Researchers have now developed a prototype device that could power a
pacemaker using vibrations in the chest cavity that primarily occur due
to heartbeats.
Though pacemakers require only small amounts of
energy (about 1 millionth of a Watt), their batteries have to be
replaced periodically, which means multiple surgeries for patients.
Researchers have searched for ways to prolong battery life – trying to
generate energy to power a pacemaker using blood sugar, or the motion of
the hands and legs – but these methods either interfere with metabolism
or require a more drastic surgery, such as passing a wire from the
limbs to the chest area.
In the new technique developed by
aerospace engineers from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,
vibrations in the chest cavity deform a layer of piezoelectric material,
which is able to convert mechanical stress into electrical current.
Tests indicate that the device could perform at heart rates from 7 to
700 beats per minute (well below and above the normal range), and that
it could deliver eight times the energy required for a pacemaker.
Furthermore, the authors write, the amount of energy generated is
always larger than the amount required to run a pacemaker, regardless of
heart rate.
Though the team has yet to develop a prototype
that is biocompatible, they say that the potential to package this
energy harvester with pacemakers gives it an advantage over competing
methods.
The study has been recently published in the AIP’s Applied Physics Letters.
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