Design and development of a smart, self-contained, portable negative pressure wound therapy device

Abstract

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a commonly used treatment in which the application of a low vacuum (-20kPa) is used to accelerate the recovery of chronic, hard-to-heal wounds. Costs of chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers are estimated to be $25 billion, with 6.5 million patients being affected. Improving the portability and efficacy of NPWT devices will allow a larger migration of patients from hospital stays to at-home care. Current portable NPWT devices have severe limitations due to their size, inability to dynamically modulate pressure or handle large volumes of wound exudate. The work in this thesis was to develop a more portable NPWT device in which all functional components are self-contained within the bandage itself. To accomplish this goal, a soft-material, fuel-cell based actuator was designed and incorporated into a self contained, compact pumping mechanism. Additionally graphene-oxide barriers were designed to allow for fluid management at the wound site. The designed bandage was able to maintain negative pressure even at worst-case scenario leak rates (6.7 x 102 mL/s) and an exudate rate of 5.6 x 10-5 mL/s. The contributions from this thesis are a novel, soft-materials based actuator for use in biomedical applications and the further characterization of graphene-oxide barriers.