Peir-Rong Chen a, b, Chia-Fone Lee a, b, c
aDepartment of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
bDepartment of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
cInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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
