Self-powered internal medical device

• US 9,287,576 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2013
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Nikonov, Dmitri E., Mayberry, Michael C., Young, Ian A., Kuhn, Kelin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garbowski, Leigh
• Application Number:
  US13/971,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20150054468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14503 invasive, e.g. introduced into the body by a catheter or needle or using implanted sensors A61B5/1459, A61B5/1464, A61B5/1473, A61B5/1482, A61B5/14865 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 16/006 of fuel cells with rechargeable batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2250/402 Combination of fuel cell with other electric generators
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/1097 Fuel cells applied on a support, e.g. miniature fuel cells deposited on silica supports
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/16 Biochemical fuel cells, i.e. cells in which microorganisms function as catalysts
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to a self-powered internal medical device. An example device may comprise at least an energy generation module and an operations module to at least control the energy generation module. The energy generation module may include a structure to capture certain molecules in the organic body based at least on size, the structure including a surface of the device in which at least one opening is formed. The at least one opening may be sized to only capture certain molecules. The operations module may initiate oxidation reactions in the captured molecules to generate current for device operation or for storage in an energy storage module. Thermoelectric generation circuitry in the energy generation module may also use heat from the reaction to generate a second current. The operations module may control operation of a sensor module and/or communication module in the device based on the generated energy.

Claims

1. A bioimplantable device, comprising:

an energy generation module to generate energy based on captured molecules, wherein the captured molecules are captured from an organic body in which the device is implanted and are captured by the energy generation module based at least at least in part on their size; and

an operations module to at least control operation of the energy generation module, the operations module comprising a control module, wherein the control module comprises circuitry configured to initiate oxidation of said captured molecules at least in part by supplying a voltage to said energy generation module.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy generation module is configured to initiate oxidation of said captured molecules in response to said voltage from said control module, so as to produce electrical current.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy generation module comprises at least one surface comprising at least one opening, wherein the at least one opening is sized to capture molecules of a first size and to allow molecules of a second size to escape capture.

4. The device of claim 3, further comprising electrodes are formed on the at least one surface and an opposing surface of the device, the electrodes being at least structurally coupled by a silicon via formed through the device.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein

the captured molecules are said molecules of a first size;

said molecules of a first size are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) molecules; and

the molecules of a second size are high-density lipoprotein (HDL) molecules.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the control module is configured to initiate said oxidation by causing a voltage to be placed across the captured molecules, thereby generating a first electrical current and heat.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the energy generation module comprises thermoelectric generation circuitry to capture at least a portion of said heat and to generate a second electrical current therefrom.

8. The device of claim 7, further comprising an energy storage module configured to store at least one of the first electrical current or the second electrical current.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations module further comprises a communication module and a sensor module.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising an energy storage module configured to store energy produced by the energy generation module, wherein the circuitry of the control module is to control the oxidation of said captured molecules in response to expiration of at least one of a time or a threshold level of energy stored in said energy storage module.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the sensor module is to sense at least one characteristic of the organic body and the communication module is to transmit information about at least one of the device or the at least one characteristic via wireless communication.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the circuitry of the control module is further to control oxidation of the captured molecules at least in part in response to sensing a presence of at least one of said captured molecules.

13. A method, comprising:

with an energy generation module of a bioimplantable device, capturing molecules from an organic body in which the device is implanted based at least in part on their size;

with control circuitry of an operations module of said device, initiating oxidation of said captured molecules at least in part by supplying a voltage to said energy generation module, said oxidation to produce at least one electrical current.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said at least one electrical current comprises a first electrical current, and the method further comprises:

charging an energy storage module in the device at least in part with the first electrical current.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said captured molecules comprise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) molecules, and said oxidation results in the complete oxidation of said LDL molecules.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein:

said oxidation produces heat;

said energy generation module further comprises thermoelectric generation circuitry; and

the method further comprises converting at least a portion of said heat with said thermoelectric generation circuitry into a second electrical current; and

charging the energy storage module in the device based on the second current.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said device further comprises an energy storage module, a sensor module, and a communication module, and the method further comprises:

determining, with said control circuitry, whether there is a threshold amount of energy in the energy storage module, the threshold amount of energy being sufficient to enable at least one of the sensor module or the communication module to operate; and

controlling, with said control circuitry, causing at least one of said sensor module or said communication module to operate when it is determined that an amount of energy in said energy storage module exceeds said threshold amount.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

causing said sensor module to operate comprises causing the sensor module to sense at least one characteristic of the organic body; and

causing said communication module to operate comprises causing the communication module to transmit information about at least one of the device or the at least one characteristic via wireless communication.

19. At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a bioimplantable device result in the following operations comprising:

with an energy generation module of the device, capturing molecules from an organic body in which the device is implanted based at least in part on their size;

with control circuitry of an operations module of said device, initiating oxidation of said captured molecules at least in part by supplying a voltage to said energy generation module, said oxidation to produce at least one electrical current.

20. The non-transitory medium of claim 19, wherein said at least one electrical current comprises a first electrical current, and said medium further comprises instructions that when executed by said one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

charging an energy storage module in the device at least in part with the first electrical current.

21. The non-transitory medium of claim 20, wherein said captured molecules comprise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) molecules, and said oxidation results in the complete oxidation of said LDL molecules.

22. The non-transitory medium of claim 20, wherein:

said oxidation produces heat;

said device further comprises thermoelectric generation circuitry; and

the non-transitory medium further comprises instructions that when executed by said one or more processors result in the following operations comprising;

converting at least a portion of said heat with said thermoelectric generation circuitry into a second electrical current; and

charging the energy storage module in the device based on the second current.

23. The non-transitory medium of claim 19, wherein said device further comprises an energy storage module, a sensor module, and a communication module, and said medium further comprises instructions wherein when executed by said one or more processors results in performance of the following operations comprising:

determining, with said control circuitry, whether there is a threshold amount of energy in the energy storage module, the threshold amount of energy being sufficient to enable at least one of the sensor module or the communication module to operate; and

controlling, with said control circuitry, causing at least one of said sensor module or said communication module to operate when it is determined that an amount of energy in said energy storage module exceeds said threshold amount.

24. The non-transitory medium of claim 23, further comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

causing said sensor module to operate comprises causing the sensor module to sense at least one characteristic of the organic body; and

causing said communication module to operate comprises causing the communication module to transmit information about at least one of the device or the at least one characteristic via wireless communication.