Negative-Pressure Organ Ventilation With Diaphragm Fluid Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current negative pressure ventilation (NPV) systems for organs face challenges such as reacting to changes in hydraulic fluid properties, air bubbles, elasticity of membranes and scaffolds, leaks, airway restrictions, and sub-optimal parameter determination, which can lead to organ injury and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a fluidically-coupled diaphragm with sterile support fluid and working hydraulic fluid, actuated by a low-pressure piston, measures various pressures and temperatures to track organ performance, and includes sensors to calculate dynamic compliance, while maintaining sterility and disposability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If positive pressure is applied to move air into the organ, then airflow into the organ is achieved, but the organ may be forced to expand and induce injury
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional positive pressure ventilation approach by implementing negative pressure ventilation. Instead of forcing air into the organ using positive pressure, the system creates negative pressure to draw air into the organ naturally, thereby achieving effective ventilation while avoiding organ injury from forced expansion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a diaphragm as an intermediary component that separates the hydraulic fluid chamber from the organ chamber. The diaphragm transmits the negative pressure generated by the hydraulic system to the organ, enabling controlled ventilation while isolating the organ from direct contact with hydraulic fluids and providing a mechanical buffer to prevent injury.
2Productivity
If NPV systems are used to ventilate organs, then organ ventilation is achieved, but the systems are subject to temperature dependency and material deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements temperature compensation mechanisms and uses temperature-stable materials for hydraulic fluids and diaphragms. The system monitors and adjusts operating parameters to compensate for temperature variations, ensuring consistent performance and reliability across different temperature conditions during organ ventilation.
3Ease of operation
If NPV systems operate with hydraulic fluids, then ventilation control is achieved, but air bubbles may be generated causing system failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a priming system that removes air bubbles from the hydraulic fluid before operation begins. The system includes degassing chambers and filtration mechanisms that pre-treat the hydraulic fluid to eliminate air bubbles, preventing system failures and ensuring reliable ventilation control from the start of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent includes sensors and control mechanisms that detect air bubbles in the hydraulic system and convert this potentially harmful presence into useful information. The system uses bubble detection to trigger alarm signals, adjust operating parameters, or activate purging mechanisms, thereby maintaining reliable operation even when bubbles are present.
4Ease of operation
If elastic diaphragm membranes are used in NPV systems, then fluid coupling is achieved, but elasticity causes volume expansion discrepancies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates sensors that monitor the actual volume expansion of the organ and the position of the diaphragm in real-time. This feedback information is used by the control system to compensate for elastic deformation of the diaphragm, adjusting hydraulic pressure and volume to achieve precise control over organ ventilation despite the diaphragm's elasticity.
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 simulates organ function through cyclic ventilation, maintaining organ health by dynamically adjusting ventilation and perfusion parameters, ensuring sterility, and facilitating efficient organ transport and maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
A NPV system includes an actuator configured to cause a first fluid to be displaced by a first volume. The first fluid is fluidically coupled with a first surface of a flexible membrane... the flexible membrane displacing a second fluid by the first volume when the actuator causes the first fluid to be displaced
Implementation Method 2
The flexible membrane having two surfaces, one of the two surfaces fluidically coupled with the first fluid, an other of the two surfaces fluidically coupled with a second fluid... the second fluid moving into and out of the organ enclosure causing the organ to expand and contract
Implementation Method 3
The system includes sensors to measure the parameters such as, but not limited to, support fluid temperature, perfusate temperature, pulmonary flowrate, pulmonary or arterial pressure, inspiratory tidal volume, peak inspiration pressure... in order to plot the pressure-volume relationships
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for maintaining the vitality of an organ through negative pressure ventilation and perfusion. The system includes fluidically coupled components: an organ enclosure, a diaphragm enclosure, an actuator/pump, a perfusion system, and a reservoir. The actuator can displace a precise amount of a working fluid that displaces that precise amount of a sterile support fluid. The sterile fluid travels between the diaphragm enclosure and the organ enclosure, thereby ventilating the organ within the organ chamber. The perfusion system circulates a perfusate through the organ.