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We are interested in designing a device that rapidly increases the catheter volume by 3 l to measure stiffness during specific intervals of the cardiac cycle in mice. The compliance of the heart is defined as change in pressure divided by change in volume (dP/dV). A catheter and pressure transducer that fits in mouse hearts is already in use for stiffness measurements, so we are only focused on changing the volume of fluid in the catheter tip. Since a mouse heart beats 240 times every minute, the injection needs to be complete within 5 ms to accurately study conditions at specific intervals of the cardiac cycle.
A prototype has been designed and built to rigidly hold a piezoelectric stack and syringe. The only current problem is obtaining a high voltage power supply that can handle a capacitive load and is capable of being triggered with TTL.
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 23 | Met with Client, decided to research piezo design more |
| 2 | January 30 | Set up meeting with professor Chessler |
| 3 | February 6 | Meet with professor Chessler, find force required to push fluid in allotted time. |
| 4 | February 13 | Finish flow calculations, research lever and materials for final design. Begin initial designs |
| 5 | February 20 | Decide on most practical and feasible design and piezo device. |
| 6 | February 27 | Order piezostack and work on midsemester presentation |
| 7 | March 5 | Midsemester Presentation and waiting for components. |
| 8 | March 12 | Design experimental testing |
| 9 | March 19 | Outreach planning |
| 10 | March 26 | Designing Prototype |
| 11 | April 2 | Patent Disclosure |
| 12 | April 9 | Designing Prototype |
| 13 | April 16 | Building prototype |
| 14 | April 23 | Testing/ Analysis |
| 15 | April 30 | Final poster |
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Mid-semester Presentation (Apr 29 2004, 3305 kb) |
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PDS (Apr 10 2004, 43 kb) |
|
Final Poster (Apr 29 2004, 3305 kb) |
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Final Report (May 5 2004, 724 kb) |
