Magneto-Elastic μ-Vibrator for Smashing Thrombus

• Main Authors: Wei Li, Cong Xue, Xinxin Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Micromachines
• Subjects: micromechanical resonator; biomedical actuator; magneto-elasticity; thrombus clean-up
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/10/1/74

A miniaturized thrombus dredger is proposed and developed in this study. The flexural resonance of the µ-resonator dredger is driven by a bulk-extensional magneto-elastic vibrator that is externally excited by alternating magnetic-field. With the fabricated prototype of the resonant dredger, a mice thrombus blocked in a simulated vessel is broken into micro-pieces, and the previously blocked vessel can recover to an unobstructed state within 1 h. A flow-rate ratio detection method is used to evaluate the thrombus-cleaning effectiveness. The comparison between the finite-element simulation and the experimental results validates the flow-rate ratio detection method. By optimally exciting the resonant dredger in its third resonant mode, the flow-rate ratio in the cleaned vessel increases by about 2.7 times compared with that in the partly blocked vessel, and the thrombus is smashed into micro-pieces.