Smart Infusion System

Gianluca Alberizzi, Anna Benaglia, Federica Ciceri Negri, Christian Dieni, Giorgia Ladislao

Background

Infusion therapy is one of the most widely used techniques in hospitals and clinics, and nevertheless some problems are still apparent.

The medical issue concerns the air intake into the tube below the drip chamber; in this case all the set is usually thrown away. This is a huge economic issue especially for the most expensive drugs.

In order to avoid drugs handling and to save time for the operators, we developed with Kalpa a “Smart Infusion System”.

Aim

Creating a wireless remote communication system to collect data from sensors and send information to the cloud.

Materials and Methods

• SolidWorks for CAD design

• 3D printing material: PLA

• Arduino IDE for firmware development

• Grafana for graphical visualization of the acquired data

Device

Hardware

Load cell: to collect data about weight change during time of the infusion bag
Capacitive mono-level sensor: can detect the level of the liquid in the drip chamber
Led and buzzer: to alert the operators and avoid the entry of air in the tube
ESP32: a cost-effective board that connects all the hardware components, with integrated Wi-Fi connection

Software

Grafana

Different panels for every infusion system:

Weight trend

Alarms list

Weight %

Flow rate

Target Market

Hospitals and clinics

TAM

Total addressable market

Whoever uses infusion bags

SAM

Serviceable addressable market

Whoever wants to apply smart technology to infusion bags

SOM

Serviceable obtainable market

Hospitals and clinics willing to apply smart technology to infusion bags

Future developments

PCB realization
Combined use with mechanical lock
Battery-powered device
Link monitoring data to patient's medical record