An Intelligent Infusion Flow Controlled Syringe Infusion Pump

Commercial intelligent syringe infusion pumps nowadays have many advanced features such as drug libraries, wireless communication, and a barcode scanner. However, such intelligent devices lack the capability of measuring an infusion rate (flow) directly. The rate is a variation of volume divided by a variation of time. Thus, commercial syringe pumps measure the diameter of disposable syringe through a linear potentiometer. Together with a distance information provided via a stepper motor's drive, a volume can be calculated. Lastly, a flow will be calculated by a division of this volume via spent time. In this paper, a direct measurement of an infused flow will be made via an LD20 (SF04) flow sensor manufactured by Sensiron company. This will improve the safety of a delivery of high risk medications through a direct flow measurement, an air-bubble detection, an occlusion detection, a temperature reading of infused drug and other features provided via the usage of LD20 flow sensor.