I-Corps: Mini Notched Turbine (MiNT)

迷你缺口涡轮机（MiNT）适合解决小型能量收集发电机的新兴技术市场，它可以为可植入，传感或监控设备系统提供可靠和可持续的电源。针对可植入设备、微系统、多系统（生物、化学、环境）传感器以及可穿戴和便携式电子设备的连续、可持续和高效的小型化电源，已经有了一些研究努力和资源。特别是对于植入式设备，这些举措寻求解决替代和/或更换电池的需求，电池的使用寿命有限，需要反复手术。在美国，每年大约有40万例植入手术，超过300万患者植入心脏装置，其中许多人需要某种持续供电的电源，几乎不需要维护就能工作。该系统提出了一个重要的解决方案，即更换植入式医疗设备的电池，否则平均每5年就要取出一次。这种解决方案最终将使受当前系统影响最大的最终用户或患者受益。所提议的创新的典型客户概况将是生物医学设备公司、医疗保健提供者（医院、医生/外科医生）、医疗患者和/或微型发电机制造商。迷你缺口涡轮机技术有潜力解决可重复植入式医疗设备（IMD）手术的频率问题，为多个植入式医疗设备供电，并在解决持续发电/输送需求的同时影响患者的生活质量。该项目的目标是设计、生产和测试一种能量收集装置的原型，该装置能够利用电磁感应将流体流动动能转化为电能。这种能量收集系统的适用范围很广，因为它可以从气体流动管道、燃料管道、水管甚至高等哺乳动物的血液中提取能量，也可以从任何有流体流动能量存在的环境中提取能量。拟议系统的潜在贡献是，在制造和使用植入式医疗设备方面产生范式转变，最终将减轻医院、保险公司和最终患者的成本负担。这也将减少重复手术的风险，减少植入救命装置的患者的焦虑和痛苦。

The Mini Notched Turbine (MiNT) is suited to address the emerging technology market for miniaturized energy harvesting generators, which can offer a reliable and sustainable source of power to implantable, sensing or monitoring device systems. There have been several research efforts and resources geared toward continuous, sustainable, and efficient miniaturized power sources for implantable devices, micro systems multisystem (bio, chemical, environmental) sensors, and wearable and portable electronics. Particularly for implantable devices, these initiatives seek to address the need for an alternative and/or replacement for batteries, which have limited lifetime and require repeated surgeries. In the United States there are approximately 400,000 implants performed per year and more than 3 million patients with implanted cardiac devices, many requiring some type of power source that supplies a continuous power and requires little maintenance to work. The proposed system presents an important solution by replacing the battery of an implantable medical device that would otherwise have to be removed every 5 years on average. This solution will ultimately benefit the end-users or patients who are most affected by the current system. A profile of the typical customer of the proposed innovation would be biomedical device companies, healthcare providers (hospitals, doctors/surgeons), medical patients, and/or manufacturers of miniature generators. The mini notched turbine technology has the potential to address the frequency of repeatable implantable medical device (IMD) surgeries, power multiple IMDs, and impact the quality of life for patients while addressing the need for continuous power generation/delivery. The goal of the project is to design, produce and test a prototype of an energy harvesting device capable of converting fluid flow kinetic energy to electrical energy by use of electromagnetic induction. This energy harvesting system has a wide scope since it can extract energy from gas flow lines, fuel lines, water pipes and even the blood stream in a higher mammal or from any environment where there is fluid flow energy present. The potential contribution of the proposed system is, to produce a paradigm shift in the manufacture and use implantable medical devices which will eventually reduce the cost burden to hospitals, insurance companies and ultimately patients. This will also reduce the risk of repeated surgeries, anxiety and pain to patients that have been implanted with a life-saving device.