Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Hestekin, Jamie A.

Abstract

Emerging technologies in nanotechnology and biomedical sciences have led to an increase in biomedical implantable devices including cardiac pacemakers, artificial organs, drug pumps, and sensors. These devices require continuous stable and reliable power to operate, which creates the demand for the need to find a safe, reliable, and stable power source. A promising avenue for a power source for these devices is a miniaturized reverse electrodialysis (RED) biopower cell design that utilizes the salinity differences between bloodstreams that flow inside the human body. Initial results of the RED system demonstrate that higher gradient salinity differences between streams lead to a higher power density. In order to generate this higher salinity gradient, an additional salt cartridge consisting of polysulfone hollow-fiber membranes was integrated into the RED system. This study explores the effects of different system parameters, including the number of hollow fiber tubes and the volume of the cartridge, on the normalized salt concentration pickup to achieve the optimum design for the integrated salt cartridge. Preliminary results indicate that a 50% increase in the power density output of the RED power cell could be achieved by using a 100 g/L solid salt reservoir in the in-situsalt-pickup cartridge. The integrated salt cartridge will be further miniaturized to optimize the salt concentration pickup and to develop a compact and implantable design by utilizing 3-D printing and nanolithography.

Keywords

Cartridge-reverse electrodialysis device; salt; human blood flow; biomedical devices; biopower cell design; 3-D printing; service learning

Download

Share

COinS