Study On The Methods For Powering Implantable Medical Devices

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) have a long history of outstanding success in clinical practices. They are extremely important today as a part of modern advanced medical technologies. Among the factors to determine the performance of an IMD, long term energy is a major concern. This thesis is dedicated to investigate three kinds of powering method for IMDs. The results are as follows:Using the temperature difference existing inherently in human body to generate electricity is tested. In vivo experiments on the power generation of thermal electric devices, which are implanted respectively into three different tissue positions of a rabbit, were performed. The obtained results strongly support the feasibility of using thermal electric generator for self powering an implanted micro medical device.A new electromagnetic device, which could utilize the energy from the movement of human body to produce electricity for powering IMDs, was proposed. Through the model analysis, theoretical simulation, device making and in vitro experiment on the device, it has been shown that the device could produce usable electricity from movement in human body.An innovational method to power IMDs, through directly using micro-needles to recharge IMD's battery in a minimally invasive way, was also established. Simulation and in vitro experiments provide a soundly support that this method can recharge the secondary battery in IMDs and thus promise a longer lifetime of IMDs.