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Medical and Biological Applications |
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Copyright 2009 Polytec GmbH. Technical specifications are subject to change. |
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High Frequency and High-Power Medical Ultrasound
Laser Doppler Vibrometry is the ideal tool for characterizing and visualizing the behavior of ultrasonic actuators and sensors. Data for the verification of simulation models are created with ease, ensuring a short development cycle. Polytec provides sophisticated tools for measuring high frequencies up to 600 MHz and amplitudes of more than 100 m/s. Polytec Vibrometers are up to the task whether they are for characterizing transducers used in high intensity focused ultrasound or high resolution ultrasound imaging.
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 Ultrasound actuator |
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Improving Efficacy in Dental Ultrasonics
Visualizing the motion of ultrasonic dental de-scalers is challenging due to their high frequency vibrations and small associated displacement amplitudes. Laser vibrometry has made it possible to study, in detail, the vibration patterns of dental ultrasonic de-scaling equipment, and to determine which may be the most effective designs.
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 Dental ultrasonic scalers |
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Quality Control of Membrane Nebulizers
At Pari GmbH, one of the leading manufacturers of aerosol generation systems in Germany, the quality of the nebulizer systems is 100 % tested using a Compact Laser Vibrometer. The quality of a key element of the nebulizer system is ensured by measuring the vibration characteristics of the membrane generating the aerosol.
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 Measurement on a nebulizer membrane |
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Ear Mechanics and Otology
The human ear is one of the most sophisticated sound and vibration amplification systems. State-of-the-art Laser-Doppler vibrometers reveal the vibrational characteristics of hearing mechanics. They provide ease of use and unsurpassed accuracy and resolution, revealing new dimensions in our understanding of hearing mechanics. Laser vibrometry is indispensable to those actively involved in the design, development, quality control, calibration and certification of middle ear implants.
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 In-ear measurement |
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Laser Tympanometry
The vibrational response of the tympanic membrane gives direct insight in the important causes of hearing loss, like stapes fixation or sclerotic changes in the ossicular chain. Laser Doppler Vibrometry allows for a quick measurement of the frequency response providing excellent data to the audiologist.
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 Click for animation (courtesy H. Mojallal) |
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Probing the Basic Mechanism of Hearing
Intensive medical, molecular and biomechanical research activities have provided much insight into the function of signal processing inside the ear. However, we are still far from a comprehensive understanding of hearing mechanisms. Current research work deals with the details of electromechanical signal transduction occurring in the cochlea of the inner ear. During inner ear biomechanics investigations, Laser-Doppler Vibrometers have proven to be highly sensitive vibration sensors that don’t affect the specimen.
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 Investigation of inner ear biomechanics |
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Determining the Biomechanics of Bones
Recently, Finite Element Methods (FEM) have been used in biomechanics to investigate and model components for medical applications. For example, to assist with bone surgery, various approaches to generate realistic bone models from Computer Tomography data are being evaluated. The 3-D Scanning Vibrometer was used for the first time to determine the modal parameters of a pelvic bone and provided spatial vibration modes with an accuracy and resolution that has not been available until now.
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 Dynamic analysis of a hipbone |
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Customized Intelligent Life-inspired Arrays
Crickets possess a hair array that can detect minute changes in air flow, measuring particle velocity. It is one of the most sensitive sensory systems known to man. By understanding how this highly sensitive bio-sensor works, we open the door to engineering new sensors that substitute microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology for insect biology.
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 Measurement on crickets |
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Motor for Medical Nano-Robots
It sounds a bit like "Fantastic Voyage": a motor for nanorobots is being developed with the help of Polytec’s Micro System Analyzer. Its Australian creators hope their tiny motor – which is less than the width of three human hairs – will soon power medical nanorobots that can swim through tiny blood vessels into the brain. Prof. James Friend, of Monash University, and his team made the microscopic motor using a piezoelectric material whose resonance frequencies and the associated mode shapes were determined by the use of a Polytec Micro System Analyzer (MSA).
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 Medical nanorobot design |
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Functioning of Fruit Fly Ears
Fly ears are complex micromechanical machines that amplify tiny acoustic vibrations and convert them into electrical signals. What kind of structures and processes are responsible for signal processing inside the ear? Laser Doppler vibrometry brings insight into the sophisticated mechanisms of hearing in fruit flies.
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 Investigation of fruit flies |
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Communication in Beehives
Social insects are excellent subjects for study. Understanding their mechanical systems and the evolution of differentiated meaningful communication signals that can be differentiated is important. The use of innovative methods for quantitative acquisition of signals and their transmission has shown how brilliantly the honeybees have utilized the vibration signals they produce, the way in which they transmit such signals via the honeycomb and the respective size of the audience for each dancer.
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 Vibration measurement on a honeycomb |
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