1,327 research outputs found

    Design of an acoustically transparent pressure sensor for breast elastography

    Get PDF
    Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women. Only in 2018 there were over 2 million new cases all over the world. The MURAB project, pursued at the University of Twente, has the aim to improving the breast biopsy procedure by reducing costs, patient discomfort and false negative rates. A 7-DOF KUKA robot arm steers an ultrasound transducer along a precise scanning trajectory to gather 3D volume image and stiffness values of the breast. Elasticity is the property of a body to be deformed and differs between tumors tissue and soft tissue. Elastography is a non-invasive technique in which the elasticity of a tissue is determined. The aim of this study is to design an acoustically transparent pressure sensor, mounted on the tip of the ultrasound probe, that can measure pressure differences across its surface during the scan, and assess elastographic measurements. The main idea is to use a pad of a characterized material and sequentially ultrasound images able to visualize the section of the pad and evaluate its deformation during time. The transmission of ultrasound waves into a solid depends on the mechanical characteristics of the material and on its physic state. In this work the relations between the acoustic properties and the mechanical behavior of an acoustically transparent pad are studied and evaluated

    Small business innovation research. Abstracts of completed 1987 phase 1 projects

    Get PDF
    Non-proprietary summaries of Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects supported by NASA in the 1987 program year are given. Work in the areas of aeronautical propulsion, aerodynamics, acoustics, aircraft systems, materials and structures, teleoperators and robotics, computer sciences, information systems, spacecraft systems, spacecraft power supplies, spacecraft propulsion, bioastronautics, satellite communication, and space processing are covered

    Tactile force-sensing for dynamic gripping using piezoelectric force- sensors

    Get PDF
    Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 200

    Development of a Tactile Thimble for Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications

    Get PDF
    The technologies that have gained a renewed interest during the recent years are Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), as they become more accessible and affordable for mass-production. The input device which allows us to interact with the virtual environment is a very crucial aspect. One of the main barriers to immerse ourselves in virtual reality is the lack of realistic feedback. The user has to almost rely entirely on visual feedback without any haptic feedback, and this increases the user's workload and decreases the performance. In this thesis, a functional demonstrator of a tactile feedback device which conveys compelling interactions with not just VR, but also AR is presented. The device is designed such that there is realistic feedback for virtual touches and least obstruction during contact of a real object in AR applications. New design principle of introducing small actuators allows the device to be compact and increases its portability. In contrast to actuators that are placed on the finger pad in most of the available input devices for VR, a tactile device with two actuators that are arranged laterally on the finger, so that the underside of the fingertip is free is proposed. The output from these actuators generate a tactile stimulus by stimulating a sense of touch, which helps the user to manipulate virtual objects. The actuators are designed to independently generate vibrations and this coupled tactile feedback enhances the stimulation resulting in a wide variety of stimulation patterns for the sense of touch. Preliminary experimental evaluation for design and location of actuators has been carried out to measure the vibration intensity. In addition, user experiments for design evaluation of the two actuators based on different vibration patterns have also been conducted

    Tactile 3D probing system for measuring MEMS with nanometer uncertainty : aspects of probing, design, manufacturing and assembly

    Get PDF
    Measurement underpins manufacturing technology, or in more popular terms: when you cannot measure it, you cannot manufacture it. This is true on any dimensional scale, so for microand nanotechnology to deliver manufactured products it must be supported by reliable metrology. Component miniaturization in the field of precision engineering and the development of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) thus results in a demand for suitable measurement instruments for complex three-dimensional components with feature dimensions in the micrometer region and associated dimensional tolerances below 100 nm. As will be discussed in the first chapter of this thesis, several ultra precision coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) are developed. These CMMs are suitable for measuring complex threedimensional products, like MEMS and other miniaturized components. From a discussion on available probe systems in the first chapter it is apparent that, with respect to measurement uncertainty and applicability of measurements on MEMS and other miniaturized components, the performance of ultra precision CMMs is currently limited by the performance of available probe systems. The main reason is that the measurement using a probe system is not purely influenced by work piece topography, but also by interaction physics between probe tip and work piece. As the dimensional scale of the measurement decreases, the problems associated with this interaction become increasingly apparent. Typical aspects of this interaction include the influence of contact forces on plastic deformations in the contact region, surface forces and geometric and thermal effects. The influence of these aspects on the measurement result is discussed in the second chapter. This chapter will combine results from literature, simulation and experimental results to discuss the aspects that influence the measurement result in tactile probes. From these results it will become apparent that these aspects underlie the limitation for precision measurements on miniaturized components using tactile CMM metrology. As a result, these interaction aspects are the main challenge when designing ultra precision probes. The analysis of the interaction physics is used in the design of a novel silicon probing system with integrated piezo resistive strain gauges to measure a displacement of the probe tip. The result is a probe system with a colliding mass of 34 mg and an isotropic stiffness at the probe tip with a stiffness down to 50 N/m. The measurement range of the probing system is 30 µm, but in most measurements a range of 10 µm is used which slightly improves the signal to noise ratio. Calibration results using the planar differential laser interferometer setup as discussed in chapter 1 show a standard deviation of 2 nm over 2000 measurement points taken in a 6 hour time frame over a repeated 5.5 µm displacement. The combined 3D uncertainty of the probing system is estimated to be 17.4 nm. In order to measure micrometer scale structures, including holes and trenches, the probing system can be equipped with micrometer scale probe tips. The main limitation is the relative stiffness between the stylus and the suspension of the probing system. By design optimization, a ratio between the length and radius of the measurement part of the stylus of 50 can be obtained, making the probing system highly suitable for measuring these micrometer scale structures. So far, probe tips with a radius of 25 µm have been manufactured and work is being done to decrease this radius even further. The probing system is implemented on a high-accuracy coordinate measuring machine and is suitable for three-dimensional tactile measurements on miniaturized components with nanometer uncertainty. A main limitation when manufacturing the probe is assembly of the probe tip, stylus and chip which is discussed in chapter 4. Assembly of the probe is investigated in a series of experiments on an automated assembler. Based on these results, the design of the probe is optimized for assembly and the automated assembler is made suitable for assembly of the probe by implementation of a novel suction gripper. This resulted in an improvement in placement uncertainty at the tip by a factor of 10 and an increase in yield during assembly from 60 - 80% initially, to over 95%. In chapter 5 several experimental results with the probe system are discussed, including a quantification of the effects of surface forces on tactile measurements. It is shown that these effects are highly repeatable and result in an attraction of 40 µN and 60 µN in the xy- and z-direction, respectively. Moreover, it is shown that the influence of surface forces on a measurement in the xy-plane can be observed for a separation of 500 µm or less. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for further research are discussed in chapter 6
    corecore