TOUCH DISPLAYS FEATURE
Covid-19 Oxygen Monitor: two years’ work in five days
I
n March 2020 Oxford Optronix was dealt a challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic was hitting the UK, and the company had been asked to join a
high-tech consortium to supply continuous Positive Airway Pressure (cPAP) medical devices to the NHS. Desperately needed for COVID patients with breathing difficulties, cPAP devices were in short supply across the NHS. Specifically, an oxygen monitoring device was required to continuously monitor oxygen concentration being delivered to the patient and to provide alarms should oxygen levels deviate from prescribed limits. But how do you design and build a brand-new medical device from scratch in just five days? “On 21st March, I received an urgent call from Professor Mervyn Singer of
University College London Hospital explaining the vital importance of cPAP in supporting COVID-19 patients with breathing difficulties, especially in those cases where conventional ventilation isn’t justified or potentially injurious to the patient. Minutes later, I was being quizzed on how to design, develop and manufacture a monitor to continuously measure oxygen concentration being delivered to the patient via cPAP. I soon realised that Mervyn was rather politely asking me to do something in five days that would normally take two years!” said Dr Andy Obeid, CEO Oxford Optronix. Oxford Optronix’s engineering team realised they’d need a
touchscreen interface to display current oxygen concentration and allow users to set upper and lower alarm limits for patient safety. Normally this would involve sourcing suitable display hardware, writing code to drive the display and generate the interface, and integrating the display with the oxygen sensor and other electronics. These stages alone would usually take months to complete. Fortunately, Oxford Optronix was familiar with Lascar’s PanelPilotACE, an
integrated touch screen with the processing power needed for the oxygen monitor. Most importantly, Lascar’s Design Studio software would mean nobody would need to write any code: Design Studio features a library of ready-made graphical and functional elements you can drag and drop, and combine with system inputs and outputs. In fact, the basic interface was ready in a few hours, with no electronic integration required - the 4-20mA output from the oxygen sensor could be plugged straight into the ACE. “I knew we needed something that would enable us to design and
build a touchscreen interface, with process control, in under a week. PanelPilotACE was that product,” commented Stephen Douglas, technical director Oxford Optronix. Lascar was more than happy to provide technical support to the
development team and, working collaboratively, the first prototype Flo-Ox oxygen monitors were tested a week after the initial call. Other parts of the cPAP were being manufactured by the Mercedes Formula 1 team and combined with the technical and medical expertise at UCL the system was quickly approved for patient use. By working round the clock and mobilising every individual in the company, Oxford Optronix was able to manufacture and deliver 2,000 Flo-Ox monitors to the NHS in just eight days – a whirlwind of an achievement.
Lascar Electronics T: 01794 884567
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