In this paper, a new application of Piezoelectric Transformer (PT)-based power converters to generate high-voltage (HV) bipolar pulses for medical electroporation therapy is proposed. In particular, PT-based power conversion is investigated as an alternative to magnetics-based approaches of generating HV from a relatively low-voltage (LV) input source for application in electroporation therapy. The detailed PT-based system design and selection of wide bandgap semiconductor switches such as GaN FETs, high-voltage SiC diodes and SiC MOSFETs, as well as simulation results to demonstrate proof-of-concept using LTSpice are presented. Preliminary experimental results of the PT-based capacitor charger are shown, and work is ongoing to develop a complete hardware prototype of the proposed HV pulse generator.
Keywords: Electroporation; High-voltage pulse generator; Piezoelectric transformer; Wide-bandgap power semiconductors.
© 2023. The Author(s).