Over the past 60 years, there have been significant advancements in the research and development of implantable medical devices. Starting with the world’s first pacemaker, implanted in 1958, researchers have managed to scale down these devices from the size of a cell phone charger to roughly the size of a vitamin tablet. This miniaturization not only makes surgical procedures minimally invasive but also reduces the likelihood of the body rejecting the implant as a foreign object.
A major challenge in miniaturizing these implants has been the power source or battery. Notably, from the earliest implants to the latest ones, the battery still occupies about half of the device’s volume. This is due to the need for the implant to operate for a minimum of 5-8 years. Consequently, there has been growing interest in the research community towards electroceuticals, which could reduce the size of implants to less than the size of a grain of rice.
One promising idea in this field is the wireless powering of implants from an external source outside the body. Commercial products have attempted to achieve this using inductive coils. However, they face two main issues. Technically, the size of the implant is still constrained by the size of the inductive coil, as the depth of power transmission is proportional to the coil’s size. Practically, patients need to precisely position an external transmitter coil to transfer sufficient power, leading to discomfort.
Therefore, the aim of this PhD project is to present a proof-of-concept for a body-conformal transmitter patch that utilizes ultrasound power transfer to autonomously and reliably power deeply located implants as small as a grain of rice.
11/10/2024 11:00 - 12:00
Department of Materials Engineering (MTM) Aula 00.39
