Finite Element Method Guided Measurement of Temperature Profile in Tissue Exposed to a Transcutaneous Energy Transfer System

Transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) systems are attractive alternatives to traditional percutaneous drive lines for delivery power to ventricular assist devices. As with all active implantable medical devices heat is dissipated during the operation of a TET system, which may cause tissue damage. For the safety of the patient standards restrict the temperature rise to be below 43 °C for external components and 39 °C for implanted components. The aim of this study is to analyze the temperature profile of the tissue when exposed to a TET system. In this paper three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) is used to address the limitations in instrumentation by determining the temperature profile and identifying the peak values and locations of the TET system. The results of this study show that the peak temperatures of the TET system are within the safety limits and the points of peak temperatures are highlighted to guide the instrumentation of in vivo experiments.