A Magnetically-Coupled Micromachined Electrostatic Energy Harvester Driven by Eye Blinking Motion

Abstract

We present the fabrication and experimental results of a magnetically coupled body motion electrostatic energy harvester chip suitable for a smart contact lens application. The device is designed to be driven by the lateral motion of the eye blinking without any physical contact with the eyelid. The $4\times 3\ \text{mm}^{2}$ harvester generates 486.54 nJ and $6.09\ \mu \mathrm{J}$ of energy per blink and average power of 194.6 nW and $2.44\ \mu \mathrm{W}$ when pre-charged at 3.18 V and 6.27 V, respectively when driven at typical blinking velocity conditions.