External defibrillator with low voltage energy storage

A compact external defibrillator for use in generating a defibrillation waveform, comprising:

• a housing sized to fit within a shirt pocket or a hip pocket;
• a charging circuit enclosed in the housing, comprising:
• a pulse capacitor that stores defibrillation energy;
• a high voltage generator circuit through which the pulse capacitor is charged with the defibrillation energy;
• and
• a discharge and polarity control circuit electrically connected to the pulse capacitor and switchable to receive the defibrillation energy, which is output as a defibrillation waveform;
• a low voltage energy supplementing circuit electrically connected to the pulse capacitor and storing supplemental defibrillation energy;
• a microcontroller adapted to enable the low voltage energy supplementing circuit to modulate delivery of the stored supplemental defibrillation energy directly to the pulse capacitor to augment the defibrillation energy comprising the defibrillation waveform and further adapted to monitor the defibrillation waveform and adjust the supplemental defibrillation energy stored by switching one or more low voltage ultra-capacitors that store supplemental defibrillation energy;
• a pair of electrodes, each electrode comprising a high energy pulse transformer configured to deliver the defibrillation waveform to a patient and comprising a profile similar in size to the housing, wherein the pair of electrodes are connected via leads to the charging circuit in the housing and are separate and removable from the housing for placement on the patient, while the housing is not in direct contact with the patient;
• and
• a cable management system for the leads.

A single use external defibrillator, comprising:

• a housing sized to fit within a shirt pocket or a hip pocket;
• a circuit enclosed in the housing, comprising:
• a pulse capacitor that stores defibrillation energy;
• and
• a high voltage generator circuit through which the pulse capacitor is charged with the defibrillation energy;
• a low voltage energy supplementing circuit electrically connected to the pulse capacitor in line with the high voltage generator circuit and comprising one or more low voltage ultra-capacitors that store supplemental defibrillation energy;
• a microcontroller adapted to enable the low voltage energy supplementing circuit to modulate the delivery of the stored supplemental energy from the one or more low voltage ultra-capacitors directly to the pulse capacitor to augment the defibrillation energy;
• a pair of electrodes each comprising a high energy pulse transformer and a similar size profile as the housing and through which the defibrillation energy is provided to a patient, wherein the pair of electrodes are connected via leads to the charging circuit in the housing and are separate and removable from the housing for placement on the patient, while the housing is not in direct contact with the patient, and the housing and pair of electrodes are disposed of after the defibrillation energy is provided to the patient;
• and
• a cable management system for the leads.