Development of an experimental bench for the

study mechanical behavior of coronary stent

PROJ703-Collective Project-Midterm Meeting
Project Owner: Manuel Lagache 
Done By: Ali Salman           
 Ali Lambachri     
 Topic:
Developing a test bench for the study of
Project mechanical behavior of artery stents.
Objective:
Overview To design a device capable of conducting
mechanical tests for artery stents with high
accuracy. 

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 Studying the mechanical behavior of stents
remains essential in order to understand
their strength and weaknesses and ensure a
safe and efficient deployment during and
Project after the operation. Our collective project is
related to develop a test bench dedicated to
Context coronary stents. In this project we are
responsible on designing a bench capable of
performing two different mechanical tests,
that are considerably important and
provides information for cardiologists. 

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We aim to achieve a final prototype of the bench test, that is capable of
conducting two types of mechanical tests. The first one is for assessing
the flexibility of the stents, which consists of testing the resistance of
the stents to radial pressure applied by the artery wall. The second type
is compression test to measure the bending stiffness. This prototype
should include the integration of a mechanical system conducting the
mechanical tests, measurement of efforts, and a synchronous data
acquisition and visualization of the measurements.

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Short term objectives where we fixed some feasible tasks to perform in order to gain time
by assessing our progress and correcting mistakes. For our first short term objective, we
have decided to start first with a simple mechanism of testing the bending stiffness of the
test. This type of mechanical tests can be performed with a simple dynamometer, a blade,
two supports for the stent a micrometric device. This first design will give us an overall
image of what the final prototype of the bending stiffness device will look like, inform us
about the necessary corrections and improvements we need to take in consideration.
Another type of short-term objectives was planned, such as studying the different type of
mechanical machines and test benches that are available in the mechanical workshop in
Polytech. This action was selected, in order to build an analogy of conception related to
our design. The long-term objectives include more challengeable and complementary
objectives as they are simply necessary for the project achievement at the end of the
semester. For instance, the long-term objectives we have fixed is overcoming the
geometrical and dimensional constraints of the stents. This means that we need to
produce a design that can provide the same test conditions around the wall of the artery
where the stent is employed and manage to apply the necessary radial forces for the
flexibility test. The decision of these objectives and actions were taken, after discussing
their outcomes with our project owner, who validate them and fed us with more advices. 

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Literature Review
Summary

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The resources needed to achieve the project:
materials, devices, components, parts, funding...
DMP5

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 Overall problematic: 
It is the dimension and shape constraints of
the stents, which makes the testing process
complicated. The idea is to find the suitable
Overall method and adapt the testing device
containing sensors, test tube that will
Problematic replace the wall of the artery vessel, and
other components with the shape and
dimensions of the stent. For instance, one of
the challenges in testing the stent, is to
locate the points in the stent nest where to
apply the radial forces on the stent. 

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   This will be done by characterizing and measuring some mechanical quantities when applying forces to the stent
and providing the same conditions as inside the artery. 
    Since our bench will be testing stents, which are small devices with not more than 3.5 mm diameter, therefore our
main problem will be how to apply the necessary radial forces along the stent. The artery stents have a mesh
structure mainly from steel, which means that there is a considerable amount of gap in the stents shape. And this
dimensions and structure of the stent makes the application of forces challenging in this case. 
    The stent is usually deployed in the artery where there is a development of matter that blocks the flow of blood,
and therefore it blocks the flow of oxygen in the body and can lead to dramatic scenarios like heart attack. When
the stent reaches the target position in the artery, an attached balloon inside the stent will make the stent inflate.
In this part of the operation, the artery wall will apply an external radial forces on the stent, which can make the
stent collapse. Our problematic is to find the way to place the sensors and how to apply forces on the stent, in
another word, the issue is how to recreate this scenario and apply the same external pressure on the stent under
test, knowing that the aim of the project is to provide some exact and credible data, without having error of
manipulations or readings that can reduce the precision and accuracy of our bench tests. 
    The sensibility of the work done by our bench, and the dimensions of the subjects tested makes the design more
complicated and requires more attentions to the selection of materials that will take part in the design, as well as
the actuators and the sensors that will be deployed. The selection of material for the tube that will serve as the
artery is also another issue that we will face during the project, since the forces that we will apply are done by the
inner walls of the artery and therefore by the inner wall of the tube. 
    To sum up, the main problematic in our project is how to provide the stent the same conditions as inside the           
      artery, in oder to specify with accuracy its mechanical properties, and provide clean, exact and trustful data to       
      cardiologists. 

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Meeting Records 
  

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Meeting Records
• Meeting 1:
• Meeting 2:
• Meeting 3:
• Meeting 4:
• Meeting 5:

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Bibliographic
Research

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 Bibliographic Research

Keywords:
• Coronary Artery Stents
• Non-Contactable Displacement Sensors 
• Dynamometer
• Bending Stiffness
• Radial Force
• Bench 
• Mechanical Properties
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• Compression and Stress
 Bibliographic
Research
Search Engines:
• Google
• Google Scholar
• Bing
• Yahoo

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Self-training:                               
 
Scientific and Technical Aspects

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Scientific Aspects

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Technical Aspects

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Difficulties-
Solutions

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Difficulties

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Solutions

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How the group
is Organized

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GNATT Project+Free Plane

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What's Later

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