz and the transducer diameters are about 25 30 mm, giving efficiencies of 2135
% at transmitter receiver distances between 5 mm and 105 mm.
Recently Ozeri et al. investigated an ultrasonic transcutaneous energy transfer for
wireless power delivery to implanted micro devices [10]. The authors proposed a system
consisting of two piezoelectric transducers of 15 mm diameter and 3 mm thickness with a
1.3 mm thick acoustic matching layer (made of graphite). Experimental measurements were
carried out for soft tissues (slices of pork of 535 mm thickness) immersed in a test water
tank. Operating at a frequency of 673 kHz the system demonstrated the overall power
transmission efficiency of 27% (at 5 mm separation). The authors analysed in detail such
important design considerations for maximum power transfer as selection of operating
frequency, acoustic impedance matching, circuit design for excitation of transducers, and
output power conditioning. They also built a finite element model in order to study the
pressure intensity profile generated by a transducer and define the preferred receiver
location in its different zones (near/far field and the focus).

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In the past reports, the transducer is designed for the acoustic matching with water.
But it is not designed to have electrical matching with input source, amplifier circuit and
rectification circuit etc. and it causes the large loss. In our study, we propose the efficient
ultrasonic wireless power transmission system. For realizing the efficient system, first, the
impedance matching between the input source, amplifier circuit, and transducer is
considered. And, the optimum position of two transducers necessary for obtaining a high
transmission efficiency in water is searched. Moreover, to achieve the high DC output
voltage, the voltage booster circuit is designed.
In the transmission experiment of ultrasonic by proposed system, the availability of
our system is confirmed, and the high DC output voltage for the operation of the in-vivo
devices is obtained.

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Ultrasonic wireless power transmission for implantable electronic devices

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CHAPTER II
POWER SOURCES FOR IMPLANTABLE ELECTRONIC
DEVICES
2.1 Batteries
Nowadays, electrochemical batteries are the dominant source of energy for
implantable medical devices. They are commonly categorized as primary (single-use) and
secondary (rechargeable). Various battery technologies exist and more are emerging, but
the most commonly used are lithium-based. Primary lithium batteries are used in lowpower or intermittent applications. Due to their high energy density (up to 1.25 Wh/cm3),
safety and reliability these can power such implantable medical devices as cardiac
pacemakers for 10 years or more. In addition, they can also be used in drug delivery [9] and
bio-monitoring systems [2].
Secondary lithium batteries (e.g. Li-ion) have lower energy densities (up to 0.57
Wh/cm3) but are smaller and can be recharged. This makes them usable in high-power
medical devices with strict size limitations such as LVAD (left ventricular assist device),
TAH (total artificial heart) or hearing aids. In order to recharge the battery, these devices
have to employ additional mechanisms of on-board energy generation such as energy
harvesting or wireless power delivery that will be discussed in the next sections.
Despite significant progress in battery technologies in the last 40 years, their
miniaturization capabilities still lag behind those of current microelectronic and MEMS
devices. This means that the size and the cost of the implantable medical devices will likely
be dominated by batteries. However, one promising technology was developed
commercially as early as 1999, which is rechargeable thin lithium-ion battery cell with
hybrid polymer electrolyte, also called plastic Li-ion. Since then, several similar concepts
have emerged offering lightweight design, flexibility, and the footprint of less than 1 mm2.
In addition, these cells have low self-discharge and very long lifetime (>90000
charge/discharge cycles vs. 1000 in traditional Li-ion cells). However, their energy density
is still limited (>800W.h/cm2 for a total thickness of 35-60m) and has to be improved to
satisfy energy needs of therapeutic medical devices. Micro scale 3D battery structures have
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great potential to accomplish this in the near future. As for now, depending on the
application, batteries still have to be replaced or recharged occasionally. This inevitably
reduces patient comfort and brings additional financial and clinical burdens. To overcome
these limitations, alternative technologies are being investigated such as energy harvesting
and wireless power delivery. These provide the opportunity of having battery-less operation
and essentially perpetual power.
As for now, depending on the application, batteries still have to be replaced or
recharged occasionally. This inevitably reduces patient comfort and brings additional
financial and clinical burdens. To overcome these limitations, alternative technologies are
being investigated such as energy harvesting and wireless power delivery. These provide
the opportunity of having battery-less operation and essentially perpetual power.

2.2 Energy harvesting

Energy harvesting (also called scavenging) is an attractive alternative to batteries in
medical implants and has received increasing research interest in the last ten years. It deals
with extracting electrical energy from different ambient sources such as solar radiation, air
flow, heat sources, RF fields, and various motion sources. Depending on these, different
conversion principles are utilized in energy harvesting generators, and they will be
discussed below in more detail. The application in implantable medical devices brings
additional limitations in terms of the size and the amount of energy available for harvesting.
It is important to note that systems powered by external dedicated sources such as
inductively coupled coils, ultrasonic transducers or RF/optical transmission are not
considered here as energy harvesters and will be described separately in the next paragraph.
Although the conversion principles in these systems are the same as in energy harvesters,
the way the power is generated (for the device specifically) contravenes to what is
considered free" ambient energy.

2.2.1 Motion sources

There are several motion sources inside the human body that can be utilized to
harvest energy. These include expansion of the chest (breathing) and blood vessels
(heartbeat) as well as motion-related everyday activities (walking, gesturing) and active
sports. To harness this energy, all the generators have to employ vibration-to-electric
energy conversion.
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Depending on the physical principle behind vibration-to-electric energy conversion

employed in motion-driven generators, these devices can be classified into electromagnetic,
electrostatic, and piezoelectric.
Electromagnetic generators utilize the principle based on Faraday's law of
induction: a change of magnetic flux penetrating the coil creates a voltage across it due to
the electromagnetic induction which then drives a current in the circuit. This flux change
can be induced by mechanical motion or rotation of the circuit relative to the coil.
Electrostatic generators employ capacitors with mechanically variable geometry
(plate position and separation). There are two different operating principles of these
devices: constant charge and constant voltage. In the former external mechanical forces
induce the voltage change across the capacitor, while in the latter the forces induce the
current through the capacitor. This type of generators requires initial precharging (priming)
for operation, which can be avoided by using electret materials.
Piezoelectric generators utilize the direct piezoelectric effect, which is the
capability of some materials to produce an electric field when subjected to mechanical
deformations.

2.2.2 Heat sources

To harness the energy from thermal gradients inside the human body,
thermoelectric generators are used. They are based on the Seebeck effect: when two
connected materials are subjected to a temperature difference, a voltage drop is generated
across them.
2.2.3 Biological sources
The abundant presence of oxygen and glucose within cells of nearly any biological
organism opens opportunities of creating a virtually unlimited energy source powered by
these natural reactants - a fuel cell. It generates electrical energy through catalytic
electrochemical reactions: a fuel (e.g. glucose) is converted at the anode, while an oxidant
is converted at the cathode (oxidation/reduction reaction). As a result, ions are generated at
electrodes and then conducted through an electrolyte membrane, creating free electrons and
hence the electrical current.
The main difference of fuel cells compared to traditional batteries is that the fuel is
not stored inside the cell, but provided externally. Depending on the type of the fuel, they
can be broadly categorized into two types: hydrocarbon (based on methanol, butane, isooctane etc. fuels) and glucose based (biofuel). Although liquid fuels in the former have
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higher energy densities than in traditional battery materials , these cells cannot be used
inside the human body as they are not biocompatible. Instead, glucose based solutions are
promising in medical applications.

2.2.4 Solar radiation

Solar radiation is an abundant source of energy, and photovoltaic power generation
has been used successfully for several decades. With power densities up to 100 mW/cm2
(outdoors, direct sun illumination) and 100 W/cm2 (indoors, office lighting) it can be a
viable solution to low-power medical applications. However, the limited availability of
light inside the human body restricts the application of solar powering mainly to wearable
devices. In terms of implantable operation, one could think of subcutaneous (not deep) or
intraocular locations, where these devices could still receive enough light or solar energy.

2.2.5 RF radiation
RF radiation is another abundant source of energy nowadays, and its harnessing
inside the human body would suffer less from the above mentioned problems. However, as
the microwave energy has adverse effects on biological organisms, its maximum levels are
legally regulated and limited. This brings power generation capabilities in a typical urban
environment (not in the vicinity of cellular base stations) to <1 W/cm2.This results in a
very limited applicability of the RF radiation energy harvesting for driving implantable
medical devices, even with low-power biosensing functions.

2.3 Wireless power delivery

Another substitute for batteries is wireless power delivery, where a receiver instead
of harvesting ambient energy is driven by a dedicated remote source operating at one (or
several) specific frequencies. This normally allows having higher levels of generated
power, so that more energy-demanding (therapeutic) medical devices can benefit. Similar
to energy harvesting, wireless power delivery can be a convenient and safe way of
replacing (or supplementing) batteries, in particular for deeply implanted medical devices.
The most well developed method of wireless power delivery is via inductively coupled
coils. Ultrasonic energy transfer is less widespread, but it has received increasing research
interest nowadays.

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2.3.1 Inductively coupled coils

Inductive coupling is the most widespread and well established method of wireless
power delivery to implantable medical devices. It has been successfully used for powering
medical devices such as cochlear implants, LVAD/TAH (left ventricular assist device /
total artificial heart), and neural stimulators. Due to relatively low (compared to radiative
transmission) operating frequency (below 20 MHz) and hence the lower adverse effects on
tissue (e.g. heating), inductive coupling provides a safe and efficient method of energy
transfer to devices not deeply implanted into the human body (up to 25 mm).
The basic principle is that the primary coil (windings) is attached to the skin and is
driven by sinusoidal current which creates alternating magnetic flux. This flux penetrates
the turns of the implanted secondary coil, creating a voltage across it due to
electromagnetic induction which is then rectified and provided to the load.
The power transfer efficiency depends on the coupling coefficient between coils
which varies in the range of 0-1 (0 for no coupling, 1 for the best coupling). This value is
strongly dependent on the source-receiver separation and dimensions as well as the material
properties of the propagation medium. For example, the estimated values for coupling
coefficient vary in the range of 0.08-0.24 for a retinal prosthesis and 0.11-0.32 for an
artificial heart. Higher system efficiency is achieved when both primary and secondary
circuits are tuned to the same resonant frequency (resonant coupling). However, this brings
a challenging task of coil geometry optimization and requires considerable design effort.
Inductively coupled coils can be implemented in air-core or ferrite-core
configurations. The former is lighter which makes it more favourable for implantable
medical applications. However, air-core coils have lower inductance and, therefore,
reduced transfer efficiency. This restricts their application to low-power devices only. For
more energy demanding systems (e.g. LVAD and TAH), ferrite cores are used instead.
Miura et al. developed a transcutaneous energy transfer system for a ventricular
assist device based on ferrite-core configuration. Tested in vitro, they delivered 23.5 W of
power (93.4% efficiency) to a secondary coil at 0 mm separation, reducing to 15.5 W
(79.4%) at 25 mm separation. The primary and secondary coils were 90 mm and 70 mm in
diameter respectively (Fig. 2.1). The authors claimed the same transfer efficiency for the in
vivo experiment (when implanted into a goat).

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Figure 2.1:Inductively coupled energy transfer system for a ventricular assist device (a)
primary coil (90 mm in diameter); (b) secondary coil (70 mm in diameter)
Analysing the performance of this system, it becomes clear that with reducing size
of the receiving coil the level of delivered power drops significantly. This gets worse as the
distance between coils increases. Therefore, for inductively coupled system, the ratio of
coil size to source-receiver separation is the key issue. The efficiency can be improved up
to a point by increasing the operating frequency, but this is limited by tissue attenuation.
This limits its applicability in miniature medical devices (10 mm or less) deeply implanted
into the human body (25 mm or more).

2.3.2 Ultrasonic energy transfer

A promising alternative to inductively coupled wireless power delivery is via
ultrasound which has been used mainly in the fields of non-destructive testing, remote
sensing, and therapy. As the ultrasound readily propagates through structural materials such
as steel, it has received particular attention in aeronautics, aerospace, gas, and power
industry as a replacement for traditional wiring techniques. Acoustic waves, due to their
lower speed, have much smaller wavelengths than radio waves for a given frequency,
which means that more directional transmitters and receivers can be achieved at reasonable
sizes. For powering embedded sensors in the body or in structures, acceptable attenuation
levels can also be reached.
The basic principle of any ultrasonic energy transfer system is illustrated in Fig.
1.10. An electrical signal (e.g. a continuous sine wave) is applied to a transmitting
transducer (typically a PZT disk) which in turn generates acoustic waves (through reverse
piezoelectric effect). These then propagate through the medium (e.g. soft tissue, water,
steel, air or any other medium which can propagate compressional waves) toward a
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receiving transducer (similar PZT disk). The latter performs inverse conversion: it
generates electrical energy from mechanical vibrations induced by incoming acoustic
waves. The receiver side contains all the electronic modules (e.g. AC/DC voltage
conversion) that are required to drive a load.

Fig. 2.2: Basic principle of an ultrasonic energy transfer system (T: transmitter, R: receiver)

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CHAPTER III
ULTRASONIC WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION
SYSTEM
3.1 SYSTEM OVERVIEW
Figure 3 shows the ultrasonic wireless power transmission system. The input signal
is generated at the input source (signal generator), and the input signal is amplified by the
amplifier circuit. The amplified signal is inputted to the transmitting transducer. At the
transmitting transducer, the electric energy is converted to the vibrational energy, and it
transmits in water. The received power by the receiving transducer is converted the
vibrational energy into the electric energy, and it is rectified and boosted by the CockcroftWalton circuit. Finally, the output DC power is obtained at the load resistance.
Table I shows the specifications of two transducers used in the system. In this case,
the transmitting transducer has the focus point, and the receiving transducer is flattransducer, it has no focus point. The resonance frequencies are 3.15MHz and 4.20MHz,
respectively. The transmitted ultrasonic frequency is 4.20MHz according to the
transmitting transducer.

Fig. 3.1. Wireless power transmission system by ultrasonic

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By circumstances, two transducers are mutually different (focus, beam diameter,

and resonance frequency etc.), and are for the medical applications. It seems that these
cause the decrease of the transmission efficiency.
The Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine shows as follows: the ultrasonic
intensity for the biological safety of diagnostic ultrasonic is under 1W/cm2. According this
rule, the input power of the transmitting transducer is 229mW (10V peak-to-peak) in this
experiment.

Table 3.1 Specifications of transducers

3.2 FEATURES INTRODUCED IN THE SYSTEM

3.2.1 Matching of transducer
The transducers used in this study are designed for the acoustic matching with the
human body and water. However, they are not designed for the electrical matching with the
input source, amplifier circuit etc. This causes the large propagation loss of ultrasonic.
Therefore, it is necessary to match the input impedance of the transmitting transducer to the
output impedance of the amplifier circuit by using the matching circuit.

Fig. 3.2. Return loss of the transmitting transducer

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Fig.3.3 Impedance of the transmitting transducer

Figure 2 shows the return loss of the transmitting transducer, and fig.3 shows the
input impedance corresponding to the frequency. By the matching circuit, the input
impedance of the transmitting transducer is matched to the output impedance of the
amplifier circuit, and it is confirmed that there is no reflection between the amplifier circuit
and the transmitting transducer.
Figure 4 shows the output voltage waveform of the receiving transducer. In this
result, the output terminal of the receiving transducer is open-ended terminal. From fig.4,
the voltage amplitude of the matched transducer is 2 times of no-matched transducer, and it
is confirmed the availability of the matching between the transmitting transducer and the
amplifier circuit.
3.2.2 Matching of distance between two transducers

In the past report, it is known that the ultrasonic transmission efficiency is strongly
dependent on the distance between two transducers. From this report, the characteristic of
the output AC voltage corresponding to the distance between two transducers should be
measured.
Figure 5 shows the measurement result of the output AC voltage at close-range, and
fig.6 shows the measurement result at long-range. In fig.5, the output voltage amplitude is
vibrated, and the vibration interval is 0.18mm. This interval is the same to the halfwavelength at 4.2MHz. The standingwaves generated between two transducers is the cause
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of this vibration. In fig.6, the output AC amplitude changes according to the distance
between two transducers, and the distance that output voltage is maximum is about 70mm.
70mm is equal to the distance that the beam diameter of transmitting transducer agrees with
the beam diameter of receiving transducer. At over 70mm, the ultrasonic beam diffuses,
and the received power by the receiving transducer decreases. Therefore, the output voltage
amplitude also decreases.

Fig. 3.4. Output voltage waveform of the receiving transducer

Fig. 3.5. Short distance property

Fig. 3.6. Large distance property

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3.2.3 Wireless power transmission system with Voltage boost rectifier

Generally, for driving a cardiac pacemaker, 50W input power and 2.8V DC source
voltage are necessary. In previous section, the output voltage of the receiving transducer is
AC, and it is confirmed that the achieved output voltage is lower than 2.8V. Therefore, the
rectifier circuit and the voltage booster circuit are necessary.
In this time, Cockcroft-Walton circuit is chosen as the circuit. Cockcroft-Walton
circuit is the circuit that rectifies and boosts the input voltage at the same time, and it is
used for CRT display etc. Figure 7 shows the designed Cockcroft- Walton circuit. By this
circuit, the input voltage is rectified, and output DC voltage becomes 4 times of the input
voltage amplitude.

Fig. 3.7. Cockcroft-Walton circuit

Fig. 3.8. Output voltage waveform in the Cock Croft-Walton circuit

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Fig. 3.9. Output DC voltage vs. load resistance at 229mW input power

Figure 8 shows the measurement result of output DC voltage with the designed
Cockcroft-Walton circuit. In fig.8, dotted line shows the input AC voltage waveform at the
Cockcroft-Walton circuit (Vin), and solid line shows the output DC voltage. The obtained
output DC voltage is 9.1V, and 9.1V output DC voltage is enough to drive the cardiac
pacemaker. For investigation of the power transmission efficiency, the output DC power is
measured with the Cockcroft-Walton circuit and the load resistance. Figure 9 shows the
output DC power corresponding to the load resistance. (In this case, input AC power is
229mW.) From this result, it is confirmed that the power transmission efficiency is low.
This cause is that the conversion efficiency of the electric energy to the vibrational energy
is low. And, the input impedance of the Cockcroft-Walton circuit is very high, so, it is
impossible to match the output impedance of the receiving transducer to the input
impedance of the Cockcroft-Walton circuit. The mismatch raises the reflection of the
received power by receiving transducer.
However, the obtained output DC voltage is enough high, and the output power or
the output voltage satisfy the parameters for driving a cardiac pacemaker.

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CHAPTER IV
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
4.1 Advantages
1. Ultrasonic is good at medical viewpoint. And there is no influence of the

electromagnetic radiation on biological systems.

2. Ultrasonic waves, due to their lower speed, have much smaller wavelengths than

radio waves for a given frequency, which means that more directional transmitters
and receivers can be achieved at reasonable frequencies.
3. Direct wire connection significantly increases the risk of having infections that can

result in serious disabilities or even worse. A burden associated with the need of
penetrating the skin causes the patient discomfort. In addition, providing wired
energy to the sites deeply inside the human body and near vital organs (e.g. heart)
can affect the reliability of the implanted device and raise the safety issues. But here
we use wireless power transmission.
4. Improved energy density is obtained.

5. Ultrasonic wireless power delivery can be a convenient and safe way of replacing
(or supplementing) batteries, in particular for deeply implanted medical devices.

4.2 Limitations
1. Power transmission efficiency is low because here the transducers used are those of
imaging technologies.
2. Input impedance of the Cockcroft-Walton circuit is high- impossible to match the
output impedance of the receiving transducer to the input impedance of the
Cockcroft-Walton circuit. This mismatch raises the reflection of the received power
by receiving transducer.

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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
Most suitable method for providing energy supply for medical electronic devices is
wireless energy transfer due to its benefits. The efficient method is considered to be
ultrasonic energy transfer.
In this work an efficient ultrasonic wireless power transmission system is proposed.
To realize the efficient system the impedance matching between the input source, amplifier
circuit, and transducer is considered. And, the optimum position of two transducers
necessary for obtaining high transmission efficiency is searched. Moreover, to achieve a
high DC output voltage, the voltage booster circuit is designed. In the transmission
experiment of ultrasonic by proposed system, the high DC output voltage necessary for the
operation of the in-vivo devices is obtained, and it is confirmed the availability of proposed
system.
However, the transducers used in the experiment are designed for the ultrasonic
imaging applications, and the high transmission efficiency of the electric power is not
achieved.
In the future works, we search the optimum transducer and the ultrasonic frequency
for wireless power transmission and we realize the more efficient ultrasonic wireless power
transmission system.

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References:
[1] Yusuke SHIGETA #1, Tsunayuki YAMAMOTO #, Kazuhiro FUJIMORI #, Minoru
SANAGI #, Shigeji NOGI #, Takuya TSUKAGOSHI ##, Development of Ultrasonic
Wireless Power Transmission System for Implantable Electronic Devices 6th International
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[2] Alexey Denisov and Eric Yeatman, Ultrasonic vs. Inductive Power Delivery for
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[3]Stepper microactuators driven by ultrasonic power transfer Ph.D work by Alexey
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[5] G. V. B. Cochran, M. P. Kadaba and V. R. Palmieri, "External ultrasound can generate

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[6] S. Suzuki, S. Kimura, T. Katane, H. Saotome, O. Saito and K. Kobayashi, "Power and
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[7] W. B. Phillips, B. C. Towe and P. J. Larson, "An ultrasonicallydriven piezoelectric neural

stimulator," in Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2003. Proceedings of the 25th
Annual International Conference of the IEEE, 2003, pp. 1983-1986 Vol.2.

[8] P. Shih, W. Weng, W. Shih, Y. Tsai and P. Chang, "Acoustic polarization for optimized
implantable power transimittion," in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2007. MEMS. IEEE
20th International Conference on, 2007, pp. 879-882.

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EEE Dept.

Ultrasonic wireless power transmission for implantable electronic devices

Seminar 2015

[9] S. Arra, J. Leskinen, J. Heikkila and J. Vanhala, "Ultrasonic Power and Data Link for
Wireless Implantable Applications," Wireless Pervasive Computing, 2007. ISWPC '07. 2nd
International Symposium on, 2007.

[10] S. Ozeri and D. Shmilovitz, "Ultrasonic transcutaneous energy transfer for powering
implanted devices," Ultrasonics, In Press, Corrected Proof, doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2009.11.004.

[11] P. Sprawls, The Physical Principles of Medical Imaging, 2nd ed.Madison, Wis: Medical
Physics Publishing, 1995.

JyothiEngg.College

22

EEE Dept.