Patent ID: 8764685

Claim:
A biomedical interface pressure transducer apparatus for estimating an interface pressure applied to living tissue by a medical tourniquet, medical device or other tissue comprising: a MEMS pressure sensor mounted to a substrate and surrounded by a port that projects from the substrate to define an internal volume within the port, the port having an external surface that is opposite the substrate and that defines a sensing plane; wherein the internal volume includes a first layer of gel adjacent to the sensor, and a second layer of gel material that is selected from a group consisting of RTV Silicone, polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS), Silicone Rubber, and Rubison premixed white silicone, and that is harder than the first layer and that fills the internal volume with the first layer being between the substrate and the second layer and such that a surface of the second layer is coplanar with the plane defined by the port surface; a conformable semisolid body that surrounds the MEMS pressure sensor; a membrane extending in the sensing plane and covering the port external surface, and covering the internal volume, the membrane being movable in the sensing plane; wherein the MEMS pressure sensor produces a pressure signal indicative of the interface pressure applied to living tissue by the medical tourniquet, medical device or other tissue as transmitted by the membrane to the second and first layers; a controller in communication with the MEMS pressure sensor for receiving the pressure signal, the controller providing power, signal conditioning, interfacing and display functions.