Heartbeat to keep future pacemakers ticking
Sunday March 04, 2012 04:55:08 PM,
IANS
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Washington: An
unlikely source could keep cardiac pacemakers ticking in the
future - the heartbeat itself, without the necessity of batteries.
University of Michigan engineering researchers have designed a
device that harvests the vibration of heartbeats through the chest
and converts it to electricity to run a pacemaker or an implanted
defibrillator.
By replacing batteries that power them today, which last five to
10 years, the new energy harvester could save patients from
repeated surgeries, the journal Applied Physics Letters reports.
"The idea is to use ambient vibrations that are typically wasted
and convert them to electrical energy," said Amin Karami, research
fellow at the Michigan department of aerospace engineering.
"If you put your hand on top of your heart, you can feel these
vibrations all over your torso," added Karami, according to a
Michigan statement.
The researchers haven't built a prototype yet, but they've done
enough work to make the concept work. Here's how: A
100th-of-an-inch thin slice of a special "piezoelectric" ceramic
material would essentially catch heartbeat vibrations and briefly
expand in response.
Piezoelectric materials' claim to fame is that they can convert
mechanical stress (which causes them to expand) into an electric
voltage. The new device could generate 10 microwatts of power,
which is about eight times the amount a pacemaker needs to
operate, Karami said.
Karami and colleague Daniel Inman, who heads aerospace engineering
at Michigan, have precisely engineered the ceramic layer to a
shape that can harvest heart vibrations across a range of
frequencies.
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Union
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan
Kumar Bansal inspecting the damaged gate number 16 at the
Farakka Barrage, Murshidabad district, West Bengal on March
03, 2012. State Minister of Irrigation & Waterways, Micro &
Small Scale Enterprises & Textiles, Government of West Bengal
Dr. Manas Ranjan Bhunia and State Minister of Development &
Planning and Power, Government of West Bengal Manish Gupta are
also seen. |
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