Forward Osmosis PD-Fluid Preparation for Point-of-Care Dialysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing peritoneal dialysis systems face challenges with transportation costs, environmental impact, space demands, and patient burden due to the handling of centrally manufactured PD-fluids, which are not efficiently produced at the point of care.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a forward osmosis unit to produce PD-fluid by diluting PD-concentrates with purified water, controlled by a concentration sensor and control arrangement to achieve predetermined criteria, reducing water consumption and complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If PD-fluid is centrally manufactured and shipped to patients, then the fluid production quality is controlled, but transportation costs increase and environmental impact worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary preparation by providing PD-concentrate in a ready-to-use form that can be stored at the patient's location. The concentrate is pre-formulated with exact compositions, and the system prepares the final diluted PD-fluid on-demand at the point of care, eliminating the need to ship large volumes of ready-to-use PD-fluid while ensuring quality through pre-formulated concentrates.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the water component from the final PD-fluid product, shipping only the concentrated formulation to the patient's location. The water is added locally at the point of care through the FO-unit, which separates water purification from concentrate transportation, significantly reducing transportation volume and cost while maintaining fluid quality.
2Ease of operation
If PD-fluid is stored in the patient's home, then the fluid is readily available for treatment, but space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the PD-fluid into two components: a compact PD-concentrate that is stored at the patient's home and a water component that is added locally. The concentrate is highly concentrated and occupies minimal storage space, while the water is obtained from local sources through the FO-unit, dramatically reducing the storage volume required at the patient's location.
3Ease of manufacture
If PD-concentrate is diluted using conventional water purification, then the dilution process is simple, but the water purification complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the water purification function with the dilution process by using the FO-unit to simultaneously purify water from local sources and provide the dilution water for PD-concentrate. The FO-membrane performs both purification and water transfer in one integrated step, eliminating the need for separate complex purification systems while maintaining dilution simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The FO-unit enables the system to purify water from local sources (tap water, river water, lake water) on-demand at the patient's location without requiring external water purification infrastructure. The system serves itself by using the osmotic pressure gradient to automatically purify water as it is drawn through the FO-membrane, reducing both complexity and cost.
4Quantity of substance
If conventional water is used for dilution, then the water consumption is high, but the purification requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the purification mechanism by using osmotic pressure gradient-driven filtration through the FO-membrane instead of conventional purification methods. This parameter change allows the system to achieve high purification quality with lower water consumption, as the FO-process efficiently selects and transports only water molecules while blocking contaminants, requiring less total water volume for both purification and dilution.
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 a cost-effective, compact solution for producing PD-fluid at the point of care, minimizing transportation and handling burdens while ensuring the quality of the final PD-fluid.
Implementation Method 1
to transport purified water from the water to the one or more PD-concentrate fluids through the FO-membrane by means of an osmotic pressure gradient between the draw side and the feed side
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for producing fluid for peritoneal dialysis (PD) is disclosed. The system comprises a fluid path including one or more PD-concentrate connectors each connected to one or more sources of PD-concentrate fluid, and a water connector connected to a source of water. The system further includes a forward osmosis FO-unit including a draw side and a feed side separated by a FO-membrane. The FO-unit is fluidly connected to the fluid path. The FO-unit receives the one or more PD-concentrate fluids at the draw side, and receives the water at the feed side. Purified water is transported to one or more PD-concentrate fluids through the FO-membrane by means of an osmotic pressure gradient between the draw side and the feed side. The transported purified water is further purified by the FO-membrane and the one or more PD-concentrate fluids is diluted to produce a diluted PD-concentrate fluid.