Projects | DVA NGUYEN

MicroRobot-assisted Cholesteatoma Surgery (µRoCS)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each year, around one new case per 10,000 inhabitants in Europe is infected by cholesteatoma. It is a serious form of chronic otitis presented as an abnormal proliferation of epidermal tissue, with desquamation and destruction of surrounding bones. As a consequence, complications can be dizziness, meningitis (or other brain infections), facial palsy or total and irreversible deafnes. The only current treatment is to remove the infected tissues through a surgical operation. However, the associated risk of recurrences due to residual cholesteatoma can reach 23-25% of cases depending on the country and age group. Follow-up strategy is systematically applied and induces a painful second examination of the patient, along with additional costs. The complete removal of cholesteatoma is thus a considerable limitation of current practices due to the limited dexterity of the surgical tools working in the tiny and confined space of the middle ear cavity.

Therefore, the µRoCS project proposed a surgical robotic system including flexible microrobots which enable contact with hard-to-reach anatomical targets inside the middle ear and perform the cholesteatoma removal by laser. The aim of this project is to reduce the cholesteatoma recurrence by removing efficiently all infected cells from the first operation with a minimally invasive surgery. This microrobotic system will improve the accuracy and repeatability of the surgeon’s gestures. The accurate detection of cholesteatoma cells is supported by using optical biopsies. Thanks to a millimeter size and a high bending curvature of its distal end, the flexible surgical tool would improve the accessibility and minimize the need for large incisions.

This project is funded by ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) with the partners including CHRUB (Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Besançon), INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale), FEMTO-ST (Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies), and ISIR (Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique). The project coordinator is Professor Laurent Tavernier, head of ENT Service at CHRUB.

As member of the µRoCS project, the work of Mr. Nguyen focuses on the mechatronics discipline of the proposed hybrid continuum robot for middle ear surgery. The main contributions including the specifications, design, modelling, prototype fabrication and low-level control of the proposed microrobot based on anatomic constraints.

Mini smart water treatment station for motorhomes (EZA Water)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

LAVI is a start-up company operating in the field of accessories for Motorhomes. In collaboration with SOPLAIR company, LAVI seeks to develop a range of intelligent products to improve the comfort of the motorhome: the EZA range.

The mission of EZA Water was to reprocess used water, there by, improve the comfort and autonomy of motorhome owners. The entrusted mission was to design an intelligent and low-consumption electronic system to check the operation of the hydraulic system using sensors (i.e., detecting the clogging and leaking problems). This system can communicate with the user via a touch screen and a beep sound. The maintenance software makes it possible to modify the parameters of the system and to recover the recorded data files with a micro SD card. Thus, the company has a simple and effective tool to analyze the causes of malfunction and ensure product traceability.

Mr. Nguyen and his team (as 4 future engineers of Grenoble INP-ESISAR) researched and developed (full-time) this product for LAVI company during six months (Jan - Jul, 2017). The main tasks of Mr. Nguyen focus on the design of a Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), Human Machine Interface (HMI) development, and sensors/signal processing.

Power Balancing in a DC-meshed Microgrid Through Constrained Optimization (C3μ project)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The energy from fossil fuel sources results in the huge amounts of pollution as well as the exhaustion of coal and oil. These problems lead us to find other energy sources as well as a better solution in power distribution in order to reduce the power losses. This project considered the DC part of a hybrid AC/DC microgrid with a meshed topology. It addressed the cost minimization, the battery scheduling and the power loss minimization within the power distribution network through constrained optimization. The novelty came from applying differential flatness properties to the microgrid components and formulating the cost and constraints in terms of the associated B-splines parametrization of the flat outputs (the voltages and currents of the system). This allowed obtaining optimal power profiles to minimize the power dissipation and the cost of the electricity purchase from the external grid. Based on the weather forecast and the historical power consumption data, these profiles were tracked using a model predictive control at the higher level, while the lower level deals with the operation of the switches within the DC/DC converters. Extensive simulations under nominal and fault-affected scenarios using realistic data validate the proposed approach.

This project, in the collaboration between LCIS (in Valence) and Ampere labs (in Lyon), is funded by ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) within the framework of the project ANR-15-CE05-0004 C3μ (Components, Control and Communication for DC microgrid).

Simulation, control & experimental testing on a helicopter system (CE150)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The project focused on modeling and closed-loop controls (PID, LQR, MPC) of a laboratory helicopter using conventional control methods. The system consisted of a body, carrying two propellers driven by DC motors, and a massive support. The body had two degrees of freedom. Both body position angles (elevation and azimuth) were influenced by rotation of propellers. Center of gravity was changed by moving small weight along the main horizontal axis of helicopter by a servomotor. The mathematical model of the helicopter system was a typical MIMO 2x2 system with significant cross-couplings. The electromechanical system can be linearized to a linear sixth-order model when operating near the steady state. A multifunctional card MF624 was used as interface module between PC based controller and helicopter system. It was designed for data acquisition and transmission. The card can be optimized for use with MATLAB/Simulink Real Time Toolbox. It also provided implementation of the control algorithms from the PC to the helicopter system. The user communicates with the system via Real Time Toolbox interface, all input/output signals were dimensionless and scaled into the MU (Machine Unit). The MATLAB/Simulink xPC Target Toolbox can be used to perform the experiments in real time applications.

This project is funded by Grenoble INP-UGA at the Esynov platform under the supervision of Professor (Associate) Ionela Prodan.

As member of the innovation project, Mr. Nguyen started his work as a research intern in the summer of 2017, then became the team leader of this project (Sep - Dec, 2017).