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There are two main types of defibrillators
available, one is the Implantable Defibrillator and the second
is the Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Both devices
are designed to be portable and their operation to be critical;
the devices must function at all times meaning that their
power source must be both portable and reliable to meet such
demands.
An Implantable Defibrillator is a small
device, about the size of a pager (however, as technology
advances these devices are getting smaller) that monitors
a persons heart rate. It is implanted underneath the skin
of a person's chest near the collarbone with wires that run
to the heart. The device runs using batteries to monitor the
heart rate, send electric signals to a heart that is beating
to slow, and deliver an electric shock to help restore a normal
heartbeat to a heart that's beating chaotically and much too
fast.
Under normal operation these devices pull
a constant low current, however when the device has to deliver
an electric shock, the drain current will increase dramatically
for the period of the shock. Because of this the battery used
to power this device must be able to deliver a constant current
drain as well as being able to cope with large current pulses;
they also must have a long service life. The Sonnenschein
and Tadiran Lithium PulsesPlus range are ideal for applications
requiring long life and high energy under high pulse requirements.
An AED Defibrillator is a portable version
of the Implantable Defibrillator which can audibly prompt and
deliver an electric shock that will disrupt or stop the heart's
dysrhytmic electrical activity. As with the Implantable Defibrillator,
the AED is required to deliver high current pulses for short
periods, however unlike the Implantable type, the AED's are
not working around the clock. They could be lying idle for extended
periods before being called into action to deliver shocks to
a patient and monitor their state without fail. This specification
is similar to that of the Implantable Defibrillators however
another factor is that of a long-shelf life and the ability
to deliver high current pulses after periods of being idle.
The Sonnenschein and Tadiran Lithium PulsePlus range again offers
the solution to this application. As well as high stable voltage,
high pulse current capability, they have a long shelf life (up
to 10 years) and suffer no passivation effects meaning that
the cells will deliver power instantly even after extended storage
periods.
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