An Implantable Pressure Sensing System With Electromechanical Interrogation Scheme

In this paper, we report on the development of an implantable pressure sensing system that is powered by mechanical vibrations in the audible acoustic frequency range. This technique significantly enhances interrogation range, alleviates the misalignment issues commonly encountered with inductive powering, and simplifies the external receiver circuitry. The interrogation scheme consists of two phases: a mechanical vibration phase and an electrical radiation phase. During the first phase, a piezoelectric cantilever acts as an acoustic receiver and charges a capacitor by converting sound vibration harmonics occurring at its resonant frequency into electrical power. In the subsequent electrical phase, when the cantilever is not vibrating, the stored electric charge is discharged across an LC tank whose inductor is pressure sensitive; hence, when the LC tank oscillates at its natural resonant frequency, it radiates a high-frequency signal that is detectable using an external receiver and its frequency corresponds to the measured pressure. The pressure sensitive inductor consists of a planar coil (single loop of wire) with a ferrite core whose distance to the coil varies with applied pressure. A prototype of the implantable pressure sensor is fabricated and tested, both in vitro and in vivo (swine bladder). A pressure sensitivity of 1 kHz/cm H2O is achieved with minimal misalignment sensitivity (26% drop at 90 degrees misalignment between the implanted device and acoustic source; 60% drop at 90 degrees misalignment between the implanted device and RF receiver coil).