Design and analysis of a compliant 3D printed energy harvester housing for knee implants

Instrumented implants have the potential to detect abnormal loading patterns which could be deleterious to implant longevity, indicating a need for intervention which could reduce the need for more complicated revision surgeries. Reliably powering such devices has been one obstacle preventing widespread usage of instrumented implants in clinical populations. This study presents a 3D-printed titanium interpositional device designed to integrate triboelectric generators (TEGs) into a commercially available total knee replacement (TKR). The device's stiffness, durability, and efficacy as a TEG housing were determined. Surprisingly, the stiffness of the 3D printed prototype was 73% less than what was calculated in a corresponding computational model, and under long-term durability testing failed after approximately 30,000 cycles of simulated gait loading. Under cyclical compressive loading, TEGs embedded in the device were able to generate 10.05 μW of power which is sufficient to run the frontend electronics for a load measurement system. The stiffness discrepancy between the computational and experimental models and the premature fatigue failure are suspected to be a result of internal porosity, unfused material and surface roughness of the 3D printed metal. Further refinements in design and manufacturing of the compliant device are required to improve its durability and TEG power output.