Implantable Heart Pump Oxygen Saturation Sensor Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heart pumps struggle with accurately determining and controlling the volume flow and oxygen saturation of blood, which is crucial for effective assistance in patients with insufficient or defective heart function, due to limitations in measuring blood oxygenation parameters.
Innovation Solution
An implantable heart pump with a built-in sensor device for measuring oxygen saturation using pulse oximetry principles, integrated directly into the pump's delivery channel, allowing for precise detection of oxygen-saturated hemoglobin levels and simultaneous determination of volume flow, enabling reliable and reproducible oxygen flow measurement and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a sensor device for measuring oxygen saturation is integrated directly into the heart pump, then measurement precision and reproducibility are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor device is integrated directly into the heart pump housing, combining the pumping function and oxygen saturation measurement function into a single unified device. This direct integration ensures that the sensor is positioned optimally within the delivery channel to measure blood oxygen saturation with high precision and reproducibility, while eliminating the need for separate external sensing equipment.
2Reliability
If the sensor device is fastened on the pump tube within the delivery channel, then measurement reliability is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor device is pre-integrated into the pump housing structure during manufacturing, with mounting surfaces and positioning features built into the pump tube. This preliminary integration ensures that the sensor is correctly positioned before the pump is assembled and implanted, guaranteeing reliable measurements while simplifying the overall manufacturing process through standardized integration protocols.
3Productivity
If the first sensor device and third sensor are integrated into the pump, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated sensor system serves multiple functions: the first sensor device measures oxygen saturation of blood, the third sensor determines volume flow through the pump, and together they enable calculation of oxygen flow. This multi-functional integration allows the single pump device to perform pumping, oxygen saturation monitoring, flow measurement, and oxygen delivery optimization simultaneously, improving overall system productivity.
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
This solution ensures accurate measurement and control of oxygen flow through the pump, allowing for optimized cardiac output and physiological parameter monitoring, reducing the need for post-adjustment calibration and simplifying connections to control apparatuses, thereby enhancing patient care.
Implementation Method 1
the method of optical pulse oyxmetry, with which method a pulse oxymeter beams through blood located in the tissue (for example in a finger or earlobe) with a light beam in two wavelength regions. Herein, one utilises the fact that oxygenated and non-oxygenated haemoglobin have different absorption spectra.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a heart pump (6) with a delivery channel and with a delivery device (6b, 6c, 34) for blood, which is arranged in this delivery channel, wherein the delivery channel at least partly runs in a pump tube (6a, 105a). A first sensor device (100, 101, 102) for measuring the oxygen saturation of the blood, is provided on the heart pump, in particular on a wall of the delivery channel, in particular on the pump tube. A control device can also be integrated into the pump. Thereby, additional monitoring and control possibilities result.