Radio-Frequency Coils in Implantable Devices: Misalignment Analysis and Design Procedure

Radio-frequency (RF) coils are used extensively in the design of implantable devices for transdermal power and data transmission. The practical issues of coil misalignments and configurations have not been investigated, and this paper presents a detailed theoretical analysis of misalignment effects in RF coil systems, including lateral and angular misalignments. Formulas are derived for the mutual inductance and, whenever possible, simplified upper bounds and lower bounds of the coupling coefficient are provided. A design procedure is established to maximize coil coupling for a given configuration, and a companion paper [1] discusses a circuit design technique to reduce the effects of misalignment on transmission efficiency.