Sustainable Design of Mobile Transilluminator Vein Finder Device

Abstract- around Up to 80% of all patients admitted to hospitals worldwide will have a
peripheral intravenous line inserted in the forearm or hand to administer fluids, medications,
and blood products. Because PIVC is a common procedure, it is easy to forget the potential
for serious complications and safety risks to the patient, as well as to the medical staff. Vein
finder devices drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to find a vein. They eliminate
wasting needles, syringes, PICC and midline trays on stick after stick. They are non-invasive
because all they do is make use of light so you can see veins in subcutaneous tissue. In this
article we try to show our work in sustainable design of this type of devices. Our desire is to
have Echo-design with low price for Georgian medical market. We use Minimal and
simplicity design theory in our structural model to strip down our design to fundamental
elements as possible as we can, to reduce material and manufacturing cost of our device.
Keywords: Product Design- Sustainable Design-Transilluminator Vein Finder -Ecodesignn-
Minimal Design

I. Introduction:

Around Up to 80% of all patients admitted to hospitals worldwide will have a

peripheral intravenous line inserted in the forearm or hand to administer fluids,
medications, and blood products. Sometime this procedure can be difficult for paramedics
or others in such cases like infants and elderly people. [1] Vein finder devices drastically
reduce the amount of time it takes to find a vein. They eliminate wasting needles, syringes,
PICC and midline trays on stick after stick. They are non-invasive because all they do is
make use of light so you can see veins in subcutaneous tissue. [2]The important thing is
that because this type of devices are not mandatory in PIVC procedure our device must be
have economic price. If the price will be too much maybe medical parts do not want to buy
it. So price has an important issue for presenting this devices to medical part especially in
developing countries medical market.

Similar Products: Here we mention 3 popular Transilluminator Vein Finder

(Portable) Devices: [3]
1. Veinlite EMS Pro – for both Adults and Children
2. Venoscope Transilluminator II
3. Wee Sight (Best Pediatric Vein Finder)

In the figure 1. one you can see image of these 3 popular types of transilluminator vein
finder devices.
 Figure 1. 3 popular types of transilluminator vein finder devices. From left side; Veinlite
LEDX, Venoscope Transilluminator, Wee Sight vein finder.

2. Theory of Transilluminator Vein Finder device

Fact 1: As you can see in Figure 1. Here we have Absorption spectra of the oxygenated and
deoxygenated hemoglobin molecules. So in region between 600 nm to 800 nm
deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) absorbs more light compare to oxygenated one (HbO2).
 Figure 2. Absorption spectra of the oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin molecules.

Fact 2: In Figure 2. You can see penetration depth of light of different wavelengths in skin
tissue. So infrared red light has penetration about 4-5 mm in skin.

Figure 3. Penetration depth of light of different wavelengths in skin tissue

Result: Infrared red light is a good candidate for visualization of superficial veins for PIVC
procedure.
So this simple technology is based on LED (light emitted diode) light waves that

penetrate tissue, are absorbable by hemoglobin, and are visible to the human eye. The skin
reflects the short-wavelength light (blue and green) and absorbs the long-wavelength light

(orange and red). The intensity of the light reflected from the surface of the skin
overpowers the transmitted light, limiting the naked eye's visualization of superficial veins.
Reflected light is reduced and deeper veins visualization is increased by applying LED light

waves, which are easily absorbed by deoxygenated hemoglobin in venous blood and show
up as dark areas on the skin. An improvement to this method, side-transillumination,

uniformly transilluminates a small region of the skin to obtain better imaging of veins
without shadows, and enables penetration of light into tissue for vein imaging up to 6 mm
in depth, depending on the size of the vein [1]. Some devices, like the one shown in Figure

3, use side-transillumination to transmit a circular array of bright LED light inclined

inwards at an angle, such that the light is focused towards the center of the circle and below

the surface of the skin, creating a virtual light source under the skin. This technique

achieves uniform transillumination of a small region of tissue and enables visualization of

peripheral veins. Most devices are portable and work on batteries and are operable only in
a dark room. A clinical study with one such a device, the Veinlite™ vein finder, reported
an accuracy of 85% compared to 74% with the standard method. This technology is

particularly effective in children, and models have been developed for specific applications,
including emergency, oncology and radiology purposes. [1]
 Figure 4. penetration method using Red light to locate vein (Preliminary Study for Designing a
Novel Vein-Visualizing Device/ Donghoon Kim, Yujin Kim, Siyeop Yoon and Deukhee Lee/2017)

3. Methodology

Engineers follow a process to make new products.[4] The engineering design process
is a series of steps that engineers follow to come up with a solution to a problem. Many
times the solution involves designing a product (like a machine or computer code) that
meets certain criteria and/or accomplishes a certain task. [4]
The steps of the engineering design process are to: [4]
 Define the Problem
 Do Background Research
 Specify Requirements
 Brainstorm Solutions
 Choose the Best Solution
 Do Development Work
 Build a Prototype
 Test and Redesign
 Figure 5. Engineering Design Process Method

4. Sustainable Design
By the late twentieth century, some designers saw that the current path of humanity
was unsustainable and began to focus on devising strategies for creating a more sustainable
approach to product development. The concept of sustainable design is still in a formative
stage but is a growing concern among design professionals. [5]

Sustainable Design Strategy: Ecodesign strategies appropriate to the product; [5]

a. Reduce overall material content and increase the percentage of recycled material in
products.
b. Reduce energy consumption of products that consume energy.

c. Specify sustainably grown materials when using wood or agricultural materials.

d. Design disposable products or products that wear out to be more durable and precious.

e. Eliminate unused or unnecessary product features.

f. Use materials that are lightweight and therefore use less energy to transport.

g. Design for easy, economical disassembly of major components prior to recycling.

h. Design products so the that toxic components (electronics et al) can be easily removed
prior to recycling.
Need Statement table:

The engineering design process starts when we ask the following questions about
problems that we observe: [4]

 What is the problem or need?

 Who has the problem or need?
 Why is it important to solve?

Assistant devices for helping us to find vein

location on arm during in PIVC procedure.
What is the need? With low cost based on our market and also
with better handling and Usability.

Physicians, nurses and paramedics who

perform this procedure and patients that this
Who has need?
procedure has been performed on them.
(User)
But users of this device are Physicians, nurses
and paramedics

Why is it important? Because PIVC is one of the high-risk

procedures. It has potential for serious
complications and safety risks to the patient,
as well as to the medical staff. Complications
range from bruising to bacterial infection,
extravasation, phlebitis, thrombosis,
embolism and nerve damage.

Table 1. Problem statement table for assistant vein finder device. [4]
Feature & Function Table:
An Essential Feature LED Transilluminator arms (part)

A necessary Function Illustrate Red LED light to locate Veins

as a shadow line between two arms.

features that competes with other Eco-design of devices.

Products
(competitive features)
Table 2. “Product Analysis” table.

So which strategy we use for our design to have a sustainable (Eco-) design?
Our strategy is based on minimalist (minimal design) and simplicity of design. First we
look at what is minimal design and simplicity then we discuss our model.

Minimal Design: There is no perfect formula that makes something minimal or not. There
are, though, some common attributes that most designers can agree on. Characteristics of
a minimal design style include: [6]

 Work that is stripped down to fundamental elements

 Simple functionality and user interaction
 Details that carry weight for the entire project
 Plenty of open space
 Simple or little color
 Simplified content

Simple vs. Minimal

Simplicity is the opposite of complexity. When something is complex, it is

difficult to understand. Complexity and simplicity are concerned with the number of
features, how to interrogate these features are intertwined, and how these features are
presented to the user. [7]

Minimalism highlights the beauty of shape and form, removing any excess
detail from the space. It is a form of design — more than just a superficial style. Its goal is to
communicate the essence or essentials, to let the user experience purity and elegance. It
does this by leaving away all forms of decoration (in that sense, minimalism is not
‘reductionist’ — it is ‘non-additionist’) and limiting itself to basic geometric shapes, honest
materials, and clear surfaces. [7] The iPod Nano is (still) a good example of minimalist
design. It uses basic geometric shapes (two rectangles and a circle) and apart from the Apple
logo on the back, the body is free from decoration.And then there’s the clickwheel. It
combines multiple buttons into one and releases tons of features without ever having to lift
your fingers once. Now is it ‘simple’ or ‘minimalist’? Neither. It is just very smart and
elegant. [7]
5. Results and conclusions

Now we present our design model. It is necessary to mention that this is primary design
and it will be developed and improved in future work.
As we mentioned in minimal design we try to strip down our design to fundamental
elements.

So here we strip down our device element into 2 main parts;

1- Arms: LED Transilluminator, Illustrate Red LED light to locate Veins as a shadow line
between two arms.

2- Body structure: this part has 2 main function; first it contain electrical charging part and
second it help users to handling device in comfortable and proper manner.

Now here in Figure 6. We can see our first structural model of our device.

Figure 6. 3D structural model of device.

 Figure 7. Different parts of device.

Here we can separate our device in two 3 main part; (Figure 7.)

1- LED Transilluminator arms: Illustrate Red LED light to locate Veins as a shadow line
between two arms.

2- Holding position: when we find vein and then we want to perform IV procedure, we
can hold our devices in proper position by using our thumb finger and perform PIVC.

3- Electrical Power Part: place for batteries.

Here are features that we use in our design and the reason of them.

Feature Reason
Cylinder geometry Comparing to cubic structure cylinder has less
perimeter so less perimeter means less material
means less waste and Eco-design.
 3 point contact As we know From all three points a page passes.
So this design help us to have stable device with
minimum contact to patient. Also the surface
that need to cover with plastic cover also reduce
and help us to have a minimum waste.

By the way we hope that we can continue our work and make our first prototype for our
device and check user interaction experience with device.
 References

1. Peripheral vein locating techniques/ Gali Cantor-Peled, Moshe Halak & Zehava Ovadia-
Blechman/ Department of Medical Engineering,Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering,
Tel Aviv, Israel/Department of Vascular Surgery, Sheba Medical Center.-
2. https://thingsnurseslike.com, June 2018.
3. https://www.infrared-light-therapy.com/infrared-vein-finder/ Jan 2019.
4. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/engineering-design-process-guide /Jan.
2019.
5. The Industrial Design Reference & Specification Book: Everything Industrial Designers Need to
Know Every Day/Dan Cuffaro,Isaac Zaksenberg,Garrett Oliver/© 2006, 2013 Rockport
Publishers/ISBN: 978-1-59253-847-8.
6. https://designshack.net/articles/layouts/minimal-design-how-to-design-more-with-less/ March
2019
7. https://uxdesign.cc/simple-or-minimal-design-it-doesnt-matter-while-its-elegant-
a5fd174b24ad/ March 2019

Figures:
 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Absorption-spectra-of-the-oxygenated-and-
deoxygenated-hemoglobin-molecules-Notes-In-the_fig1_264009809/ Feb 2019
 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Penetration-depth-of-light-of-different-
wavelengths-in-skin-tissue-The-image-is-adapted_fig1_305485696 / Feb 2019
 https://lumenis.com/solutions/aesthetic/products/lightsheer-duet/ Feb. 2019
 https://info.pcboard.ca/led-specifications/led-specifications-10mm-leds/ Feb. 2019
 Preliminary Study for Designing a Novel Vein-Visualizing Device/ Donghoon Kim, Yujin
Kim, Siyeop Yoon and Deukhee Lee/2017