Need analysis and technical study of an open-source sequential compression device towards an appropriable hospital

Details

Supervisors

Bol, David ; Herman, Benoît

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil biomédical, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic triggered a general effort to produce technologies with a different mindset. It put light on the importance of having access to affordable, modular and open devices. This is why the stakes and the need for open-source appropriable medical devices was studied. The research was financed by donations made during a fundraiser launched by the Louvain Foundation in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic for the development and distribution of open-source medical devices. It led to create a selection method to identify the devices to prioritize for development in this frame. Then the sequential compression device, a device attached around the legs that creates compression and help blood flow, was chosen and studied. A first open-source version has been published by Schara et al. in November 2022. In this thesis, it was updated and adapted to be even more appropriable. A new geometrical model, the truncated pyramid model, was developed to assess the behavior of the hand-made pneumatic bands. The final open-source prototype is economic (average price of 71.20€), can be fabricated with basic laboratory tools, is carefully documented and modular. The results of the study put on light inaccuracies in the testing protocol and a leak that skewed our pressure estimations. Therefore further analysis should validate the model and prototype. All material and resources useful to the prototype production and testing has been made available freely, on Forge UCLouvain in the OpenMedTech group: https://forge.uclouvain.be/openmedtech/sequential-compression-device.git