Project Overview

Just as the causes that lead to the need for a heart valve replacement vary, so too do the replacement options a patient has. One of the most widely used options today is the mechanical heart valve, more specifically, the bileaflet mechanical heart valve.

This type of valve replacement replicates the natural heart valve closely through the use of two leaflets, or flaps. Mechanical heart valve replacements, in general, are more widely used because they will, most likely, never need to be replaced. One of the drawbacks of all mechanical heart valves is the presence of an audible clicking noise produced as the leaflets open and close.

This design project's goal is to model and create a trileaflet mechanical heart valve that minimizes the noise produced as the flaps open and close. The largest technical challenge facing this project is how to reduce the clicking noise while maintaining high efficiency. Other challenges include the 3D modeling and printing of the new design, testing of the new design and preparation of the final report and presentation. In the end, this project will produce a functional model of a trileaflet mechanical heart valve that reduces that noise produces as the leaflets open and close.