We are searching data for your request:
Upon completion, a link will appear to access the found materials.
Despite the fact that pacemakers only require small amounts of power (around 1 millionth of a watt), their batteries have to be replaced periodically and that involves multiple surgeries for patients. Researchers have looked for ways to extend battery life - trying to generate energy with blood sugar, or the movement of the hands and legs - but these methods either interfere with metabolism or require more radical surgery. like passing a cable from the extremities to the chest area.
Aerospace engineers M. Amin Karami and Daniel J. Inman of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have developed a prototype device that could power a pacemaker using a source that is very close to the problem: cavity vibrations. thoracic that occur mainly due to the beating of the heart.
The authors describe the technique and its progress in a recent article in the AIP journal Applied Physics Letters (entitled "Powering pacemakers from heartbeat vibrations using linear and nonlinear energy harvesters").
Source: Nanowerk
