Design and construction of a portable unite for measuring body-fluid components

In the laboratory, the time required to measure body-fluids components is usually one to two working days. The laboratory methods require sample preparation and instrument cleaning after the sample reading. In emergency scenarios, the physician does not have much time to make a clinical decision. To solve these challenges, a portable system for measuring the body fluids components is introduced, which aims to improve the accuracy and precision of laboratory examinations by eliminating the visual comparison and quantifying the sample scanning.

Methods and Materials: 

To evaluate the system’s performance, the standard hemoglobin color scale was scanned by the system. For system calibration to determine the hemoglobin concentration of blood samples, the samples with hemoglobin concentrations of 6 gr/dl, 10 gr/dl, and 14 gr/dl were considered standard calibration concentrations. Based on the color intensity-hemoglobin concentration curve defined for the system, the error of hemoglobin concentration reading is determined in the concentration range of 4-14 gr/dl.

After system calibration for the standard hemoglobin color scale, the concentrations of the unknown samples were determined based on the color intensity of the samples and using the fitted equation for the color intensity-hemoglobin concentration curve (Y=9.6*X-23.9). The mean error of concentrations read by the system was 1.59%.

Each device that has been marketed for the immediate measurement of body fluids components is designed for a specific purpose and it is not capable of examining other components. Therefore, a simple-use system is needed that can quantify several body fluids components for emergency cases and it works in areas where there is no access to laboratory equipment. For this purpose, the present system is designed in such a way that it is capable to read various body fluids components in 1-3 minutes with a minimum of sample magnitudes and there is no need to sample preparation. There is no special complexity in the design of the system. It is very easy to carry and use and it does not require periodic replacement of the system elements.