Automatic Setup of a Pulse Duplicator Apparatus through a Dither-free ESC Approach

With the help of in-vitro simulators, it is possible to simulate human physiological conditions to test medical equipment, accelerating innovation cycles and exploring the search for new and efficient solutions. In this paper, we consider the Pulse Duplicator in use at the University of Padova Healing Research Laboratory in Italy, for testing the effectiveness of prosthetic heart valves under realistic cardiac settings. By using a dither-free extremum seeking controller, that uses 1st order least squares fits for gradient estimation, we automatically adjust a fundamental system parameter in real-time, i.e. a system valve closing degree, that ensures a physiological pressure drop to simulate the peripheral resistance to flow in the human systemic circulation.