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Project and Motivation
Project and Motivation
Team DermaTest aims to revolutionize the application of established skin characterization methods. The goal is to allow researchers to accurately analyze the anisotropy of the skin.
The team is creating a negative pressure suction device that will use the pressure applied to the skin and the deformation achieved to mechanically characterize the skin and analyze its anisotropic properties.
A simplified schematic demonstrates the project goal: create a negative pressure suction device to deform the skin a designated amount (1mm), separated into three main phases:
- INITIAL: Device is placed on the patient’s skin, initial conditions with no initial skin deformation.
- IN PROGRESS: Negative suction from system (pump) causes progression of skin deformation. Slow loading profile desired for accurate stress response.
- FINAL: Skin deformation reaches 1mm, and seals off contact probe. Pressure sensor records internal cup pressure. Pressure differential from contact probe and sensor is used to calculate the mechanical properties of the skin, focusing on anisotropy.
This project takes inspiration from existing technologies and uses them in a novel application. DermaTest is looking to use the concept of a negative pressure suction system in conjunction with new probe areas and designs, so the project work was split into three categories: system development, contact shape design, and probe design.
System Development
System Development
The team needed to create a physical system that would allow a negative pressure to be applied to the skin, so the team identified different pumps, tubes, and other materials they would need to develop our system.
Contact Shape Design
Contact Shape Design
In order to analyze the anisotropy of skin, the team first needed to make sure that we could accurately model skin. By comparing FEM models to a mathematical equation, these methods are able to be used to model different contact area shapes.
Probe Design
Probe Design
When looking at developing prototypes, the team performed analyses on different probe designs in order to determine potential advantages and failures of different designs.
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