Tzu Chi Medical Journal
Volume 20, Issue 3 , Pages 196-200, September 2008

Designing the Vibrating Implantable Middle Ear Transducer Using Planar Coils and Finite Element Analysis

  • Peir-Rong Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
    • Department of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chia-Fone Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
    • Department of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
    • Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, 707, Section 3, Chung-Yang Road, Hualien, Taiwan

Received 8 October 2007; received in revised form 3 December 2007; accepted 15 January 2008.

Article Outline

Abstract 

Objective

The aim of this study was to develop an ideal electromagnetic vibration transducer designed for implantable middle ear device with the following characteristics: small in size and high-energy efficiency.

Materials and Methods

In order to find the output of electromagnetic force and to predict the frequency-amplitude characteristics, a finite element middle ear biomechanical model was used to derive the optimal magnetic force of the actuator in this study. First, the electromagnetic transducer was created using computer-aided design. The air gap between the magnet and planar coil, input current and vibration force were calculated using finite element analysis simulation.

Results

The simulated results showed that the electromagnetic forces under 0.2 mm air gap were about 2–6 dyne depending on the layers of the planar coils under the input current of 20–60 μA. By increasing the layers of the planar coil, the electromagnetic forces can be increased.

Conclusion

This designed actuator could be used as transducers in middle ear implants.

Keywords:  Finite element analysis , Hearing aids , Planar coils

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PII: S1016-3190(08)60035-X

doi:10.1016/S1016-3190(08)60035-X

Tzu Chi Medical Journal
Volume 20, Issue 3 , Pages 196-200, September 2008

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