Design Of An Intelligent IV Infusion Dripping Rate Control System

Intravenous infusion (IV infusion) is one of the most common kinds of medicaltreatments. To adjust the IV infusion dripping rate, one needs to tighten or loosen the infusiontube manually by using the plastic gripper. However, the IV infusion dripping rate is ofteninfluenced by many factors, so in some occasions, when the dripping rate is restricted, theinfusion process needs to be monitored by medical staffs. The intelligent IV infusion drippingrate control devices can effectively reduce the workload of the medical staffs. So there isincreasing demand for the application of these devices and the market prospects are bright. Atthe same time, the medical equipment industry is a high-tech industry crossing multipledisciplines, thus the development of these devices is closely connected with automationtechnology, electronic technology and computer technology. In a word, the research of the IVinfusion drip rate control system is of great practical and academic significance.This paper proposes an IV infusion dripping rate control system based on LM3S8962.The system consists of the CPU, the actuators, the feedback systems, the interface and thenetwork communicating module. The CPU is LM3S8962, a microcontroller based on theARM Cortex-M3architecture; The actuators is the stepper motor driven by DRV8833andthe mechanical system driven by it; The feedback systems consist of a photoelectric sensorand a Schmitt trigger; The interface is a serial LCD touch screen that can add to usersexperience; Network communicating module adopts the Zigbee network solutions based onthe CC2530chip, providing for low power consumption and high reliability.This paper describes the design methods of the hardware and software of each module ofthe control system in detail. Several key issues will be focused on, including the principle ofthe feedback system, the hardware scheme, the software implementation, the dripping ratecontrol algorithm, the design of the interface, the transplant of the Z-Stack and theimplementation of the wireless data communications. The performance of the control systemand remote data communication is tested by experiments. Also, the pictures of the finishedcontrol device and the working effect of the interface are showed. Results of the experimentsshow that the designed system can properly achieve the required functionality, with goodcontrol performance stability and excellent user experience.