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CONCEPT

Assistive Feeding System For Disabled

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MOTIVATION

When we happened to visit a hospital we saw how hard it is to feed some patients who had undergone surgeries involving either the face or throat.

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FEW KINDS OF DISEASES WHICH NEED ASSISTIVE FEEDING SYSTEM�

Cancer
Quadriplegia - both sensation and control are lost
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - the death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles
Spinal muscular atrophy - result in the loss of motor neurons and progressive muscle wasting.
Disorders occur after car accidents and surgeries

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PATIENT’S DETAILS

Name : Mrs. F. Ramya
Hometown : Kadawatha
Age : 79 years
Disease : weakness of jaw muscles due to a surgery done a long time ago due to an accident
Symptoms : Shortness of breath, Muscle weakness, difficult to bite and suck
Posterior Features after surgery:

Difficult to swallow solid food
Shouldn’t apply High pressure to the throat
Have to take liquid food

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WHY DO THEY NEED THIS

Major problem is the weakness in jaw muscles and throat, therefor it is hard for the patient to bite or suck the food.

Straws will not be an option.

Spoon feeding will be a burden to both patient and the care person. Further, since spoon feeding is done by another person food may get in the lungs causing severe conditions like pneumonia.

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SOLUTION

The Assistive Feeding device is a battery operated mechanical assistive feeding system to consume liquids which will be controlled by the patient himself where the liquids will be pumped to the patient’s mouth.

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BENEFITS

Users will experience the pleasure of independence when feeding themselves.
They will select their own food and control the pace at.
The risk of aspiration and reflux is reduced when the user can choose the pace at which they eat.
Caregivers will enjoy the reduced effort needed for providing meals.
Records of the patient's consumption can be provided.

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ROUGH IDEA OF THE DESIGN

The patient has to push a button to enable the pump which creates the liquid flow into the mouth.
The flow rate should be controlled as the patient’s wish.
The system will monitor the amount of liquid which was fed into the patient.
Emergency button to alert the care person if the patient is in an immediate need.

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COMMENTS OF DOCTORS

Limitations of flow rate
Conditions of the components
Easy to operate (could operate without technical knowledge)

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DESIGN

Selecting harmless components
Food grade diaphragm pump
Food grade flow sensor
Food grade flexible tubes

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DESIGNED BUTTON FOR MAIN CONTROLS

Control start / stop of the system - Push the button to start
Control flow rate of the system – Rotate the button

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DESIGNED BUTTON FOR MAIN CONTROLS

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FEATURES

While operating the display shows the flow rate and the amount of liquid that given to the patient
If the system is stopped and not operated for a given time the system automatically takes it as one meal and store these records in the memory. We can find those feeding history from the display.

Menu > Feeding history > View history

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FEATURES

System allows to keep 3 profiles, if needed and change the settings accordingly.

Menu > Profile settings > Change profile

A separate switch was given to send a message and take a call to a care person immediately if the patient need their help

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FEEDBACKS

From the patient

From the care person

From a dentist

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SUBSEQUENT SEARCHING�

We gave our contact numbers if there’s any problem with the system or for any help.
First 2 months we contact them and check whether the system is working properly.
Instructed them to contact if she need to change settings, limitation and other technical things.