Abstract
In this study, we fabricated a prototype catheter type tactile sensor composed of two polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films and evaluated the data acquisition and processing by the sensor to detect the diseased part in a blood vessel. The PVDF films, which have stress (strain) rate dependent output, are located in a silicon rubber cylinder whose outer diameter is 5 [mm]. We inserted the prototype sensor into a blood vessel model whose inner shape was partially changed assuming that these changes occur by a disease. The vessel model consists of a tube whose inner diameter is 8 [mm]. The sensor can detect the position of the projections in the tube. Moreover, peak-to-peak value of the sensor output voltage increases according to the insertion speed. In addition, we can evaluate the surface roughness inside the tube by fourier transform of the sensor output. In the future, we hope to evaluate the sensor with a more practical prototype.
