State of the art of medical devices featuring smart electro-rheological and magneto-rheological fluids

Abstract

Recently, smart fluids have drawn significant attention and growing a great interest in a broad range of engineering applications such as automotive and medical areas. In this article, two smart fluids called electro-rheological (ER) fluid and magneto-rheological (MR) fluid are reviewed in terms of medical applications. Especially, this article describes the attributes and inherent properties of individual medical and rehabilitation devices. The devices surveyed in this article include multi-degree-of-freedom haptic masters for robot surgery, thin membrane touch panels for braille readers, sponge-like tactile sensors to feel human tissues such as liver, rehabilitation systems such as prosthetic leg, and haptic interfaces for dental implant surgery. The operating principle, inherent characteristics and practical feasibility of each medical device or system are fully discussed in details.

Keywords

• Smart fluid
• Medical application
• Electro-rheological (ER) fluid
• Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid
• ER and MR brake
• ER and MR clutch
• MR sponge