Energy harvesting from human body for biomedical autonomous systems

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the possibility of recovering electrical energy from human body with micro and macro movements. Micro movements are from breath while macro movements are from hands and/or foot. Their combination can represent, in terms of quantity, an interesting availability to supply biomedical autonomous apparatuses and devices. The choice of integrating these kinds of movements will help patients or persons to recover energy, e.g. from breath while they are seated. Consequently, a correct modeling is requested to optimize the energy converter for supplying the biomedical autonomous systems. In human beings, when each breath process is completed, the lung still contains a volume of air, called the functional residual capacity (approximately 2200 mL). The current research shows the usefulness of a correct modeling, hence a correct converter. The paper allows to determine the minimum mechanical energy necessary to get an interesting level of electrical energy.