Adventures in Biomedical Engineering - Heart Valve

This is a project I came across a while back, but I didn't have a chance to do it with a class. And I'm not sure if I will this year before summer vacation. So, I'm just going to do it.

I can't remember the details about this project, but if you're interested, you can look it up on either Science Buddies website or Teach Engineering website. 

We're going to be biomedical engineers today, and we're going to find ways to design and install a new heart valve, which will pump blood into the heart.

There are four heart valves in our hearts. Two valves pump blood into our hearts (Tricuspid valve - right side and Mitral valve - left side). 

These valves sit between atrium and ventricle. Two valves pump blood out of our hearts (Pulmonary valve - right side and Aortic valve - left side). 

The pulmonary valve (on the right side) pump blood into our lungs and the aortic valve (on the left side) pump blood to the rest of our body.

List of Supplies:

 

I just grabbed what I had. I didn't have any idea what I was going to do with these.

You don't need a plastic container. You can use a cardboard shoe box if you have one handy.

Different types of paper. I have a cardstock and a copy paper. I decided to use cardstock because it's stronger and the weight of the marbles won't affect it as much.

OK. Let's build!

The cardboard pieces are the blood vessel openings. 

We have to build something between the cardboards to let the blood (marbles) flow one way, but not back.

​Since I had popsicle sticks, I thought I'd use one of these to stop the marbles from rolling back to the original side (atrium side).

This design took more than four tries to get all the marbles across the other side, and the marbles got stuck under the slide.

This design took four tries to get all the marbles across the other side, but the marbles didn't get stuck.

Even though I rocked the container back and forth to get the marbles across, none of the marbles escaped back to the right side. So, the "valve" functioned as it should. But now, the challenge is to do it in less tries. To make a more efficient "valve."

I really like this project, and I'm going to try to do this with my class before the school year is over. I hope you get a chance to try this one, too.

LEGO Technic Build (Mechanisms) - Page 146, Build #186

I'm building another cam today.

As stated in a previous blog, a cam is a rotating machine, which transfers a oscillating or reciprocating motion to another part known as a follower. A really good example of a cam is a car engine.

Pieces I'm going to use today.

I can't explain why, but I really like building cams. I had a lot of fun building this one, and I hope you have a lot of fun, too.

Have a great day!

LEGO Technic Build (Contraptions) - Page 196, Build #99

Clarification - Yoshihito Isogawa has multiple books and the books I'm using in the LEGO Technic Builds are: 

• The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Machines and Mechanisms
• The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Cars and Contraptions

Today, I'm going to build a two-legged walker from the Cars and Contraptions book.

This one was the first in the series, and I thought it would be relatively easy, but I made a simple mistake, and it took me a long time to rework everything to make it work. So, good luck!

This is what I'm building today.

Parts I'm going to use today. I had to find replacements for certain parts because I didn't have them or enough of them. As long as they function alike, it's fine.

Building the legs1.

Building the legs2.

The drive mechanism.

Following are the pictures of the drive mechanism. I tried to give you some various viewpoints.

Legs attached.

I thought I could build this in a short time, but I got a couple of parts mixed up, and it took a little longer to complete. 

I think it'll be really neat to attach a Mindstorm to it, so if I get that figured out, I'll post that, too.

Have a great day!

Roaring Roller Coasters

This is a project I do almost every year because the students have so much fun. 

The premise of the project is that there is a competition, sponsored by the premiere roller coaster company E², Extreme Experience, to see which team can build the greatest roller coaster for E²’s next project. 

The rules of the project are: 

1. The roller coaster must have at least one loop.

1. The ride should be thrilling (extra points for speed).

The tree different marbles represent three different types of roller coaster cars – empty (wooden), half-full (glass marble) and full (metal ball bearing).

The roller coaster design must support all three types of cars. After a run, all three types of marbles must fall/fly into a target cup. Rolling into a cup on the ground does not count.

List of Supplies:

¾” diameter piping insulation (can be purchased from any hardware store)

½” diameter ball bearing, metal

½” wooden marble

½” glass marble

Plastic cups

Adhesive tape

Anything else you have on-hand to build a support structure

First build. This was extremely accurate roller coaster.

Second build for the team that executed the roller coaster above. A team must have two loops after they complete their initial run, and this was an ambition design.

This team used the existing space very, very well.

This team put in two loops to start.

A very interesting use of a classroom furniture.

Another example of students being very creative.

An innovative support structure.