Pain Probe

Table of Contents

• Project Overview.
• Project Status.
• Project Timeline.
• Presentations and Reports.
• Contact Information.

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Project Overview

To build an apparatus which helps to measure the pain sensitivity in patients with a chronic pain condition, fibromyalgia, in order to better understand what causes the mysterious condition. When a subject’s hand is subjected to warm and cool sensations within close proximity, the brain registers this as pain. The device should use an alternating hot/cold thermal grill to create this pain sensation without actually harming the patient. It is important that the thermal components are able to reach the desired temperature almost instantly.

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Project Status

We have finished our prototype and the poster presentation.

Progress Report Archive.

• Week 1 - week of January 23
• Week 2 - week of January 30
• Week 3 - week of February 6
• Week 4 - week of February 13
• Week 5 - week of February 20
• Week 6 - week of February 27
• Week 7 - week of March 5
• Week 8 - week of March 12
• Week 10 - week of March 26
• Week 11 - week of April 2
• Week 13 - week of April 16
• Week 15 - week of April 30
• Week 14 - week of April 23

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Project Timeline

Week	Reporting Period Beginning	Activities
1	January 23	Meet with client, brainstorm.
2	January 30	Create PDS, continue brainstorming.
3	February 6	Met with Professor Klein, a thermodynamics professor.
4	February 13	Met with Professor Martin, another thermodynamics professor.
5	February 20	Decide on final design.
6	February 27	Complete rough draft of report and oral presentation.
7	March 5	Oral presentation, complete final copy of mid-semester paper.
8	March 12	Research companies for material purchase.
9	March 19	Spring Break
10	March 26	Met with Professor Webster, researched materials to use for the hot component.
11	April 2	Met with Professor Webster and found a circuit to use for controlling the temperature of the hot device.
12	April 9	Met with Professor Martin, researched temperature coefficient of resistivity for stainless steel, and used heat transfer calculations to determine values of resistors needed and size of the hot component.
13	April 16	Ordered copper rods, power op-amp, and stainless steel sheet.
14	April 23	Built cold component of the design.
15	April 30	Finished prototype and poster presentation

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Presentations and Reports

	Product Design Specification (PDS) (Mar 4 2004, 28 kb)
	Mid-Semester Presentation (Mar 4 2004, 901 kb)
	Mid-Semester Paper (Mar 11 2004, 184 kb)
	Poster Presentation (May 5 2004, 311 kb)
	Final Paper (May 5 2004, 1609 kb)

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Contact Information

Project Team

• Jeff Swift - BWIG
• Stacey Hoebel - Communicator
• Anna Karas - BSAC

Project Advisor and Client

• Professor Willis Tompkins - Advisor
• Christopher Coe, Ph.D. - Professor of Psychology

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