DEFIBRILLATION CIRCUIT WITH LOW VOLTAGE ENERGY STORAGE

A circuit (70) with low voltage energy storage for use in generating a defibrillation waveform is described. A charging circuit (88) includes a pulse capacitor (81) that stores defibrillation energy, a high voltage generator circuit (79) that includes a transformer and a rectification circuit through which the pulse capacitor (81) is charged with the defibrillation energy, and a discharge and polarity control circuit (82) electrically connected to the pulse capacitor (81) and switchable to receive the defibrillation energy, which is output as a defibrillation waveform. A low voltage energy supplementing circuit (80) is electrically connected to the pulse capacitor (81) in line with the high voltage generator circuit (79) and stores supplemental defibrillation energy. A microcontroller (71) is adapted to enable the low voltage energy supplementing circuit (80) to modulate the delivery of the stored supplemental energy to the pulse capacitor (81) to augment the defibrillation energy derived from the initial defibrillation waveform.