Development of strain energy harvester as an alternative power source for the wearable biomedical diagnostic system

Abstract

The human body is considered as a rich source of energy in the forms of body motion, heat etc. These energies can be trapped to develop a viable energy source, which confines the long-term serviceability. The battery drove wearable systems suffer from critical issues such as weight, limited lifespan and lack of biocompatibility. It is the main hurdle in gaining market acceptance for wearables. Rapid growths of wearable for biosensing motivate them to use it for health monitoring. This work describes the complete fabrication flow for low-cost energy harvesting device as an alternative power source for wearable biomedical diagnostic system with prime focus on biocompatibility, deformability and conformability. The conversion of body motional energy into electrical energy is carried out using zinc oxide piezoelectric material, polydimethylsiloxane substrate and silver fabric electrodes. The estimated power demand of the biomedical sensing modules lies in the range of 1–100 μW. It is observed that optimum power can be harvested when the device is placed between socks fabric and foot sole. The power level of 106 µWpeak or 22 µWrms has been recorded which reveals the feasibility as an alternative power source.