EMF Safety and Thermal Aspects in a Pacemaker Equipped With a Wireless Power Transfer System Working at Low Frequency

A wireless power transfer (WPT) system based on magnetic resonant coupling is applied to a pacemaker for recharge its battery. The primary coil is assumed to be on-body, while the secondary coil is in-body. Three different configurations of the secondary coil are hereby investigated placing it inside the titanium case of the pacemaker, on the top surface of the case, or being part of the top surface case. The operational frequency is fixed to be at a relatively low frequency (20 kHz) in order to allow field penetration through the case and to limit the electric and magnetic field safety and thermal increase issues. For each examined configuration, these aspects are investigated by numerical and experimental techniques. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solutions highlighting their advantages and disadvantages.