Grading the PVC material by solving a static inverse problem with genetic algorithm

Abstract

When developing hi-tech medical equipment the exact technical properties of its components must be known. Such an equipment as volumetric pump uses peristaltic mechanism compressing an intro-vein set, which is made from PVC material. Since needed mechanical properties of PVC material are not provided by its manufacturer, we aimed at finding them by solving an inverse static problem. The inverse problem appeared to be an optimization problem, therefore Genetic algorithm was chosen as an optimizer, which also let to investigate the problem landscape. In addition, a study of mechanical properties of PVC material helped to calculate optimal stiffness of the springs used in the mentioned peristaltic mechanism.