Lap-Band® Test Stand P09042 Objective: From left to right: Brian Weber (EE) Ilya Rivkin(EE – Team Lead) Mike Batyko (ME) John Matrachisia(ME – Lead Engineer) Kevin Sando (ME) Not Pictured: George Slack (Faculty Guide) Christine Scheible (Sponsor – Quantum Technology Associates) Objective: To design and fabricate a fully integrated test stand that is capable of imitating a human stomach and capturing parameters to aid in the design of a next generation Lap-Band®. The parameters include knowing fluid volume within the Lap-Band®, fluid pressure within the tubing and Lap-Band®, and the force exerted by the Lap-Band® onto the stomach. Project Background: A Lap-Band® is an adjustable plastic band that is placed around the upper stomach dividing it into a tiny pouch above the band with the remaining stomach below Currently, patients have a port located just underneath the skin. Therefore, to adjust the Lap-Band ®, a doctor must poke the patient with a large needle and inject saline. This process is knowingly painful and uncomfortable to the patients. So, because of this, the end goal of a series of Lap-Band ® Senior Design Projects will be to have an implantable device that can be adjusted without the use of a syringe thereby making the Lap-Band ® experience less invasive. Shown above is the GUI programmed through LabVIEW. It is used to control the servo motor and capture the sensor data. Here is a test sample showing the synthetic stomach graphed along side a human stomach.  From there a correlation factor is calculated to match the stomach properties.  This will allow for future SD teams to be able to model the next generation Lap-Band® The diagram to the left demonstrates the positioning and function of the Lap-Band® device. The reduction of stomach diameter at band location reduces the speed at which food can pass through the stomach causing the patient to become full quicker and for a longer period of time. Thus leading to weight loss. The sample data shown at left exhibits the force exerted by the Lap-Band® onto the stomach model for given fluid volumes in Lap-Band®. This will give future teams a better understanding of the forces at work during normal Lap-Band® operation. www.hitxp.com/sci/lapband.jpg The team would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor, Christine Sheible, Quantum Technology Associates Inc. The team would also like to thank our faculty guide, George Slack, and other faculty that provided us with very valuable feedback and information, including Dr. Steven Day, Dr. Daniel Phillips, Dr. Richard Doolittle, Tim Landschoot, and Dr. Elizabeth DeBartolo.