Conductive Gel Deployment for Uniform Wearable Defibrillation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cardiac arrest and other cardiac health ailments result in significant mortality due to the limited effectiveness and high cost of resuscitation efforts, necessitating improved methods to maintain circulatory and respiratory systems during such events.
Innovation Solution
An electrode system with a gel deployment receptacle and fluid pump that releases conductive gel onto the body, facilitating defibrillation current delivery through wearable defibrillators, utilizing a shell with apertures and a gel conduit to distribute the gel evenly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conductive gel is applied manually or non-uniformly, then application simplicity is maintained, but gel distribution uniformity deteriorates leading to inconsistent defibrillation performance
Solution Approach 1:
The gel deployment system is segmented into multiple independent channels, each with its own aperture. The gel reservoir is divided into multiple compartments that can be independently controlled. This segmentation allows uniform distribution of gel across multiple contact points simultaneously, ensuring consistent defibrillation performance while keeping each individual channel simple in design
Solution Approach 2:
The conductive gel is pre-loaded into reservoirs and positioned within the electrode assembly before patient contact. The system is prepared in advance with gel already in place, eliminating the need for manual application at the moment of defibrillation. This preliminary action ensures uniform distribution is achieved automatically when the electrode is applied, without requiring complex real-time control
2Reliability
If high current is delivered for defibrillation, then resuscitation effectiveness is improved, but skin impedance and tissue damage risk worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Conductive gel serves as an intermediary substance between the electrode and the patient's skin. It fills in skin imperfections, hair, and moisture variations to create a uniform conductive interface. This intermediary layer significantly reduces skin impedance, allowing high defibrillation currents to be delivered effectively while minimizing tissue damage risk by distributing the current more evenly across the contact surface
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the electrical conductivity parameter at the skin-electrode interface by introducing conductive gel. The gel's high ionic conductivity transforms the high-impedance skin surface into a low-impedance contact surface, enabling effective current delivery. The gel's physical properties (viscosity, conductivity) are optimized to maintain stable electrical contact during the defibrillation event
3Reliability
If gel is applied too early or too late in the resuscitation process, then treatment timing flexibility is maintained, but resuscitation success rate deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive gel is pre-loaded into reservoirs that are part of the electrode assembly itself, ready for immediate deployment. This preliminary preparation eliminates any delay between electrode application and gel delivery, ensuring the gel is applied at the optimal moment when the electrode contacts the skin, without requiring separate manual application steps that could delay treatment
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode assembly automatically deploys the conductive gel through integrated reservoirs and apertures without requiring external intervention. The system self-regulates gel delivery based on electrode-skin contact, ensuring proper timing is achieved automatically. This self-service mechanism eliminates timing errors that could occur with manual application, maintaining both speed and reliability
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
Enhances the effectiveness of defibrillation by reducing impedance and ensuring uniform gel distribution, thereby improving the chances of successful resuscitation.
Implementation Method 1
The fluid pump receives a fluid at a first pressure and outputs the fluid at a second pressure higher than the first pressure
Implementation Method 2
The conductive gel may be capable of conducting a defibrillation current
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a wearable cardiac therapeutic system including a plurality of therapy electrodes disposed in a garment and a fluid pressure source including a barrel configured to house the conductive gel and an actuation mechanism. A therapy controller is configured to detect an arrhythmic event in a patient based on sensed electrical activity of the patient's heart, initiate an activation signal indicating that the conductive gel is to be released on to the body of the patient, and cause the delivery of one or more electrical therapeutic shocks to the heart of the patient. Gel activator circuitry is configured to receive the activation signal from the therapy controller, and cause the fluid pressure source to expel the conductive gel onto the body of the patient proximate the one or more of the therapy electrodes and prior to the delivery of the one or more electrical shocks to the patient.