A 3D printed wearable piezoelectric platform for energy harvesting from artery pulsation

Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria and Tourlidakis, Antonios (2023). A 3D printed wearable piezoelectric platform for energy harvesting from artery pulsation. In: 20th International Conference on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies, NN23, 4-7 Jul 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Abstract

Continuous monitoring of physiological biomarkers is an essential part of timely and accurate diagnosis of a disease with subsequent medical treatment towards personalised medicine. Wearable biosensors are used for biomedical data acquisition of important biomarkers, these devices rely on batteries. Battery replacement introduces a discontinuity in measured signals which could be critical for the patients and also causes discomfort. Human body is a source of multiple types of energies, such as mechanical, thermal, and biochemical, all of which can be scavenged. Mechanical vibrations originating from contraction and expansion of the radial artery represents a reliable source of displacement to be picked up by a harvester. In present work a 3D printed wearable platform for scavenging energy of arterial pulsations via a piezoelectric material is described. To provide better adsorption to the skin, prevent damage to the piezoelectric disc and electrically isolate components in the platform from the human body, an elastic thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) film, which forms an air gap between the skin and the piezoelectric disc electrode, was introduced. Computational fluid dynamics in the framework of a Multiphysics software was employed to conduct a series of coupled physics phenomena simulations. The mathematical model of the harvester was studied, and output energy parameters were obtained. A prototype wearable platform enclosure was designed and manufactured with fused deposition modelling. Influence of the piezoelectric disc material and diameter on the output were studied, geometrical parameters of the enclosure and TPU film were optimised based on theoretical and empirical data. Physiological data, such interdependency between the harvester skin fit and voltage output, were obtained. Further study regarding the hybridisation of the developed energy harvester was provided.

Viewing alternatives

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats