The main goal of this research is to design a snake-like robot arm to provide control of a cardiac catheter for use in endovascular aortic repair that is small, cheap, and easy to use. This will help increase the number of aortic aneurysms eligible for endovascular repair and make the procedure simpler and safer for both the patient and the operator. The arm surrounds the catheter and is comprised of two joints that can independently move in any direction giving the operator the ability to easily navigate complicated paths and to control the arm remotely. The arm is controlled by Flexinol actuator wire which is comprised of a nickel titanium alloy that contracts when heated. This allows the arm to be controlled electrically by sending current through the actuator wire thereby heating it. The level of current can be controlled using a microcontroller to generate a pulse width modulated signal to vary the average current. The arm can then be controlled remotely by an operator.
Cardiac catheter control using actuator wire
Abstract
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Cardiac catheter control using actuator wire
- Creators
- Adam Thomas Snyder - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- David Andersen (Advisor)Er-Wei Bai (Committee Member)Anton Kruger (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (MS), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Date degree season
- Summer 2017
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.lube0kaw
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- vi, 33 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2017 Adam Thomas Snyder
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- color illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 32-33).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Catheters are devices that have allowed physicians to perform medical procedures within a patient’s blood vessels without the need for open surgery. Catheters are limited however by their maneuverability which restricts them from being used for more complicated procedures. The solution proposed in this paper is a snake-like robotic arm that can control the catheter to provide extra maneuverability through the blood vessels. The arm uses a special wire that contracts when electricity is passed through it. The amount of contraction in this wire can be controlled by using different amounts of electricity. The arm is then designed with two joints so that the contraction of the wire will bend a joint in a specific direction. A joint can be bent in any direction and each joint can be bent in independently so the arm can perform complicated maneuvers. The operator can then control the arm remotely.
- Academic Unit
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9983776754002771