Sensor enhances patient safety

Citation

(1998), "Sensor enhances patient safety", Sensor Review, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1998.08718daf.003

Sensor enhances patient safety

Sensor enhances patient safety

Keywords Health and Safety, Position measurement, Sensors

ADAC Laboratories in Milpitas, California, is using sensors manufactured by the Quantum Research Group Ltd in Pittsburgh to measure patient position in its imaging systems.

The sensor, called the QProx QTM1001, was designed to be incorporated into a wide variety of equipment, for applications ranging from safety systems to process controllers. It is the first system to use the company's proprietary charge-transfer (CT) technique. The CT method uses digital pulses instead of timing constants or radio-frequency signals to provide robust sensing. As a result, it can turn common objects and surfaces into intrinsic detectors by clipping a sense lead to metal objects or by attaching wire or foil to the rear of most other surfaces.

The devices can sense through more than 1ft of most materials, to create a virtual sensing surface on the other side. The sensing fields can be directed, shaped, or limited using grounded metal.

Q Prox sensors use simple, customer-supplied sensing electrodes of almost any physical shape, which are connected to the module by up to 50ft of ordinary coaxial cable. A digital signal processor compensates for environmental fluctuations. A one-button system also suppresses background objects and surfaces without compromising sensitivity. Three cascaded digital filters eliminate the effects of most external noise.

ADAC uses the system on its gamma camera, which is a medical imaging system similar to a computerized-axial-tomography scanner. Metal strips attached to the scanner determine the patient's position. If the patient becomes claustrophobic while in the scanner and moves, the sensor sends information to the computer that stops the test. The system is sensitive enough to detect even small movements that might compromise test integrity.

The nature of the sensing system makes it very versatile. The University of Florida in Gainesville is developing a ripeness tester for fruits and vegetables. Such work is expected to culminate in a handheld produce-quality meter, which will determine ripeness by measuring moisture content inside the produce and other factors.