SIMULATING AGE RELATED RADIAL PULSES USING MAGNETO-RHEOLOGICAL FLUIDS

This study presents the design and test of a new pulse simulator capable of reproducing a wide range of radial pulses. It proposes to use a Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluid technology to shape radial pulse waveforms. The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate its feasibility of regenerating age-related human radial pulse waveforms using the proposed MR pulse simulator. The overall experimental set up includes a cam system, an MR device, an electromagnet, and sensors (laser displacement and pressure transducer). The cam system generates a base pulse waveform. This base pulse waveform is sent to an MR device which consists of a silicone tube (representing the radial artery) submerged in MR fluid. An electromagnet is placed beneath the MR fluid chamber which applies a specified magnetic field to control the MR fluid. This, in turn, enables the MR fluid to reshape the base pulse waveform to the desired pulse waveform. The mounted sensors collect data and measure the outputs for further analysis. Using this setup, a series of testing will be conducted by varying the input magnetic field with the pulse width modulation (PWM) control. PWM signals can be altered by changing the duty cycle and delay input to the electromagnet. These factors will affect the magnetic field, thus changing the MR fluid surrounding the silicone tube, and shaping the base pulse generated by the cam system. This study will then examine the pulse shaping performance of the MR device by comparing the reproduced radial pulses with those of in vivo radial pulses.