The Mini Notched Turbine (MiNT) is suited to address the emerging technology market for miniaturized energy harvesting generators, which can offer a reliable and sustainable source of power to implantable, sensing or monitoring device systems. There have been several research efforts and resources geared toward continuous, sustainable, and efficient miniaturized power sources for implantable devices, micro systems multisystem (bio, chemical, environmental) sensors, and wearable and portable electronics. Particularly for implantable devices, these initiatives seek to address the need for an alternative and/or replacement for batteries, which have limited lifetime and require repeated surgeries. In the United States there are approximately 400,000 implants performed per year and more than 3 million patients with implanted cardiac devices, many requiring some type of power source that supplies a continuous power and requires little maintenance to work. The proposed system presents an important solution by replacing the battery of an implantable medical device that would otherwise have to be removed every 5 years on average. This solution will ultimately benefit the end-users or patients who are most affected by the current system. A profile of the typical customer of the proposed innovation would be biomedical device companies, healthcare providers (hospitals, doctors/surgeons), medical patients, and/or manufacturers of miniature generators. The mini notched turbine technology has the potential to address the frequency of repeatable implantable medical device (IMD) surgeries, power multiple IMDs, and impact the quality of life for patients while addressing the need for continuous power generation/delivery.
The goal of the project is to design, produce and test a prototype of an energy harvesting device capable of converting fluid flow kinetic energy to electrical energy by use of electromagnetic induction. This energy harvesting system has a wide scope since it can extract energy from gas flow lines, fuel lines, water pipes and even the blood stream in a higher mammal or from any environment where there is fluid flow energy present. The potential contribution of the proposed system is, to produce a paradigm shift in the manufacture and use implantable medical devices which will eventually reduce the cost burden to hospitals, insurance companies and ultimately patients. This will also reduce the risk of repeated surgeries, anxiety and pain to patients that have been implanted with a life-saving device.
