High Efficiency Thermoelectric Power Source for Long Life Medical Implants

Implantable medical devices are becoming ever more common for addressing medical conditions, which range from heart disease to epilepsy to diabetes. In the US alone, over 2.5 million patients have pacemakers. Unfortunately, all of these medical devices suffer from a common drawback, limited battery lifetime. Replacing these batteries requires an entirely new device, causes considerable stress and discomfort to the patient, and costs the US healthcare system over $3B a year. In order to dramatically increase the lifetime of medical implant batteries, this project will develop a power module capable of deriving power from the 1-3°C temperature gradient between the core and just under the skin. The device will include advances in robust, high-efficiency, nanostructured thermoelectric materials, plus advances in thermal packaging and circuit design for the end device. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The market for pacemaker and inverter cardiac defibrillator (ICD) batteries is expected to reach $200M next year. Although this is an attractive market, the real value of this technology for biomedical device manufacturers is the additional market share that would shift to early adopters. Given a choice of a pacemaker that lasts an average of 15 years, rather than today¿s 5 year average, consumers are more likely to request the longer-lived device. In addition, a reliable power generation source opens up new possibilities for devices such as artificial hearts, kidneys, and lungs.