Feasibility Study of a Wireless Power Transfer System Applied to a Leadless Pacemaker

This study deals with the battery recharge of a leadless pacemaker, which has been recently introduced in the market, by means of the wireless power transfer (WPT) technology based on the magnetic resonant coupling. The main difficulty is given by the depth of the leadless pacemaker implantation inside the human body. The electromagnetic problem mainly consists in the selection of the on-body excitation (primary coil current and frequency), which must adequately energize the leadless pacemaker without any exceedance of the basic restrictions (BRs) specified by the electromagnetic field (EMF) safety standards. Another relevant problem consists in the weight of the leadless pacemaker within the secondary coil that must be very light. In this paper, a feasibility study is carried out to define possible solutions for this kind of application.