MSc thesis project proposal

Dilating pupil based on electrowetting

Through illness (cancer) or accidents (fireworks) people can lose one of their eyes. To make these people feel complete again they are supplied with a prosthetic eye. This prosthesis is a cosmetic aid to prevent the patient to feel disfigured and incomplete and will improve their wellbeing and acceptance in society. Currently eye prostheses can be manufactured such that they match well with the functional eye and can move in parallel by fixing the prosthesis to the eye muscles. Only when moving to darker environments the difference between the eyes becomes apparent since in the prosthetic eye the pupil is static (painted). In particular for younger patients this is a problem in dark environments like discotheques, where the natural pupil dilates while the prosthetic one doesn’t. The development of an eye prosthesis with human like pupil reflexes is therefore seen as the holy grail for eye prostheses. In previous projects the principle was tested and promising materials were identified. However the chosen design and structure showed to have some drawbacks.
Cooperation The project is in cooperation with Eye surgeons of the VUMC and occulists which take care of the prosthesis casting process.

Assignment

• A complete redesign of the electrowetting device • Production of a prototype in the EKL clean room • A proper plan to integrate it into a prosthetic eye • The development of a low power electronic control unit

Contact

dr.ir. Andre Bossche

Electronic Instrumentation Group

Department of Microelectronics

Last modified: 2020-02-04