Semi-Automated Portable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
With uneven access to modern medicine across the globe, there is a pressing need for democratization of health care to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care; engineering can play a major role in meeting this critical need, The inclusion of engineering ideas and approaches makes medicine a quanti
2025-06-28 16:34:58 - Adil Khan
Semi-Automated Portable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryWith uneven access to modern medicine across the globe, there is a pressing need for democratization of health care to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care; engineering can play a major role in meeting this critical need, The inclusion of engineering ideas and approaches makes medicine a quantitative and systems-based discipline. The increasing demand for Medical integration with Engineering is linked to society’s general shift towards everyday utilization of machinery and technology in all aspects of life. Groundbreaking inventions in mechanics, optics, materials, electronics, and computing in the past decades have ideally positioned the integration of the life sciences and engineering to address major challenges in medicine and health care. The combination of engineering principles with biological knowledge to address medical needs has contributed to the development of revolutionary and life-saving technologies, such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). An NICU is a device used for the monitoring of a babies vitals and controlling the environmental conditions so that the baby could be provided with the ideal conditions to develop.
Project Objectives“The development of a Portable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that is practical, cheap, has a User Friendly Interface and has the feature of logging the collected data and transmitting the data wirelessly”
The aim of our project is to develop an advanced portable and wireless-base semi-automated Portable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We aim to provide an affordable, Portable, feasible, patient friendly and reliable NICU especially to low-income areas where medical care is not affordable.
The objective of the project is to design a semi-automated Portable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for the transport and care of a sick baby. For that the tool needs to be
- Cheap: The medical facilities are highly concerned in regards to several financial expenses. With the decrease in Government funding over the years and increase in the monitoring equipment. The above-mentioned equipment should be cheap so it can be used in large scale and numbers and is easily available.
- It must have availability of web integration and networking technology so that the readings can be transmitted to relevant doctors without any human interaction.
- It can track the progress of the environment of the NICU and log the collected data
- It can generate remote alerts at events of failure and critical conditions.
The project will be completed using Carson’s Method. Carson’s Method involves step by step prototyping methodology by implementing the project in parts separately and combining them. The Project will be separated in blocks and each block will be implemented and tested than made part of the main block. This allows each block to be tested thoroughly before being implemented in the project. This allows better fabrication and implementation of the project.
- Implementing Heartbeat Sensor Module 1 week
- Implementing ECG Monitor Module 2 weeks
- Implementing Oxygen Concentration Module 2 weeks
- Implementing Infrared Sensor Module 2 weeks
- Implementing Air Quality Sensor Module 1Week
- Implementing Brightness Sensor Module 2 weeks
- Implementing Temperature Sensor Module 2 Weeks
- Implementing Humidity Sensor Module 1 weeks
- Interfacing Peltier Diodes 1 Week
- Interfacing SD Card Storage(RS232) 1 Week
- Fabrication of the Mechanical Outfit 2-3 Weeks
- Assembly and Testing of Project 4 Weeks
- Testing 2 Weeks
- Delivery of Results and Data 1 Weeks
Introduction of Semi Automated Portable NICUs in medical sector of Pakistan has saved many lives. But these advancements are economically unsuitable as most hospitals don’t have the money to incorporate these into daily use.
Following problems were outlined by people working in the child care department:
- The transportation of a sick baby is very complex and a Portable NICU is not readily available.
- NICU used in the market have very primitive notification procedures such as visual indicators and auditory signals.
- Lack of a patient data management system makes management of information and procedure complicated.
- A baby requires 24/7 monitoring, which is both hectic and prone to errors.
- The conditions for a baby’s ideal growth cannot be obtained without very high expenses.
- There is no way to periodically view and record the baby’s growth without taking it out from the incubation environment.
- Unreliable Work Ethics of the staff can compromise the readings.
- Many of the tools available for the tasks in the market are expensive and non-user friendly. This makes them impractical for use in rural areas.
- High cost of care services provided by the Department of Health.
A Unit is fabricated from Acrylic Glass that has a housing Unit for the Baby, the project is devided into 3 parts, sensors, controls and IoT.
The Sensors Used in the Project are,
Room Temperature Sensor, used to record the temperature of the Housing Unit.
Room Humidity Sensor, used to record the Humidity of the housing unit..
Body Temperature Sensor, for the recording of the babys' temperature.
ECG Sensor, Record and transmit the Electro Cardiograph of the baby.
Heartbeat Sensor, record the beats per minute of the baby.
Blood Oxygen Concentration Sensor, detects the oxygen in the blood in a non invasive way.
Infrared Sensor, used to detect if the lid has been left open accidentally.
The NICU can control the environment of the box in the following ways.
Cooling System, a peltier diode based cooling system that has the ability to cool down the housing unit.
Heating System, a peltier diode based heating system that warms up the housing unit.
Humidifier, a piezo disc based humidified for maintaining humidity.
The NICU has an on device display but it can also Communicate wirelessly in a number of ways, such as,
Bluetooth: For sending data wirelessly to a mobile device
WiFi: For communicating With a pc over larger distances.
GSM Module : For Sending alerts without internet connectivity.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry MedicalOther Industries Health Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for PeopleRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 41184 | |||
| Arduino Mega | Equipment | 2 | 1150 | 2300 |
| Arduino Uno | Equipment | 1 | 750 | 750 |
| DHT11 | Equipment | 2 | 320 | 640 |
| DS18B20 | Equipment | 1 | 400 | 400 |
| ECG sensor | Equipment | 1 | 2500 | 2500 |
| Heartbeat sensor | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| Peltier Diode | Equipment | 1 | 450 | 450 |
| TouchScreen | Equipment | 1 | 1344 | 1344 |
| Humidifier | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| GSM Module SIM900A | Equipment | 2 | 5300 | 10600 |
| Bluetooth Module | Equipment | 1 | 700 | 700 |
| Wifi Module | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| SD Card Module | Equipment | 2 | 600 | 1200 |
| Cooling fans | Miscellaneous | 1 | 350 | 350 |
| High Ampere Supply Battery+Charger | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Fabrication of box | Miscellaneous | 1 | 8500 | 8500 |
| Soldering/Etching of circuit | Equipment | 3 | 1200 | 3600 |
| Secondary DC Supply | Equipment | 1 | 1200 | 1200 |
| Engraving and Printing | Equipment | 1 | 750 | 750 |