Evaluation of Flexible Rogowski Coil Performances In Power Frequency Applications

This paper investigates the effects of some influence quantities on the measurement of power frequency sinusoidal currents by means of flexible Rogowski coil sensors. The analysis is carried out through a numerical model, which is specifically developed and allows both the prediction of the circuital and coil parameter effects and the improvement of the coil design. The estimate of the measurement uncertainty associated with the on-site use of a flexible and openable Rogowski coil is finally given by assuming relatively controlled operating conditions

Implantable RF-coiled chip packaging

In this paper, we present an embedded chip integration technology that utilizes silicon housings and flexible parylene radio frequency (RF) coils. As a demonstration of this technology, a flexible parylene RF coil has been integrated with an RF identification (RFID) chip. The coil has an inductance of 16 μH, with two layers of metal completely encapsulated in parylene-C. The functionality of the embedded chip is verified using an RFID reader module. Accelerated-lifetime soak testing has been performed in saline, and the results show that the silicon chip is well protected and the lifetime of our parylene-encapsulated RF coil at 37 °C is more than 20 years

The effect of asymmetry of the coil block on self-assembly in ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers

Using the self-consistent field approach, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block on the microphase separation is focused in ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers. For different fractions of the rod block $f_{\text B}$, some stable structures are observed, i.e., lamellae, cylinders, gyroid, and core-shell hexagonal lattice, and the phase diagrams are constructed. The calculated results show that the effect of the coil block fraction $f_{\text A}$ is dependent on $f_{\text B}$. When $f_{\text B}=0.2$, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block is similar to that of the ABC flexible triblock copolymers; When $f_{\text B}=0.4$, the self-assembly of ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers behaves like rod-coil diblock copolymers under some condition. When $f_{\text B}$ continues to increase, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block reduces. For $f_{\text B}=0.4$, under the symmetrical and rather asymmetrical conditions, an increase in the interaction parameter between different components leads to different transitions between cylinders and lamellae. The results indicate some remarkable effect of the chain architecture on self-assembly, and can provide the guidance for the design and synthesis of copolymer materials.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Wafer-Level Parylene Packaging With Integrated RF Electronics for Wireless Retinal Prostheses

This paper presents an embedded chip integration technology that incorporates silicon housings and flexible Parylene-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. Accelerated-lifetime soak testing is performed in saline at elevated temperatures to study the packaging performance of Parylene C thin films. Experimental results show that the silicon chip under test is well protected by Parylene, and the lifetime of Parylenecoated metal at body temperature (37°C) is more than 60 years, indicating that Parylene C is an excellent structural and packaging material for biomedical applications. To demonstrate the proposed packaging technology, a flexible MEMS radio-frequency (RF) coil has been integrated with an RF identification (RFID) circuit die. The coil has an inductance of 16 μH with two layers of metal completely encapsulated in Parylene C, which is microfabricated using a Parylene–metal–Parylene thin-film technology. The chip is a commercially available read-only RFID chip with a typical operating frequency of 125 kHz. The functionality of the embedded chip has been tested using an RFID reader module in both air and saline, demonstrating successful power and data transmission through the MEMS coil

Globule transitions of a single homopolymer: a Wang-Landau Monte Carlo study

The temperature-independent Wang-Landau Monte Carlo approach is implemented for an off-lattice model of flexible homopolymers and applied to the coil-globule and solidification transitions based on chain sizes up to N=300. An intermediate transformation from low-density liquid globule to high-density liquid globule is suggested. A scheme for identifying polymer structures representative of particular temperatures in the course of the simulation is presented and applied to illustrate intermediate states in the coil-globule transition. Transition temperatures are calculated and used to obtain a theta point of at least Θ=1.96, distinctly higher than the solid-liquid transition temperature TM=1.26

Characterization of Flexible RF Microcoil Dedicated to Surface Mri

In Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), to achieve sufficient Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), the electrical performance of the RF coil is critical. We developed a device (microcoil) based on the original concept of monolithic resonator. This paper presents the used fabrication process based on micromoulding. The dielectric substrates are flexible thin films of polymer, which allow the microcoil to be form fitted to none-plane surface. Electrical characterizations of the RF coils are first performed and results are compared to the attempted values. Proton MRI of a saline phantom using a flexible RF coil of 15 mm in diameter is performed. When the coil is conformed to the phantom surface, a SNR gain up to 2 is achieved as compared to identical but planar RF coil. Finally, the flexible coil is used in vivo to perform MRI with high spatial resolution on a mouse using a small animal dedicated scanner operating at in a 2.35 T.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Microphase Separation within a Comb Copolymer with Attractive Side Chains: A Computer Simulation Study

Computer simulation modelling of a flexible comb copolymer with attractive interactions between the monomer units of the side chains is performed. The conditions for the coil-globule transition, induced by the increase of attractive interaction, ε, between side chain monomer units, are analysed for different values of the number of monomer units in the backbone, N, in the side chains, n, and between successive grafting points, m. It is shown that the coil-globule transition of such a copolymer corresponds to a first-order phase transition. The energy of attraction (ε) required for the realisation of the coil-globule transition decreases with increasing n and decreasing m. The coil-globule transition is accompanied by significant aggregation of side chain units. The resulting globule has a complex structure. In the case of a relatively short backbone (small value of N), the globule consists of a spherical core formed by side chains and an enveloping shell formed by the monomer units of the backbone. In the case of long copolymers (large value of N), the side chains form several spherical micelles while the backbone is wrapped on the surfaces of these micelles and between them.

Inductive power transfer in e-textile applications: Reducing the effects of coil misalignment

Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an attractive approach for recharging wearable technologies and therefore textile implementations are of interest. Such textile WPT systems are inherently flexible and prone to misalignments of the inductively coupled coils which affects performance. This paper investigates two methods to reduce the effect of coil misalignment in inductive WPT in e-textile applications: a single large transmitter coil and a switched transmitter coil array. Transmission efficiency and maximum received power are determined for both methods, and compared against the baseline system that uses a single small transmitter coil. All coils used in this study were fabricated using automated stitching of PTFE insulated flexible wire onto a polyester/cotton textile. This fabrication method allows coils to be sewn directly to existing garments