Implantable infusion device having voltage boost circuit and selection circuit to alternately connect battery with charging circuit

• US 9,555,188 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2012
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Sarkinen, Scott A., Ambri, Christopher, Rogers, Charles Randall, Alam, Naveed
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta, Bhisma
• Assistant Examiner(s): Engel, Matthew A
• Application Number:
  US13/458,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20130289539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 604/891.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/18 with alarm
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/8206 battery-operated
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/8212 with means or measures taken for minimising energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14276 specially adapted for implantation
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1452 pressurised by means of pistons
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 19/006 Micropumps F04B43/043 and F04B43/095 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/14 Balancing the load in a network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/23 The load being a medical device, a medical implant, or a life supporting device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/36 Means for starting or stopping converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/07 using capacitors charged and discharged alternately by semiconductor devices with control electrode , e.g. charge pumps

Abstract

An implantable infusion device includes a pump, a charge storage unit, and a charging circuit configured to supply current to the charge storage unit from a battery in preparation for actuating the pump. The implantable infusion device also includes a pump actuator circuit configured to actuate the pump using energy from the charge storage unit, and a voltage boost circuit configured to provide a boosted battery voltage generated from the battery. The charging circuit is configured to supply current to the charge storage unit from the voltage boost circuit instead of directly from the battery in response to (i) a comparison of a voltage of the battery with a predetermined threshold and (ii) a comparison of a voltage of the charge storage unit with the voltage of the battery.

Claims

1. An implantable infusion control device comprising:

a charge storage unit;

a pump actuator circuit configured to actuate a pump using energy from the charge storage unit;

a voltage boost circuit configured to generate a boosted battery voltage from a battery voltage provided by a battery;

a charging circuit configured to supply a current to the charge storage unit; and

a selection circuit configured to alternately connect;

the charging circuit to the battery voltage, bypassing the voltage boost circuit; and

the charging circuit to the boosted battery voltage,

wherein the selection circuit is configured to switch between the boosted battery voltage and the battery voltage in response to (i) a comparison of the battery voltage with a predetermined threshold and (ii) a comparison of a voltage of the charge storage unit with the battery voltage.

2. An implantable infusion device comprising:

the implantable infusion control device of claim 1;

the pump; and

the battery.

3. The implantable infusion control device of claim 1 further comprising a charge monitor circuit configured to generate a signal in response to a voltage of the charge storage unit exceeding a predetermined level, wherein the pump actuator circuit is enabled in response to the signal.

4. The implantable infusion control device of claim 1 further comprising:

a voltage rail configured to be selectively connected to the battery;

an isolation circuit configured to isolate the voltage rail from the battery voltage in response to a difference between the battery voltage and a voltage of the voltage rail exceeding a threshold; and

a hold monitor circuit configured to;

monitor the voltage of the voltage rail;

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below a first threshold, activate the voltage boost circuit;

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below the first threshold, connect the boosted battery voltage to the voltage rail; and

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail increasing above a second threshold, disconnect the boosted battery voltage from the voltage rail and deactivate the voltage boost circuit,

wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

5. An implantable infusion device comprising:

a pump;

a charge storage unit;

a charging circuit configured to supply a first current to the charge storage unit from a battery in preparation for actuating the pump;

a pump actuator circuit configured to actuate the pump using energy from the charge storage unit;

a voltage boost circuit configured to provide a boosted battery voltage generated from the battery; and

a selection circuit configured to, in response to a selection input, alternately connect (i) the voltage boost circuit to the charging circuit or (ii) the battery to the charging circuit, bypassing the voltage boost circuit,

wherein the selection input is generated in response to (i) a comparison of a voltage of the battery with a predetermined threshold and (ii) a comparison of a voltage of the charge storage unit with the voltage of the battery.

6. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 wherein the pump comprises a piston and a solenoid coil, and wherein the pump actuator circuit is configured to supply a second current to the solenoid coil from the charge storage unit.

7. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 wherein the predetermined threshold is controlled in response to a firmware setting.

8. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 wherein the comparison of the voltage of the charge storage unit with the voltage of the battery includes comparing the voltage of the charge storage unit to a predetermined percentage of the voltage of the battery.

9. The implantable infusion device of claim 8 wherein the predetermined percentage is controlled in response to a firmware setting.

10. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising a charge monitor circuit configured to generate a signal in response to a comparison of the voltage of the charge storage unit with a predetermined level, wherein the pump actuator circuit is enabled based on the signal.

11. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 wherein the charging circuit is configured to decrease the first current supplied to the charge storage unit in response to the voltage of the battery decreasing below a second predetermined threshold that is less than the predetermined threshold.

12. The implantable infusion device of claim 11 wherein the charging circuit is configured to, in response to the voltage of the battery decreasing below the second predetermined threshold, halt supplying the first current to the charge storage unit.

13. The implantable infusion device of claim 12 wherein the charging circuit is configured to, after halting supplying the first current to the charge storage unit, begin supplying increasing levels of the first current to the charge storage unit and verifying that the voltage of the battery does not decrease below the second predetermined threshold.

14. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising:

a voltage rail that is selectively connected to the battery; and

a hold monitor circuit configured to monitor a voltage of the voltage rail and, in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below a first threshold, activate the voltage boost circuit.

15. The implantable infusion device of claim 14 further comprising an isolation circuit that isolates the voltage rail from the voltage of the battery in response to a difference between the voltage of the battery and the voltage of the voltage rail.

16. The implantable infusion device of claim 14 wherein, in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below the first threshold, the hold monitor circuit connects the boosted battery voltage to the voltage rail.

17. The implantable infusion device of claim 16 wherein in response to the voltage of the voltage rail increasing above a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold, the hold monitor circuit disconnects the boosted battery voltage from the voltage rail and deactivates the voltage boost circuit.

18. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising a boost control circuit configured to (i) control the voltage boost circuit and (ii) inhibit operation of the charging circuit while the voltage boost circuit is starting.

19. The implantable infusion device of claim 18 wherein the boost control circuit is configured to inhibit operation of an alarm circuit and a telemetry circuit while the voltage boost circuit is starting.

20. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising an electronic port finder circuit powered by the charging circuit, wherein the charging circuit is configured such that supplying the first current to the charge storage unit is mutually exclusive with powering the electronic port finder circuit.

21. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising an alarm circuit configured to generate an audible alarm, wherein the alarm circuit is powered by the voltage boost circuit.

22. The implantable infusion device of claim 21 wherein the alarm circuit disables the charging circuit while the alarm circuit is generating the audible alarm.

23. The implantable infusion device of claim 5 further comprising a telemetry circuit that communicates with an external device, wherein operation of the telemetry circuit is inhibited while the voltage boost circuit is starting.

24. The implantable infusion device of claim 23 wherein the telemetry circuit is configured to shut down in response to the voltage of the battery decreasing below a second predetermined threshold that is less than the predetermined threshold.

25. An implantable infusion device comprising:

a pump that includes a solenoid coil;

a charge storage unit;

a charging circuit configured to supply a first current to the charge storage unit from a battery in preparation for actuating the pump;

a pump actuator circuit configured to supply a second current to the solenoid coil from the charge storage unit;

a charge monitor circuit configured to generate a signal in response to a voltage of the charge storage unit exceeding a predetermined level, wherein the pump actuator circuit is enabled in response to the signal;

a voltage boost circuit configured to provide a boosted battery voltage generated from the battery; and

a boost control circuit configured to inhibit operation of the charging circuit while the voltage boost circuit is starting,

wherein the charging circuit is configured to;

supply the first current to the charge storage unit from the voltage boost circuit instead of directly from the battery in response to (i) a comparison of a voltage of the battery with a predetermined threshold and (ii) a comparison of the voltage of the charge storage unit with a predetermined percentage of the voltage of the battery;

decrease the first current supplied to the charge storage unit in response to the voltage of the battery decreasing below a second predetermined threshold, wherein the second predetermined threshold is less than the predetermined threshold;

in response to the voltage of the battery decreasing below the second predetermined threshold, halt supplying the first current to the charge storage unit; and

after halting supplying the first current to the charge storage unit, (i) begin supplying increasing levels of the first current to the charge storage unit and (ii) verify that the voltage of the battery does not decrease below the second predetermined threshold.

26. The implantable infusion device of claim 25 further comprising:

a voltage rail configured to be selectively connected to the battery;

an isolation circuit configured to isolate the voltage rail from the voltage of the battery in response to a difference between the voltage of the battery and a voltage of the voltage rail exceeding a threshold; and

a hold monitor circuit configured to;

monitor the voltage of the voltage rail;

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below a first threshold, activate the voltage boost circuit;

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail decreasing below the first threshold, connect the boosted battery voltage to the voltage rail; and

in response to the voltage of the voltage rail increasing above a second threshold, disconnect the boosted battery voltage from the voltage rail and deactivate the voltage boost circuit,

wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.