Bacteria Counter

Wade May

Co-Advisors:Dr. Todd Giorgio, Ph.DDr. Bob Galloway, Ph.D

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Problem/Market

• Chemical plants and treatment facilities have large volumes of fluid traveling through piping systems. – This fluid is always susceptible to bacterial

contamination.• There is not a quick, cheap, and accurate way to

measure bacterial concentrations in these fluids. – Current methods take 24 hours to give an estimate

of bacterial concentrations. – At large plants, 24 hours of unusable products can

represent a loss in excess of $100,000.

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Goals/Objectives

• Develop a simple, effective device that will measure bacterial concentrations in an aqueous medium.

• The device should be relatively cheap (expensive methods already exist).

• Measurements should be available in a short period of time (less than 10 minutes).

• The device should perform its task with minimal or no safety hazards.

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Proposed Solution

• Separate bacteria in a strong magnetic field and measure the induced voltage due to their charge.

• This could be added online in a facility such as a chemical plant.

• This device would be fairly inexpensive, safe, and could provide real-time measurements.

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Background (Physics)

• A magnetic field induces a force on a moving particle according to the following cross product (- charge):

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

F = qv x B

q is the charge, v is the velocity, B is the magnetic field, F is the induced force

+

–

V (induced voltage)

Pump

North South

Flow

Induced Voltage

B-Field

FluidBath

Stirrer

Injected Charged Particles

Overall System Design

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Work Completed

• Literature search. • Web site design. • Faculty meetings and discussions.• System design.

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University

Future Work

• Gather all materials needed for a rough prototype. • Build and test system with saline. • Scale down system to smaller charged particles. • Design additional circuitry as necessary for

amplification. • Choose specific bacteria to work with.

Dept. of Biomedical Engineering Copyright © 1999 Vanderbilt University