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Design and Implementation of Low Cost Smart Syringe Pump for

Telemedicine and Healthcare

Conference Paper · October 2020

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 2019 International Conference on Robotics,Electrical and Signal Processing Techniques (ICREST)

Design and Implementation of Low Cost Smart

Syringe Pump for Telemedicine and Healthcare
Md. Rakibul Islam Rushdi Zahid Rusho Sheikh Md. Rabiul Islam
Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Electronics and
Khulna University of Engineering & Khulna University of Engineering & Communication Engineering
Technology Technology Khulna University of Engineering &
Khulna 9203, Bangladesh Khulna 9203, Bangladesh Technology
rakibulbme14@gmail.com rushdizahid@bme.kuet.ac.bd Khulna 9203, Bangladesh
robi@ece.kuet.ac.bd

Abstract—Delivery of fluids such as nutrients and and exchange data among the systems [1],[6] . Thus, Syringe
medications into a patient’s body in a controlled environment is pump can be made smart by incorporating security systems
one of the essential prerequisites of a treatment that requires and cloud servers to store data permanently both in the cloud
precise flow control. Advancements in wireless technologies and storage and patient’s ward for further analysis. This will
internet of things (IoT) facilitates the use of medical devices reduce risks and saves time respectively. Moreover, the
wirelessly so that they can be accessed over a long distance for security system can be designed to protect sensitive patient
tele-monitoring and telemedicine. In this work, a frame work of information as well as secure alarm system to alert the
a low-cost medical syringe pump is designed to provide better hospital staff while the device is malfunctioning. The
health care in the rural area. A dc motor driven syringe pump
previous drug delivery systems like rack and pinion
is designed using microcontroller board with necessary driver
mechanism and manual system are not appropriate to get a
circuitry. Armature voltage of the DC motor is varied to
generate different flow rates. To convert rotary motion of the
better efficiency of the system. Lead screw mechanism might
motor into linear motion, lead screw mechanism is employed. be the solution. Lead screw has an additional efficiency of
Almost all parts of this device are easily available to local producing enough torque with low power consumption.
market. There is provision for multiple flow rate control, safety However, the main goal of this paper is to focus on IoT based
features and wireless control of the device. GSM module is used healthcare application to smart drug delivery system using a
to show the wireless operation of the device. Experimental specific medical ICU device: Syringe pump. In our hardware
findings show that the error of flow rate is within ± 5% of the a dc motor is proposed for controlling the flow rates of the
desired flow rate. The objective of this research work is to design medication. A related work has been done by S. Dubey et al.
a low cost, portable, smart syringe infusion pump to improve [1]. They designed an IoT based the android controlled
quality of service in the healthcare sector of developing syringe pump. But there are some limitations on that project.
countries. A slow android phone was one of the drawbacks. A smart-
phone needs to be calibrated continuously otherwise it may
Keywords—syringe pump, telemedicine, telehealth, internet of lose its effectiveness. So, replacement of an android smart
things (IoT), hospital information system (HIS) phone is needed after some time of usage. The proposed
device in this work tries to overcome these drawbacks. A
I. INTRODUCTION
GSM/LTE module that are used to communicate worldwide
Syringe pump is a small infusion device that is used for are chosen for communication purpose.
controlled administration of small amounts of drugs or
medications to a patient or for use in chemical and biomedical Our proposed device is designed with a specific goal in
research [1]. It can administer fluids precisely; especially for mind, to develop a smart syringe pump with reduced cost and
the child to administer liquid drug for long time. Mainly there better efficiency for the application of telemedicine in the
are two general types of syringe pumps: medical infusion rural areas of developing countries. Everyone likes smartness
pump and research syringe pump. Medical infusion pump is of a system that is integrated with vast applications in a single
a device used to deliver controlled quantities of fluids like one. In this work, an IoT based syringe pump having
nutrients, drugs, chemo and blood to patients. They are used connectivity with cellular network is proposed. This device
actually for in-vivo diagnosis, treatment, and for research [1], will also have safety features to ensure smooth operation at
[2]. On the other hand, research syringe pump is a device used the patient’s bedside. The procedure is easy, riskless and time
in research laboratories for applications that can distribute saving for doctors, patients and staffs. This is the primary and
very small fractions of fluids or liquid medications [2]. The principal motivation behind this paper.
accuracy of performance or efficiency of the flow-rate control II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
is so much important for the application of droplet micro-
fluidic systems [3]. In the manual liquid drug delivery A. Framework of the Project
systems, fluctuations may occur while operating by a nurse The basic frame work as well as construction can be
or hospital staff. At present, syringe pumps are used understood from Fig. 1. Fig. 1 indicates general outline of the
worldwide for healthcare purpose as well as research proposed work. A microcontroller will be used to control dc
purpose. With the advancement of communication motor through motor driver circuitry. A lead screw or threaded
technology specially internet of things (IoT), there is an rod will be coupled to the dc motor shaft. Lead screw will
opportunity for syringe pumps to be integrated with IoT [4], produce linear motion to the syringe plunger which will in turn
[5]. IoT is the inter-networking of physical devices push the liquid out of the or pull the liquid into the syringe.
embedded with electronics equipment, software, sensors, The operational status of the pump will be fed back to the
actuators, and network connectivity which ensures to collect sever or hospital information system to ensure proper

978-1-5386-8014-8/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

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 2019 International Conference on Robotics,Electrical and Signal Processing Techniques (ICREST)

operation of the syringe pump. If necessary, there is provision circuit resistance in ohm. is the voltage across the field
for manual intervention. The device can also be connected to circuit in volts. is the total effective torque in N.m.
the wireless networks for telemedicine application.
C. Proposed Algorithm
Microcontroller Algorithmic development is the key steps in designing
(Send control
Motor
signal to motor
Manual any application overviews the proposed system as it is the set
Intervention
Driver
driver, of instructions that governance “what”, “when” and “how” to
buzzer,server) accomplish a task on a particular signal over the full time
performance. The flowchart of the proposed algorithm is
DC motor
Coupler gear, Hospital
Wireless Module
(Coude Server,
depicted in Fig. 3.
threaded rod word
SMS, etc.)

Drug deliver to Start

patient or
microfluidic
delivery for
research Calibration Restart

Fig. 1. Frame Work of the Syringe Pump. Yes Wait for manual
Fail intervention
B. Lead Screw Mechanism No
Fig. 2 shows a lead screw which translates rotary motion Send diagnostic
Set operation mode data to Server
into linear motion.

Set Input Dose Turn on buzzer

Clockwise No
direction Does motor functioning clearly? Stop Motor

Yes
Send device state and
direction to server

No
Fig. 2. Lead screw mechanism. Dose Complete?

The screw sometimes known as a threaded rod that consist Yes

of large number of screw pitch then the general screw. Send Confirmation
Normally they are used as the driving mechanism in meassage to the server
horizontal or vertically driven applications aided by linear
guides for supports. They are described by diameter and pitch End
or lead. The pitch or lead is the amount of travel or distance
the nut travels along the screw for every complete revolution. Fig. 3. Flow chart of the proposed algorithm
Generally, they are used to operate manually or motorized.
The large number of the pitch, the small torque is required for Calibration is necessary to set the syringe plunger in the
converting rotary motion into linear motion. The reduced desired position. Failure to calibrate will result in difficult
number of the pitch, the large torque is required. A lead screw situation both for the patient and the device. Thus alarm
is sometimes used with a split nut also known as half nut that should be initiated in this situation and if required, manual
permits the nut to be disengaged from the threads and moved intervention is necessary to remove any error. Successful
axially, independently of the screw's rotation, when needed. calibration will initiate the normal operating mode i.e. flow
Since no gear is used, the speed of a separately excited motor rate of dose, duration, direction of flow etc. The status of the
can be found in [7]: motor will be continuously monitored and if any malfunction
occurs, alarm should be turned on. When drug delivery is
= = (1) completed a summary of the operation should be sent to the
∗
hospital staff via wireless communication network system.
The developed torque inside the motor Td must be equal D. Mathematical Expressions
to the load torque:
The threaded rod measurements were done for
T =J + + (2) approximation of the hardware. Thus, all of measurements
are taken in SI unit for easy calculation of the equations. One
Where, is the field current, is the armature current, ω rotation of the screw results in 1.1361 mm distance of the
is the motor angular speed in rad/s, B is the viscous friction plunger. This quantity is defined as distance per rotation or
constant in N.m/rad/s, is the voltage constant in V/A-rad/s; DPR. It is found through measurement that 52 mm distance
is the armature circuit resistance in ohm, is the field covers 10 ml volume of 10 ml commercial syringe.

441
 2019 International Conference on Robotics,Electrical and Signal Processing Techniques (ICREST)

So, is very sensitive to notify the hospital staff without making

any noise by buzzer or alarms. This could be possible via the
∗ communication using GSM/LTE module to give a status SMS
1 = to the hospital staffs. Moreover, an alarm system was added to
detect any server problem. The proposed architecture adds
. ∗ several keys or switches for primary stage confirmations.
= = 0.2117 ( .) (3) There is provision for adding more features with the
implemented architecture. Here the cloud server intelligently
So, in this proposed system, one rotation of the screw assists to cooperate via the communication system and can
administers approximately 0.2177 ml of medication. If D is store for the future collection of various data. The motor shaft
the distance crossed by the syringe plunger in mm, R is the is coupled with a nut and screw that is the intelligent way for
no. of rotation of the threaded rod and V is the voltage applied performing the output operation with a reservoir type syringe
across dc motor then, [8].
F. Hardware Implementation
= (4)
Fig. 5 shows the actual hardware implementation. The
= (5) hardware design consists of following: Microcontroller
(Arduino UNO), DC geared motor, Motor driver L298L,
coupler, threaded rod, metal frame, GSM module, LCD
Where, and are constant of proportionality that
display, buzzer, input switch, project board and connection
depend on R and V respectively.
wires. The weight of the device is approximately 350 gram
From the equation (4) and (5), and the dimension is 29 cm ×14 cm. Two key parts need in
this hardware for implementation are described below:
= = (6) a) Microcontroller
A microcontroller is an intelligent small computer
Where, = is another constant. Thus, we can say integrated over a single circuit. Microcontroller is the main
that the distance traveled by the syringe plunger is equipment of a controlling device like automobile engine
proportional to the applied voltage across the dc motor. It is control systems, implantable medical devices, remote
known that the distance can be scaled into volumes in of controls, office machines, implants, power tools, toys and
the syringe. So, the volume of the medication administered other embedded systems [9]. At a time it can assist several
from the syringe is proportional to distance of the plunger systems. It is like a memory of the whole integrated system. It
which in turn is proportional to the voltage applied across the only assists systems via controlling, not via processing
armature of the dc motor. because there is no processing part inside it. Microcontrollers
E. Proposed System Architecture have several input and output pins with data transmission and
receiving pins.
Internet of Things (IoT) involves a large number of
embedded devices and exchange large amounts of data all b) GSM/LTE Communication module
around the world. Integration with IoT makes a device smart Long-Term Evolution shortly LTE [10] is a
as it saves time and reduce risk. Fig. 4 shows the proposed communication standard that provides high speed data
system architecture where it is depicted that the syringe pump transmission embedded with mobile device that combines the
and all of its status such as flow rate, position, direction, GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA technologies. The peak of the
patient bed number etc. can be sent via wireless network, download rates up to 299.6 Mbit/s as well as uploading rates
cloud server and finally can be put into general structure of up to 75.4 Mbit/s depending on the user equipment category.
IoT.
Casing for syringe Lead Arduino-
DC motor Uno Medical Syringe
pump Screw Tube
Home Network

Communication

Power Supply Motor Driver

Position
M
Control Feedback
Signal Speed
Cloud Server Direction
Microcontroller Lead Screw Mechanism
Digital display Control GSM
LCD Input Alarm Syringe Operation Cable for
Motor Driver Switch Module caliberation
Hospital Word Satellite Network/LTE Drug Delivery To Patient Circuit

Fig. 4. System architecture of the proposed work. Fig. 5. Experimental Setup of the proposed syringe pump system.

The main purpose of our system architecture is to make The LTE performance is not affected by the other
compatibility with the patient. The alarm system is something communication standard like Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth etc.
looks a noise pollution inside of a hospital. It may cause the The authors proposed an LTE system for the benefit of better
disturbance of other patients besides them. In this position it efficiency and performance than Wi-Fi communication

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 2019 International Conference on Robotics,Electrical and Signal Processing Techniques (ICREST)

standards [10]. LTE provides a high data rate and low latency sensors are sent to a server for hospital information system
and optimized packet with the help of wireless data transfer (HIS).
access. There is a feature of interference avoidance among
the other communication standards is clarified and it increase
the capacity of small cell networks in the unlicensed spectrum
without affecting Wi-Fi [11]. An experiment on feasibility of
LTE module is performed with better evaluation output
showed in [12].
GSM modem is the communication standards for remote
sensing and measuring of several remote monitoring stations
and central stations. The SIM (Subscribers Identity Module)
are attached to the GSM module for communication via the
specific server. This module is used worldwide because of
covering a large range and cost reduction and here there is no
need of infrastructures to transfer data from the remote station
to the central base station [13]. Mobile phone tracks their (a)
current position by their nearest tower of antenna by the help
of GSM system and it offers the real power efficient service
and unfortunately it reacts with the substantial error that
causes fluctuated outcome [14]. LTE communication
standard is more preferable than the GSM system standard
for the cause of its high data rate with low time consumption.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The goal of this work is to make a low cost smart syringe
pump for telemedicine purpose in the rural areas of developing
countries to enhance their healthcare facilities. The proposed
device works fairly well in its prototype condition. Pulse
width modulation is used to vary the voltage across the (b)
armature of the dc motor. The motor control signals for two
different flow rates, namely 0.70 ml/s and 0.45 ml/s are shown Fig. 6. Motor control signal for 0.70 ml/s (a) and 0.45 ml/s (b) flow rate.
in Fig. 6. Form the figure it is clear that for higher flow rate
the effective voltage across the armature of the dc motor is If the data from the syringe pump can be uploaded to a
higher than that of lower flow rate. Only forward flow secure cloud server then authorized personnel such as
direction is shown in Fig. 6 but it is also possible to reverse physician or clinician can monitor the activity or even give
the flow direction by inversing the polarity of the voltage new command to the proposed syringe pump. The proposed
across the armature of the dc motor. The performance of the device can also be customized according to the demand of the
proposed syringe pump is evaluated by sending appropriate client for commercial purpose. Almost all the component
control signal for a desired flow rate and subsequently used in this work can be easily found in the local market with
determining the actual flow rate by measuring how much fluid lower price. Large scale production of the device will further
is actually pumped by the syringe pump and the time it takes reduce the cost.
to do so. The control signal for a desired flow rate was
TABLE I: PERFORMANCE OF THE PROPOSED SYRINGE PUMP.
calculated from the required magnitude of the effective
voltage across the armature of the dc motor as discussed in the SL. Desired Actual volume
Actual Actual flow Error
previous section. The overall performance is summarized in No. time rate(ml/sec) (%)
flow rate administered
elapsed
Table I. The error is defined as the percentage change of flow (ml/sec) (ml)
(sec)
rate from the desired flow rate. From Table I, it is found that 1. 0.45 4.72 10.02 0.4800 +4.68
the error is within ± 5% of the desired flow rate. This error 2. 0.50 4.10 7.91 0.5183 +3.67
can be attributed to many factors such as mechanical backlash 3. 0.60 6.30 10.03 0.6281 +4.69
in the lead screw mechanism, loose contact in the dc motor 4. 0.65 6.94 10.43 0.6653 +2.37
5. 0.70 7.50 11.17 0.6714 -4.08
driver circuit, error in calibration, error in power supply etc.
These errors can be effectively minimized by careful design IV. CONCLUSION
procedure and robust algorithm development. The proposed
syringe pump can also be integrated with IoT. In this work In this work, low cost smart syringe pump is designed for
integration with cellular network is proposed for developing telemedicine application. The proposed syringe pump is
countries in order to minimize cost of a dedicated separate designed primarily for stationary use at patient’s bedside. It
communication network. To show its effectiveness, a GSM can be operated at different flow rates by varying the voltage
module is connected to the microcontroller that is operating across the armature of the dc motor using pulse width
the syringe pump. The operating status such as current dose modulation of the voltage. The error is within ± 5% of the
rate, starting time, end time, device temperature etc. can be desired flow rate. The device maintains continuous flow and
successfully sent to the cell phone in the designated there is provision for safety such as all switch will be locked
destination. The proposed system can also be a part of smart when pump is working, backup power supply and alarm for
hospital word where different sensors are used to form a failure alert. GSM module is used for integration with cellular
bodyarea network (BAN) and the information from these network for tele-monitoring and telemedicine healthcare.

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 2019 International Conference on Robotics,Electrical and Signal Processing Techniques (ICREST)

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