Design a Heart Valve Model

evidence of work

For this project, my group and I were tasked with creating a working model that functions in the same way a heart valve does. In part one of this project, we researched heart valves by taking a practice quiz on them, brainstorming ideas on a Padlet, and doing a virtual heart dissection. In part two, we learned about force, elasticity, stress, strain, and Young's modulus, sketched an aortic valve, and did some Young's Modulus practice problems.

Part three was where it all came together. First, we chose our materials and then tested them to see if their elasticity would work for our model. After gathering our materials, we designed and built our first model. However, when we tested this prototype, we realized that the true function of the valve wasn't working how we intended it to. Our valve model used a sponge to soak up the blood and then slowly drip through, limiting blood flow; however, heart valves either open or close fully, so the blood is either rushing or not passing through at all. So, we quickly redesigned and retested our model so that it better represented a true heart valve.

brainstorming padlet

heart valve research

sketch and description of aortic valve

forces, elasticity, stress, strain, and young modulus research

research on force, elasticity, stress, strain, and Young's Modulus

heart valve material test

heart valve material testing

original blueprint

final blueprint

final model

heart valve report

To the left is our final report that goes in depth about our process of designing our model. There are many pictures and explanations of the thought behind our model and what went wrong with the first prototype.

content

elasticity -

the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed, stretchiness
we tested the elasticity of each of our materials to see how they related to the elasticity of their resembling parts

force -

the push or pull on an object with mass causes it to change its velocity
we used weights to put a force on the materials we tested
mass multiplied by acceleration

stress vs. strain -

the force applied to the material compared to the change in the shape of the material

Young's modulus -

the stiffness of an elastic material
found by dividing stress by strain

biomedical engineering -

application of engineering principles to solve biological and medical problems to improve health care

aortic valve -

one of four heart valves
oxygenated blood passes through on its way out of the heart

reflection

Overall, this was a great project for our group to strengthen our engineering skills. Even though our model didn't turn out as good as we wanted it to, it was clear how much work we put into the report, and how hard we worked up until the last second we could.

One thing I improved was my critical thinking skills. I worked with Sahasra to do all of the Young's modulus calculations which took a lot of brainpower and we had to find out how to do each problem. With this, I think I also did well collaborating. Our group would split up the work and focus on something we were good at. I did a lot of the math for this project and also wrote a lot of the report. It was also important for me to collaborate with other groups, to see how they were doing the practice problems or what their model looked like.

Something I can improve upon is my communication, which proved to be a major downfall in this project. Although my group communicated a lot with each other, we needed to communicate more with Mr. Tronconi for clarification purposes. Once we had already designed and built our first model, we talked to Mr. Tronconi and we realized our model was completely wrong. I think if we had talked to him earlier, we could've avoided this issue. Also, I want to work on my creativity because I tend to have pretty boring ideas and blueprints. I think this will improve after finishing the drawing tutorials.

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