AC Coupled Skin Temperature Control System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transcutaneous CO2 monitoring systems face challenges in accurately controlling skin temperature for reliable arterialization, with risks of skin burns and potential electronic failures leading to uncontrollable heater currents, necessitating improved miniaturized and safe temperature control solutions.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a temperature sensor module, microcontroller module generating AC heating pulse signals through sequential code steps, a coupling module transforming these signals to eliminate DC components, and a heating module producing controlled heat pulses, ensuring safe and precise temperature control with reduced risk of software hang-ups.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If DC coupled heating is used to maintain skin temperature for arterialization, then heating effectiveness is improved, but risk of uncontrollable heater currents and skin burns increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic AC heating pulses instead of continuous DC heating. The heater is controlled to deliver periodic heating pulses with duty cycles between 1% and 100%, creating an AC-coupled system that periodically heats the skin to maintain arterialization while inherently limiting maximum current exposure and eliminating the risk of runaway DC currents.
2Reliability
If hardware safety circuits are added to prevent uncontrollable heater currents, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex hardware safety circuits with a software-based control approach. A microcontroller executes safety-checking code that monitors heater current and temperature, eliminating the need for substantial additional hardware safety circuits while maintaining reliable protection against uncontrollable heating.
3Volume of moving object
If miniaturized controller design is implemented, then device portability is improved, but thermal management precision may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The periodic AC pulse heating approach enables miniaturization while maintaining precision by using short, controlled heating bursts followed by measurement intervals. This pulsed operation reduces average power consumption and heat accumulation, allowing smaller thermal masses and compact design without sacrificing temperature control accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback control where the microcontroller continuously monitors skin temperature and adjusts the heating pulse duty cycle accordingly. This closed-loop control maintains precise temperature regulation even in the miniaturized design, compensating for reduced thermal mass and faster temperature dynamics.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides enhanced safety and precision in skin temperature control, minimizing the risk of skin burns and electronic failures, while allowing for miniaturization and adaptability to various healthcare applications beyond transcutaneous sensing.
Implementation Method 1
a heating module, which is coupled to the coupling module and which is configured to generate heat according to the transformed AC heating pulse signals
Implementation Method 2
a temperature sensor module, which is configured to measure a skin temperature value
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a system (100) for controlling a temperature, the system (100) comprising: a temperature sensor module (10), which is configured to measure a temperature value; a microcontroller module (20), which is coupled to the temperature sensor module (10) and which is configured to generate AC heating pulse signals by separate sequential code steps based on the measured temperature value; a coupling module (30) which is coupled to the microcontroller module (20) and which is configured to transform the generated AC heating pulse signals into transformed AC heating pulse signals using a transfer function which is substantially zero for DC signal components; and a heating module (40) which is coupled to the coupling module (30) and which is configured to generate heat according to the transformed AC heating pulse signals.