PEMF Equipment Submission Checklist

Construction and waveform details. Share any your documentation lists; most people leave these blank.

• Pulser TypeThe kind of driver the device uses.
  What is this?

  The kind of electronics a PEMF device uses to push current through the coil and create each magnetic pulse. The pulser type shapes the pulse the coil produces, including how fast the field rises and whether it reverses direction. Common designs include capacitor-discharge pulsers, which release stored energy for a sharp, high-peak pulse, and H-bridge or switching pulsers, which can reverse the current to make bipolar pulses.

• Firmware VersionThe software version on the device, if shown.
• WaveformPer setting: the pulse shape, such as sine, square, or triangle.
  What is this?

  The shape of the electromagnetic pulse. The report classifies the shape of the FIELD measured at the coil, which is what the gauss probe sees. A manufacturer's specification usually names something different, the shape the device drives into the coil, and the two rarely match. The field follows the current in the coil, and current cannot change instantly through a coil, so the coil rounds the edges of whatever it is given. A square drive therefore reaches the probe as a ramp or as a ring and is measured as a sawtooth or a sine. Neither name is wrong; they describe the same pulse observed at two points in the circuit, so a difference between them is not counted against the device. See Sine Wave, Square Wave, Triangle Wave and Sawtooth Wave for the individual shapes. Classification criteria: Square has a flat top >40% of the pulse with edge fraction <30%, where flat top is the time held above 95% of amplitude as a share of the pulse (the 10% rise crossing to the 10% fall crossing). Triangle has flat top <15% with near-symmetric rise/fall ratio (0.6–1.7) and linear edges (R² >0.85). Sawtooth has asymmetric rise/fall, either flat top <15% with linear edges and ratio <0.3 or >3.0, or a rise/fall ratio <0.5 or >2.0 regardless of flat top or edge shape. This captures capacitor-discharge and impulse pulses with sharp spike and exponential recovery, where the broad peak briefly holds near max before decaying. Sine is the default for smooth curved edges not matching other criteria. Bipolar damped-sine bursts (loop coils driven by capacitor discharge producing a sine ringdown across multiple cycles) bypass these criteria entirely and are always assigned Sine. The carrier inside each burst is sinusoidal at the ring frequency by construction.

• Duty CyclePer setting: the percent of each cycle the pulse is on.
  What is this?

  What fraction of each pulse cycle the magnetic field is actually on versus off. For example, a 50% duty cycle means the field is on for half the time and off for half the time. Higher duty cycles deliver more total energy but generate more heat. Expressed as a percentage of the total cycle time.

• Pulse WidthPer setting: how long each pulse lasts, in microseconds.
  What is this?

  Duration of one pulse, expressing how long the field stays at significant strength per cycle. Longer pulse widths deliver more cumulative field exposure. Duty cycle is simply pulse width divided by the full period. Measurement depends on the device topology. For monopolar pulses (a single excursion from baseline), it's the time between the 50% amplitude crossings on the leading and trailing edges. For bipolar damped-sine bursts (loop coils driven by capacitor discharge that ring through multiple cycles), it's the full burst-on duration. That's measured from the first sample above 10% of dominant amplitude to the last, so duty cycle reflects burst-on time rather than a single carrier half-cycle.

• BipolarPer setting: whether the pulse reverses direction within each cycle.
  What is this?

  A pulse that reverses field direction partway through its cycle, so it induces current twice, on the swing out and on the swing back. A pulse that stays in one direction is monophasic (unipolar); one that reverses is biphasic (bipolar). The two swings are the two phases of one pulse, not two pulses, which is what makes the pulse count ambiguous unless it is stated; see Pulses Per Second (pps), and see Phase.

• Rise TimePer setting, in microseconds, for this device with this accessory.
  What is this?

  How quickly the magnetic field reaches its peak strength during a pulse. Faster rise time means a sharper pulse edge and stronger tissue stimulation. This is one of the most important pulse characteristics for effectiveness. Measured as the 10%-to-90% transition time of the magnetic field pulse, typically captured with an oscilloscope.

• Coil ShapeThe winding pattern of a coil, such as pancake or loop.
  What is this?

  The winding pattern of a coil, most often a flat pancake spiral or a ring-shaped loop. From its measured field a coil is also classified as pancake (center-strong), donut (ring-strong), or loop.

• Number of CoilsHow many coils are inside the accessory.
  What is this?

  The number of individual coils inside a multi-coil accessory such as a mat or pad. Knowing the count tells you how the device distributes its field across the target area: a 4-coil mat covers a wider zone but each coil contributes a smaller share of the total drive than a single-coil disc would. Each coil's peak location is identified from the field measurements and reported individually, so you can compare output and positioning across all coils in the accessory.

• Coil TurnsHow many times the wire is wound per coil.
  What is this?

  The total number of wire loops wound into a coil. Turn count is one of the most fundamental variables in coil design. Magnetic field strength scales linearly with turn count (B proportional to N*I), so doubling the turns doubles the field for the same current. However, inductance scales with the square of turn count (L proportional to N^2). Doubling the turns quadruples inductance and significantly slows current rise time. This is the core trade-off in PEMF coil design: more turns produce higher Gauss but slower rise time and lower slew rate. Turn count is verified during manufacturing using an LCR meter, since inductance provides a reliable indirect measure of N.

• Wire GaugeThe thickness of the coil wire.
  What is this?

  A standardized wire sizing scale used in North America. The scale runs inversely to wire diameter, so a lower AWG number means a thicker wire. 24 AWG is a common coil winding wire. 22 AWG is one step thicker and has roughly half the resistance per unit length of 24 AWG. Thicker wire reduces resistive losses and heat generation in the coil, allowing more current to flow at the same voltage. In PEMF coil design, wire gauge is one of the primary variables controlling coil resistance, heat, and maximum drive current.

• Cable LengthThe length of the cable.
• Connector TypeThe plug or connector the accessory uses.
• Coil ResistanceIn ohms.
  What is this?

  The electrical resistance of the coil wire. It determines how much heat the coil produces during operation and how much voltage the device needs to reach peak current. Lower resistance means less wasted heat and more efficient energy delivery to the magnetic field. Measured in Ohms (Ω). Resistance decreases with thicker wire (lower AWG number) and increases with temperature.

• Coil InductanceIn microhenries.
  What is this?

  The coil's resistance to changes in current flow. It directly determines how fast the magnetic field can rise when power is applied. Higher inductance means slower field buildup but potentially stronger peak field. Measured in Henries (H) or millihenries (mH). Inductance increases with more turns and with ferrite or iron core materials. Combined with resistance, it sets the L/R time constant.