Design of a piezoelectrically actuated hydrocephalus shunt valve

Hydrocephalus is currently managed by using traditional mechanical passive shunts. Due to their nature, these shunts have fundamental shortcomings including an increase in patient shunt dependency, absence of fault detection, and over drainage due to lack of shunt proactivity. There is a scientific consensus that the way forward to address these issues is through what is termed a smart shunt. The core component of this system is the mechatronic controllable valve. A design of a valve which utilises both the passive nature of the classical valves and the controllability feature of the fully automated valves is presented in this paper. The valve consists of a fluid compartment, a linear spring, and an ultrasonic piezoelectric element. The valve is designed to operate on a 5 V supply, to drain up to 300 mL/h, and it has an operational range between 10 and 20 mmHg. The design produced is considered feasible as it takes into consideration the multiple operation conditions associated with such an implanted system.