McGinty background
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), used in treatment-resistant depression, is an evidence-based method that has been extensively researched and approved by regulatory bodies. Zach McGinty’s OpenTMS project brings this technology to open source. However, the device is not FDA-approved; McGinty emphasizes that the data on GitHub is not a medical device and that anyone who uses it does so at their own risk.
The project includes plans for the coils and the power supply, with the coils made from hollow copper tubing carrying cooling fluid, as in professional devices.
IGBT remarks
In the power supply, two microwave oven transformers are switched with IGBTs in a flyback configuration, generating current at the kiloampere level. McGinty has isolated the IGBT gate controls with fiber optics. Even so, the project is considered to fall squarely in the “do not try this at home” category. The article also touches on other open-source medical projects, such as sip-and-puff signaling devices and ESP32-based EEGs.