Segmented Wireless Power Holder for Implantable Medical Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transcutaneous energy transfer systems for implantable medical devices are sensitive to coil alignment and position variations, making a 'one size fits all' garment-based solution inadequate, leading to inventory and cost challenges, as well as limitations in accommodating patient preferences and body changes.
Innovation Solution
A wireless power transmission device holder that includes a fabric panel with segments and a fastening mechanism, allowing the external transmitter coil to be securely attached to any garment at a user-selected position, ensuring optimal alignment with the implanted receiver coil.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a one size fits all garment-based holder is used, then inventory and cost are reduced, but alignment precision and positioning accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is divided into separate modular components: a garment-attachable portion with fastening mechanisms and a coil-receiving portion with positioning features. This segmentation allows the same holder components to be attached to different garments and adjusted for various patient anatomies, maintaining alignment precision while using a standardized inventory of parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The holder incorporates adjustable and reconfigurable elements including multiple fastening mechanism options (snaps, Velcro, buttons, hooks) and repositionable coil receiving portions. This dynamic design enables the holder to adapt to different garment types, patient body shapes, and coil positions, ensuring precise alignment without requiring multiple fixed designs.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the holder is integrated with the garment, then positioning is fixed, but adaptability to patient preferences and body changes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is separated into detachable components that can be independently adjusted and repositioned. The coil receiving portion can be moved to different locations on the holder body, and fastening mechanisms can be reattached to different garment positions, providing both stability during use and adaptability for reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The holder employs dynamic fastening mechanisms (snaps, Velcro, buttons, hooks) that allow for easy attachment, detachment, and repositioning. This enables the holder to maintain stable positioning during wear while allowing patients to adjust the fit and position as their body changes or preferences evolve.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple garment sizes and styles are maintained, then patient fit and preference are accommodated, but inventory complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is designed as a universal standardized component that can be attached to various garment sizes and styles through multiple fastening mechanism options. This segmentation creates a single versatile holder design that works across different garment types, eliminating the need to maintain separate holder inventories for each garment size and style.
Solution Approach 2:
The holder incorporates multiple fastening mechanisms and reconfigurable coil receiving portions that enable a single holder design to function with various garment types, sizes, and patient anatomies. This universal design allows one holder inventory to serve multiple patient needs without requiring specialized variants.
4Ease of operation
If the external coil is held at fixed positions, then alignment is simplified, but ability to accommodate uncertain implant locations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coil receiving portion is designed as a separate, repositionable component that can be moved to different locations on the holder body. This segmentation allows the coil to be positioned at multiple fixed points on the holder, providing simple alignment procedures while accommodating variations in implant location based on patient anatomy and surgical outcomes.
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
This solution enables flexible and customizable attachment of the external coil to various garments, improving alignment precision and reducing inventory costs by decoupling the holder from the garment, thus enhancing the quality of life for patients while maintaining effective wireless energy transfer.
Implementation Method 1
Power is transferred electromagnetically across the skin from an external transmitter coil to an implanted receiver coil
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein is a wireless power transmission device holder for carrying an external coil including a coil body and a wire. The holder includes a fabric panel including a plurality of segments and at least partially defining a cavity sized to receive the coil body. The holder includes a fastening mechanism provided on at least one segment of the plurality of segments on a back side of the fabric panel, wherein the fastening mechanism is configured to engage a garment at a user selected position on the garment, and define an opening sized to receive the wire extending from the coil body.