Magnetic nerve stimulator for exciting peripheral nerves
First Claim
1. A magnetic nerve stimulator comprising:
- (a) an arc shaped core spanning an angle of less than three hundred sixty degrees (360°
), said arc shaped core comprising vanadium permendur;
(b) a stimulator coil, said coil at least partially wrapped around said core; and
(c) electric current means connected to said stimulator coil to create a current flow in said stimulator coil that causes said stimulator coil and said core to generate a magnetic field.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A magnetic nerve stimulator system is comprise of a core of highly saturable material with a coil winding. A thyrister capacitive discharge circuit pulses the device. A rapidly changing magnetic field is guided by the core, preferably vanadium permendur. For task specific excitation of various nerve groups, specially constructed cores allow for excitation of nerves at deeper levels with higher efficiency than is possible with air-core stimulators. Among the applications possible with this invention are treatment of incontinence, rehabilitation of large muscle groups in the leg and arm, and excitation of abdominal wall muscle groups to aid in weight loss and metabolic rate increase. A C-shape is employed for focussing the stimulation as desired.
-
Citations
44 Claims
-
1. A magnetic nerve stimulator comprising:
-
(a) an arc shaped core spanning an angle of less than three hundred sixty degrees (360°
), said arc shaped core comprising vanadium permendur;(b) a stimulator coil, said coil at least partially wrapped around said core; and (c) electric current means connected to said stimulator coil to create a current flow in said stimulator coil that causes said stimulator coil and said core to generate a magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method for magnetically stimulating the nerves of an organism comprising the steps of:
-
(a) charging a capacitor with an electric charge; (b) discharging said capacitor through a stimulator coil, said stimulator coil at least partially surrounding a core comprising vanadium permendur; and (c) stimulating the nerves of said organism using the magnetic field generated by said stimulator coil and said core. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A magnetic nerve stimulator comprising:
-
(a) a core of highly saturable material; (b) a stimulator coil, said coil having its longitudinal axis located within the geometric outer boundaries defined by said core; and (c) electric current means connected to said stimulator coil to create a current flow in said stimulator coil that causes said stimulator coil and said core to generate a magnetic field, said electric current means comprising; (i) a power supply; (ii) a transformer connected to said power supply; (iii) a full wave rectifier bridge connected to said transformer; (iv) a diode connected to said full wave rectifier bridge; (v) capacitor means connected to said diode; (vi) a thyristor connected to said capacitor means, said thyristor connected to said stimulator coil; and (vii) a second diode connected to said capacitor means, said second diode also being connected to said stimulator coil. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A magnetic nerve stimulator comprising:
-
(a) an arc shaped core spanning an angle of approximately two hundred ten (210) degrees and having an opening of approximately one hundred fifty (150) degrees, said core comprising a highly saturable material; (b) a stimulator coil wrapped around at least a portion of said core; and
,(c) electric current means connected to said stimulator coil to create a current flow in said stimulator coil that causes said stimulator coil and said core to generate a magnetic field, said magnetic field being focussed beyond said opening. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
-
-
35. A magnetic nerve stimulator comprising:
-
(a) a seat for a user; (b) two C-shaped cores in proximity to one another to form a common leg portion, said cores comprising highly saturable material and located beneath said seat; (c) a stimulator coil wrapped around at least a portion of said cores, including said common leg portion; and
,(d) electric current means connected to said stimulator coil to create a current flow in said stimulator coil that causes said stimulator coil and said cores to generate a magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. A method for treating incontinence in an organism by magnetically stimulating the nerves of the organism, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) providing a magnetic nerve stimulator, said stimulator comprising at least one core of highly saturable material, and a stimulator coil at least partially surrounding said core; (b) passing an electric current through said coil to generate a magnetic field; and
,(c) treating incontinence in said organism by stimulating the nerves of said organism using said magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
-
Specification