Design and the Development of Mammography Machine

Abstract

According to GLOBOCAN (WHO), an estimation of about 70218 women died due to breast cancer in India in the year 2012, i.e. more than any other country of the world. For India, in 2012, about 144,937 women were newly detected with breast cancer. So in India, it can be said that for every 2 women diagnosed with breast cancer, one female is dying of it. There is no way to prevent cancer, but we can detect it early and treat adequately. Mammography machine is used for the detection of Breast Cancer. It uses low energy X- Rays (around 30kVp) to examine human breast. The aim of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, mainly through detection of characteristic masses and/or micro calcifications. Annual mammograms could facilitate the cancer detection early and can be treatable. Mammograms show changes in the breast after two years before a patient or physician can detect it. Mammograms can prevent the need for expensive treatment for advanced cancers and increase chances of breast conservation. Guidelines from the American college of Radiology, the society for Breast Imaging and the American Cancer Society recommends that women should receive annual mammograms at age 40 even if they don’t have family history of breast cancer or symptoms. As the cost of mammography is too high and requires skilled professional to operate, a new design for mammography machine is proposed to make it cost effective and user friendly. It would help for ease of access at remote places in India and help to create awareness in people. In this dissertation, various mechanisms and methods for mammography are studied. Scissor lift mechanism has been selected and used for lifting the C – arm and chain drive mechanism for the pressure pad. Advantage of the scissor lift mechanism is that the torque required reduces as the mechanism gets lifted up. Spring has been used to store the energy,when the mechanism is lowered and releases it when lifted. Use of spring alongwith the scissor lift reduces the torque required to lift the mechanism. Design is made for assembly and compact size. FMEA has been prepared for most critical part for design. FEA of the critical components and the mechanism has been carried out for the anlaysis purpose in Ansys. Also 3D CAD models and 2D drawings are prepared considering the DFA and DFW.