2024 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 23-00590
Herein, an implantable energy-harvesting system utilizing the contraction of electrically stimulated skeletal muscle is proposed for self-sustainable batteries of implantable medical devices (IMDs) and health-monitoring devices. To achieve high energy conversion efficiency, a resonance generator utilizing the vibration of the skeletal muscle, called as incomplete tetanus, is proposed. Considering the multi-dynamics of muscle contraction, oscillator, and electrostatic induction, design parameters, such as the stimulation condition of the muscle and the mechanical characteristics of the resonance generator, are optimized. In the benchtop experiment, the power generated by the prototype is 20.48 μW. Moreover, a positive net power of 13.1 μW is generated in the ex vivo experiments using the skeletal muscles of toads; this power is sufficient to operate IMDs, thus demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed energy harvesting system using incomplete tetanus of the skeletal muscle.
