Title :
Thermoelectric generator design based on power from body heat for biomedical autonomous devices
Author :
Lay-Ekuakille, Aimé ; Vendramin, Giuseppe ; Trotta, Amerigo ; Mazzotta, Gabriella
Author_Institution :
Dipt. d´´Ing. dell´´Innovazione, Univ. of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Abstract :
Energy harvesting from human body has been undergoing an interesting and quick development thanks to the technological availability of new electronic components and the growing of different applications, in particular, for biomedical and social impacts on human beings´ daily life. The main scope of this paper is to modeling and to design a thermoelectric generator that extracts energy from human tissue warmth in order to supply a biomedical hearing prosthesis for deaf persons. An array of sensors based on thermocouple effect has been used. A conditioning and accumulator circuitry has been designed and tested.
Keywords :
biothermics; hearing aids; prosthetic power supplies; thermocouples; thermoelectric conversion; accumulator circuitry; biomedical autonomous devices; biomedical hearing prosthesis; body heat supplied power; conditioning circuitry; energy harvesting; human tissue warmth; thermocouple array; thermoelectric generator design; thermoelectric generator model; Auditory system; Biological system modeling; Circuit testing; Electronic components; Humans; Power generation; Prosthetics; Sensor arrays; Thermoelectric devices; Thermoelectricity; Energy harvesting; biomedical devices; human body power management; thermocouple effect;
Conference_Titel :
Medical Measurements and Applications, 2009. MeMeA 2009. IEEE International Workshop on
Conference_Location :
Cetraro
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3598-2
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3599-9
DOI :
10.1109/MEMEA.2009.5167942