GB2575349A

GB2575349A - Hydration monitors and systems

Info

Publication number: GB2575349A
Application number: GB1906939.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Krassavine Anatoli; Stacey Andrew; Reel Sean
Original assignee: Smart Hydration Ltd
Current assignee: Smart Hydration Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-16
Filing date: 2019-05-16
Publication date: 2020-01-08
Also published as: GB201807951D0; GB201906939D0

Abstract

A hydration monitor 1 for use in combination with a jug or other container 2 of water or other hydration liquid 3 includes a sensor unit (4,fig.2) which may be an ultrasonic or light transmitter 5 and receiver 6, for deriving data dependent on the current quantity of liquid 3 in the jug 2 from reflections from above the air-liquid interface. Changes in the quantity of liquid 3 over a set period of time are used by an accumulator 9,fig.2) and compared in a comparator (12,fig.2) with a target for the period set in a unit (11,fig.2). Lamps 14 or 13 are energised according to whether respectively, the target is met or not, and a lamp 8 may be lit when liquid level is low. A plurality of monitor-jug combinations may be used in a hospital and monitored from a central monitoring station. The hydration monitor may alternatively be positioned at the base of the jug 2 (see fig.3). The quantity of liquid 3 may alternatively be derived by weighing. The monitor may alert a caregiver to a shortfall of liquid consumed by a patient.

Description

Hydration Monitors and Systems

This invention relates to hydration monitors and hydration systems including such monitors. In this respect the invention is concerned especially, though not exclusively, with hydration monitors for use in hospital and other healthcare contexts.

Hydration is critical to health and becomes even more critical during illness. Healthcare professionals often do not have sufficient time and resources to monitor and ensure patients are properly hydrated, and it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an hydration monitor and hydration systems for assisting improvement of hydration in healthcare, and raising awareness of the need for hydration and the collection of data about hydration-liquid consumption and hydration levels. Although the hydration-liquid used medically is normally water, the term 'hydration-liquid' as referred to in the present application is intended as a generality including solely water as well as any medicallyapproved variations from this.

According to one aspect of the present invention an hydration monitor in combination with a container for hydration-liquid, wherein the hydration monitor comprises: sensing means for deriving data dependent on the current quantity of hydrationliquid in the container; data storage for storing the data representative of the current quantity of liquid in the container, the data stored being up-dated according to change with time in the data derived by the sensing means; further data storage for storing data representative of a target quantity of the hydration-liquid to be withdrawn from the container during a set period of time; and comparison means for determining any difference or otherwise from the target quantity of an aggregate of the quantity of hydration-liquid withdrawn from the container during the set period of time to provide an output signal dependent on at least the relative relationship between the target quantity and the aggregate quantity.

The monitor may include a source of visible, audible or other response to the output signal for alerting a person obtaining hydration from contents of the container, or a carer to such a person, to the condition in which there is a shortfall from the target quantity within the set period of time, in the aggregate quantity of hydration-liquid withdrawn from the container. The comparison means may also be arranged to provide an alternative output signal in the event that the aggregate quantity is equal to, or more than, the target quantity, and the arrangement may then be such that the said source of visible, audible or other response, responds to the alternative output signal differently from its response to the shortfall, for assurance purposes.

Furthermore, the hydration monitor may include provision for responding to voice commands and requests, and in this context may be voice-activated to provide audible responses affording up-to-date information on the status of the monitored hydration-liquid and the hydration condition and requirements of the individual to whom the monitor is assigned.

An hydration monitor according to the present invention may be used to provide the required visibility and reporting of a hospital patient's hydration, and may be included in a system for monitoring the individual hydration levels for a group of two or more patients. Such systems may be incorporated into tele-health systems in hospitals and elsewhere, involving desktop and personal computers, tablets and mobile telephones. With such systems, healthcare staff may be more effective and able to prioritise and optimise their time to assist those in most need.

According to a feature of the invention, an hydration system for a monitored area, comprises: a plurality of combinations of hydration monitors with individual containers for containing hydration-liquid, the combinations being spaced from one another in the monitored area and each being a combination of hydration monitor and container according to any one of the foregoing-specified aspects of the invention; a central monitoring station for recording and displaying signals transmitted to it; and means operative to transmit the output signals from the combinations to the central monitoring station for recording and display.

The patient-data sourced may be used at the central station or elsewhere for day-to-day reporting, but will also be used in conjunction with other patient medically-related data, for example, patient-weight, -mobility, -temperature, and for medication prescribed for the patient.

Examples of combinations according to the present invention of an hydration monitor and a container of hydration-liquid will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a first combination according to the invention of an hydration monitor and a container in the form of a jug containing hydration-liquid;

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of components of the hydration monitor of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 shows an alternative combination of hydration monitor and jug according to the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the hydration monitor 1 is used in combination with a jug 2 or other container for hydrationliquid 3. More particularly, the monitor 1 is positioned on the upper rim at the top of the jug 2, and the combination of the jug 2 and the monitor 1 is assigned to a patient individually in a hospital or other caring context, for monitoring throughout a set period of time the extent to which the patient can be assumed to have consumed sufficient quantity of the hydration-liquid to maintain a targeted hydration level.

In the latter regard, and with reference now also to Figure 2, the monitor 1 for monitoring the extent of hydration includes a sensor unit 4 having an ultrasonic transmitter 5 for transmitting a beam of ultra-sound onto the upper-surface of the hydration-liquid in the juq 2, and an ultrasonic receiver 6 for receivinq reflections of the beam from the upper surface of the liquid 3 (the transmitted beam may instead be a beam of liqht, and whether sound or liqht may be a beam of pulses).

The positioninq of the monitor 1 on the juq 2 locates both the transmitter 5 and receiver 6 of the unit 4 sufficiently above the level of maximum content of the juq 2, to enable the receiver 6 to receive reflections of the transmitted beam from the liquid surface at any level up to this maximum within the juq 2. The sensor unit 4 determines from the reflections received by the receiver 6, the current level of the hydration-liquid 3 in the jug 2, and in accordance with this and a look-up table or other conversion facility of the monitor 1 derives data representative of the current quantity of liquid contained by the juq 2. This data is stored in a store 7 of the monitor 1.

A lamp 8 of the monitor 1 is enerqised from the store 7 continuously or intermittently, in the event that the datacontent of the store 7 represents, and continues to represent, a dangerously-low or zero level of the hydration-liquid 3 in the jug 2. Energisation of the lamp 8 in these circumstances is intended to stimulate the relevant carer to re-fill the jug 2, or at least top-up its content. Once this has been done, the unit 4 responds to the consequent change in level sensed by the sensor 6 to cause a change in the data stored in the store 7. With this change of data, energisation of the lamp 8 ceases .

Changes during the set period of time in the data stored in the store 7 that result from liquid withdrawn from the jug 2, are transmitted from the store 7 to an accumulator 9 for deriving an aggregate of such changes, whether or not there is in the meantime re-filling or topping up of the liquid in the jug 2 .

As illustrated in Figure 2, the monitor 1 includes a timing unit 10 that is used to relate operation of the monitor 1 to a rate of consumption of the hydration-liquid. More particularly, the timinq unit 10 is set manually, or may be pre-set to a specific period of time (for example 24 hours) within which a tarqet quantity of the hydration-liquid is desirably, for health reasons, to be consumed by the patient. The tarqet quantity is similarly set manually, or may be preset, into a unit 11, and data as accumulated in the store 9 in accordance with the aqqreqate quantity of hydration-liquid withdrawn from the juq 2 durinq the set period of time, is compared in a comparator 12 with the tarqet quantity represented by the unit 11. In the event that the comparator 12 determines in the set period of time that the tarqet quantity is more than the aqgreqate, a lamp 13 on the monitor 1 is enerqised to indicate the existence of a shortfall, whereas if the comparator 12 determines that the tarqet is the same as, or less than the aqgreqate, a lamp 14 on the monitor 1 is enerqised instead to indicate that the tarqet has been achieved.

A magnetically-activated detector 15 is provided on the monitor 1 to detect circumstances in which it is correctlypositioned on the jug 2 and, for example, provide confirmation of this via energisation of a lamp 16 on the monitor 1.

As an alternative to the example of monitor 1 and jug 2 illustrated in Figure 1, a monitor 21 in combination with a jug 22 may be used, as illustrated in Figure 3. The monitor 21 is essentially the same in its construction as the monitor 1 described above with reference to Figure 2, and components of the monitor 21 that directly correspond to components of the monitor 1 are referred to in the following description with the same references as used for those directlycorresponding components of Figure 2.

Referring to Figure 3, the monitor 21 in this case is located beneath, or at the bottom of, the jug 22, and includes a piezo-electric transmitter 5 for transmitting a beam of ultrasonic pulses through the liquid 3 for downward reflection from its under-surface 3 to a receiver 6; the functions of the transmitter 5 and receiver 6 may be shared in a single piezoelectric device, or provided by separate devices.

The monitor 1 described above includes a sensor unit 4 for deriving data dependent on the current quantity of hydrationliquid in the jug 2, where this data is derived in accordance with reflections from the liquid surface received by the receiver 6 of the light- or audio-beam transmitted from the transmitter 5. Other means for deriving this data may be used, and in this regard, the data may instead, for example, be derived in accordance with the increase in the combined weight of the jug 2 and monitor 1, resulting from the liquid content. A measure of weight may be derived electronically by one or more force-sensors mounted in the base of the jug 2, and changes in the quantity of liquid poured from the jug 2 for hydration purposes may be readily derived from an aggregate of the amounts by which the weight is reduced at successive pourings from the jug 2.

Where, as for example in a hospital ward or wider area, a plurality of hydration monitors 1 are assigned to different patients in spaced locations from one another, the data acquired by each monitor 1 may be transmitted (for example as indicated in Figure 2 by branch connections from the store 7, the timing unit 10, the unit 11 and the comparator 12). Transmission may be by wireless or other means to a central station or hub (not shown) for recording, displaying and overseeing of the various situations within the monitored area .

Claims

Claims :

1. An hydration monitor in combination with a container for hydration-liquid, wherein the hydration monitor comprises: sensing means for deriving data dependent on the current quantity of hydration-liquid in the container; data storage for storing the data representative of the current quantity of liquid in the container, the data stored being up-dated according to change with time in the data derived by the sensing means; further data storage for storing data representative of a target quantity of the hydration-liquid to be withdrawn from the container during a set period of time; and comparison means for determining any difference or otherwise from the target quantity of an aggregate of the quantity of hydration-liquid withdrawn from the container during the set period of time to provide an output signal dependent on at least the relative relationship between the target quantity and the aggregate quantity.

2 . A combination according to claim 1 including a source of visible, audible or other response to the output signal for providing an alert to the condition in which there is a shortfall from the target quantity within the set period of time, in the aggregate quantity of hydration-liquid withdrawn from the container.

3. A combination according to claim 2 wherein the comparison means provides an alternative output signal in the event that the aggregate quantity is equal to, or more than, the target quantity.

4. A combination according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the sensing means comprises a transmitter for transmitting a light or ultrasonic beam onto the upper-surface of hydration-liquid in the container, a receiver for receiving reflections of the beam from the upper surface of the hydration-liquid, and means responsive to the reflections received by the receiver to derive the data dependent on the current quantity of hydration-liquid in the container.

5. A combination according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the sensing means comprises a transmitter located beneath, or at the bottom of the container for transmitting a beam through hydration-liquid contained in the container onto the under-surface of the of hydration-liquid in the container, a receiver for receiving reflections of the beam from the under-surface of the hydration-liquid, and means responsive to the reflections received by the receiver to derive the data dependent on the current quantity of hydration-liquid in the container .

6. A combination according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the container is a jug for containing hydrationliquid .

7. An hydration system for a monitored area, comprising: a plurality of combinations of hydration monitors with individual containers for containing hydration-liquid, the combinations being spaced from one another in the monitored area and each being a combination of hydration monitor and container according to any one of claims 1 to 6; a central monitoring station for recording and displaying signals transmitted to it; and means operative to transmit the output signals from the combinations to the central monitoring

5 station for recording and display.

8 . An hydration system according to claim 7 wherein the monitored area is a hospital ward, and the hydration monitors are assigned to respective patients of the ward.