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Characterization Of A Packaged Triboelectric Harvester Under Simulated Gait Loading For Total Knee Replacement, Nabid Aunjum Hossain, Geofrey George Yamomo, Ryan Willing, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Load sensing total knee replacement (TKR) implants are useful tools for monitoring prosthesis health and providing quantitative data to support patient claims of pain or instability. Powering such devices throughout the entire life of the knee replacement, however, is a challenge, and selfpowered telemetry via energy harvesting is an attractive solution. Herein, we implemented vertical contact mode triboelectric energy harvesters inside a knee implant package to generate the power required for embedded digitization and communications circuitry. The harvesters produce small-scale electric power from physiologically relevant loads transmitted through the knee. Experiments were performed on a joint motion simulator with an …