Wireless, hand held monitoring device for Medical device application

Hi Jack,

If you have a sensitive pressure sensor on the medium of the piston (Air or Oil?) there should be a direct correlation to the force being applied. You could either use a pressure gauge to measure the actual force and then calculate an coefficient.  The pressure detected by the sensor times the coefficient would equal the actual force being applied. If the sensor was tied through a microcomputer it could calculate this value before displaying it on a small screen. The distance travel of the piston could be measured by mechanically tying the movement to a potentiometer and reading the change in the voltage. Here again a microcomputer like an Arduino could be used to calculate the actual travel and display it on a screen. Time could also be measured and displayed. These are just a general start to the many possibilities. The Arduino or other microcomputer would easily fit in a handheld case. The sensors would have to be mounted to the chair and a suitable power supply would have to be plugged it or the unit could be battery powered. You say that you have drawings and working models. Can you post some of these so we can see how close you are to your goal.

John

Hi John,

I feel like I should be sending you a check for your sage advice?  I will have to read over your emails several times so have a chance to comprehend them. I am attaching several pics and drawing of my decompression chair.  The device on the back of the chair is a simple luggage weighing scale that measures both in kilos and lbs and "talks" to the user.  However, it's a hard to understand the Chinese "fake" English accent and does not work that well at all.  The top of the device is set into a hinge that pulls down on the adjustable turnbuckle that in turn pulls down on the scale.  However, customers and professionals anticipate seeing some sort of a more sophisticated hi-tech monitoring device for pressure, duration's and length of stroke on the mechanical linear actuator....no air or oil and works very well with a slow, steady force because the 12 Volt motor that drives the piston is geared very low. This units is 100% control by the user so if they feel any pain whatsoever, the simple stop or reverse the motor.  Of course we will have a comprehensive medical disclaimer and warning stickers and insist they get professional approval before using this device.

Attachments:

Hi John,

I feel like I should be sending you a check for your sage advice?  I will have to read over your emails several times so have a chance to comprehend them. I am attaching several pics and drawing of my decompression chair.  The device on the back of the chair is a simple luggage weighing scale that measures both in kilos and lbs and "talks" to the user.  However, it's a hard to understand the Chinese "fake" English accent and does not work that well at all.  The top of the device is set into a hinge that pulls down on the adjustable turnbuckle that in turn pulls down on the scale.  However, customers and professionals anticipate seeing some sort of a more sophisticated hi-tech monitoring device for pressure, duration's and length of stroke on the mechanical linear actuator....no air or oil and works very well with a slow, steady force because the 12 Volt motor that drives the piston is geared very low. This units is 100% control by the user so if they feel any pain whatsoever, the simple stop or reverse the motor.  Of course we will have a comprehensive medical disclaimer and warning stickers and insist they get professional approval before using this device.

Attachments:

Hi Jack,

Sorry for the slow response but I have been thinking and that happens fairly slowly for me sometimes. Thank you for the pictures as they help a lot. The only thought that I have on measuring the force at this time is to put a scale under the person and tare their weight. Any force upward on the spine would then register as a negative weight. Also you could just read the weight and subtract the difference as the actuator applies upward force. How about using a digital tape measure for the distance travel?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/eTape16-16-ft-Digital-Tape-Measure-ET16-75-DB-RP/206709508?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cTHD%7cG%7c0%7cG-BASE-PLA-D25T-HandTools%7c&gclid=CjwKCAjwranNBRBhEiwASu908KPdEe6XxvjZ2098PWuekfNl6OG6ssaWZlQyODhmnGZn28xEa6881BoCc-gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLqhkr7bhtYCFQKuTwodWPYJtQ

John

Hi John, 

Yes, very excellent idea and i got the link.  I did try a digital scale on top of the chair already and the problem was the inability to use or read the scale.  This is why i opted for a digital talking scale with only marginal results.

jack e.