Romero - Powering Biomedical Devices

Biomedical technology has evolved through the decades for specialized medical care and treatment of a number of conditions and we expect it to continue evolving. For instance, the first cardiac pacemaker in the 1960s, using the now discontinued mercury-oxide cell, provided 23 years of operation. Nowadays, pacemakers can operate reliably for 10 years. The lithium-based battery technology used by the 1970s helped to propel that feat. We also expect biomedical technology to merge with electronic devices for noninvasive and implantable devices for health care. Due to the surge in wireless communications, and partly because of the ease of connection without the need for wires, we are also expecting this venue to permeate a number of applications, such as for health-care monitoring. Although there are a number of concerns regarding privacy, there are technical details about the transmission of information by itself. However, what about the batteries?

Being an engineer doing research on energy harvesting I wondered if there are technologies that makes it possible to harness energy from the surroundings to power our gadgets. If there are mechanical and electromechanical self-winding wristwatches, what about low-power monitoring devices for health purposes? Before that, I always had in my mind other questions in order to see this idea become a possibility. How much energy is available? Is there a limit for generation? What can be powered with it? I only found partial answers to these questions. Thus, the purpose of this book is to answer most of the questions I had in my mind for a number of years.

I expect the books structure gives you an idea of the future possibilities for energy harvesting in biomedical applications. The Introduction discusses the challenges in the near future for health care while at the same time explaining about technology trends, energy harvesting, and the overall limits of the energy generating technology at small scale. Power Sources talks over the actual power sources, battery technology, the power available from the human body, and the power limits for kinetic energy generators while applying this approach to walking and running. Enabling Technologies describes the different approaches to generate energy from the human body, with special emphasis in kinetic energy generators reported in the literature. Power Consumption and Applications reports actual medical devices (especially implantable medical devices), the applications and power consumption to have an idea of what could be powered with energy harvesters. Future Trends considers the challenges and possibilities for this technology to be employed in the near future. It is my personal expectation to have provided the tools and foundation for designing and deciding about alternative powering options for biomedical devices.

I would like first to acknowledge the vast array of researchers on whose work this book came to be. I hope to have honored you. On a personal level, I also would like to thank Prof. Robert Warrington to encourage me to try and to keep going forward. There are things you dont fully appreciated until later on. I would like to show my appreciation to Prof. Michael Neuman to inspire me into looking for different directions, even in different disciplines; I think I never congratulated him for it. I know I learned lessons for life from both of you. Finally, I wish to thank my wife for supporting me this time.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Joe Hayton, Chelsea Johnston, Lisa Jones and all the staff at Elsevier for their quality production of the book.