Inherent silicone based sensor elements for actively deformable, fluidically actuated medical devices

该项目的目的是对医疗仪器中导电硅树脂制成的柔性传感器元件进行基本研究。这方面的基础是利用电极载体（EC）为耳蜗植入物（CI）的例子，将合规行为体系统集成到医疗器械中的初步工作。作为逻辑上一致的修正，在这个后续项目中，关于仪器插入过程中变形状态和/或与周围组织相互作用力的反馈将由固有的、同样兼容的传感器技术（通过材料和功能一致性）跟踪。为了在集成传感器的情况下获得柔性仪表的优势，仅使用导电硅树脂制成的柔性传感器元件。这种材料就像仪器和已经开发的执行器系统的基本材料一样灵活。此外，该材料是导电的，因此它改变其电阻作为材料伸长的函数。在后续项目中，应研究兼容传感器技术的可能性和局限性。重点是识别相关的设计参数，这必须考虑到在设计过程中的感觉区域，以及固有的传感器技术的基于分析模型的综合方法的发展。这还包括建立必要的方法来塑造，结构和接触的传感器元件。由于仪器的缩放，体现为柔性杆形流体机械致动器（FMA），在建模框架内，考虑不同尺寸的仪器。这是为了突破小型化的限制。作为具有传感器的FMA的一个例子，由于对小型化和插入过程的特殊要求，选择了CI系统的电极载体。为了研究植入体与周围组织之间的相互作用和接触力规律，以及传感器系统可以检测到的内部变形，通过实验研究验证了电极载体的数值模型，并在迭代过程中进一步发展。为了建立必要的、真实的模型，实验确定了耳蜗的生理特征，并对人类耳蜗的形态多样性进行了分类。最后，工作结果是一个具有固有传感器技术的CI电极载体的功能演示装置，该装置可以被驱动。之后，该项目开发的基础知识也将成为传感器、流体驱动的顺应内窥镜和导管的基础，从而为进一步的外科应用奠定基础。

The aim of the project is the basic investigation of compliant sensor elements made of conductive silicone with regard to medical instrumentation. The basis for this is the preliminary work on the integration of a compliant actor system into the medical instruments using the example of an electrode carrier (EC) for cochlear implants (CI). As a logically consistent amendment, within this follow-up project the feedback about deformation states and / or interaction forces with the surrounding tissue during insertion of the instruments is to be followed by an inherent, likewise compliant sensor technology (by means of material and functional coherence).In order to obtain the advantages of compliant instrumentation despite the integration of sensors, only compliant sensor elements made of conductive silicone are used. This material is just as flexible as the basic material of the instruments and the already developed actuator system. Additionally, the material is electrically conductive so that it changes its electrical resistance as a function of the material elongation.Within the follow-up project, the possibilities and limitations of compliant sensor technology shall be investigated. The focus are the identification of relevant design parameters, which must be taken into account in the design process of sensory areas, as well as the development of an analytical-model-based synthesis method for inherent sensor technology. This also includes the establishment of necessary methods for shaping, structuring and contacting the sensor elements. Due to the scaling of the instrumentation, embodied as a compliant rod-shaped fluid-mechanical actuator (FMA), within the framework of modeling, differently sized instruments are considered. This is intended to exploit the limits of miniaturization. As an example of a FMA with sensors, the electrode carrier of a CI system is chosen because of the particularly demanding requirements for miniaturization and the careful procedure of insertion. In order to develop the interactions and laws of contact forces between the implant and the surrounding tissue, as well as the internal deformations that can be detected by the sensor system, the numerical models of the electrode carrier are verified with the experimental investigations and further developed in an iterative process. For the necessary, realistic models, physiological characteristics of the cochlea are determined experimentally and the morphological diversity of the human cochlea is to be categorized.Finally, the work results in a functional demonstrator setup of an CI electrode carrier with inherent sensor technology and which can be actuated. Afterwards, the fundamentals developed in the project will also form a basis for sensorized, fluidically actuated compliant endoscopes and catheters and thus for further surgical applications.