Inductor modeling in wireless links for implantable electronics

This paper describes the ac power dissipation of coils as well as their self-capacitance, self-resonant frequency, and quality factor Q. In the past, self-resonant frequency was rarely calculated during design because of the lack of suitable closed-form design equations. However, coils are widely used in biomedical applications as inductive links for both power and data, and the power transfer capacity and the data rate of inductive links are determined by the operating frequency of the coils. The maximum operating frequency is limited by the self-resonant frequency of the coil. We present here an analytical express for the optimal frequency of a coil in terms of the design parameters. By varying the design parameters, we can move the optimal frequency close to the operating frequency, thereby boosting the efficiency of the inductive link. We have verified the derivation experimentally and shown it to be useful in optimizing coil performance.