Patient Room Environmental Control via Occupancy Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional environmental control systems in buildings, particularly in patient care settings, lack the ability to dynamically adjust environmental parameters based on real-time occupancy information, leading to inefficiencies in energy consumption and compliance with environmental requirements.
Innovation Solution
An integrated system that connects patient administration systems with building management systems, using HL7 formatted messages to determine patient location and occupancy status, allowing for dynamic adjustments in environmental controls such as temperature, airflow, humidity, and lighting, optimizing energy usage and compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If environmental control systems maintain consistent environmental parameters in patient rooms, then patient care quality and compliance are improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts environmental control parameters based on real-time patient occupancy status. When patients are present, full environmental control is maintained; when patients are absent, parameters are adjusted to reduce energy consumption. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between maintaining compliance and reducing energy usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, airflow) based on occupancy detection. By modifying these parameters when patients are not present, the system maintains compliance when needed while significantly reducing energy consumption during unoccupied periods.
2Reliability
If environmental control systems operate at full capacity continuously, then patient comfort and treatment requirements are met, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static full-capacity operation to dynamic operation based on real-time occupancy detection. Environmental controls are scaled according to actual patient presence, maintaining care quality when patients are present while reducing power consumption when rooms are unoccupied.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects patient occupancy and adjusts environmental controls without manual intervention. The occupancy detection system and control system work together to self-regulate energy consumption while maintaining patient care quality, eliminating the need for continuous full-capacity operation.
3Device complexity
If static environmental control programs are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but energy savings opportunities are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates occupancy detection that provides real-time feedback to the environmental control system. This feedback loop enables the system to automatically adjust controls based on actual patient presence, capturing energy savings opportunities that static programs cannot detect while adding only moderate system complexity through the feedback mechanism.
Data Source
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AI summary
Environment control systems and methods are provided that can be integrated with patient administration systems (e.g., admission, discharge, & transfer systems or "ADT" systems) to implement energy saving algorithms based on the presence or absence of a patient from a given room. In some embodiments, tracking of patients by bed can enable further optimization of environmental control. In further embodiments, additional patient administration systems can be integrated to provide more specific control, and can enable configurations to manage an environment based on scheduled testing, operations, imaging, or any procedure which takes a patient out of their room.