Battery-Free, Next-Generation Pacemakers to be Powered by the Heart

Researchers at the University of Buffalo are developing technology to make implantable pacemakers battery-free. The advancement is based upon a piezoelectric system that converts vibrational energy - created inside the chest by each heartbeat - into electricity to power the pacemaker. The technology may eliminate the medical risks and costs of having a battery replacement every five to 12 years for millions of people worldwide. M. Amin Karami, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is leading the research. Karami initially designed a flat piezoelectric structure for a conventional pacemaker. A prototype generated enough power to keep the pacemaker running at a range of 7 to 700 beats per minute. With the development of wireless pacemakers, however, he has revamped the design to accommodate the smaller, tube-shaped device. He is currently building the new prototype and expects to have animal tests done within two years.

Transcript

00:00:01 we are developing key technology to replace the batteries in pacemakers so pacemakers like this are implantable devices which are inside the body and they have to be powered with batteries the problem with the current technology is the batteries do deplete and they deplete in five to seven years so currently a young patient who receives this at the young age has to go through

00:00:23 surgeries every seven years for his entire lifetime our technology is to take out the battery in a pacemaker and replace it with the regenerative source so the heart constantly beats and it is a source of significant power what we do is we used piezo electric materials piezo electric materials can generate power from every deed of the heart and regenerative Lea power this pacemaker

00:00:47 for the entire lifetime of a patient now the most recent thing about what we are doing is we are going for the next generation of pacemakers which are called leadless pacemaker leadless pacemaker x' here a grain of Erised size device which go right in the heart to paste the heart without having any leads or any attachments the main challenge with them is again powering them because

00:01:11 they're so small the technology we have developed because it is in the heart and because heart is moving so vigorously is superior to the batteries and can safely and robustly power to leave the space makers for the entire lifetime of a patient you