KR102191060B1 - Heart pacemaker and energy harvesting system thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The pacemaker according to the present invention sequentially stores a generator for generating nonlinear electric energy using a friction element and the developed nonlinear electric energy in a multi-energy store composed of multiple stages, and supplies the electric energy stored in the multi-energy store. It includes an energy harvester.

Description

Heart pacemaker and its energy harvesting method {HEART PACEMAKER AND ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a pacemaker and a method for harvesting energy thereof.

A heart pacemaker is a device that artificially maintains a normal heart rate by being used for various arrhythmic diseases, hematologic abnormalities, and conduction system disorders in which the heart rate is not normal.

When there is an abnormality in the rhythm of the heart, the pacemaker emits electrical impulses so that the heart beats regularly and in time. At this time, the created electrical stimulation is transmitted to the heart through a special wire inserted into the heart.

On the other hand, the problem with the existing pacemaker is that the pacemaker needs to be replaced every about 10 years due to the limitation of the battery. When the life of the battery is over, it can be very burdensome to the patient because surgery to replace the pacemaker implanted in the human body must be performed.

In order to overcome this problem, the conventional heart pacemaker has been developing a technology in the direction of reducing the amount of power with an integrated semiconductor, but this has a problem that cannot escape from the plan to reduce the fundamental energy consumption of the heart pacemaker.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a pacemaker capable of increasing product life by 50% or more by harvesting nonlinear electrical energy using a friction element inserted in a pacemaker, and an energy harvesting method thereof.

However, the technical problem to be achieved by the present embodiment is not limited to the technical problem as described above, and other technical problems may exist.

As a technical means for achieving the above-described technical problem, the pacemaker according to the first aspect of the present invention is a generator for generating nonlinear electric energy using a friction element, and a multi-energy storage unit configured to multi-step the developed nonlinear electric energy. And an energy harvester that is sequentially stored in and supplies electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage.

The heart pacemaker according to the present invention may further include a case for protecting the generator and the energy harvester.

The energy harvester may be disposed on an upper side of the case so as to be parallel to a cross section, and the generator may be disposed at a lower side of the case and may be disposed to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case by a predetermined interval.

The generator is disposed to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case by a predetermined distance, and the lowermost end section of the case may be formed to be smaller than the curvature of the generator.

The generator may include a plurality of amplification dampers formed on the outermost layer.

The amplification damper may have a size corresponding to the predetermined interval and may be attached to both ends of the case.

The amplification damper may continue the fine movement of the friction element in a space spaced apart from the case by a predetermined interval according to external movement.

The amplification damper may be formed such that a plurality of elastic materials are integrally formed.

The friction element of the generator may be a Triboelectric Nano-Generator.

The pacemaker according to the present invention may further include an electronic circuit for transmitting electrical signals through a lead wire and a battery for supplying power to the electronic circuit.

The pacemaker according to the present invention may further include a communication module for transmitting a heartbeat message to a diagnosis device through a wireless communication-based network.

The energy harvester may control the electrical energy to be sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage based on a voltage of an energy storage in which electrical energy is currently stored among the multiple energy storage and the stability of the voltage.

The energy harvester monitors the voltage generated in the friction element and the voltage of the multi-energy storage, and based on the monitoring result, the power management unit controls the switching operation of the switch so that the electric energy is sequentially stored in the multi-energy storage. It may include.

The power management unit may maintain the electric energy to be stored in the energy storage currently being charged when the deviation of the RMS voltage value during a specific time period of the energy storage currently being charged among the multiple energy storage units is greater than a preset value. .

The power management unit may sequentially discharge the plurality of energy storage units according to a request to supply electric energy from a load.

In addition, the energy harvesting method in a pacemaker according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of storing nonlinear electric energy generated using a friction element in a plurality of energy storage; Measuring voltage levels of the plurality of energy stores; Controlling the electrical energy to be sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage based on the voltage of the energy storage in which the electrical energy is currently stored and the stability of the voltage, and supplying the electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage do.

In addition, the heart pacemaker capable of energy harvesting according to the third aspect of the present invention includes a generator for generating nonlinear electric energy using a friction element, a temporary energy storage for temporarily storing the generated electric energy, and the temporary energy storage. A multi-energy store that receives and stores temporary stored electric energy, and sequentially stores the electric energy in the multi-energy store based on a voltage of the energy store in which electric energy is currently stored among the multi-energy store and the stability of the voltage. And, it includes an energy harvester consisting of a power management unit for supplying the electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage.

According to any one of the above-described problem solving means of the present invention, energy efficiency can be improved even in an irregular energy supply situation by storing and managing energy operating in a source through multiple energy storage in stages.

In addition, it is possible to provide an energy distribution plan in oversaturation and irregular energy generation situations by actively providing power supply to the source in situations where energy harvesting is irregularly unstable, and correlation between voltage and time in multiple energy stores. By continuously observing the energy supply situation to the external environment and providing it through various switch techniques, energy can be more aggressively provided from the energy harvester side.

In addition, it is possible to more actively control the starting voltage on the platform, and by being able to charge alternately within the starting voltage range according to the complex storage, it is composed of a booster and a buck according to the current voltage level. The system can be replaced with a single system under the control of various switches in the operating section.

1 is a view for explaining a pacemaker according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a view for explaining a generator in an embodiment of the present invention.
3A is a block diagram of a gain control apparatus applied in a communication module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3B is a block diagram of an automatic gain adjustment unit.
3C is a diagram for explaining a process for adjusting a threshold value in a gain calculator.
4 is a diagram for explaining an energy harvester in an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram for explaining a controller in an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart of an energy harvesting method in a pacemaker according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining a method of controlling switching by a control switch driver of the controller shown in FIG. 5.
8 is a diagram illustrating an energy harvester applied to a pacemaker according to another embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a diagram for describing a switching operation in a current booster and an energy harvester.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily implement the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the drawings, parts not related to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention.

In the entire specification, when a certain part "includes" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included rather than excluding other components unless otherwise stated.

1 is a view for explaining a pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a view for explaining the generator 100 in an embodiment of the present invention.

A pacemaker 1 capable of energy harvesting according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a generator 100 and an energy harvester 200.

At this time, the generator 100 and the energy harvester 200 are embedded in the case 10 to protect them, and the case 10 may be made of a titanium material. That is, the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that it is formed by being inserted into the pacemaker (1), rather than attaching only the generator 100 to the skin of the human body or inserting it into the muscle tissue of the skin. do.

The generator 100 generates non-linear electric energy using a friction element. The friction element of the generator 100 may be a triboelectric nano-generator (TENG).

The energy harvester 200 sequentially stores the nonlinear electric energy generated through the friction element of the generator 100 in the multiple energy storage 220 configured in multiple stages, and supplies the stored energy in the multiple energy storage 220.

In this case, the multi-energy storage 220 is a configuration different from the battery 250, and means an energy storage having a small energy storage space integrated with an electronic circuit to be described later.

Referring to FIG. 1, the energy harvester 200 is disposed on the upper side of the case 10 of the pacemaker 1 and is disposed parallel to one end surface of the case 10. In this case, one cross-section of the case 10 in which the energy harvester 200 is located means the widest cross-section among several cross-sections of the case 10. Accordingly, the energy harvester 200, the electronic circuit including the same, and the battery 250 are formed in a stacked relationship with each other and are arranged to be parallel to the widest cross section of the case 10.

The generator 100 is disposed on the lower side of the case 10 of the pacemaker 1. That is, the energy harvester 200 is disposed on the upper side of the case 10, and the generator 100 is disposed below the energy harvester 200, and is disposed so as to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case 10 at a predetermined interval.

Specifically, the generator 100 is arranged to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case 10 of the pacemaker 1 by a predetermined distance. In this case, the generator 100 is formed to be greater than the curvature of the lowermost cross section of the case 10.

According to this arrangement, the generator 100 may be inserted into the pacemaker 1 to generate nonlinear electrical energy.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the generator 100 further includes a plurality of amplification dampers 110 respectively formed on the outermost layer.

The amplification damper 110 is formed in a size corresponding to a certain interval between the end face of the heart pacemaker (1) case 10 and the generator 100 and is attached to both end faces of the case 10, and according to external movement, the case ( 10) and the microscopic movement of the friction element in a space separated by a certain interval.

That is, a person usually engages in activities through various movements, and the generator 100 to which the amplification damper 110 is attached by such movement in daily life makes power generation, and the movement is stopped while the movement occurs. Even at an instant, the amplification damper 110 can maximize the power generation characteristic by continuing the fine movement of the friction element in the spaced apart space.

The amplification damper 110 attached to the generator 100 may sustain fine movement in one or more of the vertical, left, and right directions in response to various movements of a person.

Meanwhile, the amplification damper 110 may be composed of an elastic styrofoam having a predetermined elastic force, or may be composed of an elastic material such as a rubber material or a spring material. In this case, the amplification damper 110 may be formed such that a plurality of elastic materials are integrally formed in one amplification damper 110 in order to further maximize the fine motion.

For example, one amplifying damper 110 may be composed of one spring, but in the form of a spring having a smaller radius inserted inside the spring having the widest radius, a plurality of different radii A plurality of elastic materials may be formed as one amplification damper 110.

In addition, the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include an electronic circuit for transmitting electrical signals through a lead wire and a battery 250 for supplying power to the electronic circuit in a basic configuration. At this time, the circuit configuration of the energy harvester 200 may be integrally formed with an electronic circuit and inserted into the pacemaker 1.

The electronic circuit includes a sensing unit that detects human heartbeat information, a tuning unit that adjusts and supplies a pulse signal transmitted through a lead wire, and a control unit that controls the sensing unit and the tuning unit so that accurate electrical stimulation can be achieved. Can be configured.

In addition, the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a communication module for transmitting a heartbeat message to an external diagnostic device through a wireless communication-based network.

In this case, the communication module applied to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a gain control device 400 in an RF transceiver using a phase shift modulation method, which will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C.

3A is a block diagram of a gain control apparatus 400 applied in a communication module according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3B is a block diagram of the automatic gain adjustment unit 420. 3C is a diagram illustrating a process for adjusting a threshold value in the gain calculator 423.

The gain control device 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an RF receiving module 410 and an automatic gain adjustment unit 420.

The RF receiving module 410 receives an RF signal, which is an analog signal, and converts it into a digital signal, which is a complex signal.

In this case, the RF receiving module 410 may receive an RF signal, convert it to a baseband or intermediate frequency (IF) frequency, and convert it into a digital signal.

The automatic gain adjustment unit 420 calculates and applies an RF gain for adjusting a gain of an RF signal and a digital gain for adjusting a gain of a digital signal, respectively.

The automatic gain adjusting unit 420 may include an accumulator 421, a gain calculating unit 423, and a complex multiplier 425.

The accumulator 421 calculates the magnitude of the digital signal converted by the RF receiving module 410 and accumulates a preset number of digital signals. At this time, the accumulator 421 may calculate the size of the digital signal of the corresponding signal and transmit it to the gain calculation unit even when only one signal is received, but after accumulating a plurality of preset digital signals, the size is calculated and transmitted. It is desirable to do it.

That is, when determining the gain for only one digital signal, there may be a lot of error in the gain to be obtained temporarily due to the effect of noise, so the accumulator 421 accumulates certain data and adjusts the gain by looking at the value. Is done.

In an exemplary embodiment, the accumulator 421 may accumulate 128 digital signals and add the magnitudes of the accumulated signals to the gain calculator 423.

The gain calculator 423 compares the magnitude of the accumulated digital signal with a preset threshold, and calculates an RF gain for adjusting the gain of the RF signal and a digital gain for adjusting the gain of the digital signal based on the comparison result, respectively. Calculate.

For example, the range of the gain that can be calculated by the gain calculator 423 may be 22 to 100 dB, the range of the RF gain may be 22 to 81 dB, and the range of the digital gain may be 0 to 19 dB.

At this time, when the current gain is 30 dB (RF gain = 25 dB, digital gain = 5 dB), the input signal is small and the gain is increased by 2 dB. An embodiment of the present invention is adjusted to an RF gain of 27 dB, a digital gain of 5 dB, or an RF gain of 26 dB, It can be adjusted with a digital gain of 6dB, or an RF gain of 25dB and a digital gain of 7dB.

After calculating the RF gain, the gain calculating unit 423 feeds back the calculated RF gain to the RF receiving module 410.

Accordingly, the RF receiving module 410 applies the calculated RF gain to the RF signal, which is an analog signal, through an RF gain applying unit (not shown) included in the RF receiving module 410.

In this case, the RF receiving module 410 may have a limited available gain allowed by itself. That is, the RF gain application unit may have a maximum applicable RF gain value set in advance. In addition, the RF gain application unit applies the calculated RF gain to the RF signal within the maximum applicable RF gain value.

In this case, the received RF signal must have a gain that exceeds the applicable RF gain value applied by the RF gain application unit, so that the desired signal can be obtained during demodulation afterwards.Therefore, the gain of the RF signal may be insufficient. I can.

In order to solve this problem, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the automatic gain adjustment unit 420 does not calculate only the RF gain, but also calculates and applies the digital gain, thereby solving the above problem.

To this end, the automatic gain adjustment unit 420 may include a complex multiplier 425 that applies a digital gain to a digital signal.

In addition, when the RF gain fed back from the automatic gain adjustment unit 420 to the RF receiving module 410 satisfies the maximum applicable RF gain value, the RF signal to which the RF gain is applied is converted into a digital signal and then the complex multiplier 425 As the digital gain is applied together, a higher gain value that exceeds the RF gain value can be applied to the digital signal. Through this, it is possible to expect faster stabilization performance of the RF receiver than when controlling only the RF gain.

For example, when the maximum applicable RF gain value by the RF gain application unit is 100 dB and the RF gain value fed back from the gain calculation unit 423 is 100 dB, the gain value required for effective data extraction of the received RF signal This can be 110dB.

In this case, the gain calculating unit 423 adjusts the RF gain by 100 dB and feeds it back to the RF receiving module 410, and transmits the digital gain to the complex multiplier 425 by adjusting the digital gain by 10 dB.

Accordingly, the RF gain applying unit of the RF receiving module 410 applies a gain of 100 dB and converts it into a digital signal, and the complex multiplier 425 receiving the converted digital signal applies a gain of 10 dB to the corresponding digital signal. A total gain of 110dB is applied, enabling effective data extraction.

As described above, an embodiment of the present invention has an advantage that digital gains can be additionally applied simultaneously when a gain exceeding the maximum gain range applicable to the RF receiving module 410 is required.

In addition, even if the maximum applicable RF gain value is not exceeded, by applying the calculated digital gain to the digital signal in advance, there is an advantage in that the gain can be additionally reflected in the digital signal quickly without delay in the feedback process.

Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the gain is controlled according to the magnitude of the accumulated signal. In this case, in order to compare the magnitude of the accumulated digital signal with the preset threshold value in the gain calculator 423 and set the gain value to be adjusted more quickly, the preset threshold value is divided into a plurality of grades as shown in the example of FIG. It can be set to be classified for each step within each grade.

For example, FIG. 3C is an example of a 3-step gain control, divided into high grade, low grade, and appropriate grade, and three threshold values are used for high grade and low grade respectively, and corresponding gain adjustment values Is assigned.

Accordingly, the gain calculator 423 selects a plurality of grades corresponding to the magnitude of the accumulated digital signal and a gain adjustment value corresponding to the step within the grade, and the RF gain and digital signal previously applied through the gain adjustment value The gain can be adjusted and calculated.

In addition, the gain control apparatus 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a signal detection unit 430.

The signal detection unit 430 may check whether the digital signal converted by the RF receiving module 410 is detected, and when the digital signal is detected as a result of the check, the automatic gain adjustment unit 420 may be driven.

According to the configuration of the signal detection unit 430, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, power consumption can be reduced by driving the automatic gain adjustment unit 420 by determining whether a signal is detected.

In this way, the communication module included in the heart pacemaker can be expected to improve the performance of the receiver through a hybrid automatic gain adjuster that simultaneously applies analog gain and digital gain to the analog signal RF signal and digital signal through the gain control device. When calculating the gain value to be adjusted, fast stabilization performance can be expected through comparison with the threshold value divided into a plurality of grades and steps.

On the other hand, the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention naturally includes essential components for configuring the pacemaker 1 in addition to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be implemented within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Of course.

Hereinafter, in the pacemaker 1 having the configuration of FIGS. 1 to 2, nonlinear electrical energy is sequentially stored through the multiple energy storage 220 and the electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage 220 is supplied. The energy harvester 200 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7.

Typically, energy harvesting systems store energy in one energy storage, and use and manage energy. However, the following problems arise due to the integrated storage.

First, energy waste in the energy storage due to natural discharge increases, and storage up to the required voltage may not be possible due to non-linear energy storage, and the stored energy may be easily discharged without further generation of energy from the harvester source. For this reason, the rectification efficiency of the energy harvesting system decreases.

Second, when output and charging occur at the same time, in the case of a single energy storage, storage and output according to the conversion are simultaneously generated in one energy storage, and the efficiency decreases as the complexity of control increases.

Thirdly, when the voltage of the energy store goes down a lot, the energy store needs a large capacity for various operations in the load, and the low voltage monitoring for a large capacity increases as the quiescent current of the energy harvester increases. As the efficiency decreases, storage time is required as a relatively high voltage is required to re-storage energy in the energy harvester.

In order to solve such a problem, the energy harvester 200 in the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention increases energy efficiency by storing and managing energy in stages using the multiple energy storage 220. I can.

In addition, in harvesting irregular electric energy generated from the friction element, energy storage efficiency can be maximized, and active energy management is possible by supplying electric energy according to the demand of the load.

4 is a view for explaining the energy harvester 200 in an embodiment of the present invention.

The energy harvester 200 is a configuration for supplying energy required to the load L, and includes a multiple energy storage 220 and a power management unit 230.

The multiple energy storage 220 is energy storage for receiving and storing electric energy harvested by the generator 100.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the energy harvester 200 is based on the voltage and voltage stability of the energy storage in which electrical energy is currently stored among the multiple energy storage 220, and the electrical energy is sequentially transferred to the multiple energy storage 220. Can be controlled to be saved as.

In FIG. 4, when the electric energy generated by the generator 100 is completely stored in the primary energy storage 221, the electrical energy is stored in the secondary energy storage 222 and the electrical energy in the secondary energy storage 222 When the storage of is completed, electrical energy is stored in the tertiary energy storage 223.

As described above, energy storage in the multiple energy storage 220 in an embodiment of the present invention is performed in stages.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 4, the multi-energy storage 220 is shown as being three energy storages, but this is only an example, and the number of energy storages may be provided as necessary, and the capacity thereof is also various. Of course it can be configured.

The voltage level of the multi-energy storage 220 can be classified as follows, and the three distinct types can be set for each individual energy storage in the controller.

V_PDL (Voltage Preset Detect Low-voltage): The lowest voltage at which the load (L) operates

V_POH (Voltage Operation High-voltage): The maximum voltage at which the load (L) operates

V_PM(Voltage Power good Maximum-voltage): Maximum voltage to save

In addition, the electrical energy supplied to the load L by one of the multiple energy storage 220 may be expressed as Equation 1 below.

[Equation 1]

According to Equation 1, the total electric energy that can be supplied to the load L through the multiple energy storage 220 may be expressed as Equation 2 below.

[Equation 2]

The power management unit 230 monitors the voltage generated by the generator 100 and the voltage of the multiple energy storage 220, and controls the switching operation so that electrical energy is sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage 220 based on the monitoring result. do.

At this time, the power management unit 230 stores the electric energy in the energy storage currently being charged when the deviation of the RMS voltage value during a specific time period of the energy storage currently being charged among the multiple energy storage 220 is greater than a preset value. You can keep it as much as possible.

In addition, the power management unit 230 sequentially discharges the multiple energy storage 220 in response to receiving a request to supply electric energy from the load L.

The power management unit 230 includes a voltage monitor 231, a clock generator 232, a controller 233, a DC-DC converter 234, and a PG controller 235.

The voltage monitor 231 measures the voltage generated by the generator 100 and the voltage level of the multiple energy storage 220 and transmits the measurement result to the controller 233 and the DC-DC converter 234.

The clock generator 232 generates a clock and provides it to the voltage monitor 231, the controller 233, and the DC-DC converter 234, which require it.

The controller 233 controls switching between the multiple energy stores 220 for energy charging and the switching between the multiple energy stores 220 for energy discharge and the DC-DC converter 234. The detailed structure of the controller 233 is as shown in FIG. 4.

A switching control operation and process by a control switch driver of the controller 233 shown in FIG. 5 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 7.

The DC-DC converter 234 converts the voltage of electric energy discharged from the multiple energy storage 220 through the controller 233 and applies it to the load L. At this time, the DC-DC converter 234 refers to the voltage measurement result by the voltage monitor 231 for voltage conversion.

The PG controller 235 transmits the power supply request to the controller upon receiving the power supply request from the load L, and the controller 233 is the DC-DC converter 234 so that the multiple energy storage 220 is sequentially discharged. Connect to switching.

The discharging sequence of the multiple energy storage 220 is the same as the charging sequence. That is, according to the required amount of energy of the load L, the primary energy storage 221, the secondary energy storage 222, and the third energy storage 223 are discharged in the order.

In addition, in the pacemaker 1 in another embodiment of the present invention, the energy harvester 200 may further include a temporary energy storage 210.

The generator 100 generates non-linear electrical energy using a friction element, and a detailed configuration of the generator 100 has been described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 2, and thus, a duplicate description will be omitted.

The energy harvester 200 may include a temporary energy storage 210, a multiple energy storage 220 and a power management unit 230.

The temporary energy storage 210 temporarily stores the electric energy harvested from the generator 100. In this case, the voltage level in the temporary energy storage 210 may be classified as follows.

V_DL (Voltage Detection Low-voltage): The voltage at which quiescent current occurs

V_RH (Voltage Requirement High-voltage): Voltage at the level at which the power management unit can operate

V_MO (Voltage Maximum point Operation-voltage): This is the most efficient voltage for discharging the temporary energy storage 210 and may be predefined by the manufacturer.

The multiple energy storage 220 is an energy storage for receiving and storing electrical energy temporarily stored in the temporary energy storage 210, and the power management unit 230 discharges the electrical energy stored in the temporary energy storage 210 to discharge the multiple energy storage. Pass it to 220. In addition, when there is a request from the load L, the power management unit 230 sequentially discharges energy stored in the temporary energy storage 210 and the multiple energy storage 220 and supplies it to the load L.

On the other hand, the above-described PG controller 235 transmits the power supply request from the load (L) to the controller 233, and discharges the electrical energy stored in the temporary energy storage 210 to be applied to the load (L). I can.

For reference, the components shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in software or in hardware such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Can play roles.

However,'elements' are not meant to be limited to software or hardware, and each element may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium or configured to reproduce one or more processors.

Thus, as an example, components are components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, properties, procedures, and sub- Includes routines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays and variables.

Components and functions provided within the components can be combined into a smaller number of components or further separated into additional components.

Hereinafter, an energy harvesting method in the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

6 is a flowchart of an energy harvesting method in a pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the energy harvesting method according to an embodiment of the present invention, first, nonlinear electric energy generated using a friction element is stored in a plurality of energy storage units (S110).

Next, by measuring the voltage level of the multi-energy store 220 (S120), based on the voltage of the energy store in which electric energy is currently stored and the stability of the voltage, electrical energy is sequentially transferred to the multi-energy store 220 Control to be stored as (S130).

Next, the electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage 220 is supplied to the pacemaker 1 (S140).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining a method of controlling switching by a control switch driver of the controller 233 shown in FIG. 5.

If there is no request for power supply from the load L (S210-N), the multiple energy storage 220 and the temporary energy storage 210 are sequentially connected to each other to charge the multiple energy storage 220 (S220).

Specifically, the energy harvester 200 is charged in the order of the primary energy storage 221, the secondary energy storage 222, and the third energy storage 223, but the replacement of the energy storage is charging for the energy storage in the preceding order This is completed, and is performed when energy is stably harvested in the temporary energy storage 210 (S230 to S250).

For example, when the voltage RMS value of the primary energy storage 221 becomes V_PM and the voltage of the temporary energy storage 210 is stable, the temporary energy storage 210 is connected to the secondary energy storage 222 A switching operation is made to make it happen.

Even if the voltage RMS value of the primary energy storage 221 is V_PM, when the voltage of the temporary energy storage 210 is not stable, the voltage of the temporary energy storage 210 and the primary energy storage 221 is stable As such, it may be defined as a case where the deviation (variance or standard deviation) of the RMS voltage value measured for the first energy storage 221 during a recent specific time period is less than a predetermined reference value.

When the voltage of the temporary energy storage 210 is not stable, that is, when sufficient energy is not harvested from the generator 100, an energy storage for transferring the electrical energy of the temporary energy storage 210 is transferred to the primary energy storage 221 When replacing the secondary energy storage 222 in the secondary energy storage 222, it is good in terms of overall energy efficiency because only the natural discharge of the primary energy storage 221 occurs in a state in which significant charging in the secondary energy storage 222 is not performed. not.

On the other hand, when there is a power supply request from the load L (S210-Y), the PG controller 235 discharges the electrical energy stored in the temporary energy storage 210 and applies it to the load (S260).

In addition, the controller 233, receiving a request for power supply of the load L from the PG controller 235, sequentially switches and connects the multiple energy storage 220 to the DC-DC converter 234 for electric energy discharge (S270). ).

Meanwhile, in the above description, steps S110 to S270 may be further divided into additional steps or may be combined into fewer steps according to an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, some steps may be omitted as necessary, and the order between steps may be changed. In addition, even if other contents are omitted, the contents already described with respect to the pacemaker 1 in FIGS. 1 to 5 are also applied to the energy harvesting method of FIGS. 6 and 7.

Hereinafter, an energy harvester 300 according to another embodiment applied to the pacemaker 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

8 is a view for explaining an energy harvester 300 applied to the pacemaker 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The energy harvester 300 applied to the pacemaker 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a generator 100, multiple energy storage 310, and a switching unit 320.

The generator 100 generates nonlinear electric energy. The generator 100 may be a friction element, and the friction element may be a TENG (Triboelectric Nano-Generator).

The multi-energy storage 310 is configured as a multi-stage energy storage and stores non-linear electric energy generated by the generator 100.

Referring to FIG. 8, the multiple energy storage 310 may include a primary energy storage 311 and a secondary energy storage 312. At this time, FIG. 8 shows that it is composed of two energy storages 311 and 312, but is not necessarily limited thereto, and a plurality of primary energy storage 311 and secondary energy storage 312 is provided. Of course you can.

The primary energy storage 311 primarily stores electrical energy generated by the generator 100 through a low-pass filter composed of a plurality of capacitors and inductors connected in parallel.

A plurality of capacitors connected in parallel to the primary energy storage 311 may each have different capacities, but may be arranged to increase sequentially. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of capacitors may have different capacities, such as 0.1 μF, 1 μF, and 47 μF, and may be disposed to increase sequentially.

The capacitor connected in parallel to the primary energy storage 311 may be composed of ESL and ESR three multilayer ceramic chip capacitors (MLCC) for efficiency. In this case, the inductance and resistance components of the capacitors of the primary energy storage 311 are provided by major manufacturers, and the total impedance Zs can be calculated through Equations 3 and 4 below.

[Equation 3]

[Equation 4]

The composite impedance (Xs) can be expressed by the following equation 5 according to the definition of the approximate equation of the capacitor.

[Equation 5]

Based on this equation, the capacitors connected in parallel of the primary energy storage 311 may have an impedance of about 0.01 Ω within 10 Hz. This is a very low resistance, and it is possible to increase energy storage efficiency by reducing the loss of stored energy by about 1/10 or more compared to that of an MLCC having the same frequency of 1 to 10 Ω.

In addition, the present invention receives electrical energy through a bridge diode 340 circuit that converts AC electrical energy to DC located at the front end of the primary energy storage 311, and reduces noise through a low-pass filter (LPF). It can be removed to store clean electrical energy.

In addition, the energy harvester 300 according to another embodiment of the present invention may further include an impedance matching unit 330 for impedance matching between a plurality of capacitors and inductors included in the primary energy storage 311. .

The secondary energy storage 312 is composed of a plurality of capacitors connected in parallel to receive and store electric energy stored in the primary energy storage 311.

In this case, in the present invention, the capacity of all capacitors constituting the secondary energy storage 312 is formed to be larger than the capacity of all capacitors constituting the primary energy storage 311.

Accordingly, according to the present invention, as the electric energy generated by the generator 100 is sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage 310, the voltage of the electric energy in each energy storage is sequentially lowered, and the voltage is sequentially lowered. The current of electrical energy increases sequentially, thereby operating as a current booster.

The switching unit 320 includes a first switch 321 and a second switch 322, sequentially stores electrical energy in the multiple energy storage 310 through a switching operation, and supplies the stored energy to the load. . In this case, the number of the first switch 321 and the second switch 322 of the switching unit 320 may be provided to correspond to the number of energy stores constituting the multi-energy store 310.

The first switch 321 is a MOSFET-based switch and switches the electrical energy stored in the primary energy storage 311 to be discharged and transferred to the secondary energy storage 312.

The first switch 321 switches to an off state when the current voltage of the primary energy storage 311 is less than or equal to the previous voltage so that the primary energy storage 311 is charged, and the primary energy storage 311 When the current voltage of is greater than the previous voltage, the current voltage of the first switch 321 is compared with the threshold voltage, and when the current voltage is greater than the threshold voltage, the current voltage of the primary energy storage 311 is discharged. Let it.

At this time, the first switch 321 is driven in an ON state for a predetermined time when a preset first voltage range of the primary energy storage 311 is sensed.

The second switch 322 switches to transfer electrical energy stored in the secondary energy storage 312 to the load. In this case, the second switch 322 is a multi-switch, and an IC region including a voltage comparator may be provided therein.

Like the first switch 321, the second switch 322 switches to an off state when the current voltage of the secondary energy storage 312 is less than or equal to the previous voltage so that the secondary energy storage 312 is charged. And, when the current voltage of the secondary energy storage 312 is greater than the previous voltage, the current voltage of the second switch 322 and the threshold voltage are compared, and when the current voltage is greater than the threshold voltage, the secondary energy storage 312 is turned on. The currently stored energy of 312 is discharged to the load.

At this time, the second switch 322 is driven in an ON state for a predetermined time when a preset second voltage range of the secondary energy storage 312 is sensed. In this case, the first voltage range of the primary energy storage 311 is set to be larger than the second voltage range of the secondary energy storage 312.

These first and second switches 321 and 322 may be configured as NMOS-based switches.

In addition, the switching unit 320 may check the amount of vibration of the generator 100 through monitoring of generation energy over time on the multiple energy storage 310.

On the other hand, the generated energy (Joc, open circuit Joule) by the generator 100 for generating non-linear electrical energy has a high voltage, low power, and aperiodic generated energy, but in the case of the generated energy, the voltage is a constant sine wave. It occurs by decreasing in shape.

Accordingly, as described above, the primary energy storage (st ¹ , 311) is composed of a plurality of capacitors having very low resistance for continuous energy storage while lowering the voltage.

And the primary stored energy (J _st1 ) is followed by power (Marxism) in the secondary energy storage (st ² , 312) while the first switch 321 repeats on/off through monitoring of the voltage generated from the generator 100 Power). This following power is ultimately defined as energy stored in the primary energy storage 311.

As described above, the energy harvester 300 according to another embodiment of the present invention performs Buck and Booster conversion required for power conversion according to the existing energy situation, and a single conversion functioning as a current booster composed of multiple energy storage 310 The conversion rate can be increased by presenting and simplifying the circuit.

Meanwhile, another embodiment of the present invention may operate as a current booster through the energy harvester 300.

Such a current booster includes a generator, a plurality of primary capacitors, an inductor, a first switch, a plurality of secondary capacitors and switches.

Generators generate non-linear electrical energy.

The plurality of primary capacitors each have different capacities in parallel but are connected in parallel so as to increase sequentially to receive electrical energy from the generator to primary amplify current.

The inductor is connected in series with a plurality of primary capacitors to operate as a low-pass filter.

The first switch discharges electrical energy stored in the primary capacitor to the secondary capacitor through a switching operation when the current voltage of the plurality of primary capacitors is equal to or greater than the first switching voltage.

The plurality of secondary capacitors secondarily amplify the current by receiving electric energy stored in the primary capacitor. In this case, the total capacity of the secondary capacitor is greater than the total capacity of the primary capacitor.

The second switch discharges electrical energy stored in the secondary capacitor to the load through a switching operation when the second switching voltage is greater than or equal to the first switching voltage.

In an embodiment of the present invention through such a current booster, the voltage is sequentially lowered from the primary capacitor to the secondary capacitor, but the current is amplified and sequentially increased.

On the other hand, the current booster according to another embodiment of the present invention shares the technical characteristics with the energy harvester 300 according to another embodiment of the present invention, so that the detailed description is replaced by the description in the energy harvester 300 do.

Hereinafter, a switching operation in the above-described current booster and the energy harvester 300 performing this function will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

9 is a diagram for explaining a switching operation in the current booster and energy harvester 300.

First, the first switch 321 monitors the current voltage V _st1 (k) of the primary energy storage 311 (S305), and at this time, the state of the first switch 321 is maintained to be an open state ( S310).

This monitoring process is continuously performed when the current voltage V _st1 (k) is less than the minimum voltage V _MIN (k) (S315-N).

In contrast, when the current voltage (V _st1 (k)) is equal to or greater than the minimum voltage (V _MIN (k)) (S315-Y), the first switch 321 is the current voltage of the primary energy storage 311 (V _st1 (k )) and the previous voltage (V _st1 (k-1)) are compared (S320).

As a result of the comparison, when the current voltage (V _st1 (k)) of the primary energy storage 311 is less than the previous voltage (V _st1 (k-1)) (S325-N), the first switch 321 is kept open. It is (S330) and continuously stores the voltage in the primary energy storage 311 (S335).

On the other hand, if the current voltage (V _st1 (k)) of the primary energy storage 311 is greater than the previous voltage (V _st1 (k-1)) as shown in Equation 4 as a result of the comparison (S325-Y), through Equation 5 It is determined whether the current voltage V _GS of the first switch 321 (S _MOS ) is greater than the threshold voltage V _th (S340).

[Equation 6]

[Equation 7]

As a result of the determination, when the current voltage (V _GS ) of the first switch (S _MOS , 321) is greater than the threshold voltage (V _th ) (S340-Y), the first switch 321 is turned on (S345) and Marxism power is sent to the energy storage 312 (S350).

In this case, the first switch 321 is driven in an ON state for a predetermined time when a preset first voltage V _{st1_ref} of the primary energy storage 311 is sensed. The preset first voltage (V _{st1 _ref} ) of the primary energy storage 311 refers to the limit voltage of the switch short-circuit state at the current voltage (V _st1 (k)).

The voltage (ΔV _st1 (k)) collected for a predetermined time while the first switch 321 is turned on may be expressed as Equation 6, which is a voltage stored until the first switch 321 is turned off.

[Equation 8]

)은 2차 에너지 저장소(312)의 기 설정된 제 2 전압(V_{st2 _ref})보다 낮아야 한다.On the other hand, the preset first voltage (V _{st1 _ref} ) of the primary energy storage 311 must be higher than the preset second voltage (V _{st2 _ref} ) of the secondary energy storage 312, and primary The sum of the voltage (ΔV _st2 (J)) collected from the energy storage 311 for a certain period of time (

) _Must be lower than a preset second voltage (V _{st2 _ref} ) of the secondary energy storage 312.

When a voltage between, for example, 1.33-1.37V is applied to the secondary energy storage (st ² , 312), the on-off of the second switch 322 is the first switch 321 connected to the primary energy storage 311 Repeated in the same way as, it delivers energy to the DC-DC booster.

According to such a method, an embodiment of the present invention uniformly stores voltage and current according to changes in power generation energy as energy, and lowers the voltage, thereby internally charging buck or internally for high voltage operation. Complex IC structures such as multi-stage Morse switches and inductors can be simplified, reducing the complexity of PMICs.

In addition, by freely adjusting the space of the energy storage through the multiple energy storage 310, it is possible to increase efficiency by using a PMIC or DC-DC through a single mode current booster.

In conclusion, according to an embodiment of the present invention, energy loss from the generator 100 as a generation source can be reduced, and high efficiency can be provided even in the use of PMIC.

Meanwhile, since the second switch 322 operates in the same manner as the first switch 321, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, in the above description, steps S310 to S350 may be further divided into additional steps or may be combined into fewer steps according to an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, some steps may be omitted as necessary, and the order between steps may be changed. In addition, even if other contents are omitted, the contents already described with respect to the energy harvester 300 in FIG. 8 also apply to FIG. 9.

Meanwhile, an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a computer program stored in a medium executed by a computer or a recording medium including instructions executable by a computer. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer, and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. Further, the computer-readable medium may include both computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically includes computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or other transmission mechanism, and includes any information delivery medium.

Although the methods and systems of the present invention have been described in connection with specific embodiments, some or all of their components or operations may be implemented using a computer system having a general-purpose hardware architecture.

The above description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes only, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to understand that other specific forms can be easily modified without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention will be. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not limiting. For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a distributed manner, and similarly, components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims to be described later rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modified forms derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

1: pacemaker
10: case
100: generator
110: amplification damper
200: energy harvester
210: temporary energy storage
220: multiple energy storage
230: power management department
231: voltage monitor
232: clock generator
233: controller
234: DC-DC converter
235: PG controller

Claims (17)

A generator that generates nonlinear electrical energy using a friction element,
The developed nonlinear electric energy is transferred to a multi-level energy storage
An energy harvester that sequentially stores and supplies electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage units, and
It communicates with an external diagnostic device, and when gain adjustment is necessary, calculates the RF gain for adjusting the gain of the RF signal and the digital gain for adjusting the gain of the digital signal, respectively, and applies the RF gain and the digital gain together. Communication module including gain control device
A pacemaker comprising a. The method of claim 1,
Heart pacemaker further comprising a case for protecting the generator and the energy harvester. The method of claim 2,
The energy harvester is disposed to be parallel to the cross section on the upper side of the case,
The generator is disposed on the lower side of the case, and the heart pacemaker is disposed to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case by a predetermined interval. The method of claim 3,
The generator is disposed so as to be spaced apart from the cross section of the case by a predetermined interval, and the lowermost cross section of the case is formed to be smaller than the curvature of the generator. The method of claim 3,
The generator is a pacemaker comprising a plurality of amplification dampers formed on the outermost layer. The method of claim 5,
The amplification damper is formed in a size corresponding to the predetermined interval and is attached to both ends of the case. The method of claim 5,
The amplifying damper is a pacemaker to sustain the fine movement of the friction element in a space spaced apart from the case by a predetermined interval according to an external movement. The method of claim 5,
The amplification damper is a pacemaker formed so that a plurality of elastic materials are integrally configured. The method of claim 1,
Heart pacemaker, characterized in that the friction element of the generator is a Triboelectric Nano-Generator. The method of claim 1,
Electronic circuits that transmit electrical signals through lead wires and
Heart pacemaker further comprising a battery for supplying power to the electronic circuit. The method of claim 1,
A pacemaker further comprising a communication module for transmitting a heartbeat message to a diagnostic device through a wireless communication-based network. Following paragraph 1,
The energy harvester controls the electrical energy to be sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage based on a voltage of an energy storage in which electrical energy is currently stored among the multiple energy storage and the stability of the voltage. The method of claim 12,
The energy harvester monitors the voltage generated in the friction element and the voltage of the multi-energy storage, and based on the monitoring result, the power management unit controls the switching operation of the switch so that the electric energy is sequentially stored in the multi-energy storage. It will include a pacemaker. The method of claim 13,
The power management unit maintains the electric energy to be stored in the energy storage currently being charged when the deviation of the RMS voltage value during a specific time period of the energy storage currently being charged is greater than a preset value. Pacemaker. The method of claim 13,
The power management unit is a pacemaker to sequentially discharge the multiple energy storage according to the electrical energy supply request from the load. In the method of operating a pacemaker capable of self-generation,
Storing nonlinear electric energy generated by using the friction element in multiple energy storage;
Measuring voltage levels of the multiple energy stores;
Controlling the electrical energy to be sequentially stored in the multiple energy storage based on the voltage of the energy storage in which the electrical energy is currently stored and the stability of the voltage;
Supplying electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage units;
Calculating an RF gain for adjusting a gain of an RF signal and a digital gain for adjusting a gain of a digital signal, respectively, when a gain adjustment is required when communicating with an external diagnostic device; And
Applying the RF gain and the digital gain together
Heart pacemaker operation method comprising a. In a pacemaker capable of energy harvesting,
A generator that generates nonlinear electrical energy using a friction element,
A temporary energy storage unit for temporarily storing the generated electric energy; a multiple energy storage unit receiving and storing electric energy temporarily stored in the temporary energy storage unit; and a voltage of an energy storage unit in which electric energy is currently stored among the multiple energy storage units; An energy harvester comprising a power management unit that sequentially stores the electrical energy in the multiple energy storage units and supplies the electrical energy stored in the multiple energy storage units based on the stability of voltage, and
A gain that communicates with an external diagnostic device and calculates the RF gain for adjusting the gain of the RF signal and the digital gain for adjusting the gain of the digital signal, respectively, and applies the RF gain and the digital gain together when gain adjustment is necessary Communication module including control device
A pacemaker comprising a.

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