A Promising Way of Energy Harvesting for Implantable Medical Devices – Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)

Abstract

There is an increasing energy demand for implantable medical devices (IMD). The traditional driven approach has many defects such as short working time and periodic replacement, it is meaningful to seek other substitute ways of energy supply, like wireless power transfer or ultrasonic power transfer. There has been an increasing interest within the field of thermoelectric generator (TEG), which possesses much superiority when applied with IMDs. This paper aims to contribute to a primary understanding of thermoelectric generator, exploring the feasibility of applying TEG to IMDs to gain a more reliable performance and longer working life. Through the analysis of the characteristics of TEG and the existed research, this technology has been proved to be well-suitable to serve as the energy supply for IMDs.