Abstract
In this paper, we report on the tissue temperature measurement and heat transfer mechanisms for inductively powered microsystems. It is shown that heat transfer from the transmitter coil can be the dominant mechanism in tissue heating for applications that require continuous operation (e.g., neural and visual prosthetics). For long-term operation, this thermal effect shouldn't be overlooked or underestimated for tissue safety. Tissue temperature measurements in open and thermally isolated environments are used to verify the above hypothesis. A high-efficiency class-E transmitter is used as the main power source. Heat is generated within the transmitter coil and is transferred to the tissue by conduction, convection, and radiation. Open-air temperature measurements in fat and muscle tissue show a net increase of 0.8 and 0.7°C respectively. However, thermally isolated sample show a lower temperature increase (fat: 0.6°C, muscle: 0.5°C).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1838-1839 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings |
| Volume | 3 |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2002 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 24th Annual Conference and the 2002 Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES / EMBS) - Houston, TX, United States Duration: Oct 23 2002 → Oct 26 2002 |
Keywords
- Class-E transmitter
- Heat transfer
- Implantable device
- Thermal damage
- Tissue temperature
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering