Patent Application
20210106843
The present disclosure is generally related to the field of infant care. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a system for controlling the amount of light reaching an infant patient when the infant is within an infant care device, such as an incubator.
Prematurely born infants require specialized treatment and care due to their small size and still-developing organs and physiological systems. Premature infants are very often placed in devices that create a carefully controlled microenvironment around the infant. The microenvironment is designed to provide one or more environmental conditions that are advantageous to the neonate beyond the ambient conditions.
Infant care devices, such as infant warmers, incubators and hybrid units, regulate various different environmental conditions, including humidity, temperature, oxygen content, and many other variables to promote neonate growth. One under-supported variable in the infant care device is light control. Recent studies have shown a correlation between premature infant hospital stay length and light exposure. According to an NIH study by Iris Morag and Anne Ohlsson, cycled light produces significantly higher weight gain and shorter length of stay across a study of premature newborns.
The light shielding products currently in the market to regulate light exposure when the infant is in the incubators, namely hood blankets and room light controls, do not provide patient-specific cycled light. Cycled light within the incubator has the opportunity to impact neonates, their families, and the healthcare industry in an innovative way.
Infant care devices, such as incubators, have multiple modalities which include humidity, noise, and heat control. However, controllable light shielding is still an unassessed issue and an unavailable feature. The present disclosure proposes a controllable light shielding feature that functions to regulate light reaching an infant patient within an incubator.
The present disclosure is generally related to the field of infant care. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a system for controlling the amount of light reaching an infant patient when the infant is within an infant care device, such as an incubator.
An exemplary embodiment of an infant care device includes an infant support platform for supporting an infant patient. The infant support is at least partially surrounded by an enclosure such that a microenvironment can be created within the infant care device. The infant care device is designed such that the transparency of the enclosure can be modified to control the amount of visible light that reaches the infant patient when the infant patient is within the microenvironment. In one exemplary embodiment, the enclosure includes a plurality of walls and a canopy positioned above the wall. Each of the plurality of walls and the canopy includes a light dimming technology that can be operated to control the transparency of the wall or canopy. The light dimming technology is controlled by a primary controller such that the primary controller can selectively control the transparency of the enclosure.
In one embodiment of the disclosure, at least a portion of the canopy is transparent to light within a phototherapy wavelength range such that a phototherapy device can be used with the infant care device even when the transparency of the enclosure is reduced to limit the visible light reaching the infant patient. In one embodiment of the disclosure, the light dimming technology is an electrochromic material that changes transparency depending upon a voltage applied to the material. The primary controller is connected to a variable voltage source that supplies a voltage to the electrochromic material to modify the transparency of the material.
An exemplary embodiment of a method of operating an infant care device positions a light dimming member on an enclosure of the infant care device. A controller is connected to the light dimming member to control the transparency of the light dimming member and thus the amount of visible light that reaches the infant patient. The controller received a desired light cycle that represents the desired times and amounts of light that should reach the infant patient. The controller operates the light dimming member to create periods of darkness and light within the enclosure. The light cycle can be modified based upon a series of parameters that could be patient specific or based on hospital guidelines.
The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated of carrying out the disclosure. In the drawings:
The infant care device includes an infant platform 18 which supports an infant patient in the infant care device 10. The infant platform 18 may be mounted to the base 12 in a cantilevered fashion, for example to a moveable base member 20 which is moveably secured to the vertical base member 14 and is exemplarily moveable in the vertical dimension relative thereto to adjust the height of the infant platform 18 by raising and lowering the moveable base member 20 relative to the vertical base member 14. Exemplarily foot pedals 22 are operable by the user to control the position of the moveable base member 20 and the infant platform 18 to a height preferred by the user.
The infant platform 18 includes a flat, planar surface 24 that underlies and supports the infant patient when the infant patient is positioned within the infant care device 10. In some embodiments, the surface 24 can support a pad or mattress depending upon the age and heath of the infant.
As illustrated in
In previously available infant care devices, the entire enclosure 26, including the pair of end walls 28, the side walls 30 along with the canopy 38 were formed from a generally transparent plastic material that allowed ambient light to enter into the microenvironment 32 in an uncontrolled and unregulated manner. In accordance with the present disclosure, a system and method has been developed to automatically or manually control the amount of ambient light that reaches the patient while allowing for selective wavelengths to be blocked and/or transmitted to the infant patient.
The phototherapy device 44 shown in
Although one type of phototherapy device 44 is shown in
As can be understood in the embodiment of
In accordance with the present disclosure, the enclosure 26 is formed utilizing one of several different light dimming technologies that control the transparency/opacity of the material used to form the enclosure. Different types of light dimming technologies/techniques are contemplated as being within the scope of the present disclosure. These different light dimming techniques can be either attached to the surface of the transparent end walls 28, side walls 30 and canopy 38 or can be sandwiched in between layers of transparent carrier material in each of these locations. Presently, several different electrically controlled options are contemplated, such as electrochromic devices (ECD), suspended particle devices (SPD), polymer dispersed liquid crystal devices (PDLC), micro blinds and nanocrystals. In each of the electrically controlled options, when an electric signal is applied to the surface including the light dimming technology, the light dimming technology changes the transparency of the material to either increase or decrease the amount of visible light that can pass through the various different surfaces of the enclosure.
In one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the canopy 38, the end walls 28 and the side walls 30 are formed from including an electrochromic (ECD) device whose transparency can be changed by applying different voltage levels to the electrochromic material. In such embodiments, the entire canopy 38, the end walls 28 and the side walls 30 would be covered with a thin film electrochromic material and the thin film electrochromic material is connected to a variable voltage source.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, the canopy could include a PDLC which includes liquid crystal droplets in a polymer matrix. The alignment of the liquid crystals changes when a voltage is applied, thus making the PDLC transparent upon the application of voltage. In such an embodiment, the canopy and walls of the enclosure would be opaque until the application of a required voltage from the variable voltage source.
In yet another contemplated embodiment, a photochromic material could be applied to the enclosure to control the amount of visible light that reaches the infant patient. If a photochromic material were used, the transparency of the photochromic material would be controlled by UV or IR light directed onto the photochromic material from one or more strategically placed diodes.
In a currently preferred embodiment, an electrochromic device is used as the light dimming technology with the enclosure 26. As indicated above, electrochromic devices (ECDs) are composed of multiple material layers that provide a reversible electrochemical redox reaction that changes the transparency of the material based on applied voltage potentials. The outer layers are typically electrodes which are made from two glass or plastic substrates coated with a transparent, electrically polarizable material such as indium tin oxide or ITO. These opposing electrodes allow for the polarization of the two middle layers, the electrolyte and the electrochromic material (ECM), activating the chemical reaction. The electrolyte layer is composed of ions (usually lithium derived) dissolved in a solution. When the ions in the electrolyte solution are polarized by the electrodes, the positive and negative solutes will move toward opposite faces of the layer, allowing them to interact with the ECM. This interaction causes a redox reaction that changes the ECM chemical species to one that attenuates more light as well as expresses a different color visually (i.e. transparent to blue), which is a process called electrochromism. The larger the amount of ions at the ECM surface, the larger the chemical conversion to the more opaque species. Since the amount of reactive ions is controlled by the voltage potential set by the charged electrodes, varying the voltage level will allow for intermediate transparencies within the maximum and minimum levels.
In the embodiment shown in
As described above with reference to
In one exemplary embodiment, the light dimming technology includes electrochromic material that is selectively transparent to light in the visible light spectrum and is fully transparent to light in the phototherapy wavelength range. Thus, even as the transparency of the material to visible light changes, the material allows the phototherapy light to pass thought and be received by the infant patient.
A user input device 58 is typically positioned somewhere on or around the infant care device and allows a user to input information into the primary controller 50 from a location at or near the infant care device. In addition, a remote input device 60 can be connected to the primary controller 50 through either a hardwire connection or a wireless connection to allow monitoring and control of the infant care device from a remote location, such as at a nurses' station or other monitoring location.
In accordance with the exemplary embodiment shown in
In accordance with the system of the present disclosure, the primary controller 50 is further connected to a variable voltage source 62. The variable voltage source 62 can be controlled to output one or more different voltage levels along the voltage control lines 64, 66 and 68. Although multiple voltage control lines 64, 66 and 68 are shown in the embodiment, it is contemplated that in an exemplary embodiment, the variable voltage source 62 could include a single voltage output line depending upon the configuration and operation of the light dimming technology used in connection with the infant care device. In other embodiments, the variable voltage source 62 could be replaced by light emitting devices that would be used to control the operation of a photochromic device.
In the embodiment shown in
In a contemplated alternate embodiment, the system shown in
When a new infant patient is placed within the incubator, the primary controller enters step 102 in which information about the infant patient is entered into the primary controller. This information can be entered utilizing a remote input device or an input device directly connected to the primary controller at the incubator. Relevant information about the infant patient, such as the weight, age, blood oxygen levels or any other information that may be relevant to maintaining the health of the infant patient when the infant patient is received within the microenvironment created by the incubator.
After the new infant patient has been placed into the incubator, the controller enters into a series of operational sequences and steps that are generally illustrated by the manual control block 104, cycle program block 106, alarm block 108 and patient cycle adjustments 110. It should be understood that the primary controller operates between each of the blocks shown in
In block 104, the primary controller can receive different types of information from a caregiver or any other person located within physical proximity to the user input device 58 shown and described in
Block 106 identifies various different types of cyclic programs that can be carried out by the primary controller 50 of the present disclosure. Although example programs are shown in block 106, it should be understood that various different programs could be utilized and that the programs specified can be modified/adjusted based upon the infant patient.
The first type of cyclic program shown in block 106 is a default cycle that is meant to simulate a day/night cycle for the infant patient. In such cycle, the transparency of the enclosure will change to simulate the transition between day/night, thereby creating a day/night cycle for the patient. Such cycling will help assimilate the infant patient to the day/night cycle, especially when the ambient light of the room in which the infant care device is located is lit nearly 24 hours a day. Since the primary controller can automatically control the transparency of the enclosure, the primary controller can automatically create a day/night cycle for the infant patient which can be pre-programmed. Additionally, the day/night cycle durations can be adjusted by caregivers to further match the infant patient.
As further indicated in block 106, the default cycle can be modified to be patient focused and based upon the weight of the patient and the gestational age of the patient. In this manner, the caregiver can modify the cycle of day/night or provide periods of darkness for the infant depending upon infant related parameters.
As described previously, the primary controller 50 shown in
As illustrated in
In block 108, if a critical alarm is generated at the infant care device, such as based upon monitor parameters from the infant sensors 56 shown in
In block 110, the cycle set in block 106 can be modified based upon monitored patient parameters, such as from the infant sensors 56 shown in
The infant care device 10 further includes a user input device 42, which in an exemplary embodiment is a touch sensitive graphical display that is exemplarily used to present both patient as well as operational information to a clinician. The user input device 42 further is operable to receive user inputs from an operating clinician or technician including, but not limited to user inputs regarding the operation and use of the infant care device 10. In embodiments, this may include providing an on/off switch for the infant care device 10. In other embodiments, such a power switch may be provided as a physical switch elsewhere on the infant care device 10. The infant care device 10 further includes a power cord 44 that terminates in a plug 46 which is configured to be operatively connected to an outlet or other external electrical power source configured, for example to provide mains electricity to the infant care device 10.
