Development of polymer bonded / sintered permanent magnets for a wearable NMR sensor

SYNEX Medical, a Toronto based biotechnology startup has developed a non-invasive biomarker technology that comes in the form of a wearable ring enabling users to track concentration of different biomarkers in their blood. The device employs Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology to determine the concentration of different biomarkers. One fundamental instrumentation for this NMR based wearable device is a permanent magnet. This research project shall focus on the development of novel materials and manufacturing methods to fabricate polymer bonded / sintered permanent magnets using Additive Manufacturing (AM). The developed magnets shall be utilized to construct a magnetic array to generate a uniform magnetic field. Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology enables fabricating geometrically complex structures without tooling and minimum material utilization. AM processes like material jetting, fused deposition modelling and stereolithography are expected to be utilized. In this context, formulation of new materials, process design and manufacture of suitable permanent magnets shall be undertaken. The project further progresses to identifying the best suitable materials and processes to develop permanent magnets with desired dimensional and magnetic properties suitable for the wearable NMR device.

Faculty Supervisor:

Pierre Mertiny

Student:

Balakrishnan Nagarajan

Partner:

Synex Medical Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

University:

University of Alberta

Program: