This one may swing multiple ways since it's remarkable the process is possible but who would really want to do it. Researchers have devised a way to power implants such as a pacemaker with a solar cell of about one-inch square which is affixed in some way to the skin. (Science Daily: The beating heart of solar energy)
Maybe you think 'no way am I going to wear that horrible thing' but the other side is it permits making the implant much smaller and therefore less intrusive / less medically-dangerous, etc.
The notion of using solar cells placed under the skin to continuously recharge implanted electronic medical devices is a viable one. Swiss researchers have done the math, and found that a 3.6 square centimeter solar cell is all that is needed to generate enough power during winter and summer to power a typical pacemaker. The study is the first to provide real-life data about the potential of using solar cells to power devices such as pacemakers and deep brain stimulators. According to lead author Lukas Bereuter of Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern in Switzerland, wearing power-generating solar cells under the skin will one day save patients the discomfort of having to continuously undergo procedures to change the batteries of such life-saving devices. The findings are set out in Springer's journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
- SD
I'm still getting a vibe of kind of cool and kind of creepy plus there's also what if I'm kidnapped and taken underground by the Morlocks where there is hardly any light.
Ed: it doesn't matter when eventually the Morlocks will eat your otherwise worthless corpus!
Good point
No matter what season, the tiny cells were always found to generate much more than the 5 to 10 microwatts of power that a typical cardiac pacemaker uses. The participant with the lowest power output still obtained 12 microwatts on average.
"The overall mean power obtained is enough to completely power for example a pacemaker or at least extend the lifespan of any other active implant," notes Bereuter. "By using energy-harvesting devices such as solar cells to power an implant, device replacements may be avoided and the device size may be reduced dramatically."
Maybe you think 'no way am I going to wear that horrible thing' but the other side is it permits making the implant much smaller and therefore less intrusive / less medically-dangerous, etc.
The notion of using solar cells placed under the skin to continuously recharge implanted electronic medical devices is a viable one. Swiss researchers have done the math, and found that a 3.6 square centimeter solar cell is all that is needed to generate enough power during winter and summer to power a typical pacemaker. The study is the first to provide real-life data about the potential of using solar cells to power devices such as pacemakers and deep brain stimulators. According to lead author Lukas Bereuter of Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern in Switzerland, wearing power-generating solar cells under the skin will one day save patients the discomfort of having to continuously undergo procedures to change the batteries of such life-saving devices. The findings are set out in Springer's journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
- SD
I'm still getting a vibe of kind of cool and kind of creepy plus there's also what if I'm kidnapped and taken underground by the Morlocks where there is hardly any light.
Ed: it doesn't matter when eventually the Morlocks will eat your otherwise worthless corpus!
Good point
No matter what season, the tiny cells were always found to generate much more than the 5 to 10 microwatts of power that a typical cardiac pacemaker uses. The participant with the lowest power output still obtained 12 microwatts on average.
"The overall mean power obtained is enough to completely power for example a pacemaker or at least extend the lifespan of any other active implant," notes Bereuter. "By using energy-harvesting devices such as solar cells to power an implant, device replacements may be avoided and the device size may be reduced dramatically."
- SD
We're buying it that they work well for this purpose but it's still a creepy idea. It's a substantial problem to solve with implanted batteries but we're not entirely convinced this is the way to do it.
Your call. Would you permit a solar cell to be implanted in your body.
Before you answer, doesn't it seem the only way to be sure of the most sunlight is if the device is implanted on your head or your hands.
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