Wireless power transmission and communication system for implantable devices in rodents

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2014-12

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Abstract

Measuring physiological changes in rodents helps determine drug safety and efficacy in the pharmaceutical industry. This has led to the miniaturization of implantable devices for rodents to reduce the physical stress on the animals. The most common power source for implantable devices are batteries, which are heavy, take up space, and need to be replaced. In this thesis, an inductive power and communication link system has been designed to eliminate the need of a battery and reduce the size of the implantable device for rodents. Power is transmitted by inductive coupling from a Helmholtz primary coil, which is wrapped vertically along the rodent’s cage, to the implant secondary coil. Communication from the implant to the base station is achieved by impedance modulation of the implant transmitter coil back to the base station primary coil. This method of communication eliminates the need for a bulky antenna and reduces power consumption. The proposed design can successfully power the implant in a 5350cc cage while it sends temperature data to the base station at 10Hz. The implant is 1.32cc in size and consumes 10.25mW of power while taking and transmitting temperature data.

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