2018-19 Senior Design Projects

Universal Driver Gear Train

Second Place Innovation Awards

Team Members
Ryan Connolly, Yolanda Anderson, Ethan O’Driscoll, and Heather Marker, Biomedical Engineering

Advisor
Smitha Rao, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Stryker

Project Overview
The universal driver is a surgical tool used in orthopedic surgery to drill, ream, and screw into bones. All of these different functions require different torques and speeds, otherwise there can be damage to the bone. Currently, there is just one output speed and torque per input speed. This limits the usage of a single drill, because surgeons must switch drills to accomplish each of these functions. There is a need in the market for a universal driver that has the ability to switch between two or more different outputs of speed and torque. A gear train will be developed such that it will be able to drive screws, ream, and drill with the ability to switch between these modes. The gear train that will be developed will operate with a single input speed, a single input torque, and will offer the ability to switch between two different output speeds and torques.


Transcatheter Single Ventricle Device

Honorable Mention Senior Design Awards
Third Place Innovation Awards

Team Members
Chad Cannon, Lauren Markham, Lauren Sandy, and Sonja Welch, Biomedical Engineering

Advisors
Smitha Rao and Jeremy Goldman, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Spectrum Health Innovations—Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital

Project Overview
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital heart defect where the left ventricle of the heart is critically underdeveloped or deformed. Current treatment methods include a series of three open heart surgeries, where the first surgery occurs within the first few days of life. The transcatheter single ventricle device aims to replace the first open heart surgery through a stent-based design with a polymer sheath. The goal for this phase was to find the optimal fenestration size in the polymer to reduce blood flow to the pulmonary arteries. This was done through various flow tests and MATLAB simulations.


Rapid Prototyping of Ultrasound Elastography Breast Phantom for Ductile Carcinoma Diagnosis

Team Members
Stephanie Jewell, Claire Langfoss, Madeline Gust, and Travis Altmeyer, Biomedical Engineering

Advisor
Jingfeng Jiang, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Materialise

Project Overview
Breast phantoms are used to test ultrasound machines to ensure they are getting an accurate image and able to correctly detect tumors in breasts. Ultrasound elastography is a means to detect lesions in women with more dense breast tissue, which is considered both cost-effective and non-invasive. The primary goal of this project is to design an imaging phantom based on 3D printing technology for a repeatable and rapid prototype using tissue-mimicking material. Using 3D imaging processing and design software created by Materialise, Mimics, and 3-Matics, it was possible to create a phantom design using the average woman’s breast anatomy of adipose and fibroglandular tissue sections. This project aims to build off previous teams’ work through combining 3D printing technology and molding techniques to create a single phantom.


Peripheral Tool Simulation for an Ultrasonic Aspirator Console

Team Members
Lauren Fallu, Stephen Berridge, and Sarah Lorenz, Biomedical Engineering; Aaron Ortiz, Electrical Engineering

Advisor
Orhan Soykan, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Stryker

Project Overview
The Sonopet iQ console is a reusable, non-sterile device that supplies power, aspiration, suction, and irrigation to connected sterile peripheral tools, used during soft tissue (brain) and bone surgeries. Testing potential failure modes and peripheral tool system states can be a challenge, and creating an automated simulator system can allow more testing to be conducted in a shorter amount of time. The objective of this project is to create an automated system that will simulate both the normal function and error states of the peripherals connected to the console for the handpiece, foot switches, and hand controller. The system allows inputs using a graphical user interface (GUI) to simulate multiple predetermined errors of the Sonopet iQ peripheral tools.


SERC MARSOC Improved Life Support for Casualties at Point of Injury

Team Members
Jacob Formolo, Zach Drexler, and Sarah Melbow, Biomedical Engineering; Nathan Schlorke, Electrical Engineering

Advisors
Feng Zhao and Rupak Rajachar, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC)

Project Overview
Our team will develop a lightweight, portable device that can be used to reduce casualties and increase medical efficacy on the battlefield immediately after injury, preferably using monitoring or physician assistant technology.


Full Flexion Knee

Team Members
Chelsie Tischer, Jack Hendrick, Emily Weidensee, Nehemiah McIntyre, and Marianne Preston, Biomedical Engineering

Advisors
Jeremy Goldman and Keat Ghee Ong, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Department of Biomedical Engineering

Project Overview
The normal range of motion for a healthy knee allows the knee to achieve flexion past 120 degrees. Commercially available knee implants do not allow for this degree of flexion, thus prohibiting the patient from achieving healthy motion of the knee after total knee replacement surgery. This can cause discomfort in patients due to the inability to return to activities they previously enjoyed. The goal of this project was for the team to design a new generation knee implant, with the knee motion controlled in a manner that allows the full flexion of the knee. Upon creation of this design, a digital model will be created and through FEA, the geometry of the design will be validated.


Data Analysis Methods to Improve Treatment of Chronic Pain

Team Members
Jessica Benson, Leigh Schindler, Tristan Fourier, and Sue Kim, Biomedical Engineering

Advisor
Keat Ghee Ong, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Medtronic

Project Overview
For patients with chronic pain, there are no objective ways to measure pain or change in pain that an individual is experiencing. Due to this, most pain treatments are done based off the subjective feedback that an individual gives to the physician or researchers through different scales, such as the SF36, ASK, and ODI scales. The lack of an objective measurement can cause imprecise treatment methods, such as medication that is too powerful and has the potential for addiction. The team has analyzed large data sets from patients with chronic pain and explored possible methods to describe patient condition in a more objective way. Using data on the patient activity levels, treatment utilization, and self-reported pain levels, the team attempts to provide useful insights into a predictive modeling, clinical decision making, medical device designs, and research activities.


Micro-Pistoning Immobilization

Team Members
Margaret Clay, Megan Donovan, Michael Hernandez, and Ryker Miles, Biomedical Engineering

Advisors
Bruce Lee and Feng Zhao, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
3M

Project Overview
3M has developed a new hydrogel padded IV dressing, TegadermTM CHG. Catheter related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) studies have shown that TegadermTM significantly reduces infection compared to the non-hydrogel IV dressing Biopatch®. The CRBSI studies did not conclude if the improvements were due to the CHG antimicrobial properties or to the properties of the hydrogel that could reduce catheter motion. Our project measures the movement of a catheter relative to the insertion site and compares the frequency and magnitude of the displacement between the TegadermTM CHG dressing and the Biopatch® dressing, to determine if there is a significant reduction in motion observed using the TegadermTM dressing.


Temperature Sensing of Implanted Medical Device Shields

Team Members
Ryan Bancroft, Katherine Gingras, and Chance Sherretz-Hayes, Biomedical Engineering; Evan Torrey, Electrical Engineering

Advisor
Keat Ghee Ong, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Medtronic

Project Overview
Rechargeable implanted medical devices utilize induction charging which results in device heating. This heating is directly related to charging rate. Patients desire short recharge times and this results in higher device shield temperatures. This excess heat can lead to irreversible tissue damage and subsequent patient harm. As such, there is an essential need for the monitoring of this heat on devices implanted within patients to ensure the health of the surrounding tissue. This project entailed the development of a system, which can monitor the temperature on the exterior shields of implanted devices. This allows for the collection of data to generate a deeper understanding of the real world surface temperatures of these implanted devices. Ultimately, this will aid in both current operation and in the development of future devices.


Thermal and Mechanical Effects of Power Modalities on Surrounding Tissue

Team Members
Timothy Kolesar, Marshael Ryan, Trevor Simmons, and Xinlin Zhang, Electrical Engineering

Advisors
Sean Kirkpatrick and Orhan Soykan, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Stryker

Project Overview
The project goal is to explore the thermal and mechanical effects of the Stryker Sonopet Ultrasonic Aspirator on nearby tissues. When the device is utilized in surgery, ultrasound propagates past the tissue of focus and diffuses into surrounding brain tissue. By experimenting with the propagation of the thermal heat generated by the device that is emitted throughout the brain, the thermal effects on surrounding brain tissue will be addressed. Other parameters are taken into consideration throughout a surgery, besides just the direct application of the device, including the effects of the ultrasound as it emits from the handpiece directly to the surrounding brain tissue, which is an off-target effect of device use.


Disposable Cranial Perforator System

Team Members
Gabrielle Hummel, Jake Lindsay, and Evan Kostenko, Biomedical Engineering; Krista Fog, Mechanical Engineering

Advisors
Jingfeng Jiang and Bruce Lee, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Stryker

Project Overview
Our team will develop a market viable, sterile, handheld, disposable, cordless power tool capable of drilling up to five holes in a human cranium for use in an emergency room.


Catheter Hydrophilic Lubricious Coating Measurement Challenge

Team Members
Alexander Oliver, John Brinley, and Jalen Adams, Biomedical Engineering; Devin Stowe, Computer Engineering

Advisor
Sean Kirkpatrick, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Boston Scientific

Project Overview
Hydrophilic lubricious coatings (HPC) are applied to minimally invasive interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular interventional polymer catheter shafts to aid in passing the catheter through the arterial system to the surgical treatment site. HPCs applied to catheters must be adherent and durable, so that they remain on the catheter to provide lubricity and to avoid liberation of coating particulates into the circulatory system. The Food and Drug Administration has released guidance to medical device companies requiring they provide test data in submissions to demonstrate coating integrity. When applied to a catheter, HPCs are a challenge to visualize (coating coverage) and measure (coating thickness). In current practice, coating thickness is measured by mechanically cross-sectioning a coated sample, and examining it in a scanning electron microscope. The challenge for the technician is to not alter the coating chemically or mechanically during these coverage and thickness evaluations. Our team was tasked with designing an objective, robust, and repeatable HPC coverage and mean thickness methodology for the evaluation of hydrophilic coated catheters.


Development of a Blubber-Only Whale Tag Anchoring System

Team Members
Autumn Good, Emil Johnson, and Matthew Benz-Weeden, Biomedical Engineering; Dirk Deckinga, Mechanical Engineering Technology

Advisor
Rupak Rajachar, Biomedical Engineering

Sponsor
Dr. Alexandre Zerbini

Project Overview
Our team will develop a blubber-only implantable tag to increase retention and minimize tissue damage for use in whale conservation efforts.