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High Speed Pneumatic Stepper Motor for MRI Applications

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Abstract

Presented in this paper is an exploration into the efficacy of a plastic, four-cylinder piston pneumatic motor designed for driving medical instruments inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. Because of the increasing use of MRI for diagnostic and interventional purposes and the benefits that could be realized by operating with real-time MR image guidance, there exists a significant need for MRI compliant surgical devices. Some type of actuation mechanism is necessary to drive such devices. The motor can be controlled to operate in a “step” type motion by using pneumatic valves to sequentially apply air pressure to push the piston surfaces, meaning the motor is metal-free and does not use electricity. The stepwise nature of this piston stepper motor is ideal for the accurate, controlled movements required for MRI-guided interventions. The motor was geared down by a gearbox to increase torque. Performance indices determined include output torque and achievable rotational velocity with respect to factors such as air pressure and load conditions. The stepper motor achieved speeds of approximately 2000 rpm, and maximum output torques of approximately 19 N mm. The motor represents a high speed pneumatic stepper motor design capable of actuating devices in MR environments without affecting image quality.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by the NSF I-Corps Team Grant (1617340), the UGA-AU Inter-Institutional Seed Funding, the UGA Clinical and Translational Research Unit Seed Grant, the PHS Grant UL1TR000454 from the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program, and the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology and the NIH Intramural Research Program, Z01 Grant # 1ZID BC011242 and CL040015. Also, the authors would like to acknowledge support from the NIH Clinical Center, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Brian Lawrence Boland & Zion Tsz Ho Tse

  2. Center for Interventional Oncology, Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Sheng Xu & Bradford Wood

Authors
  1. Brian Lawrence Boland
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  2. Sheng Xu
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  3. Bradford Wood
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  4. Zion Tsz Ho Tse
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Correspondence to Zion Tsz Ho Tse.

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Associate Editor Xiaoxiang Zheng oversaw the review of this article.

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Boland, B.L., Xu, S., Wood, B. et al. High Speed Pneumatic Stepper Motor for MRI Applications. Ann Biomed Eng 47, 826–835 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-018-02174-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-018-02174-0

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