Bio Device Engineering Lab

Location

Bio Device Engineering Lab
GLE-2100

Biomedical Device Engineering Laboratory is a 700 square foot laboratory directed by Dr. Day. The lab is dedicated to design, measurement, and benchtop testing of electromechanical medical devices, such as magnetically levitated implantable blood pumps known as Ventricular Assist Devices. The laboratory includes dedicated workstations for soldering, metrology of mechanical parts, several workstations with personal computers, and multiple tabletops used for prototype assembly and testing. The room is additionally equipped with storage areas, benchtops, electricity, and multiple network ports.

Because of involvement with design and testing of magnetic bearings, the Biodevice Engineering Laboratory at RIT possesses equipment useful to this project, including a dynamometer test stand used to accurately characterize the performance of small (<100W) systems, custom apparatus used to measure the distribution of magnetic field strength of a permanent magnet, and numerous load cells and similar equipment necessary for measurement of force exerted by interactions of magnets. The Magnetic Bearing (MB) Test Rig was developed to empirically prove the feasibility and capabilities of the magnetic suspension system that is used in the LEV-VAD. The Magnet Centering Rig is a unique piece of equipment that is used to map the magnetic field surrounding a magnet and accurately relocate this magnetic field with an accuracy of 5mm. The laboratory has adequate table top equipment, such as power supplies, oscilloscopes, multimeters, strobe lights, spectrum analyzer to perform all of the required electrical diagnostics related to this pump. Blood damage measurements include a spectrophotometer for hemolysis measurement and a platelet aggregometer. Apparatus for fabrication of mechanical and electrical components is listed in the Facilities section. The Biomedical Device Engineering Laboratory houses approximately 6 computers for general use and data processing. SolidWorks, Office and MATLAB are standard on all workstations in the lab and some contain Microsoft Office, Canvas, Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat, and MiniTab. LabView is available for use to automate dedicated test rigs, such as may be required to test this device. Most importantly, the lab maintains a license of COMSOL Multiphysics and the AC/DC module, which we have used in the past to successfully model magnetic fields, their interactions, and resultant forces in similar devices.