Size trends in medical sensing; compact technology meets patient needs
Applications range from patient transport, through the operating theatre to home-care;
– Patient transport, intake and ambulatory care environments – the smaller the equipment is, the earlier it can reach the patient and the greater the likelihood it can be deployed directly at first-response sites. Likewise, smaller respirators, infusion pumps and vital sign monitors help hospitals to improve the quality of in-room and ICU care.
– The operating theatre – space in an operating theatre is always at a premium. Compact monitors, pumps, and suction equipment give a scrub team better access to both the patient and the monitors, life support and treatment equipment.
– Patient mobility and home-care – highly portable equipment is critical for patients recovering in hospital and returning home where mobility will give them greater autonomy and comfort and, in many cases, a speedier recovery.
Modern medical devices, such as these infusion pumps, require compact sensors compliant with the stringent standards which govern medical materials safety.
Sensor technology meets compact design requirements
A key focus of R & D at Honeywell Sensing and Control is space-saving sensors and the integration of multiple sensor elements in a single package. Advanced integration techniques have allowed sensors to be placed within small surgical devices and other applications, in configurations which were previously considered impossible. A number of technology developments are contributing to meeting medical needs.
Board-mountable sensor packages
Sensor platforms that offer several options for mechanical interfaces, mounting, packaging, and I/O options to give medical equipment designers new degrees of freedom when designing medical equipment are critical. For example, pressure sensors that provide several options for mating connections (port styles), packaging (DIP, SIP, surface mount), and outputs (analogue or digital) which can be used to satisfy their application demanding functional, cost and board space requirements.
The multiple benefits offered by sensors presented as board-mountable packages have made them one of the most popular space-saving components for medical and industrial designs. In the case of sensors which measure fluid pressure or flow, board-mount packaging enables the sensing element to be firmly attached to the device’s printed circuit board (PCB) as close as possible to the patient and/or the liquid media being sensed (e.g. blood, chemicals or water).
This is especially important in certain applications, such as dialysis machines, which require precise and accurate measurement of dialysate (one of the fluids involved in the dialysis process) and venous pressure to ensure a patient’s safety and comfort during treatment. Accurate measurement of pressures in the fluid and blood flows helps ensure that an over-or-under pressure situation does not occur, conditions which can result in either burst blood vessels or air bubbles in the dialysis feed line. For these types of applications a board-mounted package can help provide the close proximity the pressure sensor needs to produce accurate, precise measurements and better response times to changes in the system.
Besides ensuring accurate and precise measurements, board-mounted sensors enable simpler, more reliable designs which can be quickly assembled using automated equipment. Pressure and flow sensors are typically available in several board-mount package styles, many of which offer options for different orientations for their integrated ports. This can be very helpful for a design that needs a clear path for the tubes which connect the sensor with whatever medium it is monitoring.
Packaging options
Packaging options which combine the sensor port and a pre-integrated manifold can provide additional space savings for some applications by eliminating the tubing and related connections between the sensor/port assembly and its target medium resulting in a simpler, more compact design.
The direct connection afforded by manifold-mounted packaging also eliminates many of the problems in conventional designs where clogs, leaks and other types of failures can occur. Manufacturers often find that by eliminating the trial-and-error required to optimise a port’s performance, using pre-engineered manifolds can provide significant savings in a design project’s engineering labour costs and development schedule.
Multi-sensor / multi-function packages
Many medical devices can benefit from integrated sensor solutions which combine multiple functions, such as temperature and humidity, or temperature and pressure. Multi-sensor solutions can be implemented by either co-packaging two or more sensor elements or integrating separately-packaged sensors within a compact higher-level assembly.
Optimising the solution to a single package can ensure tighter correlation between devices and can lead to savings in space and installation time. Honeywell supplies a single integrated, warranted solution that may in the past have required multiple suppliers, thereby reducing the need to manage multiple part numbers for a given function. One example is the HumidICon.
The HumidIcon module combines two different sensor functions into a single package, providing a smaller size and eliminating the need for designing-in the components required for processing the signals between the two sensors. All the additional intelligence is already included in the module package. The applications are numerous – all presenting very different challenges in terms of the application, but with common system components.
One application of integrating humidity and temperature sensing is to help patients with sleep apnea by controlling the temperature of the heater pan with closely integrated heating and temperature measurement. The HumidIcon sensor controls the moisture content in the air supply, as well as the temperature, suiting it to this application.
HumidIcon digital humidity/temperature sensors are an example of how two functions can be integrated in a single small package.
Potential applications for the Honeywell HumidIcon Digital Humidity/Temperature Sensor include providing precision relative humidity and temperature measurement for:
– HVAC/R systems, thermostats, humidifiers/de-humidifiers, and humidistats to maintain occupant comfort and ideal storage humidity/temperature while achieving low energy consumption, supporting system accuracy and warranty requirements, maximising system uptime, and improving overall system quality.
– Respiratory therapy such as sleep apnea machines and ventilators, to enhance patient comfort, safety, and treatment effectiveness with warm and humidified air.
– Incubators/microenvironments to support critical processes and experiments, enhancing process efficiency with desired climate conditions.
– Compressed air lines condensation removal; dry compressed air is critical for customer process control measurement.
– Ground-based and airborne weather stations, allowing real time and highly accurate monitoring and reporting of actual weather conditions.
As industry trends move towards smaller, more portable medical equipment with smarter performance that improves the quality and cost-effectiveness of medical care, sensors play a very important and critical role. These challenges can be met by combining new sensor integration technologies into compact devices that meet the many different and challenging needs of patients in hospital and in home-care.
Honeywell; https://sensing.honeywell.com/
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