Autonomous synchronous rectifier for heart pump applications

In order to reduce the power loss and associated temperature rise in the implanted side of the transcutaneous energy transfer system, the passive Schottky current doubler rectifier is replaced with an autonomous synchronous rectifier. Two options of driving the synchronous rectifier are proposed, passive autonomous operation and active gate drive using a buffer circuit. The synchronous rectifiers are found to have about 1.3% higher end-to-end efficiency compared to the Schottky only current doubler for the rated heart pump operational power of 10W.