Our Goal: To Create a Model of a Heart Valve that Could Be used in a human's body
The heart is an essential organ of any mammal because it pumps blood and oxygen to and from various areas in the body. Thus, a replacement for it or its valves is of great importance because if the heart fails, the human body will need one or else it will die.
Considering this, we needed to consider four important things in our heart valve design:
1. It needed to function similarly to an Aortic Valve
2. It should be an elastic-inelastic bilayer
3. It should contain strategic elasticity (much like the real valve)
4. It should have a defined open resting position
We first researched the crucial things about the heart and the needed terms. The heart pushes blood through valves whenever it beats, and the organs open to accommodate for that and close afterwards so blood doesn't backflow. The moment where the heart stops beating is called the diastole.
We needed to also focus on elasticity, since the valve stretched during diastole. Here are some key terms we used:
Considering this, we needed to consider four important things in our heart valve design:
1. It needed to function similarly to an Aortic Valve
2. It should be an elastic-inelastic bilayer
3. It should contain strategic elasticity (much like the real valve)
4. It should have a defined open resting position
We first researched the crucial things about the heart and the needed terms. The heart pushes blood through valves whenever it beats, and the organs open to accommodate for that and close afterwards so blood doesn't backflow. The moment where the heart stops beating is called the diastole.
We needed to also focus on elasticity, since the valve stretched during diastole. Here are some key terms we used:
- Force: f=ma (mass x acceleration)
- Young’s Modulus: number that measures an object or substance's resistance to being deformed elastically (non-permanently)
- Stiffer the material = higher the Young’s Modulus
- F = 𝒀( ∆𝑳/𝑳𝟎 )𝑨
- Stress over strain along an axis, measured in Pascals
- Stress: force divided into a cross-sectional area: σ= F/A (A is the area of the material)
Our Design
Our heart valve design was meant to close when pressure was applied to it and stay open otherwise. We made our own "ball and cage" model with an elastic spring cage on one side and a smaller tube on the other side so the ball can't get loose. The other end prevents the ball from escaping by using a smaller tube than what the ball can fit.