A Tunable Resonance Cantilever for Cardiac Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Purpose

Energy harvesting from cardiac motion is an attractive means to avoid the use of batteries in implantable sensors and pacemakers. A single implantable device would ideally integrate both sensing and self-powering functionality.

Methods

This work describes a novel electromagnetic system that achieves high sensitivity detection of the heart rate while simultaneously providing adaptive energy harvesting capability using a tunable resonance cantilever mechanism.

Results

Our prototype design exhibits tunability of resonant frequency across the range of physiologic heart rates at a combination of lengths and angular orientations. Our initial prototype also produces between 3.0  \(\mu\) W and 20.6  \(\mu\) W of power at heart rates of 79–243 bpm, respectively.

Conclusions

The prototype device can harvest sufficient energy to sustain implantable cardiac devices such as a leadless pacemaker. The system in this paper has the potential to eliminate batteries in certain implantable cardiac devices and thereby improve overall patient monitoring and treatment.

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