Electro Pneumatic Interface for Blood Pressure Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Non-invasive blood pressure systems face challenges with cross-contamination between patients due to shared cuffs and entangled electrical and pneumatic connections, which pose hazards to healthcare workers and patients.
Innovation Solution
A compact hand-held blood pressure system with integrated electric and pneumatic circuitry that can connect directly to independent cuffs or host stations via tubeless pneumatic and wireless electrical connections, reducing the risk of cross-contamination and improving mobility and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single non-invasive blood pressure cuff is shared among multiple patients, then device complexity is reduced, but cross-contamination between patients occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the blood pressure monitoring function into separate components: a reusable host station and disposable or dedicated cuffs for each patient. This segmentation allows the cuff to be changed between patients while the main processing unit remains stationary, eliminating cross-contamination while maintaining system simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs disposable or single-use blood pressure cuffs that are discarded after one patient use. This eliminates the need for sanitization between patients and prevents cross-contamination, while the expensive electronic components remain in a stationary host station.
2Reliability
If lengthy electrical wires and pneumatic tubes are used to connect system components on mobile carriages, then connectivity between components is ensured, but the connections become entangled and pose hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pneumatic and electrical connections from the mobile carriage structure and relocates them to a stationary host station. The cuff contains minimal components (pressure sensor and connector), while the pump, processor, and power supply are housed in the fixed station, eliminating entangled wires and tubes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a standardized connector interface as an intermediary between the cuff and host station. This allows for quick, tool-free attachment and detachment of the cuff, eliminating the need for lengthy cables and improving both reliability and ease of operation.
3Ease of operation
If a compact hand-held device with integrated circuitry is used, then mobility and safety are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the pneumatic pump, electrical processor, pressure sensor interface, and display into a single integrated host station. This consolidation improves mobility compared to separate components while managing complexity through functional integration rather than dispersion.
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 effectively reduces cross-contamination risks, enhances mobility, and simplifies connections, providing accurate and safe blood pressure readings while minimizing entanglement hazards.
Implementation Method 1
Using the well known oscillometric method, the blood pressure cuff is initially inflated to a pressure that is greater than the highest expected systolic reading. The cuff is then deflated to a pressure that is less than the expected diastolic pressure. Above the systolic pressure, the pressure sensor readings reflect only the cuff pressure. When the cuff pressure falls to the systolic blood pressure level, the pressure signals indicate the presence of oscillations which are now superimposed upon the falling cuff pressure.
Data Source
AI summary
A blood pressure system that includes a compact monitor housing that contains a pneumatic circuit and an electrical circuit and a processor for inflating and deflating a cuff to provide blood pressure related data. A split connector allows the housing to interface both pneumatically and electronically with one or more independent cuffs and/or with one or more host stations. Each host station contains a dependent cuff and further electrical components to expand and enhance the systems output of related blood pressure data that is generated by either the independent or dependent cuffs.