P10454: VAD Test Loop
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Mission Statement

Table of Contents

Collecting Project Background Raw Data

Interactions with Sponsors

First Interview

Interviewers: Alex Moulton
Tech Advisor: Christine Lowry
Date 26 March 2009, Office
Interviewer:
I already knew here so we just started talking about her project and the problems have have arisen due to some issues. She talked about how connections were not working, parts were being ordered and how the people she was in contact with were not getting back to her. One of her main concerns was the heating of the blood due to the nature of the LVAD. It would heat the blood up over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit in about 10 minutes. This was a major problems because blood breaks down and coagulates at that temperature. This coagulation makes it poisonous to the body causing other problems such as clots and clogging organs.

Second Interview

Interviewers: Alex Moulton
Tech Advisor: Ed Hanzlik
Date 30 March 2009, Office
Interviewer:
I introduced my self as a 4th year ME and had experienced 2 co-op. One with Delphi Harrison Thermal Industries and the other one with Honda R&D in Raymond Ohio.
Would you please introduce yourself as well?
T.A.: He introduced himself as being in the industry world for 20ish years and how he now wants to help students with their Senior Design Problems.
Interviewer: MSD1 and 2 problems
T.A.: Problems from the past are lead times and how they were and always will be a problem. I took as meaning make sure you order parts early enough so you are not crunched for time in the end. Also interfaces. You might have all your parts working but you can almost be certain that together they will not work.
Interviewer: What have you done previously to help MSD students?
T.A.: Help with technical questions, support with documentation, flow with the talks, were to get parts, and other technical opinions.
We then just talked about lives and different experiences we have both been through.

Third Interview

Interviewers: Alex Moulton
Tech Advisor: Dr. Steven Day
Date 2 April 2009, Office/Lab
Interview:
We already knew each other so we talked about what the problem was in the class and what he could do for me. We then walked down to the lab and he showed me around and what the different problems they were working on. Some had not been touched others were in the design process. He told me to do some interviews with the students working on the project to find different scopes on the problems. I looked at the LVAD parts and different computer/simulation problems and came up with a couple conclusions.
Conclusions:
A coating or some sort of way to keep the blood from being destroyed in the LVAD, making the sensors smaller, keeping the blood at a desired temp, and overall more efficient process(ie. keep tubes shorter, tidy up wires...)

Product Description/Project Objective Statement

Hydraulic flow loop for VAD performance and blood compatibility testing
The hydraulic flow loop will be easy to use, efficient, and safe for the use of blood. This project will be used for hydraulic experimentation of prototype pumps. A small priming volume will be needed for the test loop to perform adequately. The project needs to be made of biocompatible materials so that it can be used in blood experiments.

Key Business Goals/Project Deliverables

Efficient Effective Affordable Prototype
Make this a successful experience for all involved and hopefully get a working prototype model. Increase the awareness of the project and influence more research into the design and testing of the prototype.

Primary Market/Project Opportunities

Users waiting for a heart transplant
A LVAD is currently available for patients who are in need of a transplant heart. However, the one currently available is to large and is not portable. It's about the size of a large bucket. The opportunities of this project would be to somehow make one that is small enough to be implanted in the abdomen or be able to attach it to ones belt. This would affect the patients life by giving them freedom from a hospital bed and potentially keeping them alive for as long as necessary until a heart is available.

Secondary Market/Project Opportunities

Other Research Facilities and Organizations
Having this prototype up on the market would be a large success. Not only could it be sold but the secondary markets would have a 1 year lead time on development. A base prototype would already be available. This would increase the likelihood of the project being picked up by another organization. Having more people or companies working on it would create more jobs and help the development of easier living conditions for patients in need.

Assumptions and Constraints

Main Assumptions
Blood is Newtonian
Constraints
Make sure there is no blood damage, it needs to be portable, drain and fill times must be fast (minutes), cost must be within budget, Continuous use, Pressure must be low enough for quick connects usage, Temperature must be held constant, data processing must be completed in seconds, flow rate must be around 5 liters/min

Stakeholders

The stakeholders are going to be the main customers like Dr. Steven Day, other students working on the project, and the Technical staff ie. Ed Hanzlik. They will all be putting their time and effort in making this project not only successful but hopefully inspire other project to form due to the research and development done by my team.

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