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Anesthesia slows metabolism, which can lead to hypothermia and eventual death. During prolonged MicroPET/CT scans, small animals, often mice, are exposed to anesthesia for extended periods of time and it is important for the well-being of the animal and the sake of the research to keep the body temperature steady. Heating lights are often used to provide heat but they don’t have the capacity to distribute heat uniformly or regulate temperature. Therefore, a heating device was designed in order to provide controllable and steady temperature during prolonged MicroPET/CT scans. The goal is to improve the device to make it more user-friendly and aesthetic and to perform extensive testing.
Design Team
This week we completed the final assembly of the design, constructed our poster, and practiced for our final presentation.
Full Design
Tube Heater
Mouse Enclosure
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 7 | Formulated our team and contacted our client |
| 2 | September 14 | Made a list of things to do this semester, and modified our PDS |
| 3 | September 21 | Compiled design matrix, met with Mo at UW Hospital Research lab to ensure that design fits in MicroPET/CT, tested phantoms to ensure design doesn’t cause artifacts |
| 4 | September 28 | Communicated with professors including Mahesh Mahanthappa to ask advice for different material use, purchased new casing and larger nylon screws for heater, began working on new heater, began SolidWorks design, ordered more nichrome wire |
| 5 | October 5 | Purchased and assembled PVC for connection between heater and mouse encasing, received nichrome wire and began coiling it, contacted a mechanical engineering grad student for help with heat transfer equations |
| 6 | October 12 | Assembled PVC between mouse encasing and heater, continued work on heater, put together mid-semester presentation |
| 7 | October 19 | Finished assembling the heater, completed our mid-semester presentation and finalized our mid-semester report |
| 8 | October 26 | Made a power supply for the heater, tested it with nichrome, constructed the PVC wrap-around tube for anesthesia recycling at the back of the mouse encasing, and cut the polyethylene platform |
| 9 | November 2 | Assembled an alternative design for the heater with resistors replacing the nichrome, tested the new heater and measured its output, and graphed the heater warm-up |
| 10 | November 9 | Tested the heat output at the entrance to the Mouse House and in the upper chamber of the Mouse House. Purchased polyethylene foam insulation for the Mouse House |
| 11 | November 16 | Added insulation around heater, finished making all parts for Mouse House, filled Mouse House caps with insulation for air tight seal at platform |
| 12 | November 23 | Finished insulating entire system, finished wooden box for dimmer switch, performed maintenence on heater to ensure it functions properly, finished gluing all parts together, began work on the poster |
| 13 | November 30 | Finished poster, completed final presentation, worked on final paper |
| 14 | December 7 | Finished final paper |
| 15 | December 14 | Exam week |
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Heating Device Mid-Semester Presentation (Oct 18 2007, 1688 kb) |
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Heating Device Product Design Specification (Oct 18 2007, 21 kb) |
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Mid-Semester Report (Oct 24 2007, 467 kb) |
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Final Poster (Dec 10 2007, 240 kb) |
