Apparatus for charging living tissue with electrical pulses
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsBrigitte Stroetmann, Michael Lenz, Jakub Hirschberg, Hans Strandberg
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Abstract
An apparatus for charging living tissue with electrical pulses has a charging capacitor that, for discharging, is connected via a controllable switch to electrodes in the region of the tissue. In order to achieve a curve of the current through the electrodes that deviates from an exponentially decaying curve, the switch is switched on and off with a varying switching frequency while the tissue is being charged with pulses and the current supplied to the tissue is smoothed by circuit components.
Claims12
An implantable apparatus for charging living tissue with electrical pulses comprising:
- a housing adapted for implantation in a patient;
- a charging capacitor and a charging circuit in said housing, said charging circuit connected across said charging capacitor for charging said charging capacitor;
- at least two electrodes extending form said housing and adapted for arrangement in the region of tissue to be charged with electrical pulses;
- controllable switch means in said housing electrically connected between said charging capacitor and said electrodes for, when closed, discharging said charging capacitor and thereby delivering current through said electrodes and through said tissue;
- smoothing means in said housing connected between said controllable switch means and said electrodes for smoothing said electrical current through said electrodes and through said tissue;
- control means in said housing for controlling said controllable switch means for opening and closing said controllable switch means at a switching frequency;
- and
- means in said housing connected to said control means for varying said switching frequency while said tissue is charged with said electrical pulses for generating a current through said electrodes and through said tissue having a selected curve which deviates from an exponentially decaying curve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.