The pacemaker powered by heartbeat

MORE than 40,000 people in the UK have their hearts regulated by a pacemaker, with numbers rising due to an ageing population.

Patients face regular operations to replace worn-out batteries, but now scientists believe a person’s own beating heart could generate enough electricity to power the life-saving devices.

Researchers at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan have created a prototype that runs of piezoelectricity - the electrical charge generated from motion. Lead author Dr Amin Karami said it could be a promising technological solution for pacemakers, because they require only small amounts of power to operate. At present the implanted devices, which send electrical impulses into the heart to help maintain a normal heartbeat, have to be replaced every five to seven years when their batteries run out.

Dr Karami said: ‘Many of the patients are children who live with pacemakers for many years. You can imagine how many operations they are spared if this new technology is implemented.’

The researchers stumbled across the medical breakthrough by accident. They were looking to design a light unmanned aircraft which could be powered by the vibrations of its own wings.  They then realised that the properties of certain power-generating piezoelectric materials could be applied to powering pacemakers.