The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 01, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 25, 2000
William J. Weiss, Mechanicsburg, PA (US);
The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for use in an artificial heart assembly includes an internal coil adapted to be implanted beneath the skin of a subject and an external coil coupled to transmit electric power to the internal coil through the skin of the subject. The apparatus includes a DC-to-AC converter coupled to the external coil which selectively converts DC power from a DC power source into either a first frequency or a second frequency, the first frequency having a plurality of cycles each of a first duration and the second frequency having a plurality of cycles each of a second duration longer than the first duration. The DC-to-AC converter comprises four switching components each coupled in parallel with a respective one of four passive components and a drive circuit operatively coupled to the switching components. The drive circuit causes the switching components to be switched to a nonconductive state so that they are nonconductive for a time period and so that electric current flows through a plurality of the passive components during that time period.