Near-field wireless power transfer and communication system design for corneal intraocular prosthetic device

This thesis reports the design of a novel intraocular projection device for the treatment of intractable corneal opacity, with a design emphasis on the simultaneous wireless power and data transfer system. Electronic ocular prosthetics (EOP) or artificial eyes are devices designed to deliver artificial visual stimuli to patients with blindness to partially restore their visual function. The need for wireless capabilities in EOPs arises from the highly limited physical space available for the intraocular implant devices. Early attempts at EOPs incorporated prohibitively large battery power sources and physical wire connections for the transmission of both power and information. However, one of the vital health regulations on medical implant devices involves the potential infection and inflammation caused by the implantation. Such regulations strictly prohibit the use of physical wire between the interbody and external-body components. This thesis presents a wireless power transfer (WPT) implementation that allows the battery to be kept outside of the patient’s body, significantly reducing the size of the implanted components, while still supplying energy to the implant without a signal exchange wire. The designed devices maintain the needed power and data exchange with the embedded parts while minimizing potential health complications from surgically inserted cables and bulky embedded hardware