Introduction

The Bluetooth patient monitoring system (BPMS) is a unique system which provides the

user a capability to measure patient’s heart rate (ECG), blood pressure and body

temperature. This new platform will help address some of the most critical issues in

healthcare - shortage of nurses and high costs. The patient is strapped with the BPMS

which consists of different sensors and a microcontroller to keep track of his health

conditions. The microcontroller will then send the data captured to the PDA via the

Bluetooth module, which would help the doctors and nurses to keep track of key

knowledge required for critical decision making. A speaker would be attached to the final

product which would be an indication for emergency.

When one thinks about a Wireless patient monitoring system, the first thing that is bought

up by customers is its portability –size, shape, weight. The way we visualize our product

packaging is shown in detail in our AutoCAD diagram(Fig3). The size of the BPMS

would be that of a small box similar to the size of a PDA. The packaged product would

be similar to the PCB layout and would take into consideration the thickness of the LCD,

and the size of the speaker. Since this product will be visible when worn by the patient,

we would want the product to be decent to look at. The final product will be a rectangular

box with smooth edges. The front-side of the BPMS will have an LCD screen and a

speaker output which will be surrounded by stylish plastic material. The back of our

device would contain an output for the blood pressure sensor tube ports, the temperature

sensor and the heart beat sensor.

1

Analysis

Illustration and Description of Packaging Used.

I) CPOD- NASA Ames Astrobionics team

Figure 1 - CPOD

CPOD is a state-of-the-art design which monitors patient’s physiological data and

wirelessly transmits it to a PC station or even a PDA using Bluetooth technology. As seen

above the size and weight of this device is very small and wearable by patients of varying

ages. The data logger is about the size of your palm and weighs around 166 grams (six

ounces). The whole device is made of plastic and that is what contributes to its minimal

weight. The front of the part is cream in color with rest of the body being black. The data

available on the LCD is accessed through the event button at the top right corner of the

device. The sensor outputs, as shown above, are at the edges of the device.

2

II) LifeSync Wireless ECG

Figure 2: LifeSync

The above product from LifeSync is used to measure the ECG of the patient and send the

data wirelessly to the PC station. As seen above there is a patient transceiver which is

connect to the patient and a monitor transceiver connected to the PC station. The ECG is

measured by placing the Lead wear system to the patient and connecting the monitor

transceiver to the PC station which is an ECG equipment. The size and weight of the

patient transceiver are 8*12.5*3 cm and 240gms while for the monitor transceiver they

are 8.5*16*4 cm and 280gms. As seen in the figure the patient transceiver is

made of plastic with the front side having separate displays monitoring the battery and

the communications of the device while the back has a LEAD wear system to be placed

on the patient.

3

Discussion of positive and negative aspects of the product’s packaging:

I) CPOD:-

Positive Aspects:

1) Compact and sleek design.

2) LCD display placed well at the center of the device.

3) Outputs at the back end of the device.

4) One event button to view all data

Negative Aspects:

1) The event button too small to be pressed.

2) No Led display of power on/off

II) LifeSync Wireless ECG

Positive aspects:

1) Battery life shown in the display

2) Proper communication shown in the display.

Negative aspects:

1) Two devices used to monitor ECG

2) No Led display of power on/off

Aspects of commercial product’s packaging we plan to incorporate

1) Try to have a BPMS a compact and sleek design as of NASA’s CPOD

2) Battery life shown in the display of LifeSync Wireless ECG and would include it in the final product

3) The back sides contain the output of the sensors in both the devices and we plan to incorporate that into our design.

4) Both the devices use a similar kind of look and use similar kind of materials and

4

we plan to utilize the same in our design.

Aspects of the BPMS’s packaging that are unique.

1) Bigger event button.

2) Status of device power on/off shown with LED’s.

CAD drawing:

5

Figure 3: AutoCAD Diagram

Materials List:

1) Shoulder strap

2) 251.7 cm2 of PVC.

3) Screws

Tooling Required

Since our final packaged product will be manufactured by an outside plastics

company we are not totally aware of what they require and hence the tooling requirements

are not mentioned. However, some tooling will be required after the initial package is

completed and received. The following tools will be required:

1) Drill press to drill appropriate holes for event button and the four corners output for

the sensors.

6

2) A scroll saw or jig saw can be used to cut out the square holes needed to

accommodate LCD.

Estimate of Packaging Weight & Unit Cost:

The weights are all estimates and costs of all components mentioned are the actual retail

price except for the price of the plastic casing. The estimated cost of PVC is

approximately $3.00 per square foot.

COMPONENT PART NUMBER WEIGHT (oz.)

TOTAL (oz.)

Microcontroller Freescale MC9S12C64 ~ 2 2Heart-beat Sensor Salutron 2000 ~0.8 0.8Bluetooth Module National Semi. LMX9820 ~ 0.03 0.03

LCD Display Crystalfontz CFAG12232D-YYH-N

~0.25 0.25

Temperature Sensor Maxim DS18S20 ~0.2 0.2AA Batteries Energizer ~0.99 * 4 4

PVC for Casing 251.7 cm2 of PVC. ~3 3

Miscellaneous Wires - Negligible Negligible

TOTAL 10.28

Table 1 –Weight of individual packaging components.

COMPONENT PART NUMBER COST ($)Microcontroller Freescale MC9S12C64 75

Heart-beat Sensor Salutron 2000 32Bluetooth Module National Semi. LMX9820 28.9

LCD Display Crystalfontz CFAG12232D-YYH-N 14.95Temperature Sensor Maxim DS18S20 5.4

5 AA Batteries Energizer 7PVC for Casing 251.7 cm2 of PVC. ~3

Miscellaneous Wires - Negligible

Bluetooth PDA HP 500

TOTAL 666.25

Table 2 – Unit Cost of individual packaging components

7

References:

[1]. Crystalfontz CFAG12232D-YYH-N LCD Screen:

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/character-menubar.gif

[2]. Maxim DS18S20 Digital Thermometer:

http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/DS18S20.pdf

[3]. Salutron 2000 Heartbeat Sensor:

http://www.salutron.com/product-pcba.html

[4]. National Semiconductor LMX9820 Bluetooth Module:

http://www.national.com/ds.cgi/LM/LMX9820.pdf

[5]. Freescale MC9S12C62 Microcontroller:

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?

code=MC9S12C64&nodeId=0162468636K100

[6]. Atmel ATmega64 Microcontroller:

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=2016

[7]. Polar F-1 Heart Rate Monitor

http://www.polar-usa.us/polar-f1.html

[8]. Maxim DS1620 Digital Thermometer:

http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/DS1620.pdf

[9]. Crystalfontz CFAG12232D-NYG-N LCD Screen

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/12232d/CFAG12232DNYGN.pdf

[10]. Crystalfontz 632 Serial LCD Module:

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/632/632full.pdf

[11]. Texas Instruments S2000 Micro Reader:

http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/manuals/pdfSpecs/RI-STU-MRD1.pdf

[8]. CPOD- NASA Ames Astrobionics team

http://lifeguard.stanford.edu/lifeguard_writeup_medium.pdf

[9]. NASA news

http://www.nasa.gov/lb/home/hqnews/2004/jun/HQ_04191_health_monitor.html

[9]. LifeSync Wireless ECG

http://www.wirelessecg.com/support/pdf/SUM_86083_RevB1.pdf

8

9