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Team Five’s goal for a Senior Design Project is to design a digital version of an optical Doppler velocimeter. The device would have the ability to measure the velocity of blood flow inside capillaries in vivo. The analysis and measurement of blood flow in the microvasculature is crucial to research in the field of Biomedical Engineering and Cardiovascular Physiology. At the present time, there exists no device to effectively measure microvasculature blood flow velocity and that is accessible to moderately funded research labs. Dr. Christopher Quick, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, proposed and sponsored this project. Dr. Quick already possesses an optical Doppler velocimeter that is outdated, expensive, and is no longer produced. The requirements for the project include the design and fabrication of a modern velocimeter that is mobile, incorporates a LabView program to analyze and display parameters, and can be integrated onto any intravital microscopy unit. The velocimeter would be used in Dr. Quick’s research lab to measure the capillary blood flow velocity of his favorite test subjects, pallid bats. Adding these features will make for a far more marketable velocimeter. The velocimeter contains two components: (1) an optical headpiece component which obtains a signal from the microvasculature and (2) a National Instruments data acquisition board and LabView program that converts the signal into a velocity measurement. The velocimeter would be used in Dr. Quick’s research lab to measure the capillary blood flow velocity of his favorite test subjects, pallid bats. Research labs at academic institutions, federally funded researchers, and pharmaceutical industry researchers could all benefit from a cost-effective and practical velocimeter.
