Temperature Rise in Ring Removal
Poster Number
20C
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
JuEun Lee
Faculty Mentor Department
Mechanical Engineering
Abstract/Artist Statement
In the Emergency Department, it is often imperative to be able to remove a ring a digit that has swelled significantly. This is critical as the injured swelled digit with the ring attached can cause many complications including pain, swelling, infections, or burns. Especially, swelling of the digit can rapidly progress, causing the ring to become a constricting band and compromise blood flow to the digit. In addition, patients undergoing emergency surgery or intensive care settings may need to have rings removed quickly. The common technique in ring removal, which is performed by emergency physicians, is to cut the ring using grinding or drilling. However, in general a ring that is made of hard materials such as tungsten carbide experiences significant heat generated during cutting this hard material. This causes additional issues, such as severe skin damage or thermal necrosis. Hence, this study aims to investigate the temperature rise in cutting a ring used in the current ring removal technique. A series of experiments were conducted on a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine to measure the temperature distribution of a ring in ring cutting using an infrared thermal camera. The material and thickness of the rings were tungsten carbide and 2.3 mm, respectively. For cutting, a diamond grinder with a 10 mm head diameter was used, which is commonly used in ring cutting by emergency physicians. To mimic the current ring cutting procedure, a spindle of 2000 rpm and a feed rate of 0.0385 mm/sec were selected. The results indicate that temperature of the ring significantly increased during the cutting, which exceeds the criteria of thermal necrosis (47°C in one minute). This study identified that the current ring cutting technique commonly used in the Emergency Department can cause thermal damage to a patient’s skin and/or bone. The findings of this study can be a foundation to identify a better technique in ring removal.
Location
Information Commons, William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center
Start Date
29-4-2023 10:00 AM
End Date
29-4-2023 1:00 PM
Temperature Rise in Ring Removal
Information Commons, William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center
In the Emergency Department, it is often imperative to be able to remove a ring a digit that has swelled significantly. This is critical as the injured swelled digit with the ring attached can cause many complications including pain, swelling, infections, or burns. Especially, swelling of the digit can rapidly progress, causing the ring to become a constricting band and compromise blood flow to the digit. In addition, patients undergoing emergency surgery or intensive care settings may need to have rings removed quickly. The common technique in ring removal, which is performed by emergency physicians, is to cut the ring using grinding or drilling. However, in general a ring that is made of hard materials such as tungsten carbide experiences significant heat generated during cutting this hard material. This causes additional issues, such as severe skin damage or thermal necrosis. Hence, this study aims to investigate the temperature rise in cutting a ring used in the current ring removal technique. A series of experiments were conducted on a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine to measure the temperature distribution of a ring in ring cutting using an infrared thermal camera. The material and thickness of the rings were tungsten carbide and 2.3 mm, respectively. For cutting, a diamond grinder with a 10 mm head diameter was used, which is commonly used in ring cutting by emergency physicians. To mimic the current ring cutting procedure, a spindle of 2000 rpm and a feed rate of 0.0385 mm/sec were selected. The results indicate that temperature of the ring significantly increased during the cutting, which exceeds the criteria of thermal necrosis (47°C in one minute). This study identified that the current ring cutting technique commonly used in the Emergency Department can cause thermal damage to a patient’s skin and/or bone. The findings of this study can be a foundation to identify a better technique in ring removal.