Microsensors and energy harvesting for thermotherapy: Design and characterization

Abstract

Thermotherapy is often used for diverse biomedical applications. One of them is treating human body area under pain, for example, lumbar pain. Thermotherapy can be used for such purpose by means of, for instance, metal-based bands that produce heat on the area under treatment. The heat delivered by such bands end after a specific time. This is a thermotherapy system based on a contact between dedicated bands and human body area under pain. The bands generally contain materials as polyester, iron or copper, salt, cellulose, active carbons, etc... The paper presents an energy harvesting system based on Seebeck's effect using micro-thermogenerators (TEGs) that convert heat from neck to electrical energy to be used on lumbar area with a further conversion from electrical to heat. This approach, even apparently complicated, allows to use a system that can be utilized every time and for a long period. It is useful because the heat produced by human body is displaced from neck to another area of the same body.