TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cap. 1 – Aim of the work……….

Page 1

Cap. 2 – Medical needs and technological solutions

2.1 – Gastrointestinal diseases and medical problems……….’’ 5

2.2 – Traditional flexible endoscopy………’’ 8

2.3 – Wireless endoscopic capsule (WCE)………...’’ 9

2.3.1 – Passive endoscopy capsule………...’’ 10

2.3.2 – Active endoscopy capsule………’’ 11

2.3.2.1 – Internal propulsion………’’ 11

2.3.2.2 – External propulsion………’’ 14

Cap. 3 – System overview

3.1 – SUPCAM platform system overall description……….. ’’ 18

3.1.1 – Wireless capsule endoscopy………’’ 19

3.2 – External magnetic source………’’ 21

3.3 – External magnetic control system based on electromagnet………’’ 22

Cap. 4 – Design of the magnetic module

4.1 – Magnetic field background ……….’’ 28

4.2 – IPM characteristics ………...………..’’ 30

4.3 – EES technical requirements………....’’ 33

4.3.1 – Magnetic gradient target……….. ’’ 34

4.3.2 – Magnetic torque target……….’’ 39

4.4 – Methods of magnetic field simulation………’’ 41

4.4.1 – Comsol……….’’ 41

4.4.1.1 – Comsol simulation……… ’’ 45

4.4.2 – Analytical model………..’’ 49

4.5 – Validation of magnetic field models………...’’ 52

Cap. 5 – Design of the external electromagnet system

5.1 – Electromagnetic design constraints……….’’ 62

5.2 – Simulations for electromagnetic design………..’’ 69

5.2.1 – The iterative procedure to define the final design of EES...…....’’ 69

Cap. 6 – Preliminary experimental evaluation and conclusions

6.1 – Experimental evaluation and results……….’’ 85

6.2 – Conclusions………...………....’’ 92

Appendix A

………...………’’ 96

Appendix B

………...………’’ 98