Week 8 – Proof of Concept

October 25, 2025 in Fall Semester

After our team returned from the PDR in Naples last week, we got to work right away on prototype plans for a functional device. The first thing we decided to tackle was deliberating through the mechanism of action of RF probes. We did this by attempting to rewire the competitor device which achieves a similar outcome to our design to the power supply that our device must be compatible with. This was suggested to us by multiple engineers at the PDR to develop a knowledge of how mechanical components interface with electrical components. We set out to achieve the following goals

  • Successfully reroute the Werewolf Probe to the AR-9800 power console to deliver RF energy at some relevant current
  • Map each crucial wire in the Werewolf Probe and identify similar wires in the i90 probe
  • Examine the power adaptor for each probe and compare them with each other
  • Achieve a sense of familiarity with the electrical components of the Werewolf device
  • Begin discussion of electrical mapping of our first prototype iteration

Over the course of multiple days, our team was able to achieve all of these goals this week. We originally also wanted to receive voltage and current readings as outputs from the device at different AR-9800 modes, but this proved difficult. We originally thought this was because our equipment was faulty, but later realized during our meeting with our Liaison that it was due to lack of a load resistance to accommodate the measurement. This informed our next steps for the coming week:

  • Curate a list of materials for our first functional prototype and order them
  • Activate saline delivery of the Werewolf probe in tandem with active coagulation from the AR-9800
  • Measure voltage and current outputs from the Werewolf device at AR-9800 coagulation and ablation settings
  • Perform concept testing on steak with Werewolf device to get a baseline of power level response from coagulation probes
  • Document testing process and results, which will help inform how our to test our own device
Three of our team members, Mike, Geremy, and Liam deconstructed the Werewolf probe and exposed the wiring in the power cable.
Each probe has two chords protruding from it: one for electrical power (black) and the other for saline flow (gray).
As we came to conclusions about the function of individual wires, we kept track of them on this whiteboard.
Mike connects oscilloscope probe and attempts to measure a voltage across the bipolar electrodes upon activation of the device.
A major achievement this week was the successful ability to power the Werewolf probe using the AR-9800 by severing and reconnecting the cables of the Werewolf and i90.
We reached a standstill when all voltages that were read on the oscilloscope were unrealistically high, which demonstrated a flaw in our measuring technique.
After setting the proper magnification scaling to match the oscilloscope probe that we had been using, we received more realistic values for voltage (see “RMS” or Root Mean Squared Voltage). However, we tested this with multiple oscilloscope probes and each rendered very different results, which caused us to second-guess our measuring process. Later, we concluded that a load resistor would be necessary to get a proper reading.

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