Piezoelectric energy harvesting from heartbeat vibrations for leadless pacemakers

[摘要] This paper studies energy harvesting from heartbeat vibrations using fan-folded piezoelectric beams. The generated energy from the heartbeat can be used to power a leadless pacemaker. In order to utilize the available 3 dimensional space to the energy harvester, we chose the fan-folded design. The proposed device consists of several piezoelectric beams stacked on top of each other. The size for this energy harvester is 2 cm by 0.5 cm by 1 cm, which makes the natural frequency very high. High natural frequency is one major concern about the micro-scaled energy harvesters. By utilizing the fan-folded geometry and adding tip mass and link mass to the configuration, this natural frequency is reduced to the desired range. This fan-folded design makes it possible to generate more than 10 μW of power. The proposed device does not incorporate magnets and is thus Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible. Although our device is a linear energy harvester, it is shown that the device is relatively insensitive to the heartrate. The natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the device are calculated. An analytical solution is presented and the method is verified by experimental investigation. We use a closed loop shaker controller and a shaker to simulate the heartbeat vibrations. The developed analytical model is verified through comparison of theoretical and experimental tip displacement and acceleration frequency response functions.

[发布机构] IDEAS Lab, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo; NY, United States^1;Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo; NY, United States^2

[效力级别] 能源学

[关键词] 3-dimensional spaces;Acceleration frequency response;Energy Harvester;Experimental investigations;Magnetic resonance imaging compatible (MRI);Piezoelectric beam;Piezoelectric energy harvesting;Tip displacement