Matching Items (4)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: 3D Printing
Description
This paper summarizes the [1] ideas behind, [2] needs, [3] development, and [4] testing of 3D-printed sensor-stents known as Stentzors. This sensor was successfully developed entirely from scratch, tested, and was found to have an output of 3.2*10-6 volts per RMS pressure in pascals. This paper also recommends further work to render the Stentzor deployable in live subjects, including [1] further design optimization, [2] electrical isolation, [3] wireless data transmission, and [4] testing for aneurysm prevention.
ContributorsMeidinger, Aaron Michael (Author) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Many industries require workers in warehouse and stockroom environments to perform frequent lifting tasks. Over time these repeated tasks can lead to excess strain on the worker's body and reduced productivity. This project seeks to develop an exoskeletal wrist fixture to be used in conjunction with a powered exoskeleton arm to aid workers performing box lifting types of tasks. Existing products aimed at improving worker comfort and productivity typically employ either fully powered exoskeleton suits or utilize minimally powered spring arms and/or fixtures. These designs either reduce stress to the user's body through powered arms and grippers operated via handheld controls which have limited functionality, or they use a more minimal setup that reduces some load, but exposes the user's hands and wrists to injury by directing support to the forearm. The design proposed here seeks to strike a balance between size, weight, and power requirements and also proposes a novel wrist exoskeleton design which minimizes stress on the user's wrists by directly interfacing with the object to be picked up. The design of the wrist exoskeleton was approached through initially selecting degrees of freedom and a ROM (range of motion) to accommodate. Feel and functionality were improved through an iterative prototyping process which yielded two primary designs. A novel "clip-in" method was proposed to allow the user to easily attach and detach from the exoskeleton. Designs utilized a contact surface intended to be used with dry fibrillary adhesives to maximize exoskeleton grip. Two final designs, which used two pivots in opposite kinematic order, were constructed and tested to determine the best kinematic layout. The best design had two prototypes created to be worn with passive test arms that attached to the user though a specially designed belt.
ContributorsGreason, Kenneth Berend (Author) / Sugar, Thomas (Thesis director) / Holgate, Matthew (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
For the past two decades, advanced Limb Gait Simulators and Exoskeletons have been developed to improve walking rehabilitation. A Limb Gait Simulator is used to analyze the human step cycle and/or assist a user walking on a treadmill. Most modern limb gait simulators, such as ALEX, have proven themselves effective and reliable through their usage of motors, springs, cables, elastics, pneumatics and reaction loads. These mechanisms apply internal forces and reaction loads to the body. On the other hand, external forces are those caused by an external agent outside the system such as air, water, or magnets. A design for an exoskeleton using external forces has seldom been attempted by researchers. This thesis project focuses on the development of a Limb Gait Simulator based on a Pure External Force and has proven its effectiveness in generating torque on the human leg. The external force is generated through air propulsion using an Electric Ducted Fan (EDF) motor. Such a motor is typically used for remote control airplanes, but their applications can go beyond this. The objective of this research is to generate torque on the human leg through the control of the EDF engines thrust and the opening/closing of the reverse thruster flaps. This device qualifies as "assist as needed"; the user is entirely in control of how much assistance he or she may want. Static thrust values for the EDF engine are recorded using a thrust test stand. The product of the thrust (N) and the distance on the thigh (m) is the resulting torque. With the motor running at maximum RPM, the highest torque value reached was that of 3.93 (Nm). The motor EDF motor is powered by a 6S 5000 mAh LiPo battery. This torque value could be increased with the usage of a second battery connected in series, but this comes at a price. The designed limb gait simulator demonstrates that external forces, such as air, could have potential in the development of future rehabilitation devices.
ContributorsToulouse, Tanguy Nathan (Author) / Sugar, Thomas (Thesis director) / Artemiadis, Panagiotis (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The advent of medical imaging has enabled significant advances in pre-procedural planning, allowing cardiovascular anatomy to be visualized noninvasively before a procedure. However, absolute scale and tactile information are not conveyed in traditional pre-procedural planning based on images alone. This information deficit fails to completely prepare clinicians for complex heart repair, where surgeons must consider the varied presentations of cardiac morphology and malformations. Three-dimensional (3D) visualization and 3D printing provide a mechanism to construct patient-specific, scale models of cardiovascular anatomy that surgeons and interventionalists can examine prior to a procedure. In addition, the same patient-specific models provide a valuable resource for educating future medical professionals. Instead of looking at idealized images on a computer screen or pages from medical textbooks, medical students can review a life-like model of patient anatomy.
In cases where surgical repair is insufficient to return the heart to normal function, a patient may proceed to advanced heart failure, and a heart transplant may be required. Unfortunately, a finite number of available donor hearts are available. A mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device can be used to bridge the time between heart failure and reception of a donor heart. These MCS devices are typically constructed for the adult population. Accordingly, the size associated to the device is a limiting factor for small adults or pediatric patients who often have smaller thoracic measurements. While current eligibility criteria are based on correlative measurements, the aforementioned 3D visualization capabilities can be leveraged to accomplish patient-specific fit analysis.
The main objectives of the work presented in this dissertation were 1) to develop and evaluate an optimized process for 3D printing cardiovascular anatomy for surgical planning and medical education and 2) to develop and evaluate computational tools to assess MCS device fit in specific patients. The evaluations for objectives 1 and 2 were completed with a collection of qualitative and quantitative validations. These validations include case studies to illustrate meaningful, qualitative results as well as quantitative results from surgical outcomes. The latter results present the first quantitative supporting evidence, beyond anecdotal case studies, regarding the efficacy of 3D printing for pre-procedural planning; this data is suitable as pilot data for clinical trials. The products of this work were used to plan 200 cardiovascular procedures (including 79 cardiothoracic surgeries at Phoenix Children's Hospital), via 3D printed heart models and assess MCS device fit in 29 patients across 6 countries.
In cases where surgical repair is insufficient to return the heart to normal function, a patient may proceed to advanced heart failure, and a heart transplant may be required. Unfortunately, a finite number of available donor hearts are available. A mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device can be used to bridge the time between heart failure and reception of a donor heart. These MCS devices are typically constructed for the adult population. Accordingly, the size associated to the device is a limiting factor for small adults or pediatric patients who often have smaller thoracic measurements. While current eligibility criteria are based on correlative measurements, the aforementioned 3D visualization capabilities can be leveraged to accomplish patient-specific fit analysis.
The main objectives of the work presented in this dissertation were 1) to develop and evaluate an optimized process for 3D printing cardiovascular anatomy for surgical planning and medical education and 2) to develop and evaluate computational tools to assess MCS device fit in specific patients. The evaluations for objectives 1 and 2 were completed with a collection of qualitative and quantitative validations. These validations include case studies to illustrate meaningful, qualitative results as well as quantitative results from surgical outcomes. The latter results present the first quantitative supporting evidence, beyond anecdotal case studies, regarding the efficacy of 3D printing for pre-procedural planning; this data is suitable as pilot data for clinical trials. The products of this work were used to plan 200 cardiovascular procedures (including 79 cardiothoracic surgeries at Phoenix Children's Hospital), via 3D printed heart models and assess MCS device fit in 29 patients across 6 countries.
ContributorsRyan, Justin Robert (Author) / Frakes, David (Thesis advisor) / Collins, Daniel (Committee member) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Pizziconi, Vincent (Committee member) / Pophal, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015