High-voltage analog circuit pulser

Inventors

Xiao, Shu • Athos, Brian G. • Kreis, Mark P. • Danitz, David J. • Uecker, Darrin R.

Assignees

Pulse Biosciences Inc

Abstract

A sub-microsecond pulsed electric field generator is disclosed. The field generator includes a controller, which generates a power supply control signal and generates a pulse generator control signal, and a power supply, which receives the power supply control signal and generates one or more power voltages based on the received power supply control signal. The field generator also includes a pulse generator which receives the power voltages and the pulse generator control signal, and generates one or more pulses based on the power voltages and based on the pulse generator control signal. In some embodiments, the controller receives feedback signals representing a value of a characteristic of or a result of the pulses and generates at least one of the power supply control signal and the pulse generator control signal based on the received feedback signals.

Core Innovation

The disclosed invention is a sub-microsecond pulsed electric field generator system for electrotherapy. The system includes a controller, a power supply, and a pulse generator circuit that generates one or more pulses based on a power supply control signal and a pulse generator control signal, and based on one or more power voltages received from the power supply. The pulse generator circuit includes a plurality of pulse generator stages, and at least one stage includes a switch stack, a capacitive element coupled to the switch stack, and one or more switch drivers comprising a lossy transformer configured to generate switch control signal pulses for switching respective switches of the switch stack.

The invention further characterizes the pulse-generation architecture using multi-stage charge/discharge operation and scaling concepts. The disclosed generator architecture includes charge mode operation in which capacitive elements are charged, and discharge mode operation in which the capacitive elements are discharged in series to generate pulses. The disclosure also describes high-voltage pulser architecture motivations versus conventional Marx generators, including hybrid Marx-switch-stack concepts and multi-panel parallel scaling with drivers using transformers and clamp circuitry.

The system is controlled using feedback signals representing measured pulse and tissue characteristics. The controller can use measured current, voltage, and temperature sensor information, together with pulse characteristics such as amplitude and width, to generate control signals that adjust pulse parameters while maintaining patient safety constraints such as maximum tissue temperature. The disclosure further describes multiple feedback-loop methods, including PID control, a lookup table, and threshold and step adjustments.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims cover three main inventive feature groups: controller-to-control-signal generation and voltage-based pulse formation, a multi-stage switch-stack and capacitive-element architecture with lossy transformer-based drivers, and parallel charging followed by series discharging across stages triggered by control pulses.

Overall, the independent claims cover pulse generation in which controller-generated control signals drive a power supply to provide one or more power voltages, and a multi-stage pulse generator stage implements a series-connected switch stack with a capacitive element and lossy transformer-based switch drivers. For the nsPEF generator, the claims additionally specify that capacitive elements charge in parallel while switches are open and discharge in series in response to trigger-controlled control pulses.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications