ETD

Archivio digitale delle tesi discusse presso l'Università di Pisa

Tesi etd-09152021-170244


Tipo di tesi
Tesi di laurea magistrale
Autore
DE CHIRICO, CLAUDIA MARIAGIULIA
URN
etd-09152021-170244
Titolo
Studio ed ottimizzazione di un muscolo artificiale soft per la realizzazione di un cuore artificiale
Dipartimento
INGEGNERIA DELL'INFORMAZIONE
Corso di studi
INGEGNERIA BIOMEDICA
Relatori
relatore Dott. Cianchetti, Matteo
tutor Dott.ssa Zrinscak, Debora
Parole chiave
  • McKibben actuator
  • soft actuator
  • soft artificial heart
  • soft robotics
Data inizio appello
08/10/2021
Consultabilità
Non consultabile
Data di rilascio
08/10/2091
Riassunto
Heart failure, and in general heart diseases, are the first cause of mortality worldwide. In these cases, transplant is still the solely possible destination therapy. Indeed, due to donors’ shortage, 45% of patients die while waiting for a heart, making the development of a Total Artificial Heart (TAH) a matter of extreme medical importance. The so far developed devices, however, are still large, heavy, noisy and requiring the use of long-term anticoagulant drugs. For these reasons, a biomimetic soft artificial heart is being developed: aiming to replicate, as closely as possible, the human heart both in terms of structure and movement.
The aim of this thesis is, thus, to study and optimize durability, performance and biocompatibility of the fundamental unit of this farsighted device: the soft artificial muscle, i.e. the McKibben actuator. To optimise durability and performance, and reduce the causes of failure due to friction, the interaction between the all main components was analysed. Different types of braided sleeves were fabricated and tested, and the influence of two braiding methods was compared through FEM simulations. In addition, to make a first step towards implantability and smoothening the transition towards the use of fully biocompatible materials, all the actuators were coated with soft silicones. Although there is still a long way ahead, this works is paving the way towards the realisation of a more durable and reliable artificial cardiac fibre.
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