In-Ear Energy Harvesting for Wearables Technologies from Jaw-Joint Deformation

可穿戴设备技术的入耳式能量收集技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-06192
• 负责人: Voix, Jérémie
• 金额: $ 2.26万
• 依托单位: École de technologie supérieure
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754528
• 关键词: Ear; Energy; Harvesting; Wearables; Technologies

The goal of the proposed research program is to advance state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of human earcanal deformations resulting from jaw-joint movement during eating and speaking activities. Such knowledge will help to develop miniaturized in-ear micro-energy harvesters able to transform this mechanical energy into a source of electrical power for all kinds of electronic in-ear wearable devices, including hearing aids.To achieve this, four interrelated research projects, involving 2 master's degree students (MS) and 2 doctoral students (PhD), will be conducted to: a) quantify the typical amount of mechanical energy generated on a daily basis from earcanal deformation, b) study earcanal deformations and determine the stress-strain properties of the human earcanal fitted with a custom earpiece, c) model the mechanical coupling between the earcanal, the in-ear device and the embedded micro-energy harvester, d) develop a parametric model for the individualized design of a micro-energy harvester that matches each individual earcanal morphology.The proposed research program will provide unique knowledge relating to the human earcanal's static and dynamic deformation. Such knowledge is of great interest for various medical fields of research, from the mechanical design of comfortable biomedical in-ear devices (hearing protectors, hearing aids, communication earpieces, etc.) to the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), a medical condition where proper models of earcanal deformation are key.The outcome of the research program will also be of clear benefit for the design of in-ear micro-energy harvesters. Such technology could benefit our Canadian industrial partner, EERS Technologies 4.0 Inc., for the future powering of its own product line of electronic hearing protection and communication-in-noise earpieces currently being developed within the NSERC-EERS Industrial Research Chair in In-Ear technologies held by the applicant. Finally, the licence of the resulting technology to hearing-aid manufacturers could ultimately lead to the development of self-powered hearing-aids and would be a great relief to the 300 million users who currently have to change their hearing aid batteries on a weekly basis.

拟议的研究计划的目标是促进在饮食和说话活动期间下颌运动带来的人类耳割变形领域的最新知识。这种知识将有助于开发微型的入耳式微量能量收割机，能够将这种机械能量转化为各种电子式可穿戴设备的电力来源，包括助听器。 b）研究听力群落变形，并确定人类耳can的应力应变特性，拟合带有定制耳机，c）模型，c）模型在耳锁，耳式设备，入耳式设备和嵌入的微型能量收获器之间的机械耦合，d）为每个人的求职者提供了一个独特的earter earty nortion formanty Earty的参数模型，以提供匹配的互联网，以匹配匹配的介于小型培训的介于Earcanal的静态和动态变形。从舒适的生物医学内部设备的机械设计（助听器，助听器，通讯耳机等）到颞下颌关节障碍（TMJ）的处理，这种知识对各种研究的研究都引起了极大的兴趣，颞叶层关节疾病（TMJ）是一种适当的earcanal变形模型。研究计划的关键。这样的技术可以使我们的加拿大工业合作伙伴EERS Technologies 4.0 Inc.有益于其自己的电子听力保护产品系列和通信透明耳机的未来动力，目前正在申请人持有的Nserc-Eers工业研究主席内开发。最后，由此产生的技术对助听器制造商的许可最终可能导致自动助听器的发展，这将使目前必须每周更换助听器电池的3亿用户非常缓解。