A premature infant needs a stable thermal environment. This paper studies if the infant weight can be employed in the standard heat regulation system in incubators. This was done in two stages. First, a weight sensor was designed by means of using strain gauge in order to provide weight measurement. Later, a heat regulation circuit was designed and implemented by means of using a microcontroller. The humidity, environmental and skin temperature, and infant's weight are measured and used as inputs. The experiments showed that infant's weight can be successfully added to the control circuit in the incubator instrument. The results showed that infant's weight can productively contribute in temperature control with good confidence. The average standard error was equal to 0.48 °C. The results reveal that the infant's weight can contribute to increase quality assurance of incubators.

References

1.
Klaus
,
M. A.
,
Martin
,
R. J.
, and
Fanaroff
,
A. A.
,
2001
,
The Physical Environment. In Care of High Risk Neonate
, 5th ed.,
Saunders
,
Philadelphia, PA
2.
Thomas
,
K. A.
, and
Burr
,
R.
,
1999
, “
Preterm Infant Thermal Care: Differing Thermal Environments Produced by Air Versus Skin Servo Control Incubators
,”
J. Perinatol.
,
19
(
4
), pp.
264
270
.
3.
Simbruner
,
G.
,
Ruttner
,
E.
,
Schulze
,
A.
, and
Perzlmaier
,
K.
,
2005
, “
Premature Infants Are Less Capable of Maintaining Thermal Balance of Head and Body With Increases of Thermal Environment Than With Decreases
,”
Am. J. Perinatol.
,
22
(01), pp.
25
33
.
4.
Décima
,
P.
,
Stéphan-Blanchard
,
E.
,
Pelletier
,
A.
,
Ghyselen
,
L.
,
Delanaud
,
S.
,
Dégrugilliers
,
L.
,
Telliez
,
F.
,
Bach
,
V.
, and
Libert
,
J. P.
,
2012
, “
Assessment of Radiant Temperature in a Closed Incubator
,”
Eur. J. Appl. Physiol.
,
112
(
8
), pp.
2957
2968
.
5.
Deguines
,
C.
,
Décima
,
P.
,
Pelletier
,
A.
,
Dégrugilliers
,
L.
,
Ghyselen
,
L.
, and
Tourneux
,
P.
,
2012
, “
Variations in Incubator Temperature and Humidity Management: A Survey of Current Practice
,”
Acta Pediatr.
,
101
(
3
), pp.
230
235
.
6.
Knobe
,
R. B.
,
Wimmer
,
J. E.
, and
Holbert
,
D.
,
2005
, “
Heat Loss Prevention for Preterm Infants in the Delivery Room
,”
J. Perinatol.
,
25
(
5
), pp.
304
308
.
7.
Godfrey
,
K.
,
Nativio
,
D. G.
,
Bender
,
C. V.
, and
Schlenk
,
E. A.
,
2013
, “
Occlusive Bags to Prevent Hypothermia in Premature Infants: A Quality Improvement Initiative
,”
Adv. Neonat. Care
,
13
(
5
), pp.
311
316
.
8.
Knobel
,
R. B.
,
Holditch-Davis
,
D.
,
Schwartz
,
T. A.
, and
Wimmer
,
J. E.
,
2009
, “
Extremely Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants Lack Vasomotor Response in Relationship to Cold Body Temperatures at Birth
,”
J. Perinatol.
,
29
(
12
), pp.
814
821
.
9.
Loring
,
C. F.
,
Reilly
,
J. E.
,
Gregory
,
K.
,
Gargan
,
B.
,
LeBlanc
,
V.
,
Lundgren
,
D.
,
Walker
,
K.
, and
Zaya
,
C.
,
2010
, “
Temperature Control in the Late Preterm Infant: A Comparison of Thermoregulation Following Two Bathing Techniques
,”
2010 Annual Convention of the Association of Women's Health
, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses AWHONN.
10.
Lei
,
T. H.
,
Lien
,
R.
,
Hsu
,
J. F.
,
Chiang
,
M. C.
, and
Fu
,
R. H.
,
2010
, “
Effect of Body Weight on Temperature Control and Energy Expenditure in Preterm Infants
,”
Pediatr. Neonatol.
,
51
(
3
), pp.
178
181
.
11.
Lyon
,
A. J.
, and
Oxley
,
C.
,
2001
, “
Heat Balance, a Computer Program to Determine Optimum Incubator Air Temperature and Humidity. A Comparison Against Nurse Settings for Infants Less Than 29 Weeks Gestation
,”
Early Hum. Dev.
,
62
(
1
), pp.
33
41
.
12.
Helder
,
O. K.
,
Mulder
,
P. G. H.
, and
Van Goudoever
,
J. B.
,
2008
, “
Computer-Generated Versus Nurse-Determined Strategy for Incubator Humidity and Time to Regain Birth Weight
,”
J. Obstet. Gynecol. Neonat. Nurse (JOGNN)
,
37
(
3
), pp.
255
261
.
13.
Shin
,
D. I.
,
Shin
,
K. H.
,
Kim
,
I. K.
,
Park
,
K. S.
,
Lee
,
T. S.
,
Kim
,
S. I.
,
Lim
,
K. S.
, and
Huh
,
S. J.
,
2005
, “
Low-Power Hybrid Wireless Network for Monitoring Infant Incubators
,”
Med. Eng. Phys.
,
27
(
8
), pp.
713
716
.
14.
Bharathi
,
N.
, and
Neelamegam
,
P.
,
2012
, “
FPGA-Based Temperature Monitoring and Control System for Infant Incubator
,”
Sens. Transducers J.
,
143
(
8
), pp.
88
97
.
15.
Reddy
,
N. P.
,
Mathur
,
G.
, and
Hariharan
,
S. I.
,
2009
, “
Toward a Fuzzy Logic Control of the Infant Incubator
,”
Ann. Biomed. Eng.
,
37
(
10
), pp.
2146
2152
.
16.
Wrobel
,
L. C.
,
Ginalski
,
M. K.
,
Nowak
,
A. J.
,
Ingham
,
D. B.
, and
Fic
,
A. M.
,
2010
, “
An Overview of Recent Applications of Computational Modelling in Neonatology
,”
Philos. Trans. R. Soc.
,
368
(
1920
), pp.
2817
2834
.
17.
Knobel
,
R. B.
,
Holditch-Davis
,
D.
, and
Schwartz
,
T. A.
,
2010
, “
Optimal Body Temperature in Transitional Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants Using Heart Rate and Temperature as Indicators
,”
J. Obstet. Gynecol. Neonat. Nurse (JOGNN)
,
39
(
1
), pp.
3
14
.
18.
Hertz
,
D. E.
,
2005
, “
Thermoregulation
,”
Care of the Newborn: A Handbook for Primary Care
,
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
,
Philadelphia, PA
, pp.
43
46
.
19.
Karn
,
B.
,
2008
, “
SCRIBD, Incubator Care
,” http://www.scribd.com/doc/3010548/incubator-care, Last accessed May 18, 2008.
20.
Décima
,
P.
,
Blanchard
,
E. S.
,
Léké
,
A.
,
Dégrugilliers
,
L.
,
Delanaud
,
S.
,
Libert
,
J. P.
, and
Tourneux
,
P.
,
2013
, “
Does the Incubator Control Mode Influence Outcomes of Low-Birth-Weight Neonates During the First Days of Life and at Hospital Discharge?
,”
Health
,
5
(
8A4
), pp.
6
13
.
21.
Chitty
,
H.
, and
Wyllie
,
J.
,
2013
, “
Importance of Maintaining the Newly Born Temperature in the Normal Range From Delivery to Admission
,”
Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
, Vol.
18
, pp.
362
368
.
22.
Peng
,
N. H.
,
Bachman
,
J.
,
Chen
,
C. H.
,
Huang
,
L. C.
,
Lin
,
H. C.
, and
Li
,
T. C.
,
2014
, “
Energy Expenditure in Preterm Infants During Periods of Environmental Stress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
,”
Jpn. J. Nurs. Sci.
,
11
(
4
), pp.
241
247
.
23.
Barone
,
G.
,
Corsello
,
M.
,
Papacci
,
P.
,
Priolo
,
F.
,
Romagnoli
,
C.
, and
Zecca
,
E.
,
2014
, “
Feasibility of Transferring Intensive Cared Preterm Infants From Incubator to Open Crib at 1600 grams
,”
Ital. J. Pediatr.
,
40
, p.
41
.
24.
Caglar
,
S.
,
Gozen
,
D.
, and
Ince
,
Z.
,
2014
, “
Heat Loss Prevention (Help) After Birth in Preterm Infants Using Vinyl Isolation Bag or Polyethylene Wrap
,”
J. Obstet. Gynecol. Neonat. Nurse (JOGNN)
,
43
(
2
), pp.
216
223
.
25.
Lyu
,
Y.
,
Shah
,
P. S.
,
Ye
,
X. Y.
,
Warre
,
R.
,
Piedboeuf
,
B.
,
Deshpandey
,
A.
,
Dunn
,
M.
, and
Lee
,
S. K.
,
2015
, “
Association Between Admission Temperature and Mortality and Major Morbidity in Preterm Infants Born at Fewer Than 33 Weeks' Gestation
,”
JAMA Pediatr.
,
169
(
4
), p.
e150277
.
26.
Joshi
,
H.
, and
Shinde
,
D.
,
2015
, “
PIC Microcontroller Based Efficient Baby Incubator
,”
Int. J. Adv. Res. Electric., Electron. Instrum. Eng.
,
4
(
2
), pp.
832
837
.
You do not currently have access to this content.