Electrode structure and system

• US 5,833,716 A
• Filed: 10/24/1995
• Issued: 11/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bioness Neuromodulation Ltd.
• Original Assignee: N.E.S.S. Neuromuscular Stimulation Systems, Ltd.
• Inventors: Bar-Or, Jonathan, Nathan, Roger H., Weingarden, Harold
• Primary Examiner(s): Cohen, Lee S.
• Application Number:
  US08/547,531
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 607/149, 607/152, 607/153, 607/139, 607/140, 602/2
• US Class Current: 607/149
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0452 Specially adapted for transcutaneous muscle stimulation [TMS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0476 Array electrodes (including any electrode arrangement with more than one electrode for at least one of the polarities)
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0492 Patch electrodes A61N1/0412, A61N1/0428 take precedence

Abstract

There is provided disposable, liquid-impregnable adhesive cloth pad for an electrode/skin interface, having a cloth pad impregnable with, and substantially retaining, an electrically conductive liquid and adapted to be mounted on selected locations on the skin of a patient, an electrically conductive electrode connectable to a stimulator for supplying stimulating impulses to the electrode, and a layer of an adhesive applied at least to a portion of the cloth pad, the layer serving to removably attach the pad to the electrode. There is also provided an electrode system, having a conductive member electrically connectable to a stimulator, an electrode in spaced-apart relationship with the conductive member, and a spring element providing an elastic, resilience-generated force ensuring an electrical contact between the conductive member and the electrode.

Claims

1. An electrode system, comprising:

a conductive member electrically connectable to a stimulator;

an electrode in spaced-apart relationship with said conductive member, and

a spring element located between said electrode and said conductive member, and providing an elastic, resilience-generated force ensuring an electrical contact between said conductive member and said electrode,

wherein said spring element has a star-like configuration consisting of a central, substantially disk-like shape and a plurality of pointed, peripheral legs integral with said central shape and bent in an outward slanting manner alternatingly towards one and towards the other side of said central shape, with the points of said pointed legs providing said electrical contact.

2. The electrode system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the free height of said spring element exceeds the distance between said conductive member and said electrode.

3. The electrode system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electrode comprises a skin-touching fabric pad impregnable with a conductive fluid, a metal substrate to which said pad is removably attached by a first, electrically conductive, adhesive, and a second adhesive by which the pad-carrying substrate is attached to another surface.

4. In combination, an electrode system for functional electrical stimulation and an exoskeleton having an inner, skin-touching surface and an outer surface, comprising:

at least one aperture provided in said exoskeleton in the region of a desired location of an electrode;

a conductive member for each electrode, said member adapted to be in electrical connection with a stimulation device and being fixedly attached to said exoskeleton in such a way as to provide a conductive bottom to said aperture;

a conductive spring element nested in said aperture and abutting against said conductive member; and

at least one electrode for making electrical contact with a patient'"'"'s skin, adapted to be attached to the inner surface of said exoskeleton, with at least part of its exoskeleton-facing surface covering said aperture and providing another abutment for said spring element.

5. The electrode system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the height of said spring element is larger than the depth of said aperture from said bottom to said inner surface, whereby said spring element is compressed when said electrode is attached to said inner surface, thereby ensuring electrical contact between said conductive number and said electrode.