Energy harvesting and cardiovascular monitoring through arterial wall pulsation

In this paper, we present an optimized design of an energy harvesting device that converts the arterial wall pulsation to electrical energy and we demonstrate its feasibility to function as a sensor for cardiovascular system monitoring. The device is based on electromagnetic induction and is composed of a coil that pulsates with the artery inside the magnetic field produced by two permanent magnets. In order to validate the proposed concept and evaluate the device's performance, an experimental setup that mimics blood flow and arterial wall movement was constructed. In-vitro experiments indicated that proper optimization can increase the device's produced power and voltage, and that the output voltage of the coil is associated with heart rate, blood pressure, arterial wall velocity and deformation.