Center for Biomedical Engineering

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Browsing Center for Biomedical Engineering by Subject "Actuator"

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    Integrating New Design Features in an Oxygen Concentrator to Improve Patient Outcome
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-02) Melese, Umma; Masreshaw, Demelash (PhD)
    Oxygen therapy has become an integral part of treatment and standard care for childhood pneumonia, surgery, anesthesia, emergency, obstetric care, etc. According to WHO, an oxygen concentrator is a suitable source of medical oxygen in developing-country settings, especially where cylinders and/or piped systems are unavailable. Typically, an oxygen concentrator provides 93±3% pure medical oxygen for oxygen therapy. However, this value may go below the required limit due to several factors such as harsh environment, poor/no maintenance, prolonged operation time, etc. My field assessment in Jimma Zone showed that the oxygen concentrators currently in use in healthcare facilities have no built-in feature(s) to inform clinicians about this low oxygen output. Clinicians often check presence of airflow coming out of an oxygen concentrator before connecting it to a patient. However, presence of airflow does not necessarily guarantee that the oxygen concentration is within the required range as prescribed for oxygen therapy. As a result, patient treatment outcome could be compromised. In this study, we investigated the existing design features of a typical oxygen concentrator and proposed a modified design that can potentially improve patient outcome. Our design integrates a built-in oxygen sensor that can continuously monitor oxygen concentration and communicate the status to clinicians. In our design, we also integrated a feature for measuring the arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) of a patient who is receiving oxygen therapy. This information will be used by clinicians to know the clinical response of the patient to oxygen therapy. As a proof of concept, a prototype was developed using the required sensors, actuators and microcontroller. Simulation and testing was done using c++. In the prototype, an oxygen sensor detects oxygen concentration; the result is compared with the pre-set value, displayed as visual message on a screen, and an audible alarm is produced whenever the output goes below the set value. Moreover, another sensor detects SpO2 and provides clinical information about the response of the patient to the prescribed oxygen therapy. Our proposed design can not only improve patient outcome but also avoids the need of an external oxygen analyzer and pulse oximeter to measure oxygen concentration of an oxygen concentrator and SpO2 of a patient respectively. We believe that this novel design can increase the quality of oxygen therapy procedures and save lives.