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মানুষের জনয বিজ্ঞান – গষিেণা পুরস্কার-২০১৮ (স্নাতক পর্ যায়) এর
জনয প্রকল্প
Title: A Practical Approach of Designing and Implementation of a
Low-cost, Portable, Infant Incubator for Rural and Emergency
Need
Short title: Low-cost, Portable, Smart Infant Incubator
Team Members: 1. Sadman Sakib Rakin (Team leader) 2. Amit Dutta
Roy 3. Mohibur Rahman Chowdhury
Academic Year: 3rd Year, 2nd Semester
Institution: Khulna University of Engineering and Technology
(KUET), Khulna-9203
E-mail: 1. [email protected] 2. [email protected] 3.
[email protected]
Phone No:
1. 01521332505
2. 01521543346
3. 01521330587
mailto:[email protected]
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Abstract: An infant incubator maintains the same environment as
mother’s womb. It is required for a
premature baby when it is born with some difficulties. Though
some advanced infant incubators are
commonly found in hospitals of developed countries, it is very
unfortunate that the underdeveloped and
developing countries like Bangladesh can hardly afford this
technology for its relatively high cost. But
we have developed and implemented a new idea of providing the
same features of an infant incubator
with some common cost effective technologies. Our proposed
incubator also needs low maintenance
cost. Besides it can be produced on a mass scale for meeting the
needs of the people of periphery areas.
There are plans to upgrade this system with some more
instruments in near future and the work is still
going on. These upgrades will increase the efficiency and
effectiveness of this device manifold.
Introduction: An infant incubator is a system created to imitate
the environment of the mother’s
womb. It provides a comfortable and safe environment for a
premature newborn or an infant born with
any disability that puts it at risk to the external environment.
The incubators available in the least
developed and the developing countries of the world like
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar etc. are
quite expensive and can only be found in the hospitals of the
big cities. It causes a huge problem for the
people living in the rural areas. If a premature baby is born in
such a place, its condition will deteriorate
even more during its transportation from the rural area to the
nearest city hospital where an infant
incubator is available. This is a serious problem which can be
mitigated by providing sufficient
infrastructures and devices to the rural areas. This is a task
which requires a long time for planning and
is very difficult to implement by countries like Bangladesh.
Of the 15 million babies born too early each year, more than one
million die due to complications related
to preterm birth. Low birth weight with less than 2,500 grams
due to prematurity and restricted growth
in utero is also a major contributor of newborn and child
deaths, as well as disability and non-
communicable diseases globally. In Bangladesh, nearly 62,000
newborns die annually with one-third of
them born premature and 22 percent of them born with less than
2,500 grams in weight. In 2016, child
mortality rate for Bangladesh was 34.2 deaths per 1,000 live
births. Child mortality rate of Bangladesh
fell gradually from 228.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1967
to 34.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2016.
The recent statistics is given in table 1 and infant mortality
rate is shown in figure 1.
We have designed and implemented an infant incubator that is
practical and can act as a bridge in
resolving the current circumstances. It can be used to cover the
distance between the rural area and the
city hospital by placing it inside an ambulance. This will
ensure the safety of the newborn and will help
to monitor its current condition during transportation so that
its health condition does not deteriorate. It
can also be used for the rural clinics. This will ensure a safer
and more comfortable environment for the
premature newborns of the rural areas.
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Table 1: Infant mortality rate from 2005 to 2016 (in deaths per
1,000 live births) in Bangladesh
Date Value Change, %
2016 34.2 -5.79%
2015 36.3 -5.96%
2014 38.6 -6.08%
2013 41.1 -5.95%
2012 43.7 -6.02%
2011 46.5 -5.87%
2010 49.4 -6.08%
2009 52.6 -5.73%
2008 55.8 -5.90%
2007 59.3 -5.57%
2006 62.8 -5.56%
2005 66.5
Figure 1: Infant mortality rate from 2005 to 2016 (in deaths per
1,000 live births) in Bangladesh
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Our designed system provides some basic features like a
controlled temperature setting which is
compatible with the newborn, a humidity regulator, a moisture
detector, an indicator of different gas
levels, a pulse oximetry and an efficient exhaust mechanism. Our
designed incubator is ‘smart’ as it can
regulate the temperature by itself. It can also sense the level
of oxygen and carbon dioxide and helps to
maintain a steady level of oxygen inside the device. Since it
can be used in transportation media, it can
detect dust particles and smoke and alerts based on the acquired
data of the sensor. It will also maintain
the humidity inside the device suiting the desired environment
for the newborn. It is not a completely
new idea rather some modifications (e.g. Moisture Sensor) are
brought as it was done in Wentworth
Institute of Technology Boston before. But in our developing
country this idea is absolutely new as it
was not implemented before. Besides, we have designed it for the
rural people so it is user friendly and
cost is negligible.
Most interesting thing is that our designed technology can be
produced on a mass scale in industry for
business. We have already planned for a startup business with
this technology if we get proper fund.
And we will provide a user friendly manual as a guideline of
using this product and will arrange a proper
training for the users.
Components:
Sensors: Heart rate sensor, Temperature and humidity sensor,
Moisture sensor
Arduino
Bread board
Buzzer
LED
Fan
Display
Glass Frame
Solar cell (Backup power)
Internet of Thing Camera (with built-in motion sensor)
Eye-Fi SD Card (with built-in trans receiver)
Inductive coil as heater
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Design of the System:
The design has been aimed at being self-sufficient in spite of
having a plethora of sensors. There are two
holes in the front side of the structure which enables the
operator to access the baby and some apparatus
without opening the entire hatch. However, the entire hatch can
be lifted up if required.
Materials: The body structure will be made of plastic. All the
electronics will be located underneath the
housing.
Power source: The main power source for this design is going to
be 120V AC at 50Hz.
Temperature Control: The heat source for this design is
inductive coil. To monitor the temperature
inside the housing, a thermistor is being used. The temperature
of the housing will be kept at 370 C.
Air Flow: One fan will be used for entering of pure air,
circulation of oxygen, and as a humidifier in the
housing. Another one will be used for emission of polluted air.
There are two small holes in the centers
of the two bottom panels adjacent to the two fans. One hole lets
fresh air in while emits polluted one.
Sensors:
DHT11 Temperature and humidity sensor is used for sensing both
humidity and temperature of
air. The humidity is controlled by the input fan. If temperature
rises above the optimum level,
the input starts and keeps rotating the fan until temperature is
brought down to optimum level On
the other hand if temperature decreases, the inductive coil
starts heating up to the optimum level.
A moisture sensor senses the moisture on the incubator bed. If
the baby vomits, urinates or
defecates then the moisture sensor is triggered showing a
value.
A gas sensor senses the amount of oxygen and carbon-dioxide in
air.
Heart rate sensor measures the heart rate of the infant.
A solar light sensor will be used as a backup power source. Just
in case somehow main power
supply fails, the stored energy in the solar cell will power the
system.
If changes are detected by either Gas sensor or moisture sensor
or both then LED will start to blink and
buzzers will start sounding. The sound emitted from buzzers
won’t be uncomfortable for the baby. The
wires and tubes come through a hole in the bottom, underneath
the raised platform that the mattress is
on. The heaviest baby recorded was about 10.8kg, the incubator
will could hold that, and still be safe.
All of the data collected from the alarm systems will be stored
on a microprocessor, so that the incidents
when the alarm systems were needed can be evaluated and fixed to
prevent future problems.
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Figure 2: Model of Smart Infant Incubator Figure 3: Heat control
inside infant incubator
Figure 4: Schematic diagram
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Table 2: Cost analysis
SL No. Name Quantity Cost (BDT)
1. Pulse sensor 1 110
2. Temperature & Humidity sensor 1 150
3. Gas sensor 1 230
4. Moisture sensor 1 220
5. Arduino 1 490
6. Bread board 1 90
7. Buzzer 2 50
8. LED 2 2
9. Fan 2 140
10. Display 1 150
11. Glass Frame 1 1500
12. Solar cell (Backup power) 1 30
Total 3132
Discussions: Initially to implement these sensors we have faced
some problems. The value of heart rate sensor
fluctuated when it comes in contact with infant body. But the
sensor should be attached properly to
infants to get appropriate values. We have demonstrated the
moisture sensor with water. But in real case,
this sensor has to be put under bedsheet in such a way that the
urine, vomit or stool comes in contact
with the sensor easily.
Future Upgrades:
1) Real-time monitoring from operator’s room using Internet of
Things Camera:
The Eye-Fi SD card is a tiny wireless memory card which stores
photos and fits inside a camera just like
normal SD card. It has a default Wi-Fi trans receiver that can
upload images to your computer,
smartphone or to various photo-sharing sites via the cloud. The
system is illustrated in figure 7.
• By adding a TTL Serial JPEG camera with some procedure a
self-contained wireless
monitoring camera with motion-sensing capabilities ca be
designed.
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• Being Arduino-based, it’s also easy to modify.
Figure 5: An “Internet of Things” Camera Figure 6: Eye-Fi SD
card
An “Internet of Things” Camera: It’s a simple remote monitoring
device using a first-generation Eye-Fi
wireless SD card and Adafruit Data Logging Shield for
Arduino.
2) Alarm for sudden change in temperature:
There will be alarm for warning rapid temperature change. If the
temperature inside of the housing increases or
decreases too quickly after steady state is reached, the
hospital staff will be notified. Alarm will also be triggered
if the temperature of the housing drops below 30o C, or rises
above 37℃.
3) Pulse Oximeter:
A pulse oximeter will be part of this system. The percentage of
oxygen will be monitored along the heart rate.
The pulse oximeter makes sure the baby’s oxygen saturation
levels stay between 92% and 100%, and the heart
rate stays between 100 and 160 BPM.
4) Strain Gauges: To monitor the weight change of infant , four
strain gauges will be placed under the mattress that the infant
is
resting . The deformation of these strain gauges is directly
related to a weight. The weight change of the baby
can be visualized.
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Figure 7: Working Procedure of “Internet of Things” Camera
5) Smoke Sensor:
A sensor for smoke will be used as a safety measure to warn
about any type of smoke.
6) Air Filter:
All of the air inside the housing of the incubator will first be
filtered using a high efficiency filter.
7) Wet Filter:
For maintaining humidity this system will use a fan to blow air
through a wet filter, transporting the water in
the air.
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Figure 8: Our designed Infant incubator
References:
[1]
https://www.asee.org/documents/zones/zone1/2010/student/DESIGN-A-LOW-COST-NEONATAL-INCUBATOR.pdf
[2] http://www.ladyada.net/make/IoTcamera/
[3]
http://www.daily-sun.com/post/276826/62000-newborns-die-in-Bangladesh-annually-with-onethird-born-premature
[4] https://knoema.com/atlas/Bangladesh/Child-mortality-rate
[5]
https://www.statista.com/statistics/806665/infant-mortality-in-bangladesh/
https://www.asee.org/documents/zones/zone1/2010/student/DESIGN-A-LOW-COST-NEONATAL-INCUBATOR.pdfhttp://www.daily-sun.com/post/276826/62000-newborns-die-in-Bangladesh-annually-with-onethird-born-prematurehttps://knoema.com/atlas/Bangladesh/Child-mortality-rate
