Innovation design of medical equipment based on TRIZ

BACKGROUND: Medical equipment is closely related to personal health and safety, and this can be of concern to the equipment user. Furthermore, there is much competition among medical equipment manufacturers. Innovative design is the key to success for those enterprises. OBJECTIVE: The design of medical equipment usually covers vastly different domains of knowledge. The application of modern design methodology in medical equipment and technology invention is an urgent requirement. METHODS: TRIZ (Russian abbreviation of what can be translated as 'theory of inventive problem solving') was born in Russia, which contain some problem-solving methods developed by patent analysis around the world, including Conflict Matrix, Substance Field Analysis, Standard Solution, Effects, etc. TRIZ is an inventive methodology for problems solving. RESULTS: As an Engineering example, infusion system is analyzed and re-designed by TRIZ. The innovative idea is generated to liberate the caretaker from the infusion bag watching out. The research in this paper shows the process of the application of TRIZ in medical device inventions. CONCLUSION: It is proved that TRIZ is an inventive methodology for problems solving and can be used widely in medical device development.