Cardiac Energy Harvesting Device

Project Description:
In 2009. There were about 1 million implantable cardioverter-defibrillators or pacemakers deployed worldwide. Now, 9 years later, more than 26% of these implants are due for replacement. They are reaching the end of their usable life due almost entirely to battery exhaustion. Further, the technical trend of the pacemaker market is shifting to a leadless, ultra-miniaturized form factor that is implanted into the ventricular cavities of the heart, severely restricting the available space for battery. Commercially available examples include the leadless pacemakers by Medtronic and St. Jude Medical with device volumes between 0.8 to 1 cm3.

The aim of this project is to develop an energy-harvesting device that can be integrated with a typical leadless pacemaker without increasing the volume to extend the device’s lifespan by at least twofold to 15 years or longer. MEMS technology would be a prime candidate to implement the miniature energy harvester. The operating mechanism is to convert the periodic contractile energy of heart muscles or pulsatile blood flow into electricity, which can then be used to trickle charge an onboard rechargeable battery.

Project Mentor:
Engineering Mentor: William C. Tang PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UCI, wctang@uci.edu
Physician Mentor: None

Team Members: 

Mohammed Almudhry, Andy Bae, Anas Deiranieh, Yijoon Park, Zachary Andrew Siu, Daniel Rodney Wong