Development of mock circulatory loop

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Mock circulatory loops are hydraulic circuits recreating the physiologic conditions inside the human circulatory**system. Such devices are used for the research on biological organs and life-saving devices. The recreation of**user-defined flow conditions is a technical challenge; in fact, pressure and flow waves inside the human body**are complex and are achieved approximately only. The tedious tuning of several devices is required unless**expensive turn-key systems are bought from few producers. An automated apparatus constituted by cheaper**and simpler hardware coupled with a flexible control software is therefore object of increasing demand in the**biomedical sector. Such apparatus could recreate in the time of few control iterations the flow wave specified**by the user on a computer screen, improving the work of researchers. Neosoft is a Canadian company with a**large experience in the supply of data acquisition and control systems. Neosoft does not possess the biomedical**engineering knowledge necessary for the design of a circulatory loop prototype. However, Neosoft has the**capability to automate such mechanical apparatus through coding and electromechanical actuators. A working**prototype was built at McGill for the previous study of aortic aneurysm, a fatal pathology where a portion of**the thoracic aorta increases in diameter up to bursting. The manually controlled prototype recreates**satisfactorily the conditions in the aortic branch and is equipped with several transducers. Electro-mechanical**devices are used to condition flow and data acquisition systems are in use for data recording and**post-processing. The prototype will be upgraded with automated control provided by Neosoft. In the proposed**research, therefore, the University partner will i) suggest and test on behalf of Neosoft a suitable hardware**setup reducing prototyping expenses and ii) be assisted by Neosoft in the design of a digital/analog control,**tuning, data acquisition and post processing system. Neosoft will retain commercial rights on the architecture**in the perspective of commercialization. The research group will retain the prototype resulting from the**collaboration for the advantage of research.