• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.234-239
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• 2011

Transcranial magnetic stimulation utilizes the method of controlling applied time and changing pulse by output pulse through power density control for diagnosis purposes. Transcranial magnetic stimulation can also be used in cases where diagnosis and treatment are difficult since output pulse shape can be changed. As intensity, pulse range, and pulse shape of the stimulation pulse must be changed according to lesion, the existing sine wave-shaped stimulation treatment pulse poses limitations in achieving various treatments and diagnosis. This study actualized a new method of transcranial magnetic stimulation that applies a 3 Stage 2 Switch( power semiconductor 2EA) for controlling pulse repetition rate by achieving numerous switching control of stimulation coil. Intensity, pulse range, and pulse shape of output can be freely changed to transform various treatment pulses in order to overcome limitations in stimulation treatment presented by the previous sine wave pulse shape. The method of freely changing pulse range by using 3 Stage 2 Switch discharge method is proposed. Pulse shape, composed of various pulse ranges, was created by grafting PFN (Pulsed Forming Network) through AVR AT80S8535 one-chip microprocessor technology, and application in transcranial magnetic stimulation was achieved to study the output characteristics of stimulation treatment pulse according to delaying time of the trigger signal applied in section switch.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제13권6호
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• pp.443-448
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• 2009

For successful visual perception by visual prosthesis using electrical stimulation, it is essential to develop an effective stimulation strategy based on understanding of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to electrical stimulation. We studied RGC responses to repetitive electrical stimulation pulses to develop a stimulation strategy using stimulation pulse frequency modulation. Retinal patches of photoreceptor-degenerated retinas from rd1 mice were attached to a planar multi-electrode array (MEA) and RGC spike trains responding to electrical stimulation pulse trains with various pulse frequencies were observed. RGC responses were strongly dependent on inter-pulse interval when it was varied from 500 to 10 ms. Although the evoked spikes were suppressed with increasing pulse rate, the number of evoked spikes were >60% of the maximal responses when the inter-pulse intervals exceeded 100 ms. Based on this, we investigated the modulation of evoked RGC firing rates while increasing the pulse frequency from 1 to 10 pulses per second (or Hz) to deduce the optimal pulse frequency range for modulation of RGC response strength. RGC response strength monotonically and linearly increased within the stimulation frequency of 1~9 Hz. The results suggest that the evoked neural activities of RGCs in degenerated retina can be reliably controlled by pulse frequency modulation, and may be used as a stimulation strategy for visual neural prosthesis.

• 대한전기학회논문지:시스템및제어부문D
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.458-463
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• 2006

The purpose of this work is to investigate the fundamental properties of the gradual muscle force potentiation. We investigated the dependence of force potentiation on both the pulse-amplitude and the pulse-duration with different ramp-up time. The experimental results showed that the force increment ratio (FIR) during constant electrical stimulation decreased with pulse-amplitude and also with pulse-duration. The FIR was greater with short ramp-up time in both the pulse-amplitude and pulse-width modulation. The feasible mechanism might be that the myosin light chain phosphorylation induces the force potentiation and it occurs only in the fast type muscle fibers which are recruited first. These observations indicate that muscle potentiation must be understood well for the accurate control of muscle force.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.246-252
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• 2011

A high-voltage power supply has been built for activation of the brain via stimulation using a Full Wave Cockroft-Walton Circuit (FWCW). A resonant half-bridge inverter was applied (with half plus/half minus DC voltage) through a bidirectional power transistor to a magnetic stimulation device with the capability of producing a variety of pulse forms. The energy obtained from the previous stage runs the transformer and FW-CW, and the current pulse coming from the pulse-forming circuit is transmitted to a stimulation coil device. In addition, the residual energy in each circuit will again generate stimulation pulses through the transformer. In particular, the bidirectional device modifies the control mode of the stimulation coil to which the current that exceeds the rated current is applied, consequently controlling the output voltage as a constant current mode. Since a serial resonant half-bridge has less switching loss and is able to reduce parasitic capacitance, a device, which can simultaneously change the charging voltage of the energy-storage condenser and the pulse repetition rate, could be implemented. Image processing of the brain activity was implemented using a graphical user interface (GUI) through a data mining technique (data mining) after measuring the vital signs separated from the frequencies of EEG and ECG spectra obtained from the pulse stimulation using a 90S8535 chip (AMTEL Corporation).

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.541-553
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• 2023

Retinal prostheses have shown some clinical success in restoring vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. However, the post-implantation visual acuity does not exceed that of legal blindness. The reason for the poor visual acuity might be that (1) degenerate retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are less responsive to electrical stimulation than normal RGCs, and (2) electrically-evoked RGC spikes show a more widespread not focal response. The single-biphasic pulse electrical stimulation, commonly used in artificial vision, has limitations in addressing these issues. In this study, we propose the benefit of multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation. We used C57BL/6J mice and C3H/HeJ (rd1) mice for the normal retina and retinal degeneration model. An 8 × 8 multi-electrode array was used to record electrically-evoked RGC spikes. We compared RGC responses when increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse versus increasing the number of consecutive biphasic pulses at the same stimulus charge. Increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse induced more RGC spike firing while the spatial resolution of RGC populations decreased. For multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation, RGC firing increased as the number of pulses increased, and the spatial resolution of RGC populations was well preserved even up to 5 pulses. Multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation using two or three pulses in degenerate retinas induced as much RGC spike firing as in normal retinas. These findings suggest that the newly proposed multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation can improve the visual acuity in prosthesis-implanted patients.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.347-354
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• 2009

For the reliable transmission of meaningful visual information using prosthetic electrical stimulation, it is required to develop an effective stimulation strategy for the generation of electrical pulse trains based on input visual information. The characteristics of neuronal activities of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) evoked by electrical stimulation should be understood for this purpose. In this study, for the development of an optimal stimulation strategy for visual prosthesis, we analyzed the neuronal responses of RGCs in rd1 mouse, photoreceptor-degenerated retina of animal model of retinal diseases (retinitis pigmentosa). Based on the in-vitro model of epiretinal prosthesis which consists of planar multielectrode array (MEA) and retinal patch, we recorded and analyzed multiunit RGC activities evoked by amplitude-modulated electrical pulse trains. Two modes of responses were observed. Short-latency responses occurring at 3 ms after the stimulation were estimated to be from direct stimulation of RGCs. Long-latency responses were also observed mainly at 2 - 100 ms after stimulation and showed rhythmic firing with same frequency as the oscillatory background field potential. The long-latency responses could be modulated by pulse amplitude and duration. From the results, we expect that optimal stimulation conditions such as pulse amplitude and pulse duration can be determined for the successful transmission of visual information by electrical stimulation.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전기학회 2006년도 제37회 하계학술대회 논문집 D
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• pp.2155-2156
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• 2006

The purpose of this work is to investigate the fundamental properties of the gradual muscle force potentiation for the prediction of muscle force and body movement from the stimulation input with musculo-skeletal model. We investigated the dependence of force potentiation on both the pulse-amplitude and the pulse-duration. The experimental result showed that the force increment ratio during electrical stimulation decreased with pulse-amplitude. The force increment ratio decreased with short pulse-duration and was maintained to be constant with pulse-duration longer than $500{\mu}s$. A new model of the muscle potentiation based on these results is desired in the future.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.51-57
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• 2011

A power supply for magnetic-stimulation devices was designed via a control algorithm that involved a start current application based on a resonant converter. In this study, a new power supply for magnetic-stimulation devices was designed by controlling the pulse repetition frequency and pulse width. The power density could be controlled using the start-current-compensation and ZCS (zero-current switching) resonant converter. The results revealed a high-repetition-frequency, high-power magnetic-stimulation device. It was found that the stimulation coil current pulse width and that pulse repetition frequency could be controlled within the range of 200-450 ${\mu}S$ and 200-900 pps, respectively. The magnetic-stimulation device in this study consisted of a stimulation coil device and a power supply system. The maximum power of the stimulation coil from one discharge was 130 W, which was increased to 260 W using an additional reciprocating discharge. The output voltage was kept stable in a sinusoidal waveform regardless of the load fluctuations by forming voltage and current control using a deadbeat controller without increasing the current rating at the starting time. This paper describes this magnetic-stimulation device to which the start current was applied.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제29권7호
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• pp.711-716
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the modulation method affects the effectiveness of eliciting tactile sensations by electrical stimulation. Two methods were employed and the results were compared and analyzed; pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and pulse width modulation (PWM). Thirty-five healthy subjects participated in the experiments to measure the stimulation intensity that began to elicit a tactile sensation - activation threshold (AT). Constant-current monophasic rectangular pulse trains were employed, and the stimulation intensity was varied from zero until the subject felt any uncomfortable sensation. The step size of the stimulation intensity was 100nC/pulse. After each experiment, the subject described the sensation both quantitatively and qualitatively. The two modulation methods did not make a significant difference as far as the AT values were concerned, but most of the subjects showed 'intra-individual' consistency. Also, it was confirmed that our range of the stimulation parameters enabled us to obtain three major tactile sensations; tickling, pressure and vibration. The results suggested that the stimulation parameters and the modulation type should be selected for each individual and that selective electrical stimulation of the mechanoreceptors needs more diversified researches on the electrode design, multi-channel stimulation protocol, waveforms of the pulse train, etc.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.257-264
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• 2010

기존의 경두개 자극장치는 일정한 자극치료 펄스의 정현파 모양으로 다양한 치료 및 진단을 하는데 한계가 있다. 본 연구에서, 치료 및 진단마다 요구되는 세기, 폭, 펄스모양이 다른 코로로프트-월톤회로와 반파브리지 공진 인버터를 도입하여 주파수와 전압이 가변되는 새로운 장치를 제안하고자 한다. 기존장치 보다 많은 장점을 가진다. 첫째로 고압 변압기를 가지지 않는다. 둘째로 스위칭손실이 적고, 출력에너지를 정밀하게 제어할 수가 있다. 세째로 자극의 세기, 폭, 펄스모양이 다양하다. 결과적으로 변압기를 사용하지 않는 반파브리지 인버터와 코크로프트-월톤회로를 적용하여 개선된 특성과 실험을 구하였다.