Control strategies for intelligent adjustment of pressure in intermittent pneumatic compression systems

Abstract

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) often applies to patients in a long-term supine position in bed. This usually results in slowing down the venous blood velocity and therefore causing DVT. An intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) treatment system has been used to prevent DVT. It is thus critical to control the pattern of pressure inflation/deflation in order to enhance the venous hemodynamics. The purpose of this research is to design algorithms in real-time to control the pressure in cuffs. We proposed two different methods. In contrast with current PID control, the result shows that our control methods make working pressure stays closer to the target pressure which equals to 45 mmHg. It has minimum standard variance about 2.97 mmHg. Therefore, idea gas law has better accuracy and stability.