Smart Infusion Pump Control: The Control System Perspective

Smart infusion pump utilization is grown significantly in hospitals. An infusion is a mechanism by which an infusion system is used to administer fluids or medications via the intravenous, subcutaneous, epidural, or enteral path to the patient in solution. For the healthcare drug delivery devices, exact dosing is crucial. The use of smart pumps may avoid errors resulting from an incorrect dose, dose rate, or solution concentration resulting from the ordering provider, as well as errors resulting from human failures in the programming of pumps. Even though programming is performed with smart alarms, the accurate flow with motor control has to be focused. In this chapter, a framework on optimal motor control to perform a precise flow of drug to be concentrated to the patient through infusion device is discussed. The framework comprises of the mathematical model of the infusion pump with an electric motor associated with it. The mechanical and electrical parameters of the electric motor is based on the manufacturer specification, further based on these values the control design with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller, PID control with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) are discussed. The comparison of the stability criteria and time response analysis with the help of the mentioned algorithms is contemplated. The motor of the infusion device should have a quick rise time so fast infusion will occur, further reduces the lag time and delay in the infusion of the drug’s flow rate.