Thermoelectric MEMS generators as a power supply for a body area network

Miniaturized and cost-effective thermoelectric generators (TEG) scavenging energy from environment could potentially provide power autonomy to consumer electronic products operating at low power. For example, TEG mounted in a wristwatch have been used to generate electricity from human heat. The key point of IMEC's research in this field is the realization of a body area network, consisting of a set of wireless sensors/actuators, able to provide health, sports, comfort, and safety monitoring functions to the user. The development of miniature energy scavengers built on MEMS technology is a primary goal of the ongoing research, as this will make the network truly power autonomous. In this paper, the modeling and a novel design of MEMS TEG especially conceived for human body applications are described. The design is built on the basis of a thermal model of the device, which includes the human body as one of its important elements. For this purpose, the research on human body thermal features is performed. The TEG prototype made with commercial thermopiles is tested with power conditioning electronics and a wireless module mounted on a watchstrap.