Efficient power generation from vocal folds vibrations for medical electronic implants

The availability of practical, implantable, efficient power generators will proliferate the use of medical electronic implants that can be very useful for treating and managing various medical conditions. Using a vibration-driven power generator, we have successfully generated 0.3-mW/cm2 of electric power continuously from the acousto-mechanical vibrations that originate from the human vocal folds and propagate along the skeletal frame and air passage throughout the head and neck. Our energy harvesters are highly efficient because vocal vibrations excite them at their designed resonant frequencies at 100 and 200 Hz, which are the dominant vocal vibrations of men and women, respectively. In addition, we use laser micromachining to pattern single crystal lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) sheets for better efficiency. Our harvesters are designed to fit into a square area (1×1 cm2 or smaller) so that they can form a flexible large array to generate more power.