AED Current Regulation via Mobile Power Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are often bulky, costly, and underdeployed due to their size and high cost, and bystanders may hesitate to use them due to unfamiliarity, limiting their availability and effectiveness in sudden cardiac arrest situations.
Innovation Solution
AEDs powered by mobile communication devices like smartphones, utilizing voltage boosting and current regulating circuitry to charge a shock delivery capacitor, allowing for smaller design, reduced battery needs, and simplified user interfaces through mobile device processing and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If AEDs use traditional battery power sources to deliver defibrillation shocks, then sufficient energy for shock delivery can be stored, but the device becomes bulky and heavy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the heavy battery component from the AED system by using an external mobile communication device as the power source. The AED only retains the essential defibrillation circuitry and capacitor, while the power source is separated into the user's smartphone or mobile device, dramatically reducing the weight and bulk of the AED unit itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the AED system universal by leveraging the mobile communication devices that users already carry daily. Instead of requiring a dedicated heavy battery pack, the system utilizes the existing battery and processing capabilities of smartphones and mobile devices, which users already have with them, to power the defibrillator.
2Weight of moving object
If AEDs are designed to be portable and lightweight, then they can be carried by bystanders, but they lack sufficient battery capacity for shock delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a capacitor as an intermediary energy storage device in the AED circuitry. This capacitor receives charge from the mobile communication device's battery through voltage boosting circuitry, and then delivers the high-power defibrillation shock. The capacitor acts as a buffer that can rapidly discharge the required energy for shock delivery without requiring the AED to carry a large battery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary charging of the capacitor from the mobile device battery before the defibrillation event occurs. The system continuously or periodically charges the capacitor from the mobile device, so that when a cardiac arrest event is detected, the capacitor is already charged and ready to deliver the shock immediately, eliminating the need for the AED to have its own large battery.
3Productivity
If AEDs use high current draw from mobile devices for rapid charging, then charging speed increases, but mobile device battery depletion accelerates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic or pulsed charging of the capacitor from the mobile device rather than continuous high-current drawing. The voltage boosting circuitry operates in cycles, transferring energy in controlled bursts to the capacitor, which allows the mobile device to recharge the AED capacitor efficiently without depleting its own battery too rapidly. This periodic action balances charging speed with sustainable power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses voltage boosting circuitry that can dynamically adjust the charging parameters (voltage and current levels) based on the state of the capacitor and the mobile device's power availability. By changing the electrical parameters of the charging process, the system optimizes the transfer of energy from the mobile device to the AED capacitor, achieving rapid charging while managing the mobile device's battery consumption.
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
Enables wider deployment of AEDs by reducing size and cost, improving user experience through mobile device integration, and ensuring efficient charging and shock delivery, enhancing their availability and effectiveness in emergency situations.
Implementation Method 1
voltage boosting circuitry that boosts the voltage of received current to charge the shock delivery capacitor
Implementation Method 2
a transitory electrical energy store that serves as a temporary store for electrical energy drawn from a power source during the voltage boosting circuitry's current shut-off intervals
Implementation Method 3
current regulating circuitry that maintains a continuous draw current from a power source for the voltage boosting circuitry
Data Source
AI summary
A variety of charging circuits and current control techniques are described that are well suited for use in portable medical devices to enable such devices to be powered by a mobile communication device such as a smart phone, tablet computer, etc. The described current regulating and charging circuitry and techniques are well suited for use in portable medical devices such as defibrillators, X-ray machines and other imaging machines, as well as a variety of other devices (both medical and non-medical).