Heart Valve design
How our design works:
My group and I chose to follow the design of an already efficient heart valve. The design consisted of a small circular opening with a cage on the other end. A ball would then be placed in the cage so that it could freely move back and forth but not side to side. Unfortunately we had little supplies to replicate this design so our product had to be improvised. Instead of a solid ball we were stuck using a wooden ball. The cage was instead replaced with a wider tube of bamboo. To simulate the opening and closing of the valve, we attached a string to the end of the ball that we pulled back and forth. The ball would then either allow the blood to flow through or stop it from being able to.
My group and I chose to follow the design of an already efficient heart valve. The design consisted of a small circular opening with a cage on the other end. A ball would then be placed in the cage so that it could freely move back and forth but not side to side. Unfortunately we had little supplies to replicate this design so our product had to be improvised. Instead of a solid ball we were stuck using a wooden ball. The cage was instead replaced with a wider tube of bamboo. To simulate the opening and closing of the valve, we attached a string to the end of the ball that we pulled back and forth. The ball would then either allow the blood to flow through or stop it from being able to.
Young's Modulus
The young's modulus, also known as the elastic modulus, is used to determine the stiffness of a solid. It helps to measure the relationship between stress and strain within an object. We determined it by first tying a weight to the bottom of our ribbon. We used the weight to measure the amount of stretch the ribbon would give. We then plugged in the numbers we had into the young's modulus equation. We calculated it out to be 4919.4 N/cm^2.
real life version
Reflection
This was interesting project to do. We did this project to work on the engineering design cycle to prepare us for our Capstone project. We first had to research about how a heart valve works. We then had to research ways to replicate the way a heart valve works. We went through a couple different designs, but ultimately decided on the above design. It's simple and works efficiently. The process of researching and designing has really improved our engineering skills and will hopefully help us with our Capstone project. I am glad we took a break in our semester to do this project and can't wait to see what our next project will be.