Research on measurement and modeling of the gastro intestine's frictional characteristics

The frictional characteristics of an intestine are required basically for the development of a noninvasive endoscope for the human intestine. The frictional force is tested by measuring the current of the motor hauling the frictional coupons at an even speed. A multifunction data acquisition device with model NI-6008 USB is used and the data process is performed on the Labview software. Two kinds of materials with aluminum and copper are used. The surfaces are designed as triangle, rectangular, cylindrical and plane forms. The tested results indicate that the frictional resistance force includes the nominal frictional force and the visco-adhesive force. When the surface contour changes from the triangle to the rectangular, to the cylindrical and finally to the plane, the nominal frictional coefficients will decrease and the visco-adhesive force will increase. The nominal frictional force is related to the elastic restoring force, the real frictional force and the contact angle. The cohesive force is determined by the contact area and the contact angle. This research will provide some preliminary references to the design and the parameter selection of locomotion devices in the human gastro-intestine.