EXTERNAL POWER SOURCE FOR AN IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE HAVING AN ADJUSTABLE CARRIER FREQUENCY AND SYSTEM AND METHOD RELATED THEREFORE

摘要

A transcutaneous energy transfer system, transcutaneous charging system, external power source, external charger and methods of transcutaneous energy transfer and charging for an implantable medical device (16) and an external power source/charger. The implantable medical device (16) has a secondary coil adapted to be inductively energized by an external primary coil (54) at a carrier frequency. The external power source/charger has a primary coil (54) and circuitry (50) capable of inductively energizing the secondary coil by driving the primary coil (54) at a carrier frequency adjusted to the resonant frequency to match a resonant frequency of the tuned inductive charging circuit, to minimize the impedance of the tuned inductive charging circuit or to increase the efficiency of energy transfer.