Low Cost Neonatal Incubator with Smart Control System

Infants suffering from various critical illnesses usually require medical assistance at hospitals or healthcare centers. However, in remote areas of Pakistan like Thar, Cholistan and Tribal areas, it requires hours of traveling to reach any suitable hospital. Extreme weather conditions creating seri

Project Title

Low Cost Neonatal Incubator with Smart Control System

Project Area of Specialization

Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary

Infants suffering from various critical illnesses usually require medical assistance at hospitals or healthcare centers. However, in remote areas of Pakistan like Thar, Cholistan and Tribal areas, it requires hours of traveling to reach any suitable hospital. Extreme weather conditions creating serious threats to the infant if not properly handled during traveling. This project aims to indigenously design and develop a low-cost and light-weight Portable Neonatal Incubator System (PNIS) that can be used to carry the sick infant to travel from remote locations to the hospital. Parents / Guardians can borrow the portable incubator from designated government offices in the town to carry the infant to the nearest city. The system will consist of a model physical structure equipped with automatic temperature control (cooling and heating as needed), humidity control and oxygen saturation level control. The system will be powered with chargeable batteries to provide power for up to 8 hours. The working model of the proposed system will be developed as per the specification of standard incubators.

Project Objectives

• To investigate the feasibility to indigenously design and develop a low cost portable neonatal incubator to carry the sick infant to travel from remote areas of Pakistan to a suitable hospital.

• To develop a working model of a portable incubator.

• To test the model for usability as per medical standards.

Project Implementation Method

Step 1: Study of existing systems and literature review.

Step 2: Development of physical structure.

Step 3: Implementation of computerized automatic temperature, humidity, and oxygen saturation level control.

Step 4: Testing and troubleshooting to maintain medical standards.

Benefits of the Project

The proposed model system can be used to

1. Safely transfer the sick infant from remote locations to hospitals.
2. Automatically manage the ambient temperature, humidity and infant’s oxygen saturation levels to provide recommended conditions during traveling.
3. Successful testing of the proposed system will enable the healthcare providers (Government and Welfare organizations) to commercially manufacture the portable incubators for domestic use.
4. Portable incubators can significantly reduce the casualties / critical illness of the sick infants during traveling in extremely hot or cold weather conditions. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The proposed system will be composed of

• Physical Structure developed with suitable material
• Ambient Temperature and Humidity Sensors
• Cooling and Heating Mechanism
• Humidifier and De-Humidifier
• Medical grade oxygen saturation sensor
• Mini oxygen cylinder with automatic valve
• Light computing system like Raspberry Pi
• Small chargeable batteries 
• Control software application developed using open-source tools

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Medical

Other Industries

Others , Health

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Internet of Things (IoT)

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

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