Wireless power system

Wireless power system replaces batteries in implants

A breakthrough for miniaturizing implanted devices

September 5, 2012

Wireless power transmission to a device in the human heart. Red indicates greatest power; blue is least. (Credit: John Ho, Stanford Engineering)

Stanford University engineers have demonstrated the feasibility of a super-small, implantable cardiac device that gets its power from radio waves transmitted from a small transmitter on the surface of the body.

This is an impressive achievement that may lead to replacing bulky batteries in implants. That means the implants can be further miniaturized, while eliminating surgery to replace or charge batteries (or require a wired connection outside the body).

Devices that might be improved include permanent pacemakers, cochlear implants, brain stimulators, drug pumps, spinal cord stimulators, and swallowable endoscopes (“pillcams”) that travel the digestive tract — virtually any medical applications where device size and power matter./.../