INFANT INCUBATOR

Project Overview

The Infant Incubator team is dedicated to developing a low-cost, energy-efficient baby incubator targeted for Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the United Nations, nearly 50 million children are expected to die between 2019 and 2030, with half of them being newborns. The team believes that many of these deaths can be prevented with an affordable, low-power incubator. So far, they have successfully created four prototypes, with a fifth one in development.

Sub-Teams

Controls

Incubator Controls and Circuitry

The controls team programs different elements of the incubator using and STM32 NUCLEO-L152RE microcontroller, ensuring all the components work together to support the infant’s needs. They have developed and procured visible and audible alarm systems. Which consist of buzzers and LED lights to alert the user when the infant’s heart rate, temperature, or humidity is out of normal bounds and needs attention.

Environmental

Incubator Temperature and Humidity Regulation

The humidity sub-team is responsible for making sure that the environment of the incubator can maintain adequate humidity levels. This is important to reduce skin water loss and also improve the maintenance of the body temperature of the infant.

Vitals

Infant Heart Rate Monitoring

The vitals team works together to create a monitoring system to track and monitor the baby’s vitals utilizing skills like soldering, Arduino IDE, and coding. They rigorously test their monitoring systems to meet industry standards. The vials team is currently focused on finding a more accurate sensor to replace their previous one, aiming to improve overall performance.

Housing

Incubator Design and Manufacturability

The housing sub-team’s main focus is working on the physical elements that make up the incubator structure. This team relies heavily on CAD design and 3D printing to accomplish this goal. The incubator structure needs to be modular and manufacturable for ease of transportation and assembly. In addition, the housing designs need to remain cost-effective while keeping infant safety a priority.