A Novel Low-Cost Capacitance Sensor Solution for Real-Time Bubble Monitoring in Medical Infusion Devices

Abstract

In the present day, IoT technology is widely applied in the field of medical devices to facilitate real-time monitoring and management by medical staff, thereby better-ensuring patient safety. In IoT intravenous infusion monitoring sensors, it is particularly important to ensure that air bubbles are not infused into the patient’s body. The most common method for bubble detection during intravenous infusions is the use of infrared or laser sensors, which can usually meet design requirements at a relatively low cost. Another method is the use of ultrasonic detection of bubbles, which achieves high accuracy but has not been widely promoted in the market due to higher costs. This proposed work introduces a new type of sensor that detects bubbles by monitoring changes in capacitance between two electrodes installed at the surface of the infusion pipe. If this sensor is deployed on the ESP32 platform, which is widely used in embedded IoT devices, it can achieve 35 μL bubble detection precision with an average power consumption of 5.18 mW and a mass production cost of $0.022. Although the precision of this sensor is significantly lower than the low-cost IR bubble sensor, it still satisfies the design requirement of the IV infusion IoT sensor.