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The purpose of this project is to design a pump which can be used to fill breast implants. Currently, saline breast implants are filled by means of a 60 mL syringe. The process to fill the implant can be very repetitive and is prone to human error. Also, the saline is exposed to bacteria because the process is not a closed system. By researching various methods used by other surgeons, we are trying to create a closed system that is not susceptible to human error, and can shorten the length of breast augmentation surgeries. Our goal is to design a pump that will be able to pump 300 to 600 mL of saline solution into a breast implant. The system must eliminate air exposure as much as possible to eliminate contamination to the saline solution. The system must be able to intake and outtake the saline from the breast implant and be fairly simple to use.
Our team has constructed a system that works using the peristaltic pump from the UW hospital. We are currently preparing for our final presentation and we will soon show Dr. Rao our design and give him suggestions.
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 9 | Team met for the first time and exchanged information. The client was also contacted. |
| 2 | September 16 | Met with Dr. Rao at the UW-hospital for the first time and determined the client’s requirements for this project. Also, began internet research on peristaltic pumps and on breast augmentation. |
| 3 | September 23 | Contacted client again and establish meeting times for the next step in the design process. Also, finished most of the work on the PDS, and broke down into three subgroups. |
| 4 | September 30 | Researched tubing and pumps on the internet. Three subgroups continued to brainstorm different design ideas. |
| 5 | October 7 | Subgoups made drafts for various design ideas, and began to write mid-semester reports as well as made powerpoint presentations. |
| 6 | October 14 | Each subgroup finished, and presented their own midsemester reports and presentations. |
| 7 | October 21 | The subgroups joined back together into one whole group and discussion went underway as to which direction the project would take. |
| 8 | October 28 | Our team went through Human Subject Certification. We also met with Dr. Rao again and determined what direction we should take in this project. This week also marks the continuation of the large group design stage. |
| 9 | November 4 | Our team contacted Omega Engineering Inc., and Gilson Inc. to see if either company is willing to lend us a peristaltic pump in order to test our design. |
| 10 | November 11 | We are still trying to test a peristaltic pump that fits our design from either Gilson Inc. or Cole Parmer. We are also in the process of incorporating the tubing component to our design. |
| 11 | November 18 | The team contacted Dr. Rao and he felt the best option was to use a system involving the peristaltic pump at the UW Hospital. |
| 12 | November 25 | The Klein pump was obtained from the UW hospital and it was fitted with the existing tubing. |
| 13 | December 2 | Pressure and flow rate experiments were completed on the Klein pump. |
| 14 | December 9 | The team prepared and presented our final presentation. Most of the final paper was also completed. |
| 15 | December 16 | Putting the finishing touches on our final paper and preparing our design notebooks to turn in. Also, we plan to give Dr. Rao our current design and give him suggestions on an ideal peristaltic pump that would fit his requirements. |
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Midsemester Report (Dec 4 2003, 245 kb) |
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Final Power Point Presentation (Dec 4 2003, 95 kb) |
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Mid-semester Power Point Presentation (Dec 4 2003, 610 kb) |
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Final Report (Dec 9 2003, 1368 kb) |
