Title: SPICE simulation of implantable solar power supply for sustainable operation of cardiac biosensors

Authors: Munna Khan; Ajai Kumar Singh; Syed Shakir Iqbal

Addresses: Electrical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi 110025, India ' Electrical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi 110025, India ' Freescale Semiconductors India Pvt. Ltd., Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: This paper presents a low-power implantable solar power supply for battery-operated cardiac biosensors. The main focus of this paper is to generate power from a Photovoltaic (PV) array placed beneath the skin to replenish the depleting battery of the implantable cardiac biosensors. The new methodology extracts maximum power from the implanted PV array receiving Near-Infrared (NIR) light through the skin from the external source and relies completely on power produced by implanted PV array for its operation. The proposed scheme employs a novel voltage-based Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique that uses the virtual open-circuit voltage to regulate the supply continuously. The implementation uses PV array modelled in SPICE that provides 10-25 mW power for a current range of 6-14 mA. Simulations show that the implantable supply produces sufficient power and voltage to charge the battery of low-power implantable cardiac biosensors like pacemaker.

Keywords: SPICE; implantable cardiac biosensors; heart pacemakers; PV arrays; photovoltaics; DC-DC boost converters; MPPT; maximum power point tracking; simulation; solar power supply; solar energy; sustainability; cardiac biosensors; battery recharging; modelling; near-infrared light; NIR light; sensor implants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2015.070036

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2015 Vol.18 No.2, pp.168 - 185

Received: 26 Aug 2014
Accepted: 08 Jan 2015

Published online: 25 Jun 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article