Energy harvesting from the cardiovascular system, or how to get a little help from yourself

Pfenniger, Aloïs; Jonsson, Magnus; Zurbuchen, Adrian; Koch, Volker M; Vogel, Rolf (2013). Energy harvesting from the cardiovascular system, or how to get a little help from yourself. Annals of biomedical engineering, 41(11), pp. 2248-2263. Springer 10.1007/s10439-013-0887-2

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Human energy harvesting is envisioned as a remedy to the weight, the size, and the poor energy density of primary batteries in medical implants. The first implant to have necessarily raised the idea of a biological power supply was the pacemaker in the early 1960s. So far, review articles on human energy harvesting have been rather unspecific and no tribute has been given to the early role of the pacemaker and the cardiovascular system in triggering research in the field. The purpose of the present article is to provide an up-to-date review of research efforts targeting the cardiovascular system as an alternative energy source for active medical implants. To this end, a chronological survey of the last 14 most influential publications is proposed. They include experimental and/or theoretical studies based on electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or electrostatic transducers harnessing various forms of energy, such as heart motion, pressure gradients, and blood flow. Technical feasibility does not imply clinical applicability: although most of the reported devices were shown to harvest an interesting amount of energy from a physiological environment, none of them were tested in vivo for a longer period of time.Human energy harvesting is envisioned as a remedy to the weight, the size, and the poor energy density of primary batteries in medical implants. The first implant to have necessarily raised the idea of a biological power supply was the pacemaker in the early 1960s. So far, review articles on human energy harvesting have been rather unspecific and no tribute has been given to the early role of the pacemaker and the cardiovascular system in triggering research in the field. The purpose of the present article is to provide an up-to-date review of research efforts targeting the cardiovascular system as an alternative energy source for active medical implants. To this end, a chronological survey of the last 14 most influential publications is proposed. They include experimental and/or theoretical studies based on electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or electrostatic transducers harnessing various forms of energy, such as heart motion, pressure gradients, and blood flow. Technical feasibility does not imply clinical applicability: although most of the reported devices were shown to harvest an interesting amount of energy from a physiological environment, none of them were tested in vivo for a longer period of time.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute for Surgical Technology & Biomechanics ISTB [discontinued]
10 Strategic Research Centers > ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research > ARTORG Center - Cardiovascular Engineering (CVE)

UniBE Contributor:

Pfenniger, Aloïs, Jonsson, Magnus, Zurbuchen, Adrian, Koch, Volker, Vogel, Rolf

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
500 Science
600 Technology
600 Technology > 620 Engineering

ISSN:

0090-6964

Publisher:

Springer

Language:

English

Submitter:

Francesco Clavica

Date Deposited:

10 Apr 2014 00:23

Last Modified:

18 Apr 2023 12:24

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s10439-013-0887-2

PubMed ID:

23949656

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.48026

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/48026

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