Blood Treatment Device Article Verification System
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing medical devices for extracorporeal blood treatment face challenges in ensuring correct installation of disposable articles, particularly due to their similar appearance and capacity, leading to potential errors such as missing, excess, or incorrectly installed articles, and lack of traceability and data recording for used articles.
Innovation Solution
A medical device with receiving stations equipped with reading means and a control unit that verifies the correct installation of disposable articles by comparing the installed configuration with the required configuration for the selected treatment, sending alarms for discrepancies, and storing data on article usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If disposable articles with similar appearance and capacity are used for different treatments, then the device can support multiple treatment types, but installation errors occur due to difficulty in differentiation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color-coding to disposable articles (dialysis bags, perfusion bags, effluent bags) to differentiate their purposes. Each article type has specific color markings that correspond to receiving station requirements, enabling visual identification and preventing incorrect installation while maintaining multi-treatment capability
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit provides feedback by displaying visual indicators (green checkmarks or red error messages) to confirm correct article installation. The system reads article identification data, compares it with required configuration for the selected treatment, and immediately feedbacks the verification result to the user through the display interface
2Ease of operation
If manual installation of disposable articles is performed without verification, then the operation is simple and fast, but errors such as missing or excess articles go undetected
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-verification by automatically reading identification data from installed articles, comparing the configuration against the required setup for the selected treatment protocol, and detecting any discrepancies (missing, excess, or incorrect articles) without requiring manual verification by the operator
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection and verification with an automated electronic system. Reading means (optical or RFID scanners) automatically detect article identification data, and the control unit electronically verifies configuration correctness, substituting human verification with machine-based detection
3Device complexity
If no identification system is used for disposable articles, then the device structure remains simple, but traceability and data recording of article usage are impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds identification data storage (such as RFID tags or data matrices) within or on the surface of disposable articles. This nested information carrier allows the article to contain its own identification data, enabling the reading means to automatically detect and record article information without adding external complexity to the overall system
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit creates a digital copy of the article configuration data by reading identification information from physical articles. This digital record is stored in memory and can be retrieved for traceability, replacing the need for physical tracking while maintaining simple article design
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a medical device for providing a plurality of extracorporeal blood or plasma treatments, apt to receive at least one disposable article that can be connected to extracorporeal circuit, each disposable article being equipped with storage means containing information about the disposable article, the device comprising a first receiving station (2) for disposable articles (100) with a first reading means (3) for the associated article, a second receiving station (3) for disposable articles (100) with a second reading means (3) for the associated article, a memory comprising information concerning at least one treatment protocol designed to be executed by the device, and information concerning a configuration of the disposable articles necessary for each treatment protocol at each receiving station, a control unit (10) for comparing the stored configuration of articles concerning a treatment protocol with the configuration of articles once it is installed.