Infusion Pump Occlusion Detection Sensitivity Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current infusion pump systems face challenges in accurately detecting occlusions, particularly during periods of high blood glucose levels, leading to potential false alarms and delayed alerts when insulin dispensation is critical.
Innovation Solution
A portable infusion pump system that adjusts the sensitivity of its occlusion detection system based on glucose monitoring data, increasing sensitivity when blood glucose levels are elevated to promptly alert users to potential occlusions while reducing false alarms during normal glucose ranges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the occlusion detection sensitivity is increased to detect occlusions during high glucose periods, then the reliability of occlusion detection is improved, but false alarms increase during normal glucose periods
Solution Approach 1:
The occlusion detection system dynamically adjusts its sensitivity threshold based on real-time glucose level data. When glucose levels exceed a predefined threshold, the system increases detection sensitivity to promptly identify occlusions. When glucose levels are within normal range, the system reduces sensitivity to minimize false alarms from transient kinks. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by making the detection system adaptive to changing physiological conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the detection parameter (sensitivity threshold) based on glucose level conditions. During high glucose periods, the threshold is lowered to increase sensitivity and reduce missed detections. During normal glucose periods, the threshold is raised to decrease sensitivity and reduce false alarms. This parameter change strategy allows the system to optimize detection performance for different operational contexts.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the occlusion detection sensitivity is decreased to reduce false alarms during normal glucose levels, then the number of false alarms is reduced, but the detection delay increases when occlusions occur during high glucose periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between low-sensitivity and high-sensitivity detection modes based on glucose level feedback. During normal glucose periods, low sensitivity minimizes false alarms from transient kinks. During high glucose periods, high sensitivity ensures prompt detection of actual occlusions. This dynamic mode switching resolves the time-loss contradiction by aligning detection aggressiveness with physiological urgency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses glucose level data as feedback to continuously adjust occlusion detection sensitivity. The glucose monitor provides real-time feedback about the user's metabolic state, which the control system uses to modulate the detection threshold. This feedback loop ensures that detection sensitivity is always appropriate for the current physiological context, preventing both false alarms and detection delays.
3Device complexity
If a fixed occlusion detection threshold is used, then the device complexity is reduced, but the system cannot adapt to varying glucose conditions leading to either false alarms or missed detections
Solution Approach 1:
The system integrates multiple functions into a unified occlusion detection framework: continuous glucose monitoring, dynamic threshold calculation, and adaptive occlusion detection. The single detection system universally handles both normal and high-glucose conditions by automatically adjusting its parameters based on glucose input. This multi-functionality approach maintains relatively simple device architecture while achieving high adaptability to varying physiological conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments of a portable infusion pump system can be configured to can be configured to adjust the sensitivity of particular detectors or alert systems based (at least in part) on information received from a monitoring device. For example, a glucose monitoring device can communication with an infusion pump assembly used to supply insulin or another medication to a user. In such circumstances, the data received from the monitoring device can be used to adjust the sensitivity of an occlusion detection system.