29 Mars – Thesis defense - Fiona Somoreau
09 h30 Amphi D - ENSEIRB-MATMECA (Talence)
Exploration of guided wave propagation along bones. Application for a wireless energy transfer.
Among all the revolutions brought by the twentieth century, one of the most notable should be the victories (and sometimes, eradication) over many fatal and widespread diseases.
Massive use of pharmaceuticals and advanced vaccines are now a vital part of our global health system.
However every technic has its limits, and it is now time for new technologies to flourish and fight the new outbreak of the twenty-first century: neurodegenerative and neurological diseases.
Treatments based on stimulation and neuro-modulation (mostly, implanted devices) already show promising results, but must still cross a lot of barriers to achieve their true potential. “Electroceuticals” require to be as close as possible of the organ to treat, while including a large, risky, and heat-generating battery.
This design flaw is almost simple to address: removing the battery entirely, and connecting the agent to a remote power supply. The objective is to dramatically reduce the size of the implant itself, while increasing its “implantability” (targeting deeper regions of the human body such as the brain, the thoracic cage, etc.).
This thesis from the IMS and I2M Bordeaux laboratories proposes the use of acoustic waves for energy transfer thanks to 1) their short wavelengths and 2) their power density in human tissues (of 72mW/mm²), more advantageous than electromagnetic energy transfer.
This essay focuses on the transmission of guided acoustic energy along the bones, and the identification of the most suitable guided modes.
Results from numerical simulations match the measurements on phantom materials in simplified configurations.
This paper also proposes a concept of "relay”, capable of converting the energy from a magnetic coupling into guided acoustic energy.
