Affiliations: [a] Department of Electromagnetic and Biomedical
Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Zilina, Zilina,
Slovak Republic
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Tatiana Strapacova, Department of
Electromagnetic and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
University of Zilina, Univerzitna 1, 010 26 Zilina, Slovak Republic. Tel.: +421
41 5132145; Fax: +421 41 5131519; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The paper proposes utilization of eddy current inspection for
detection of defects in the artificial heart valve. Artificial heart valves are
prosthetic replacements which are used if the function of the natural heart
valve is limited. A special type of prosthetic heart valve replacements is the
Björk Shiley convexo-concave (BSCC) heart valve. The fractures of the BSCC
artificial heart valve usually affect the outlet strut. If the fracture of the
strut is not detected in time the patient can die of heart attack. Detection of
the fracture in the outlet strut is the concern here. Experimental measurements
are performed in order to evaluate the detection capability of the technique
and the sensitivity of response signal to dimensional parameters of a fracture.
A BSCC heart valve prototype having the electromagnetic characteristics of the
Co-Cr (Hayness 25) alloy is inspected with a probe. A non-conductive defect is
positioned in the outlet strut and its dimensions are varied. The probe is
positioned above the centre of the crack and the frequency of exciting signal
is changed in a wide range. The presented results demonstrate that the sweep
frequency technique can enhance eddy current inspection of a defect in BSCC
heart valve.
