Disposable Liquid Flow Sensors Offer New Possibilities for Medical Devices

Sensirion AG, the leading manufacturer of digital microsensors, is offering new disposable liquid flow sensor solutions for medical devices. The use of intelligent, compact and cost-effective disposable liquid flow sensors will change the field of drug delivery from the ground up and enable solutions to be provided which are safer, more reliable and more mobile for care in the hospital and at home.

The disposable liquid flow sensor LD20-2000T provides liquid flow measurement capability from inside medical tubing, such as an infusion set or a catheter, in a low cost sensor, suitable for disposable applications. Now drug delivery from an infusion set, an infusion pump or other medical devices can be measured precisely and in real time. Treatments will become more effective, as they become easier to monitor and control. Patient’s safety is improved by the automatic detection of failure modes like clogging, free flow, air bubbles, or leaks in the tubing connection.

Inside the disposable liquid flow sensor, a microchip measures the flow inside a fluidic channel. Flow rates from 0 to 420 ml/h and beyond are measured with a typical accuracy of 5% of the measured value. Inert medical-grade wetted materials ensure sterile operation with no contamination of the fluid. The straight, open flow channel with no moving parts guarantees an excellent reliability of our measurement technology. The miniature size of the sensor chip results in very fast and highly repeatable measurements from our chip. Using Sensirion’s CMOSens® technology, the fully calibrated signal is processed and linearised on the chip with a footprint of only 7.4mm2. The LD20-2000T disposable liquid flow sensor enables manufacturers of medical devices to innovate new solutions using a ground-breaking technology which only now has become available. Sensirion has vast experience in the medical field and Sensirion’s liquid flow sensors are already being used in numerous applications in challenging fields, from diagnostic instruments to process control in the semiconductor industry.