Research On Assembly System Of Flexible Micro-electrode Of Cochlear Implant

Cochlear Implant is an implantable medical device, which is used for severedeafness patients to restore hearing. Automatic forming technology research andindustrialization for the key parts of Cochlear Implant will help promote thedevelopment of domestic cochlear, so that more patients could benefit from thetechnology. Therefore, this paper on the automatic assembly forming systematic studyfor the key parts of Cochlear Implant is of great significance.Electrode is the key component of Cochlear Implant, which contacts with thehuman cochlea directly for signal transmission. It is formed by a electrode-wire withinsulation layer welding on the inner wall of a electrode-ring. The wire diameter is60μm and the inner diameter of the ring is0.5mm. Electrode assembly is an importantstep of Cochlear Implant assembly. However, due to that the current electrode assemblyis still using artificial means, the accuracy and efficiency of the assembly is unable tomeet industry needs. In view of the electrode assembly requirements, this paperdesigned an automatic clamping mechanism, erected an electrode assembly systembased on microscopic vision, and carried out experiments.First, according to the requirements and characteristics of the electrode assembly,combined with manual process, the assembly process was analyzed to determine thetotal system assembly program. Analysis showed that the key difficulties to be resolvedare the clamping of micro-objects and the stripping of electrode-wire. Therefore,automatic wire feeder, automatic ring feeder, automatic stripping/welding structure andother structures were designed. According to ANSYS software analysis results, thestructure was optimized repeatly, and the mechanical system was built at last.Secondly, the automatic focusing micro-vision system was erected to monitor theassembly line. And a system location calibration algorithm was designed for the system.Because there are some reasons during the automated assembly may result in the failureof the assembly, such as the excess of the electrode-wire’s offset and the abnormality ofthe electrode-ring’s assembly state, the offset detectng system and the ring assemblydetecting system were designed by using the image processing techniques, and thesystems were verified by experiments.Finally, through the functional analysis of the overall control system, the plan of the control system was determined, and the design of hardware and software werecompleted. Then, combining the mechanical structure, the entire assembly system waserected. Before the assembly experiment, the system calibration experiment wascompleted by the use of micro-vision system. Then, the effectiveness of the assemblystrategy and the overall performance of the assembly system were verified byexperiments. And the experimental results showed that the electrodes made by thissystem are better than those handmade electrodes.