Biomedical Engineering – From Theory to Applications

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Biomedical Engineering – From Theory to Applications
Fig. 43. The experimental layout used to measure the temperature and compression force
generated by the Nitinol actuators which can be used in an external fixator device
Fig. 44. The actuation scheme used in the experiment
The board data acquisition and control Arduino Mega2560 is designed to collect information
from temperature, displacement and force sensors and to return the information on a
computer screen, where it can be stored and later processed to obtain graphs and charts
characterizing the physical process. The Arduino board is programmed with code written in
C/C++ and communicate with the computer via serial interface. The Arduino Duemilanove
board also is loaded with a program, written in C/C++, which establishes the time interval
for opening (actuator of Nitinol are supplied from the power source) or closing (power
supply interruption, springs of Nitinol are allowed to cool) the DFRobot relay. The results
are shown in Fig.45