Moving vascular micro-robot in pulsating flow field

Abstract

A new kind of spiral micro-robot which was applied in the blood vessel of people was proposed.According to the different handed inner and outer screws of the robotic body and their different directional high speed rotating in the liquid,the robot could be suspended to move quickly.Simulating the pulsating flow filed of the aorta,the driving forces of the inner and outer screws of the robotic body,the axial moment and the impact pressure of the blood vessel wall were numerically calculated with computational fluid dynamics method at the robotic constant running speed.The influences of robotic inner and outer rotational speeds and robotic running speed on the driving force of the robot and the impact pressure of the blood vessel wall were analyzed.The results show that the change trends of the driving force of the inner and outer screw of the robotic body and the impact pressure of the blood vessel wall are basically consistent with those of the blood flows,and the axial moment of the outer screw of the robotic body has negative value,and the axial moment of the inner screw of the robotic body has positive value.When robotic inner and outer rotational speeds increase,the driving force of the robot and the impact pressure of the blood vessel wall increase.The increase in rotational speed of the outer screw of the robot is favorable to enhance the driving force of the robot comparing to that of the inner screw of the robot.When the robotic running speed increases,the driving force of the robot increases,and then it decreases when the robotic running speed arrives a certain value.Finally,the experimental results verify that this spiral micro-robot can move in the positive and reverse flowing fluid.