WRIST SPHYGMOMANOMETER

The wrist sphygmomanometer includes a wristband, an inflatable bladder, a measuring unit and a pressure sensing unit. The wristband has an inner surface that is adapted to contact a human wrist. The inflatable bladder is mounted inside the wristband, and has a measurement point adapted to correspond in position to a point of radial pulse on the human wrist. The measuring unit is mounted on an outer surface of the wristband and is connected to the inflatable bladder. The pressure sensing unit includes a pressure sensor mounted at the measurement point of the inflatable bladder, and a wire electrically interconnecting the measuring unit and the pressure sensor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 106210656, filed on Jul. 20, 2017.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a sphygmomanometer, and more particularly to a wrist sphygmomanometer.

BACKGROUND

Blood pressure is one of vital signs indicating health status of an individual's circulatory system. Proper monitoring of blood pressure allows the individual to take preemptive measures against cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart failure and hypertensive heart disease.

Portable forms of sphygmomanometers, notably wrist blood pressure monitors, have been commonly used to assist an individual to take measurement on a regular basis. Referring toFIG. 1, a conventional wrist sphygmomanometer6includes a wristband61and a measuring unit62mounted on the wristband61. The wristband61is adapted to be worn around a human wrist7and includes a gas chamber611therein. The measuring unit62includes a pressure sensor (not shown) and a inflation unit (not shown) used to pressurize and depressurize the gas chamber611. In order to ensure accuracy of blood pressure reading, the wristband61is tightly attached around the wrist7, such that the measuring unit62is proximate to an inner side71of the wrist7. After the inflation unit of the measuring unit62inflates the gas chamber611of the wristband61, the pressure sensor conducts blood pressure measurement through interfered radial pulse of the wrist7.

Despite its portable design, the wrist sphygmomanometer6is uncomfortable to be worn for a long duration. In a circumstance in which hourly measurements of blood pressure has to be taken on a daily basis, if the individual wishes to remain comfortable between the measurements, the individual would have to inconveniently put on, measure with, and take off the wrist sphygmomanometer6every time during each measurement, which might be equally undesirable as well.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a wrist sphygmomanometer that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks associated with the abovementioned prior art.

The wrist sphygmomanometer is adapted to be worn by a human wrist for blood pressure monitoring. The human wrist has an inner side at which a point of radial pulse is located, and an outer side which is opposite to the inner side. The wrist sphygmomanometer includes a wristband, an inflatable bladder, a measuring unit and a pressure sensing unit.

The wristband has an inner surface that is adapted to contact the human wrist, and an outer surface that is opposite to the inner surface. The outer surface has first and second surface sections adapted to be respectively proximate to the outer and inner sides of the human wrist. The inflatable bladder is mounted inside the wristband between the inner surface and the outer surface, and has a measurement point that is proximate to the second surface section of the outer surface and this is adapted to correspond in position to the point of radial pulse on the human wrist. The measuring unit is mounted on the first surface section of the outer surface of the wristband, and is connected to the inflatable bladder. The pressure sensing unit includes a pressure sensor that is mounted at the measurement point of the inflatable bladder, and a wire that electrically interconnects the measuring unit and the pressure sensor. The measuring unit is operable to measure, via the pressure sensing unit, a pressure inside the inflatable bladder at the measuring point.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIGS. 2 to 4, an embodiment of a wrist sphygmomanometer of this disclosure is adapted to be worn by a human wrist7for blood pressure monitoring. The human wrist7has an inner side71at which a point of radial pulse73is located, and an outer side72which is opposite to the inner side71. The wrist sphygmomanometer includes a wristband1, an inflatable bladder2, a valve3, a measuring unit4, and a pressure sensing unit5.

The wristband1is adapted to be worn by the human wrist7, and has an inner surface11and an outer surface12that is opposite to the inner surface11. The inner surface11is adapted to contact the human wrist7, and the outer surface12has first and second surface sections121,122adapted to be respectively proximate to the outer and inner sides72,71of the human wrist7.

The inflatable bladder2is mounted inside the wristband1between the inner surface11and the outer surface12, and has a measurement point21that is proximate to the second surface section122of the outer surface12and that is adapted to correspond in position to the point of radial pulse73on the human wrist7. The valve3extends outwardly from the inflatable bladder2through the first surface section121of the wristband1and is in fluid communication with the inflatable bladder2.

The measuring unit4is mounted on the first surface section121of the outer surface12and is connected to the valve3. The measuring unit4includes a display unit41, an operation unit42, an inflation unit (not shown) and a processing unit (not shown). The display unit41has a display screen411on top of the measuring unit4that is operable to display measured value such as blood pressure and heart rate. The operation unit42has a plurality of buttons421at a side of the measuring unit4that are operable of initiating basic tasks of the wrist sphygmomanometer such as taking measurement and turning power on and off. The inflation unit and the processing unit are inside the measuring unit4, in which the inflation unit is operable to pump and release air into the inflatable bladder2through the valve3. The processing unit receives signals from the operation unit42to control the display unit41and the inflation unit.

The pressure sensing unit5includes a pressure sensor52that is mounted at the measurement point21of the inflatable bladder2, and a wire51that electrically interconnects the measuring unit4and the pressure sensor52. In this embodiment, the pressure sensing unit5is disposed in the wristband1at one side of the inflatable bladder2which is proximate to the outer surface12to prevent outside interference. Placement of the pressure sensing unit5is not restricted to such and may be disposed outside of the wristband1in other embodiments as well. The wire51in this embodiment is made of flexible printed circuit board, but is not limited to such, that is operable to transmit signals between the measuring unit4and the pressure sensor52. In actual operation, placement of the pressure sensor52may be freely adjusted to correspond in position to the point of radial pulse73on the human wrist7of different users. As the pressure sensing unit5extends to the measurement point21directly from the measuring unit4, the measurement unit4is operable to measure, via the pressure sensing unit5, a pressure inside the inflatable bladder2at the measurement point21as well as signal transmitted from the point of radial pulse73to the inflatable bladder2, such that pressure difference or pressure loss due to folding of the inflatable bladder2around the human wrist7do not undermine actual reading of the blood pressure and heart rate.

A typical operation of the wrist sphygmomanometer is as follows, but is not limited to such:

After a wrist sphygmomanometer is placed around the human wrist7, the pressure sensor52is adjusted to correspond in position to the point of radial pulse73of the human wrist7. Then, after turning on the measuring unit4, one of the buttons421on the operation unit42designated to measure blood pressure is pressed to initiate blood pressure measurement, in which the inflation unit of the measuring unit4inflates the inflatable bladder2, allowing the pressure sensor52of the pressure sensing unit5to measure pressure disturbance within the inflatable bladder2.

In summary, the wrist sphygmomanometer of this disclosure, through the design of the pressure sensing unit5, is operable to measure accurate blood pressure of a user while being comfortable to be worn for a long duration without interfering with the user's daily routine. In addition, as the pressure sensing unit5extends to the measurement point21directly from the measuring unit4, a pressure inside the inflatable bladder2at the measurement point21as well as signal transmitted from the point of radial pulse73to the inflatable bladder2may be directly measured to give more accurate reading of blood pressure and heart rate.