Patient Monitoring Sensor Dome for Surface Mount Pressure Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical sensors, particularly those with surface mount components, can cause discomfort and tissue necrosis due to excessive pressure on the patient's skin, especially with smaller contact areas.
Innovation Solution
A patient monitoring sensor with protruding components covered by a layer of material, such as a flap or ring, to increase contact area and reduce pressure, while allowing light transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If surface mount components are used in the sensor, then the sensor can be manufactured with modern SMT processes, but the protruding components create excessive pressure on patient skin causing discomfort and tissue necrosis
Solution Approach 1:
A transparent or translucent dome is introduced as an intermediary element between the protruding surface mount LED and the patient's skin. This dome redistributes the contact pressure over a larger area while allowing light to pass through to the skin, thus maintaining the benefits of surface mount manufacturing while eliminating the harmful concentrated pressure points
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a thin, flexible, transparent dome that conforms to the skin surface. This thin film structure provides pressure distribution without significantly blocking light transmission, resolving the contradiction between manufacturability and patient comfort
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the contact area is increased to reduce pressure, then patient comfort improves, but light transmission to the skin may be blocked
Solution Approach 1:
A thin, transparent or translucent dome is used to increase the contact area with the skin while maintaining sufficient light transmission. The thin film structure distributes pressure over a larger area without significantly blocking the light needed for oximetry measurements
Solution Approach 2:
The dome material is selected with specific optical properties (transparency/translucency) and physical properties (thickness, flexibility) to optimize the balance between pressure distribution and light transmission, allowing both requirements to be satisfied simultaneously
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
Reduces skin pressure and discomfort by distributing the force over a larger area, preventing tissue damage and enhancing patient comfort.
Implementation Method 1
such as a transparent or translucent dome, allowing light to pass through to the skin
Data Source
AI summary
A patient monitoring sensor having a communication interface, through which the patient monitoring sensor can communicate with a monitor is provided. The patient monitoring sensor includes a light-emitting diode (LED) communicatively coupled to the communication interface and a detector, communicatively coupled to the communication interface, capable of detecting light. The patient monitoring sensor includes a layer of material is provided over protruding components on the patient-side of the sensor to reduce the contact pressure of such protruding components.