Induced Effects in a Pacemaker Equipped with a Wireless Power Transfer Charging System

This paper deals with the intrasystem electromagnetic interference (EMI) in a pacemaker equipped with a wireless power transfer (WPT) charging system. The WPT application to pacemakers is very new, and no results are yet published on possible EMI effects produced by the WPT coil currents in the pacemaker pacing leads. To this aim, an efficient and original co-simulation circuit/field method is proposed to predict the induced voltages on a pacing lead. In the numerical calculation, the pacemaker with WPT secondary coil and a pacing lead is implanted in a sophisticated human body model. The numerical results are validated by measurements showing a good agreement. The proposed approach would be a useful tool for pacemaker EMI compliance tests and safety assessment evaluations.