External Pacemaker Plug Connector Segmentation for Defibrillation Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing external pacemakers require additional devices for defibrillation and cardioversion, increasing the risk of injury when unsuitable electrodes are used for these procedures due to their design.
Innovation Solution
The external pacemaker incorporates a plug connector with differently wired and shaped contact regions and mating contacts, allowing only suitable electrodes to receive defibrillation and cardioversion pulses, preventing inadvertent transmission to unsuitable electrodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single contact plug design is used for both stimulation and defibrillation, then device complexity is reduced, but safety deteriorates due to risk of transmitting defibrillation pulses to unsuitable electrodes
Solution Approach 1:
The contact plug is segmented into two distinct contact regions (first and second contact regions) that are differently wired. The plug socket correspondsingly has two mating contacts. This segmentation allows the system to distinguish between stimulation electrodes and defibrillation electrodes through the physical configuration of the connector, preventing inadvertent transmission of defibrillation pulses to unsuitable electrodes while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure.
2Reliability
If differently wired contact regions are implemented in the plug connector, then safety is improved by preventing pulse transmission to unsuitable electrodes, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The plug connector acts as an intermediary component between the external pacemaker and the electrode. By incorporating differently wired contact regions within this intermediary interface, the system enables safe differentiation between stimulation and defibrillation functions without requiring complex control logic or additional safety systems in the main pacemaker unit. The complexity is localized to the connector, which is a simple mechanical component.
Data Source
AI summary
An external pacemaker with at least one electrode temporarily connectable to the heart, and at the distal end of which is an active region, which makes contact with heart tissue, and at the proximal end is a contact plug. The electrode is for transmission of stimulation, defibrillation, and/or cardioversion pulses and is plugged into a pacemaker plug socket. The contact plug has first and second contact regions at its plug part. The plug socket matches the contact plug with two mating contacts, the first for transmitting stimulation pulses and the second for transmitting defibrillation and/or cardioversion pulses. In the plugged-in position, only the contact region on the plug part makes contact with the mating contact provided for transmitting the defibrillation and/or cardioversion pulses, such that no defibrillation and/or cardioversion pulse can be transmitted to electrodes which are unsuitable for defibrillation and/or cardioversion and have only a single-stage contact plug.