Design of an Experimental Setup for Freely Positionable Coil Pairs for Transcutaneous Energy Transfer Systems

Mechanical circulatory support systems (MCSS), such as the left ventricular assist device (LVAD), still employ percutaneous drive-lines for the power supply of implanted components. Transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) offers the possibility to reduce drive-line related infections, but also improve patients' every day life. In this paper, an experimental setup is presented, that allows for the experimental determination of the coupling factor and the verification of positioning tolerant approaches of coil systems. The setup is developed with the particular requirements for the application regarding the positioning of the coils. Measurements show a very good agreement against an analytical approach for the calculation of the coupling factor.