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Design Program: BME 450

Semester Senior Capstone Design

Design-build-test of biomedical instrumentation project

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Key Features

• Winter semester, four credits
• Semester version of senior capstone design (full-year version is 499)
• Course organized as biomedical instrumentation company
• 60+ students, organized into teams of 5-7
• Projects sponsored by local industry, UMHS physicians, College of Engineering research labs
• Covers entire design process: problem definition; design specifications; documentation; design review; prototype fabrication, testing, and calibration
• Strong technical communication component, plus budget, scheduling, and regulatory environment
• 3-4 client meetings
• Students encouraged to showcase their designs at the U-M College of Engineering Design Expo

Sample Past Projects

Biomechanical

• Adjustable Robotic Ankle Exoskeleton
• Instrumented Speculum for Measuring Levator Ani Muscle Strength
• A Novel Mask to Facilitate Use of CPAP for Sleep Apnea
  
  

  The goal of this project is to develop an improved mask for sleep apnea treatment that provides the prescribed continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) to maintain an open airway and minimizes poor fit of the mask covering the nose (or sometimes the whole face), irritation to the bridge of the nose, and escape of air from the mask-skin interface. Obstructive sleep apnea and related forms of sleep-disordered breathing affect millions of Americans: 24% of middle-aged men and 9% of middle-aged women have potentially harmful pauses in breathing while they sleep, though most are not yet diagnosed or treated. Treatment involves a mask that fits over the nose, or the nose and mouth, and connects to standard CPAP tubing that conducts pressurized air from the CPAP machine to the patient's airway. To develop a prototype, SleepAP must determine the most effective mask shape and seal to prevent leaks and improve comfort. Seals with the face must accommodate a variety of facial contours in a manner that is nearly air-tight, comfortable, and non-irritating to the skin. Velcro or other straps holding the mask must ensure, along with the design of the mask, that leaks in the seal are minimized when patients move or change positions. The device must be safe, reusable, easily cleaned, sturdy, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

• Dynamic Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Angiography Phantom
  
  

  This project is to design and build a dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI/A phantom for controllable and reproducible fluid flow and contrast enhancement properties. The phantom would be used for trial and optimization of various DCE MRI/A acquisition techniques (i.e. timing algorithm for vascular imaging using contrast dye injection). Often dynamics of MRI signal change are of greatest interest since one can derive blood flow / tissue perfusion properties (i.e. function), as well as detail vascular luminal features (i.e. angiography); however, tradeoffs exist between contrast enhancement mechanisms spatial resolution and temporal resolution that impact the choice of MRI acquisition sequences. In addition to being non-magnetic and portable, the phantom must consist of a watertight compartment to obtain a background signal, large and small tubes that will simulate the aorta and main arteries, and a modular shunt that can be replaced with various sized "lesions" that diffuse the flow of the contrast agent administered through an injection port. The flow loop must be switchable between a closed-loop system to optimize timing algorithms and an open loop system to purge contrast dye after a trial.

• "Pin Perfect" Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis Simulator
  
  

  Orthosym Tech was asked to design a simulation device that mimics an actual Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) surgery to provide orthopaedic surgery residents with experience targeting a drill and guide-wire into position according to the degree of femoral epiphysis slippage a patient presents with. In order for orthopaedic surgery residents to initially learn and practice this skill without the risk of harming live patients, a physical model of a SCFE femur is needed. This simulation tool must allow its users to feel the resistance that a drill and guide-wire assembly encounters when being pushed through the different tissue layers in the thigh. It should provide proper visualization of the guide-wire relative to the cap to account for the x-rays and visual aspects that would be viewed throughout the surgery and allow the user to repeatedly attempt guide wire placements and should be adjustable for varying degrees of epiphysis slippage. The most useful simulator would be a safe, environmentally friendly, and robust system built completely with reusable parts and materials.

Biochemical

• Pediatric Mock Circulation for Pulsatile Blood Pump Testing
• Cell Trapping Mechanism for Microwell Array
• CT Head Phantom for Contrast Simulation
• Blood Cell Radiation Detector
  
  

  It is the goal of this project to design and prototype a blood-system radiation detector that assesses damage to white blood cells for use by NASA to monitor the biological effects of astronaut exposure to cosmic radiation. Missions to Mars are expected to last for several years, during which time astronauts are outside of the Earth's protective magnetic field. During these trips, and in particular, during extra-vehicular activities (EVAs), astronauts may pick up dangerously large doses of radiation, which can affect the short- and long-term health of these explorers. At levels of radiation that begin to induce physiological damage, approximately 70% of leukocytes undergo apoptosis, dying and disintegrating into small fragments. Thus, measuring changes in leukocyte count can provide biofeedback about radiation damage. The detection system should consist of a controlled blood inlet, a microfluidics system to transport the blood cells, a method to visually assess healthy and radiated cells, and a pattern recognition system to automatically analyze the relative ratios of healthy and radiated cells. Furthermore, the system must function in microgravity, be easy to use, and operate under the power, space, and weight requirements of the space shuttle. Ideally, a zero-order sensitivity analysis should also be performed.

Bioelectric

• Bi-directional Multi-drive System for Neural Implants
• Remote Ultrasound Medical Care System
• Pacemaker/Defibrillator Identification Device
  
  

  The goal of this project is to develop a universal handheld device that can interact with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators to correctly identify its manufacturer. Currently about 2.2 million Americans live with implanted pacemakers or defibrillators manufactured by one of four companies (Medtronic, Boston Scientific, St. Jude Medical, and Biotronik), each requiring the use of their own proprietary, bulky, difficult to transport programmers to identify and communicate with the implanted cardiac device. This poses a significant barrier to their care, since physicians must tote these programmers one-by-one to the patient in a costly and inefficient trial-and-error approach, increasing costs, liability, and patient morbidity and mortality. Our problem was to determine what pacemakers and defibrillators do or have that we could exploit for a passive, external identification device and determine how to create a device that is portable, noninvasive, safe for clinical use, not intimidating for the patient, and does not interfere with the implants or violate intellectual property.

• Microdrive for Implantable Chronic Neural Electrodes