Wound Cleansing Apparatus Selective Membrane Recirculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wound therapy systems fail to effectively remove materials deleterious to healing while retaining beneficial components, leading to suboptimal wound healing and loss of therapeutic agents.
Innovation Solution
A portable apparatus with a conformable wound dressing and fluid recirculation system that aspirates, irrigates, and cleans wounds, using a fluid flow path with inlet and outlet pipes to remove deleterious materials while retaining beneficial agents, and supplies them back to the wound bed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If known aspiration and irrigation therapy systems are used to remove wound exudate, then materials deleterious to wound healing are removed, but materials beneficial in promoting wound healing are lost to the wound bed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies extraction by using a selectively permeable membrane in the means for fluid cleansing that allows deleterious materials to be removed from wound exudate while retaining beneficial materials such as growth factors, cell matrix components, and other physiologically active components. This selective extraction resolves the contradiction by removing harmful substances without losing therapeutic agents.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements discarding and recovering by recirculating the cleansed fluid back to the wound bed through the fluid recirculation tube. Beneficial materials that were retained during the cleansing process are recovered and continuously supplied back to the wound, maximizing their therapeutic value while deleterious materials are discarded in the dialysate or collection bag.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If dialysis is used to cleanse bodily fluids of deleterious materials, then harmful substances are removed, but materials beneficial to the body are lost through the dialysis membrane
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by using a selectively permeable membrane with specific pore sizes and characteristics that are tailored to the local requirements of wound healing. The membrane is designed to retain beneficial materials locally at the wound site while allowing deleterious materials to pass through, creating a localized therapeutic environment without systemic loss of beneficial substances.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dialysate as an intermediary substance that contacts the wound exudate through the selectively permeable membrane. The dialysate serves as a mediator that facilitates the removal of deleterious materials from the wound bed without requiring direct contact with beneficial materials, thus preventing their loss while achieving systemic cleansing effects locally.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If dialysis systems are used to treat bodily fluids, then harmful materials are removed, but the systems are not portable and require large amounts of fluids
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the dialysis system into a portable configuration where the wound dressing with integrated selectively permeable membrane is separated from the fluid management components. This allows the therapeutic function to be delivered locally at the wound site with minimal fluid requirements, while fluid reservoirs and management systems can be externally positioned, enabling portability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a flexible conformable wound dressing with an integrated selectively permeable membrane that can be applied directly to the wound site. This thin film approach eliminates the need for bulky dialysis machines and large fluid reservoirs, making the system portable while maintaining the therapeutic function of removing harmful materials through the membrane.
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
Enhances wound healing by continuously supplying therapeutically active materials and removing harmful substances, promoting better tissue growth and healing without systemic effects.
Implementation Method 1
a means for fluid cleansing having a selectively permeable integer which permits materials that are deleterious to wound healing to pass through it
Implementation Method 2
a device for moving fluid through the wound dressing and means for fluid cleansing
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for cleansing and applying therapy or prophylaxis to wounds, in which irrigant fluid containing a physiologically active material from a reservoir connected to a conformable wound dressing and wound exudate from the dressing are recirculated by a device for moving fluid through a flow path which passes through the dressing and a means for fluid cleansing and back to the dressing. The cleansing means (which may be a single-phase, e.g. microfiltration, system or a two-phase, e.g. dialytic system) removes materials deleterious to wound healing, and the cleansed fluid, still containing materials that are beneficial in promoting wound healing, is returned to the wound bed. The dressing and a method of treatment using the apparatus.