Composable Wireless Charging Container for Bioelectronic Implants
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless charging methods for bioelectronic devices implanted in laboratory animals and humans require immobility, causing ethical and organizational issues due to the need for alignment of windings and confinement, which is unsuitable for mobile animals and patients.
Innovation Solution
A composable container with windings arranged in mutually perpendicular directions to create a rotating magnetic field, allowing bioelectronic devices to be charged wirelessly without restricting movement, using a system of Helmholtz coils and sensors to optimize energy transfer and ensure coupling regardless of position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If wireless charging is performed by magnetically coupling windings, then charging efficiency is improved, but the laboratory animal or patient must remain immobile for alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the winding arrangement adaptable to the subject's position. Instead of requiring static alignment, the system uses multiple windings arranged in different orientations (including Helmholtz coil configurations) so that at least one winding remains effectively coupled regardless of the animal's or patient's movement. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between maintaining charging efficiency and allowing mobility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by creating a multi-functional winding system that can handle various positions and orientations. The container is equipped with multiple windings (first, second, and third windings with mutually perpendicular axes) that can serve different coupling functions simultaneously, ensuring that wireless charging works effectively whether the subject is stationary, moving, or in various postures, thus eliminating the need for immobility while maintaining charging efficiency.
2Reliability
If confinement cages with parallel windings are used for four-legged animals, then power supply is maintained during movement, but the solution is unsuitable for highly mobile animals like monkeys
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional plane of parallel windings to a three-dimensional spatial arrangement with windings along mutually perpendicular axes (X, Y, and Z directions). This dimensional expansion creates a volumetric magnetic field coverage that can accommodate animals with vastly different movement patterns and body orientations, including highly mobile primates that climb and move in three-dimensional space, thereby improving both reliability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite winding structure combining multiple winding types (Helmholtz coils, orthogonal windings) with different functional characteristics. This composite approach integrates the benefits of various winding configurations to create a unified system that maintains reliable power supply across diverse animal species and movement behaviors, from quadrupeds to highly agile primates.
3Ease of operation
If patients are accommodated on beds or chairs for charging, then wireless charging can be performed, but patients cannot tolerate remaining still for long periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by designing a winding system that adapts to patient movement rather than requiring patient adaptation to a fixed position. The multi-axial winding arrangement with Helmholtz coils creates a robust magnetic field that maintains coupling effectiveness whether the patient is lying down, sitting, or moving slightly, thereby enabling wireless charging without requiring prolonged immobility tolerance.
4Reliability
If cables are used for charging, then power supply is reliable, but cables cause infection risks and behavioral problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical cable-based power transmission system with an electromagnetic field-based wireless power transmission system. By using magnetically coupled windings (including Helmholtz configurations) to transfer power through electromagnetic induction, the system eliminates the need for physical cable connections, thereby removing the sources of infection risk and behavioral problems associated with implanted cables while maintaining reliable power supply.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables continuous power supply to bioelectronic devices implanted in mobile laboratory animals and humans, allowing them to move freely during charging, reducing ethical concerns and improving operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The windings are configured so as to radiate an electromagnetic field when supplied with alternating current towards the inside of the closed environment along the two mutually perpendicular directions
Implementation Method 2
a system for powering and driving the windings configured to create inside it a rotating magnetic field in a plane defined by the axes of the windings
Implementation Method 3
Charging of these bioelectronic devices may be performed by using appropriate cables or in a wireless mode by electromagnetic induction
Implementation Method 4
an apparatus and a method of charging a remote feedable bioelectronic circuit implanted in a patient or in a laboratory animal in a resonant mode
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to an apparatus for charging a remote feedable circuit bioelectronic implanted in a patient or in a laboratory animal, said apparatus comprising a composable container (10) configured to define a closed environment suitable to receive a patient or a laboratory animal, said container (10) comprising a plurality of composable walls made of a nonmagnetic material and connected to each other so as to define said closed environment, said container (10) comprising at least one first winding (20, 21, 22) whose axis is arranged in a first direction (Z) and at least one second winding (30, 31, 32, 33) whose axis is arranged in a second direction (Y) perpendicular to said first direction (Z). The apparatus further comprises a system (40) for powering and driving the windings of the composable container (10), said system comprising a switching power driver (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67) for each winding (20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 33), a plurality of phase locked loop circuits (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77) respectively connected to each switching power driver (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67) and connected to a programmable logic circuit (80) of the powering and driving system (40), said programmable logic circuit (80) being configured to perform a phase comparison, the programmable logic circuit (80) being in turn connected to a microprocessor (50) of the powering and driving system (40), said microprocessor being configured to provide driving signals to the windings (20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 33) for generating inside the container (10) a rotating magnetic field.