Design and Implementation of Power Supply for Hearing Aids based on Human Thermal Energy

Abstract

This paper presents thermoelectric harvester prototype generator to convert waste heat of human body (skin) into electrical energy for supplying a hearing aid unit with renewable energy. The method used for harvesting the human body thermal energy is the principles of Peltier effects which is known as thermoelectric effects. The proposed model consists of three main units, generation, amplification and hearing aid. The required number of Peltier elements and skin area are specified. The laboratory results show that the hearing aids can be powered successively by human thermal energy system with a suitable amplification unit. Also the result shows that the generation energy depends on the system location on the human body and ambient temperature.