Student project: Modeling of urine flow in a sensor for advanced urine sensing in a toilet

This project aims to validate and improve the design of the urine sensing prototype by modeling the flow and temperature changes through the prototype.

What you will do

What if we were able to diagnose patients at an early stage and with completely non-invasive methods? At OnePlanet Research Center we are working on BioSensing@Home as part of the Smart Bathroom program; aiming to develop a variety of advanced sensors for measuring health, integrated in and around the toilet.

Urine is an interesting fluid that contains many compounds that can be used to track someone’s health.  As such, we have developed a prototype that allows the automatic analysis of urine in a non-invasive way. This prototype can be hung in a toilet to collect the urine and guide it past sensors.

In this project, we aim to validate and improve the design of this prototype using computational simulations with COMSOL. More specific, can we validate and improve the urine flow past the sensors. In addition, our prototype contains a temperature sensor. We will investigate by simulations if we can predict a user’s core temperature by measuring the urine temperature with our prototype. Besides computational simulations, the results of the simulations can be strengthened, or validated with experiments in the lab.

Note: in this project you don’t have to work with urine! Experiments in the lab can be performed with water.

• Simulate fluid flow past sensors of the designed prototype.
• Investigate the influence of different situations; flow rates, amount of fluid, incident angle etc..
• Evaluate the design of current prototype and come up with suggestions for improvements.
• Simulate temperature changes of the urine from the point of excretion to the sensor and investigate the possibility to predict the user’s core temperature.
• Perform experiments in the lab to strengthen the results of the simulations.

What we do for you

We offer a challenging and international environment at the forefront of technology. OnePlanet is a young collaboration of 3 renowned and globally respected research institutes/universities: Wageningen University & Research, Radboud University, Radboud UMC, and imec. By joining the OnePlanet team, you will be part of a team of world changers, disruptive innovators, and practical thinkers. Here, your ideas will have an impact on our future lives.

Who you are

• You are a MSc student in Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Technical Medicine or similar field.
• You are available for a (minimal) period of 6 months.
• You have a strong interest in computational simulations.
• Knowledge of fluid dynamics is a plus.
• Knowledge of computation simulation software (e.g. COMSOL) is a plus.
• An interest in biomedical research is a plus.
• Motivated student eager to expand knowledge in the field.
• Good written and verbal English skills.
• Entitled to do an internship in the Netherlands. This means that you are either an EU/EEA citizen, or a non-EU/EEA citizen who is studying at a Dutch university and need to do an internship as part of your studies.

Interested

Click on ‘apply’ to submit your application.