Research Projects

This proposal aims to develop a power processing unit capable of generating electrical pulses between 0.5-1.5 kV amplitude with as low as 0.8 µs pulse width required for electroporation-based cancer therapy. The National Cancer Registry Program estimates that approximately one in nine people in India will face a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime. This makes Cancer one of the most pressing health challenges India faces today and necessitates strengthening infrastructure for screening, detection, and treatment. Numerous medical studies suggest that Electroporation-based therapy (i.e., changing cell permeability by applying high-voltage electrical pulses) is a promising alternative to traditional treatment methods. Clinical electroporation has been evolving towards a more effective protocol requiring pulses with a shorter pulse width (sub-µs) and higher voltage amplitude (≈1.5 kV), which makes designing the electrical pulse generator (PG) challenging. Designing a PG capable of generating a sub-µs pulse with 1.5 kV amplitude is not straightforward as switching networks are used to build PGs, and high-voltage switches are traditionally slow. The design becomes even more demanding when considering a battery-operated electroporator, where 48 V DC needs to be converted to 1.5 kV sub-µs pulses. Furthermore, requirements of galvanic isolation (IEC 60601-1), stringent pulse quality, and the push for more efficient, more compact, economic power conversion amplify the difficulty. This unique interdisciplinary challenge requires innovation in power electronic system design and demands urgent attention. In this regard, we envisage the development of wide bandgap-based PGs suitable for clinical electroporation by assimilating the following. 1) novel circuit topologies derived from series capacitor buck converter and isolated-interleaved converters; 2) control architecture with feedforward-based pre-charge to reduce output voltage variation; and 3) Implementation of extremely fast switching by using wide bandgap Silicon Carbide devices and advanced current source or resonant gate drivers. This work builds upon one of our earlier works, where we developed and patented a low-voltage electroporator (up to 50 V). In this project, we plan to demonstrate: 1. Prototype 1 (AC powered PG): Generate 0.5-1.5 kV amplitude pulses with 0.8-100 µs pulse width from 230 V 50 Hz AC. 2. Prototype 2 (DC powered PG): Generate 0.5-1.5 kV amplitude pulses with 0.8-100 µs pulse width from a 48 V DC input. 3. Both prototypes are programmable, i.e., pulse parameters, such as width, amplitude, count, and frequency, can be varied by the user, ensuring future viability. The development of cost-effective PGs will have a tremendous societal impact as it will strengthen the Indian healthcare system and support the National Health Mission, the National Semiconductor mission of Govt. of India. It will be a positive step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.