JIMMA UNIVERSITY

JIMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
JIMMA, ETHIOPIA

No Name of Students Id
1. Abraham Daniel 0095/07
Advisor’s Name:
2. Belay Dereje 0315/07
3. Meka Abdirazak 1144/07 Melese Umma(Bsc.)
4. Tigist Wondimu 4680/07 Tewdros Degfe(Bsc.)
5. Worki Duguma 1750/07

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

Executive Summary
Vein detection for intravenous drug delivery or taking blood sample from patient for test is one
of the most researches of biomedical techniques. Peripheral intravenous catheterization (PIVC) is
the most common minimally invasive medical procedures performed in health care centers every
day. Up to more than eighty percent of all patients admitted to hospitals worldwide will have
peripheral intravenous catheter inserted into the forearm or hand to administer fluids,
medications, and blood products. The procedure, which is indispensable to human health, can be
difficult in many cases especially for obese people, people with dark skin, old people, women,
children, and for patients with multiple injuries or patients whose veins are collapsed.

Complications due to locating superficial veins for intravenous catheterization ranges from
bruising to bacterial infection, extravasation, phlebitis, thrombosis, embolism, fainting and nerve
damage. Some of the existing solutions in our country these days for finding veins of patients are
using traditional methods as milking the vein, slapping the skin and tourniquet. In this project,
near infrared radiation coupled with infrared camera containing an 8-megapixel image sensor
was used to detect superficial veins and the real-time video of a patient’s vein was displayed.

The teams’ approach to solve a community based problem by looking for different alternatives
in cost effective and simple way was successful; and the final design and the prototype has
shown even more and better testing results than what was expected in the design criteria. The
next steps for this project will be related to our recommendations. The first one is a graphical
user interface. The second future work is to create a mechanism in which patients receiving
peripheral intravenous can get fearless and relaxed while the process of catheterization is done.
The final future work is to manufacture the device and make it available in our country.

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Disclosure Statement
We hereby declare that this report, submitted to the Biomedical Engineering Department at the
Jimma Institute of Technology as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, has not been submitted as an exercise for a
degree at any other university. We also certify that the work described herein is entirely our own
work with the exception of paraphrased or quoted work whose sources are appropriately cited in
the references.

This report may be made available within the university library and may be photocopied or
loaned to other libraries as a reference for others’ work.

Students Name Signature Date

1. Abraham Daniel _________ ________________
2. Belay Dereje _________ ________________
3. Meka Abdurezak _________ ________________
4. Tigist Wondimu _________ ________________
5. Worki Duguma _________ ________________

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

Statement of Approval
On behalf of the School of Biomedical Engineering at the Jimma Institute of Technology, we,
the mentors of this project, VEIN FINDER DEVICE USING SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING,
and I, the evaluator, confirm that this project was approved as the topic for the final year project
for the students, ABRAHAM DANIEL, BELAY DEREJE, WORKI DUGUMA, TIGIST
WONDIMU AND MEKA ABDUREZAK.

Advisor’s Name Signature Date

1. Inst. Melese Umma(Bsc.) __________ _______________
2. Inst. Tewdros D.(Bsc.) __________ _______________

Evaluator Name Signature Date

1. .............................................. __________ _______________

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Acknowledgment
Firstly, we would like to acknowledge Jimma University, Institute of Technology, School of
Biomedical Engineering for giving us this opportunity. Second, we would like to acknowledge
our advisor’s Inst Melese Umma(Bsc.) , Inst Tewdros D(Bsc.) and Inst. Shibru Debela for their
guidance and support throughout all the steps we took for the success of the project. We would
like to also acknowledge Dr. Eba Tufa(Jimma university specialized hospital), Dr Zekarias
Alemseged(Menlik Hospital, Addis Ababa) for their indubitable help and support both as a client
and for being part of the project. The School of biomedical staffs also deserves our heartiest
gratitude for being their when we needed comments and support. Finally, we would like to thank
and give credit to Mr. Gamachu Mokonen for sending us some of the most crucial components
for our project from abroad.

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Contents
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... ii
Disclosure Statement ................................................................................................................................... iii
Statement of Approval ................................................................................................................................. iv
Acknowledgment .......................................................................................................................................... v
Table of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... viii
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Anatomy of the Superficial Veins ................................................................................................ 2
1.1.2 Pathophysiology Associated with Finding Veins ........................................................................ 3
1.1.3 Epidemiology Associated with Finding Veins ............................................................................. 3
1.1.4 Complications of Vein Puncture .................................................................................................. 3
1.1.5 Clinical Significance of the Project ............................................................................................. 6
1.1.6 Literature Review......................................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Preliminary Gap Analysis ................................................................................................................... 8
1.2 Existing Solutions................................................................................................................................ 9
1.2.1 Existing Solutions in Ethiopia...................................................................................................... 9
1.2.2 Existing Solutions in Developed Countries ............................................................................... 10
1.4 Problem of Statement ........................................................................................................................ 11
1.5 Need Statement ................................................................................................................................. 11
1.6 Mission of the Team ......................................................................................................................... 11
1.7 Goals and Constraints of the Project ................................................................................................. 12
1.7.1 Goals .......................................................................................................................................... 12
1.7.2 Constraints ................................................................................................................................. 12
CHAPTER TWO: Design Strategy............................................................................................................. 13
2.1 Background Information ................................................................................................................... 13
2.2 Our Design Approach ....................................................................................................................... 13
2.3 Evaluation of Brainstormed Ideas ..................................................................................................... 14
2.4 How the matrix is obtained? ............................................................................................................. 14
2.5 Proposed Design ............................................................................................................................... 16
2.6 Components List and Discussion ...................................................................................................... 17
2.6.1 Hardware components................................................................................................................ 17

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2.6.2 Software requirements ................................................................................................................... 20

CHAPTER THREE: Final Design .............................................................................................................. 22
3.1 Final Design ...................................................................................................................................... 22
3.1.1 Steps for Construction of the Prototype ..................................................................................... 22
3.1.2 Implementation of the Design .................................................................................................... 27
3.1.4 List of material requirements ..................................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER FOUR: Testing and Results ..................................................................................................... 30
4. Testing and Results ............................................................................................................................. 30
4.1 Design Criteria .............................................................................................................................. 30
4.2 Testing Plan .................................................................................................................................. 31
4.3 Tests Conducted ............................................................................................................................ 32
4.4 Test results discussion................................................................................................................... 33
5.1 Summery ........................................................................................................................................... 35
5.2 Recommendation .............................................................................................................................. 36
References ................................................................................................................................................... 37
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 40

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Percentage of difficult cases of PIVC............................................................................................ 1
Figure 2: Veins of forearm ............................................................................................................................ 2
Figure 3: The colloidal veins. ....................................................................................................................... 3
Figure 4: Hematoma Formation .................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 5: Extravasations ............................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 6: Result of excessive bleeding after wrong intravenous therapy ..................................................... 5
Figure 7: Tourniquet the superficial veins for IV therapy ............................................................................ 9
Figure 8: Veinlite vein finder ...................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 9: Near infrared diodes .................................................................................................................... 17
Figure 10: Resistors .................................................................................................................................... 17
Figure 11: A plastic sheet inside a floppy disk. .......................................................................................... 18
Figure 12: NoIR Camera sensor.................................................................................................................. 18
Figure 13: Raspberry pi microprocessor ..................................................................................................... 19
Figure 14: 3.5 inch LCD touch screen display ............................................................................................ 19
Figure 15: SD card to hold the operating system of raspberry pi microprocessor. ..................................... 20
Figure 16: Block diagram of vein finder device using spectroscopic imaging. .......................................... 22
Figure 17: 20 near infrared diodes in parallel connection method .............................................................. 23
Figure 18: Initialization of raspberry pi microprocessor using SD card ..................................................... 23
Figure 19: Running putty software for raspberry pi to install tightvncserver ............................................. 23
Figure 20: Interfacing VNC server between raspberry pi and personal computer. ..................................... 24
Figure 21: Interfacing a 3.5 inch touch screen LCD display with raspberry pi .......................................... 24
Figure 22: Interfacing the camera sensor with raspberry pi microprocessor .............................................. 25
Figure 23: Interface of VLC media player to receive data from raspberry pi microprocessor .................. 25
Figure 24: Switching the display between raspberry pi and computer ....................................................... 26
Figure 25: A 3D solidworks case design for raspberry pi and LCD ........................................................... 26
Figure 26: Mock design of vein finder device ............................................................................................ 27
Figure 27: Final prototype .......................................................................................................................... 27
Figure 28: Picture showing the testing performed and results obtained. .................................................... 28
Figure 29: Photos taken during testing in hospitals and laboratory ............................................................ 34

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List of Tables
Table 1: Concept Screening ........................................................................................................................ 15
Table 2: Concept Scoring............................................................................................................................ 15
Table 3: List of material requirements for the project ................................................................................ 29
Table 4: The methods taken and testing conducted. ................................................................................... 33

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
Peripheral intravenous catheterization (PIVC) is one of the most common minimally invasive
medical procedures performed in hospitals today. 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. The procedure, which is considered indispensable to
human health [1], can be especially difficult in infants and elderly people, as well as in obese
patients, dark skinned people, intravenous drug abusers, hypotensive individuals, and those with
multiple injuries that limit the number of available limbs and may require several attempts,
causing distress. The percentages of difficult cases in populations of interest were already
published and are presented in Figure 1 [2].
The process of obtaining intravenous (IV) access, Venipuncture, is an everyday invasive
procedure in medical settings and there are more than one billion venipuncture related
procedures like blood draws, peripheral catheter insertions, intravenous therapies, etc. performed
per year [3]. Excessive vein punctures are both time and resource consuming events causing
anxiety, pain and distress in patients, or can lead to severe harmful injuries. The major problem
faced by the doctors today is difficulty in accessing veins for intra-venous drug delivery and
other medical situations [4].

Figure 1: Percentage of difficult cases of PIVC in various populations (difficult case means zero
or one visible vein) [5].

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1.1.1 Anatomy of the Superficial Veins

Veins are thin-walled, fibrous, have a large diameter and low pressure. Approximately 2/3 of
total blood volume is in the veins which transport deoxygenated blood to the heart from the
tissues. Veins contract to propel the blood through the vein towards the heart. Some veins
contain valves to regulate the one-way flow to the heart (usually lower limbs). Veins can be
Superficial and deep.

The major veins of the arm are dorsal, cephalic, basilica and cubical fossa. The following figure
illustrates the major veins of an arm.

Figure 2: Veins of forearm [6].

The veins of a patient are the main source of specimens for testing the entry point of medications
and the site for intravenous infusion and blood transfusions because there are only a limited
number of easily accessible veins in a patient, it is important that everything be done to preserve
their good condition and availability. Blood can be collected from a patient for laboratory
investigations, blood donation or therapeutically to reduce the amount of blood as in patients
with polycythemia Vera. Blood investigation and analysis is one of the commonest diagnostic
tool used by doctors.

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1.1.2 Pathophysiology Associated with Finding Veins

PIVC is one of the high-risk procedures performed by physicians, nurses and paramedics.
Because it is such a common procedure, it is easy to forget the potential for serious
complications and safety risks to the patient. Complications range from bruising to bacterial
infection, extravasation, phlebitis, thrombosis, embolism and nerve damage.

Unsuccessful PIVC can lead to more invasive procedures resulting in infection and requiring
higher operator skills (e.g. central line placement, peripherally inserted central catheters and
more).

Figure 3: The colloidal veins [7].

1.1.3 Epidemiology Associated with Finding Veins

The use of several attempts for intravenous cannulation increases the suffering of patients, and
could cause damage to veins and neighboring tissues. Therefore, it is vital to setup the route of
the peripheral vein effectively on the first attempt. Earlier studies reported a range of aspects that
influence vein visibility needed for vein cannulation [8]. Patients who have difficult venous
access are a major challenge for modern medical care. A patient’s level of hydration influences
the ability to identify their veins. If the patient is obese, normal cues are typically absent making
venous access enormously complex.

1.1.4 Complications of Vein Puncture

Vein puncture is the commonest procedure performed in health care settings. It is the act of
puncturing the vein for giving a drug or removal of blood. Complications that can arise from
vein puncture include hematoma formation, nerve damage, pain, hemoconcentration,
extravasation, iatrogenic anemia, arterial puncture, petechiae, allergies, fear and phobia,
infection, syncope and fainting, excessive bleeding, edema and thrombus. Patients whose veins
have been repeatedly punctured often become scarred and feel hard when palpated [9].

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A) Hematoma Formation
Hematoma Formation is the most common complication of vein puncture. This type of
complication is caused by blood leaking into the tissues during or after vein puncture. A common
sign of this complication occurring is swelling at or near the vein puncture site.

Figure 4: Hematoma Formation [10]

B) Infection
This may be localized giving rise to thrombophlebitis or systemic leading to septicemia. The
infection may be localized or systemic. However, peripheral intravenous cannula infections are
more commonly associated with localized than systemic infection. Inadequate clean sing or poor
technique can lead to infection. Infection can cause phlebitis and thrombus formation [11].

C) Nerve Damage
Hematoma formation following vein puncture can be painful and can potentially cause nerve
damage. Among complications associated with phlebotomy, nerve injury is relatively rare, but is
potentially serious and often results in malpractice lawsuits. Patient may feel sharp electric
tingling if a nerve is hit [12]. Immediate discontinue that vein puncture and the patient may need
physical therapy. Inappropriate sites or excessive probing may lead to nerve damage. Patient
may complain of severe pain and the procedure should be stopped immediately.

D) Hemoconcentration
This can result from prolonged tourniquet application. It can be caused by prolonged tourniquet
application, massaging, squeezing or probing a site, long-term intravenous fluid therapy,
scleroses or occluded veins, dehydration and certain diseases. Hemoconcentration may cause
false increase in potassium ion, phosphorus, ammonia and total protein. Intravenous line
complications can result in morbidity and increased health care costs from prolonged
hospitalization, extended use of intravenous antibiotics therapy and surgical intervention [13].

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E) Extravasations
Extravasations occurs when a cannula pulls out of the vein or becomes partly occluded by
venous construction causing backflow of the infuscate through the puncture site into the
surrounding tissues. The patient may complain if tightness, burning and discomfort around the
intravenous site and there may be swelling and blanching of the tissues [14]. In extravagation,
the cannula enters the tissues rather than the vein. In this condition, flushing will be difficult and
swelling/pain may be noted the cannula should be removed immediately.

Figure 5: Extravasations [15]

F) Syncope and Fainting

Patients may become dizzy and faint at the thought or sight of blood. It is caused because of
rapid fall in the blood pressure and it is an autonomic nervous system reaction (psychometric
trigger) usually based on fear [16]. Syncope and fainting can procure during vein puncture.

G) Excessive Bleeding
Excessive bleeding after vein puncture can occur. In patients on anticoagulants, on drugs such as
aspirin medication or drugs that decrease the number of platelets excessive bleeding is common.
The patient should not be left alone until bleeding has stopped.

Figure 6: Result of excessive bleeding after wrong intravenous therapy [17]

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1.1.5 Clinical Significance of the Project

The clinical significance of this project are situations where vein imaging is required. Some of
the clinical significances are:

(A) Bruises and Bums: In case of vein diseases bruises appear on the skin like Deep Vein
Thrombosis and Varicose Veins, therefore for the treatment detection of veins is highly
essential. Accidents involving first or second degree of bums cause the scarring of the
skin. The appearance of the skin becomes deterred making the skin to appear either
whiter or darker. The determinations of veins become tough in such cases.
(B) Intravenous injections: For giving medicines and drugs to the patients, intra- venous
injections are given by doctors and nurses.
(C) Amongst children: Having to puncture them several times with a needle is very
frightful and agonizing for the child & so locating veins in young children and infants
may be difficult.
(D) Blood transfusions: It is a process in which blood is given to the person intravenously.
Blood donation, kidney dialysis also needs perfect vein detection.
(E) Geriatrics: Old people often require numerous blood tests or medicinal injections and
an efficient means of puncture would reduce excessive bruise and enhance the patients
overall comfort level [18].

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1.1.6 Literature Review

Most of the algorithms from literature use regular, near infrared contactless RGB (red, green,
blue) image from camera to obtain reflectance information from veins of dorsal hand. J. Hee
Song et al.,[19] introduced vein visualization using a smartphone with Multispectral Wiener
Estimation for point of-care Applications. In the proposed method, a conventional RGB camera
on a private smartphone has been used to obtain reflectance information from veins. Wiener
estimation is then applied to get the multispectral information from the veins. To evaluate the
performance an experiment has been conducted using a color calibration chart and an average
root mean square error of 12.0 % has been obtained.
A.Kumar et al.,[20] proposed Personal Authentication Using Hand Vein Triangulation and
knuckle shape. The proposed method has been fully automated and employs dorsal hand vein
images obtained from the low-cost, near infrared contactless imaging camera. The knuckle tips
are used as key points for the image normalization and to extract the region of interest. The
experiment has been performed on 100 users and equal error rate of 1.14% has been achieved.

Zhi Liu and Shangling Song et al.,[21] presented an Embedded Real-Time Hand-Vein
Recognition System for Mobile Devices. The proposed system provides hand-vein recognition
system based on the blanket dimension and lacunary implemented on a multi-view platform. The
proposed system takes only about 0.8 seconds to verify one input finger vein sample and
achieved an equal error rate (EER) of 0.07% on a database of 100 subjects.

Erdem Yoruk, Bulent Sankur, [22] proposed Shape-based hand recognition. In a pre-
processing stage of the algorithm, the silhouettes of hand images are registered to a fixed pose,
which involves both rotation and translation of the hand and, separately, of the individual
fingers.

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1.3 Preliminary Gap Analysis

A) Device unavailability on local markets

A vein finder device is not available in Ethiopia. In addition, the device is not adopted locally.
There is no company that manufactures vein finder in Ethiopia and there is less knowledge about
the device.

B) Expensiveness of the device

Vein finder devices available on foreign countries are costly. In the foreign countries the device
costs more than 2900$ which is very expensive [23].

C) Clinical problem
Doctors and nurses always use try and error method to find the vein of the patient, and they just
use different traditional methods like milking, slapping and tourniquet the region or hand in
order to locate veins for IV therapy which prompts the patient to be subjected to injuries and
infections.

D) Limitation of the existing solutions

The existing solutions to find the vein of a patient for intravenous drug delivery or taking blood
samples for test have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example in the case of
veinlite vein finder, the device is effective in low light setting or dark area but it becomes less
effective in low light area. In the case of UMTEC Vein Finder, it shows the vein of the patient
but if the patient moves his hand even a little, there will be a movement artifact and the doctor
may be prompt give the intravenous therapy to the patient in the wrong place.
The pros of UMTEC vein finder are:

 Handy
 Reduce ejection pain
 Easy to use
 Adjustable color
The cons of UMTEC vein finder are:

 Expensiveness
 Hand movement artifact
 Limited throughput in low light situations.

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1.2 Existing Solutions

There are a number of approaches and possibilities in which doctors and nurses do in order to get
veins of the patients and give intravenous therapy. The existing solutions are explained below in
terms of Ethiopia and developed countries.

1.2.1 Existing Solutions in Ethiopia

This day’s medical staff uses the following techniques to increase venous prominence which are
already in use.

A) Milking the vein

Milking the vein from proximal to distal, this shows the blood flow direction and stimulates the
area.

B) Slapping the skin

Gently slapping the skin, this must not be too firm to avoid pain that can cause a vasoconstriction
reflex.

C) Tourniquet
Prolonged application of a tourniquet and repeated gripping and relaxing of the hand is the third
most known existing solution. Since a tourniquet reduces the number of superficial veins while
allowing blood flow through the arteries, the additional blood left in the veins is more prominent.
Gripping and relaxing the hand stimulates the blood to pass despite the resistance from the
tourniquet.

Figure 7: Tourniquet the superficial veins for IV therapy [24]

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1.2.2 Existing Solutions in Developed Countries

There are different vein finder devices available on the market in developed countries. Some of
them are discussed below with their advantage and disadvantage.

A) Veinlite EMS Pro

It is the most practical vein finder light for general vein access. It is used to access veins in both
adults and children. The device includes a built-in white exam light mode that proves extremely
helpful during the initial assessment of patients. Veinlite EMS Pro comes with 24 colored LEDs
(12 oranges, 4 red and 8 white), all of them operated by a single switch. The device is powered
by two AA batteries [25].

Veinlite EMS Pro kit includes 50 plastic covers that are disposable, a light shield, a pediatric
adapter. Though, the color is patented for high contrast imaging, it works on dark, light skin
tones. The dimensions of the device are 115 mm x 55 mm x 21 mm [26].

Figure 8: Veinlite vein finder [27]

B) Respironics Wee Sight Trans Illuminator Vein finder

Wee sight Trans illuminator is designed in a particular way to work with children only. It cannot
be used with adult patients. The pediatric illuminator provides better visualization that helps in
reducing needle stick attempts. It is shaped in such a manner that it can be easily placed around
the tiny limbs of the baby. The size of the vein finder machine is so small that it can be easily
placed inside the incubator [28].

Wee sight trans illuminator emits a cool light that protect babies from burns. It is constructed
keeping the actions of caregivers in mind. Caregivers can easily operate it from one hand and can
start IV from other hand [29].

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C) UMTEC Vein Finder

MTEC portable vein finder is non-contact imaging device of subcutaneous vein and belongs to
the internal power supply equipment. It uses the safety cold light, positioning the subcutaneous
veins on the surface of patient’s skin. It is easy to detect veins at the back of the hands through
transmission of LED red light and it can assist medical staff to observe sub-cutaneous veins of
hands and significantly improve the success rate of the injection. It is used in hospitals, Clinics
to find the veins for injection [30].

1.4 Problem of Statement

In any health center, the first important phases for intravenous drug delivery or taking blood
sample for test is an insertion of an intravenous (IV) catheter. The major problem faced by the
physicians, paramedic and nurses is difficulty in accessing vein for intravenous drug delivery or
taking blood samples for test. In case of children, adults, critical care patients etc., it is very
difficult task. Unnecessary puncturing of veins occurs due to poor visibility of veins. Wrong
puncturing may lead to many problems to patients such as bruises or permanent damage of the
vein.

1.5 Need Statement

Currently vein finder device is not available in Ethiopia. There is a need for a vein finding device
to overcome complications that arise due to locating veins. In order to counter attack such
complications, this paper presents an approach for near infrared spectroscopic imaging vein
detection system.

1.6 Mission of the Team

The mission of the team in general is to design and develop a simple, easy to use, cost effective
vein finder using near infrared imaging system. In designing this device, the team wants to
reduce or eliminate complications due to finding veins and benefits like:

 Reducing the load of doctors and nurses in finding veins

 Elimination of bruising to bacterial infection and extravasation
 Phlebitis, thrombosis, embolism and nerve damage
 Saving a lot of money spent on foreign products
 Finally solve the big problem which is finding vein for IV therapy.

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1.7 Goals and Constraints of the Project

1.7.1 Goals
 Prevent Problems that Occurs Due to Finding Veins.
 Facilitating medical producers by designing a reliable vein finder.
 Development of a low-cost wrist vein capturing device.
 Noninvasive to make it comfortable for use.
 Designing an easy to operate vein finder.

1.7.2 Constraints
 The total cost of the design is less than 4000 ETB.
 Should allow doctor to see the vein effectively.
 The design should have at least 3 years of shelf life.
 Its weight should not exceed 0.7 kg
 Among 10 people at least 9 people(90%)
- Can easily use the device
- Comfortable to use (noninvasive)

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CHAPTER TWO: Design Strategy

2.1 Background Information
Near infrared diodes emits radiation (range 700-900 nm) that penetrates human anatomy deeper
than visible light (400-700 nm). Since hemoglobin and other vascular fluids are highly
absorptive, electro-optical technology can detect the absorption difference between vascular
structures and surrounding tissue. Near-infrared imaging (NIR) is used to distinguish veins from
the rest of the body tissue. The basic principle is that NIR can penetrate up to 3-15 mm depth
inside biological tissues. Moreover, reduced hemoglobin in the venous blood absorbs more of the
incident infrared radiation than the neighboring tissues. This makes the veins appear darker than
its surrounding in the infrared spectroscopic image. Biologically, there is a “medical spectral
window” which extends approximately from about 700 to 900 nm, where light in this spectral
window penetrates deeply into tissues, thus allowing for non-invasive investigation [31].
Therefore, typically, the wavelength of the infrared light beam coming out from a light source is
selected to be within the near infrared region with wavelength of around 850nm. Using this
wavelength, it also avoids undesirable interference from the infrared radiation (3um - 14um)
emitted by the human body and the environment.

2.2 Design Approach

The main aim of this project is to develop a vein finder device using spectroscopic imaging that
can allow doctors, physicians and nurses to easily and freely insert catheter into the patient’s
body. The vein finder device will also reduce the time spent on finding vein by doctors in
different health care institutions. For example if a doctor spends 2 to 3 minutes on finding the
patients superficial vein, that means the doctor spends about two and half hour per 50 patients.
We expected our device to show the video of the patient’s vein within 20 seconds. This means
that it will take only 20 minutes per 50 patients. This will in turn reduce patient overflow in
health centers by allowing health care professionals to give medical procedures as quickly as
possible.

In order to do so the team was looking for different alternatives such as light emitting diode,
pressure sensor and spectroscopic imaging. The team evaluated the three designs and chose one
among the three alternatives using different criteria’s. Among the criteria’s reliability, easy to
understand and use, availability and accuracy are some of them. Based on these criteria’s the
team chooses to design a vein finder device using spectroscopic imaging. The design integrates
infrared diodes (20) for illumination of the patient’s skin, optical filter, 8MP camera sensor, 3.5
inch touch screen LCD, raspberry pi 3 microprocessor and some other additional components.
The device is easy to understand, portable (0.7kg) and low cost (3800EB).

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2.3 Evaluation of Brainstormed Ideas

1. LED (light emitting diodes)

The second systematic idea was based on LED (light emitted diode) light waves that infiltrate
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.

2. Pressure sensor
In this method a pressure sensor is used in collaboration with a signal indicator and a processing
unit. The pressure sensor, which operates in a range of 5-100 cm H2O, senses pressure changes
when the catheter is entered, producing a beep within 0.1 sec to alert the operator to discontinue
advancing in order not to wound the back wall of the vein. The System is planned in such a way
that it alerts the operator when there is hesitation about the location of the needle tip.

3. Spectroscopic imaging
This method works by taking advantage of near infrared diodes. About twenty near infrared
diodes are used in the design to illuminate the patient’s skin. An 8MP camera sensor is used to
sense the amount of infrared light that is reflected back after penetrating deep into the patient’s
vein. As reduced hemoglobin in the venous blood absorbs more of the incident infrared light than
the surrounding tissues, the veins appear darker in the video taken by the camera sensor.

2.4 How the matrix is obtained?

To evaluate the brainstormed solutions multispectral camera is chosen as a reference. By
comparing each brainstorming idea with the reference (multispectral camera) for each criteria; if
it is the same with the reference , assign ‘0’ or if it is better, assign a plus sign(‘+’) or if it is
worse assign a negative sign(‘-’).

Evaluation LED IR spectroscopic Multispectral camera

Criteria Illuminator imaging

Accuracy - 0 0

Easy to use 0 + 0
Cost - + 0
Safety + + 0
Specificity - + 0
Sensitivity - 0 0

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

Total +,-, 0 +=2, 0=1, -=4 +=4, 0=2, -=0 +=0, 0=8, -=0

Rank 2 1 3
Cont...? Revise Yes No

Table 1: Concept Screening

The above concept screening table gives rank for each proposed solutions by summing the
number of zeros, plus and minus sign individually and comparing with others. The weight of
each criterion (PCC calculation) is explained in Appendix A.

Concept scoring
To give rating values to criteria for the designs, compare each design with the standard or
reference (multispectral camera) on each criterion and give values from 1 to 5. If one design is
best on one criterion than the reference, 5 will be assigned to it. If it is better than the reference =
4, if it is same with the reference = 3, if it is worth than the reference = 2 and if it is worse than
the reference = 1 will be assigned to the design’s criteria. After all, the weight score for the
designs will be obtained by multiplying weight of criteria out of 100% (from PCC calculation)
with rating. Then according to the weight score, rank will be given.

Evaluation Weight Spectroscopic imaging LED Illuminator

criteria

Rating Weighting Rating Weighting

factor factor
Easy to use 9% 3 0.27 3 0.23
Cost 16% 5 0.8 2 0.32
Safety 14% 4 0.56 3 0.42
Specificity 12% 4 0.48 3 0.36
Sensitivity 14% 4 0.56 4 0.56
Total Weight 2.67 1.89
Score

Rank 1 2
Continue YES NO
Table 2: Concept Scoring

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2.5 Proposed Design

The selected design is the one with highest weight score. Vein finder device using spectroscopic
imaging has a total weight score of 2.67 that is the highest score among the three. The device is
used to locate patient’s superficial vein and allow health care professionals to give peripheral
intravenous catheterization easily and freely without the fear of puncturing the patient’s vein.
Moreover, the device comprises of different electrical and mechanical components. The device
contains about 20 near infrared diodes, an 8MP camera sensor for streaming a live video at about
60 frames per second.

The fact that the camera sensor has also the capability of sensing other lights in the energy
spectrum like visible and ultraviolet light, a filtering system(optical filter) that filters visible and
ultraviolet light but allows a passage of infrared light was incorporated into the design. The
software part of the device was controlled by a microprocessor called raspberry pi. Raspberry pi
is a microprocessor with an operating system called Linux. The operating system of raspberry pi
microprocessor allowed us to install different software’s like RPI web camera interface software
that would help us to adjust and control the brightness and contrast of the video being steamed
from the camera senor.

In order to make the device portable and easy to handle for health care professionals, a 3.5 inch
touch screen LCD display was used that would receive data from raspberry pi microprocessor
and display the video of patient’s superficial vein automatically.

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2.6 Components List and Discussion

The list of components used in this design are discussed and explained as follows. The software
requirement of this project is also explained following the hardware components.

2.6.1 Hardware components

A) Near infrared diodes
LEDs are solid-state P-N junction devices that emit light when forward biased. The P-N junction
is formed by doping one region of the material with donor atoms and the adjacent region with
acceptor atoms. Like all P-N junction devices, LEDs exhibit the familiar diode
current-voltage characteristics. LEDs emit light only when they are biased in the forward
direction. In this design approach 20 near infrared diodes with wavelength of about 850nm are
used to illuminate the patient’s skin. The number of infrared diodes in the design was made 20
after many trials and testing because even the addition or subtraction of single near infrared
diode can affect the quality of the video.

Figure 9: Near infrared diodes [32]

B) Resistors
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as
a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal
levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other
uses. In this design approach about 20 resistors (100ohm) are used to limit the current that is fed
into the 20 infrared diodes in parallel.

Figure 10: Resistors [33]

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C) Optical filter
In order for the camera sensor to detect only the infrared part of the energy spectrum, a low cost
optical filter (a plastic sheet inside a floppy disk) that filters visible and ultraviolet light and
allows a passage of visible light was incorporated into our design. There are optical filters on
foreign markets which are effective and can block more than 98% of visible light. But these
products are costly and a locally available material is used in our design which has at least 80%
capabilities to filter visible light. Using this optical filter will increase the quality of video being
streamed from the camera sensor.

Figure 11: A plastic sheet inside a floppy disk.

D) NoIR(no infrared) camera sensor

This camera sensor is specifically designed to take and capture images and videos in the infrared
light range. It has native resolution sensor-capable of 3280 x 2464 pixel static images. The
camera sensor can take images and videos with the capability of 8 megapixels. In order to take
images and videos the camera sensor needs to be interfaced with raspberry pi microprocessor
through python code. The python code for interfacing the camera sensor and raspberry pi
microprocessor is found in Appendix B.

Figure 12: NoIR Camera sensor

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

E) Raspberry pi 3 model B microprocessor

Raspberry pi is a microprocessor with an operating system called Linux. Raspberry Pi's
processor has a clock speed of 700MHz. This means it performs 700,000,000 cycles every
second. The clock speed of a processor is an indication of how fast it can perform operations and
it is 40 times the clock speed of Arduino microcontroller. It has 40 pins and can take any
memory size to hold the code and other programs written on the processor. The memory size
should be at least 8GB to hold the operating system which is called Rasbian. This processer is
best used for image and video processing; and it can be interfaced with the camera sensor and
touch screen LCD. Since the processer has its own operating system, one can install software to
run and control the camera sensor settings. The pin lay out of raspberry pi microprocessor is
outlined in Appendix C.

Figure 13: Raspberry pi microprocessor

F) 3.5 Inch LCD touch screen display

The LCD type used in this design was a 3.5 inch touch screen display which has about 480x320
hardware resolution. It has a resistive touch support and can be interfaced with raspberry pi
through the code written on the Lx terminal of raspberry pi microprocessor. The LCD receives
data from raspberry pi microprocessor that was streamed from the camera sensor. The output
video on the LCD was being processed and adjusted on the raspberry pi as it is streamed from
the camera sensor. The code to interface the touch screen display and raspberry pi is given in
Appendix D.

Figure 14: 3.5 inch LCD touch screen display

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

G) SD card
This is a memory card used to store the operating system of raspberry pi (Rasbian). Raspberry
microprocessor has a built in place for inserting SD card with any amount of memory size. But in
order to hold the operating system of raspberry pi which is about 4.23GB, at least 8GB memory
card is needed.

Figure 15: SD card to hold the operating system of raspberry pi microprocessor.

Additional components required:

 A 5v, minimum of 2Amp cable charger to power up raspberry pi microprocessor.

 An Ethernet cable for interfacing raspberry pi with a computer.
 HDMI cable for sending data from raspberry pi to computer and vise verse. HMDI cable
is also used for switching the output video display layout from computer to a 3.5 inch lcd
and vise verse.
 Jumping wires, soldering device.

2.6.2 Software requirements

The followings are software’s used in this design with raspberry pi microprocessor.

A) Putty

Putty is a platform used to write a code when initializing raspberry pi microprocessor. It is an

open source platform that allows users to control what the raspberry pi has to do.

B) Xming

This is software that allows one to use a window of raspberry pi directly on personal computer. It
can be initialized with single display or multiple input displays.

C) VNC server

VNC server is a platform that allows one to write a code for raspberry pi microprocessor directly
on personal computer to initialize it or to output the video streamed from camera onto computer.
It is a user friendly and one can learn to use it with no further effort.

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D) Python (3.7)
Python is a higher level language that can be installed on computers and run different codes for
real life applications. This higher level language can be installed on raspberry pi microprocessor.
It is used in this design process to write a code that will enable us to interface raspberry pi,
camera sensor and a 3.5 inch touch screen display. The interfacing part of these components
using python code and the other software’s used in this project is explained in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER THREE: Final Design

3.1 Final Design
Vein finder device using infrared spectroscopic is a device that uses spectroscopic imaging
system with simple coding program to interface raspberry pi microprocessor, camera sensor and
lcd touch screen and provide system that can detect the veins of patients vein for intravenous
therapy. The design is made in such a way that it can be easy for doctors and nurses to use it
which makes it user friendly. The device is also portable and doctors can have it on their hand
and move inside the hospital from one hospital department to the other department. The cost of
the device is the most important design criteria because vein finder devices from foreign
countries cost more than about 2500$(70,000EB). The overall design of our project cost is
amounted to 3800EB which is cost effective compared to vein finders from foreign countries.

In terms of effectiveness our device is also better and preferable choice because since the device
shows the patient’s vein in video form, image and video processing software’s can be integrated
into the design to make the output of the device more realistic and convenient. This makes the
device special because doctors and nurses can adjust and control the brightness and contrast of
the video being streamed from the camera sensor using the buttons on lcd touch screen. Health
care professionals can also change the color of the video to whatever color they like and look at
the patient’s vein as a video format. The following block diagram shows the simplified design of
vein finder device.

Figure 16: Block diagram of vein finder device using spectroscopic imaging.

3.1.1 Steps for Construction of the Prototype

Step 1: Collection of materials required for prototype construction from biomedical department,
WMG BME PLC and some from abroad.

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Step 2: Design of a circular 20 infrared diodes using 20 resisters (100ohm) in a parallel

connection method.

Figure 17: 20 near infrared diodes in parallel connection method

Step 3: Integrating the optical filter with the circular infrared diodes.

Step 4: Initializing raspberry pi microprocessor and installing the operating system (Rasbian)
using SD card and windows disk imager application.

Figure 18: Initialization of raspberry pi microprocessor using SD card

Step 5: Running putty and Xming software’s on the computer for setting up the GPIO pins of
raspberry pi microprocessor.

Figure 19: Running putty software for raspberry pi to install tightvncserver

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Step 6: Installing and interfacing a VNC server between raspberry pi and personal computer for
writing code to enable and interface the camera sensor with raspberry pi.

Figure 20: Interfacing VNC server between raspberry pi and personal computer.
Step 7: Interfacing a 3.5 inch touch screen LCD display and writing a code to allow raspberry pi
to control the output from the camera sensor on the LCD screen.

Figure 21: Interfacing a 3.5 inch touch screen LCD display with raspberry pi
Step 8: Integrating the camera sensor with raspberry pi microprocessor. After the camera is
installed onto the microprocessor, it is enabled using lx terminal of the microprocessor. Once the
camera is enabled on the raspberry pi microprocessor, the width and height, the quality of the
video and the frames per second can be configured using a simple python code. The next
important step to command the microprocessor to stream a video upon microprocessor boot up.
This step is very important because doctors and nurses don’t need to enable the camera every
time they power up the device. The camera will automatically start streaming a video upon the
booting of raspberry pi operating system.

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All the healthcare professionals has to do in order to use the device is power up and place the
hand of a patient in a proper manner for the camera sensor.

Figure 22: Interfacing the camera sensor with raspberry pi microprocessor

Step 9: Installing VLC media player on raspberry pi to display a video streamed from the camera
sensor on raspberry pi microprocessor by writing a simple code on the lx terminal of raspberry
pi.

Step 10: Installing software called RPI web camera interface on the raspberry pi microprocessor
to adjust and control the brightness, contrast and sharpness of the video streamed from the 8MP
camera sensor.

Step 11: Interfacing the VLC media player on the personal computer to receive data from
raspberry pi as a testing mechanism for testing the device. In this Step, the video of patient’s vein
will directly be displayed on the personal computer using the VLC player of the computer.

Figure 23: Interface of VLC media player to receive data from raspberry pi microprocessor

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Step 12: Switching the output video stream that was displayed on personal computer onto a
3.5inch touch screen display. This is done using an HDMI cable and through writing a code on
the lx terminal of raspberry pi microprocessor.

Figure 24: Switching the display between raspberry pi and computer

Step 13: A 3D solidworks casing design for raspberry pi microprocessor and 3.5 inch Lcd
display.

Figure 25: A 3D solidworks case design for raspberry pi and LCD

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3.1.2 Implementation of the Design

Implementation of the design has passed through different steps. The first one was mock up
design which is prepared from simple and locally available materials that illustrates our final
design approach and helps us prepare the real prototype.

Figure 26: Mock design of vein finder device

The final prototype was made from different electrical and mechanical components and its outer
part structure is comfortable for the placement of components.

Figure 27: Final prototype

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3.1.3 Outcome of the project

The final result of the device was successful and more than expected in the design criteria. The
device was tested in different healthcare institutions including JIMMA medical center. The
health care professionals in those institutions witnessed that the device works and has fulfilled its
purpose. Moreover, these healthcare professionals were existed and appreciated the innovative
idea and awarded us a recommendation letter for the testing and functionality of the device.
Some of the recommendations issued to us from different healthcare institutions can be found in
Appendix F.
The number of infrared diodes used to illuminate the patient’s skin has a diverse effect on the
quality of the video. After many trials of adding and removing infrared diodes, we came to learn
that about 20 infrared diodes with a wavelength of 850nm have a higher capability to illuminate
the patient’s skin. Vein finder device is the best solution for preventing intravenous
complications like extraversion, thrombosis, embolism, and excessive bleeding, fainting and
nerve damage.

The following pictures show some of the photos screen shoot from the video taken during testing
of the device.

Figure 28: Picture showing the testing performed and results obtained.

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The device considers all service environments, meaning it works in any environment (climate
change) and it is simple to manufacture so that the product can be widely spread in developing
countries like Ethiopia. This device can be used without the help of a trainer and it is easy to
operate. The device is noninvasive and comfortable to use, avoid contamination if the person has
other communicable disease. Therefore, because of the above features this device can be
available in each and every health institutions and provide a remarkable health benefit.

Finally, this project helps to:

 Prevent complications with puncturing veins of the patients.

 Minimize the work load of doctors, nurses in health care institutions.
 Solve big problems of finding veins with best, simple and accurate solution.
 Make available vein finder device in Ethiopian health care institutions.
 Increase and facilitate health care medical procedures by reducing the time spent on
finding patient’s superficial vein.

3.1.4 List of material requirements

Hardware requirements Software requirements

 Raspberry pi microprocessor  Python
 8MP NoIR camera sensor  Xming
 20 Near infrared diodes(850nm)  Putty
 VNC server
 Optical filter
 RPI web camera interface
 3.5 inch touch screen display
 20 Resistors(100ohm)
 16GB SD card
 HDMI and Ethernet cable
 Jumper wires and soldering device

Table 3: List of material requirements for the project

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CHAPTER FOUR: Testing and Results

4. Testing and Results
To ensure and make sure that the developed medical device meets its design specifications and
other requirements, a testing plan will be utilized. The Design criteria specified by the developers
of the system or project are basement for testing plan. Before starting going deep into the project,
design specifications were made for the device that has to be met after the accomplishment of the
final prototype. In context of this project definition and contents of design criteria that was made
in the beginning of the project has to be tested against the acquired output specifications. This
testing plan helps to know how far the project has gone with respect to the design specifications
and the required final output.

4.1 Design Criteria

In order to successfully walk through the design process, design criteria has to be set for the
project at its early stage. This design criterion is where the design process of project has to be led
in order to accomplish what is required. In order to achieve the desired goal of the project, it is
mandatory to follow standards that make listed potential solutions tangible. In addition to the
standards, the team added some of the criteria as listed below .

A) Camera sensor Quality

The camera sensor used in the design is cost-optimized. The Raspberry Pi NoIR(no infrared)
Camera Module v2 is a high quality 8megamegapixel Sony IMX219 image sensor custom
designed add-on board for Raspberry Pi, featuring a fixed focus lens. It's capable of 3280 x 2464
pixel static images, and also supports 1080p30, 720p60 and 640x480p60/90 video. It attaches to
Pi by way of one of the small sockets on the board upper surface and uses the dedicated
interface, designed especially for interfacing to cameras.

B) Linearity
In case of linearity, the output should always follow the input. As the input increases the output
should also increase. As the amount of infrared light emitted from the infrared diodes pass deep
into the patient’s body the camera sensor’s capability to capture and take video will also increase
accordingly. This will in turn increase the quality of video of patient’s superficial vein.

C) Stability
Once the device is made and its prototype completed, it should work the same in any condition
weather it is in daylight or at night. Environmental factors such as temperature and humidity
doesn’t have to affect the output of the project. Other lights in the energy spectrum like visible
and ultraviolet light(<600nm) doesn’t have to interfere with infrared light and distort the quality
of video streamed form the camera sensor with about 60 frames per seconds. An optical filter is
used to block light spectrum below 600nm and allow the passage of near infrared light. In order

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for the video of patient’s superficial vein to have better quality, the camera sensor needs to pick
up only the near infrared part of the energy spectrum.

4.2 Testing Plan

Testing plan is a strategy that will be used to verify and ensure that a product or system meets its
design specifications and other requirements. A testing plan is usually prepared by or with
significant input from project team and advisors. Depending on what is to be tested, different
methods were applied by the team and they are listed as follows .

A) Discussions with the clients

The problem of peripheral intravenous puncturing exists in every health institutions found in
Ethiopia; and almost more than 80% of all patient’s admitted to health care institutions have a
peripheral intravenous catheterization inserted into the forearm or hand to administer fluids,
medications and blood products. During the design process of this project, the team went to
different healthcare institutions and end users/clients to talk about the clinical problem, existing
solutions and the gap analysis. The team was talking with different health care professionals
found in JIMMA, Addis Ababa and Hawasa and the response of all healthcare professionals that
had been interviewed was “It is a good project and innovative idea since there is no such device
in Ethiopia and the existing solutions are not effective and they are traditional. If the cost of the
device is as the team said, the device is very cost effective and every healthcare institution can
afford it.” They appreciated the team to the point that they thanked Jimma University for always
being part of communities’ problem solver. They told the team that they would be with the team
both as a client and supporters of the project for its successfulness and accomplishment. The
following healthcare professionals are the once we were working with as a client.

 Dr. Eba Tufa, Jimma, Jimma medical center

 Dr. Alem Daniel, Addis Ababa, Dagmawi menilic medical collage
 Dr. Belete Yazachew, Jimma, Belete medium clinic
 Mrs. Meron Tamene, Jimma, Jimma medical center(Nurse)

B) Market Analysis
Market analysis is used in determination of the cost for each components included in the project.
This test is done by comparing different manufacturers’ products in relative to their cost to
identify if the cost of the components meets the predetermined cost in the design criteria. This is
to select low cost component with acceptable quality and needed specifications.

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C) Cost
The cost of the project should be taken into account before proceeding into building the
prototype. This will help to determine whether or not the device is affordable for end users. If the
device is expensive, all most no one can afford it. The aim of the project is to make the device
available in all over the country and this can only happen if the cost considers the income
generation of healthcare institutions. Therefore, the cost should be minimized and the device
should be made affordable.

4.3 Tests Conducted

The following table shows the type of tests conducted and methods used to get the result.

No Features to be Input Method Design Result

tested specification

1. Cost Market Market <5000EB Cost effective

analysis
2. Durability Experience, Calculation Life time of 5 years
interview and and analysis each
life time of equipment
components
in device
3. Sensitivity of Near infrared Calibration 840nm-860nm 850nm
camera sensor Light source

4. The output of the Quality of RPI interface Referring to 720 HD quality

final result of the video depend video look up table video
device. up on the processor
reflected
infrared light
5. Simplicity Simple Easy Any healthcare Simple to use
procedure understanding professional
of users can operate it
6. Weight Criterion <1KG 0.7Kg Portable
(using scale)
7. Time Enumerating Final result It took Quick
time has to be maximum of output/response
obtained less 20 seconds
than 20
seconds.
8. Working Temperature Checking Operating Works
environment of temperature temperature effectively in
the device range for each range 15 – 40 range of 10 –
materials degree Celsius 45 degree
Celsius

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9. Materials Market Market At least 50% 35% of

availability research of components materials
available
Table 4: The methods taken and testing conducted.

4.4 Test results discussion

A) Market Testing
Methods to conduct this test is by interviewing the retailers in the city and using commercial
website such as Amazon in determination of cost for the material needed to be purchased. The
team used two methods for cost analysis. The first was look for more than 5 distributers and then
amazon was selected. After selecting the distributor (amazon) the second method was to look for
cheap components that can fit with the specifications to construct the device by asking them for
different types of products and evaluating according to the specification listed in the criteria. It
should at this point be note that this is for the components which we couldn’t find in Ethiopia.
Some individuals from abroad who liked the innovative idea of the project had also contributed
to the project by giving sponsor to some of the components (Raspberry pi microprocessor).

B) Cost
In developing countries especially in African continent, it is very difficult for people to buy
devices with expensive price .It is obvious that every design is more preferable at lower cost than
that of higher. The main intention of this project was to design a reliable vein finder device using
spectroscopic imaging and specifically reduce its cost, increase its effectiveness and make it
available in our country. Vein finder devices from foreign countries costs from about 70,000EB
to 500,000EB. In relation to these foreign devices our device is cost effective and affordable. To
ensure this, the estimated cost for project is about 3800 ETB. The estimated cost includes
expenses of materials needed for accomplishment of the project and other related expenses.

C) Simplicity
The method of use of the vein finder device is easy. All the doctor has to do is power up the
device and place the hand of the patient in a good manner for the camera sensor to sense the
amount of reflected near infrared light from patient’s skin. The doctor can have his/her own user
name and password if she/he wants to on the device. When the device is powered up, the
microprocessor will boot up automatically and enables the camera sensor to sense the light ray
from the patient’s skin. When the processor boots up, the 20 near infrared diodes will also start
to emit infrared light with power outage of about 1W. The total amount of power from these 20
near infrared diodes on the patient’s skin is about 20W (watt).

D) Safety
Infrared light doesn’t have any hazard on the operator or the patient undergoing intravenous
therapy. It is classified under the non-ionizing radiation and doesn’t have any effect on the

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patient’s skin. Infrared light is even used in skin therapy and it is good for the softness of
human’s skin.
Below are photos taken during the testing of the vein finder device in hospitals and clinics.

Figure 29: Photos taken during testing in hospitals and laboratory

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CHAPTER FIVE: Summery and Recommendation

5.1 Summery
Vein detection for intravenous drug delivery or taking blood sample from patient for test is one
of the most researches of biomedical techniques. Peripheral intravenous catheterization (PIVC) is
the most common minimally invasive medical procedures performed in health care centers every
day. The intravenous therapy procedure, which is indispensable to human health, can be difficult
in many cases especially for obese people, people with dark skin, old people, women, children,
and for patients with multiple injuries or patients whose veins are collapsed. Complications that
can arise from vein puncture include hematoma formation, nerve damage, pain,
hemoconcentration, extravasation, iatrogenic anemia, arterial puncture, petechiae, allergies, fear
and phobia, infection, syncope and fainting, excessive bleeding, edema and thrombus.

Some of the existing solutions in our country these days for finding veins of patients are using
traditional methods like milking the vein, slapping the skin and tourniquet which is time
consuming and does not work for children and unconscious patients in intensive care unit. In this
project, near infrared radiation coupled with infrared camera containing an 8-megapixel image
sensor was used to detect superficial veins and the real-time video of a patient’s vein was
displayed. Some of the preliminary gap analysis identified was device unavailability on the local
market, expensiveness of the device, clinical problem, lack of awareness about the device and
effectiveness of the existing vein finer devices. Near infrared diodes emits radiation (range 700-
900 nm) that penetrates human anatomy deeper than visible light (400-700 nm). Since
hemoglobin and other vascular fluids are highly absorptive, electro-optical technology can detect
the absorption difference between vascular structures and surrounding tissue. Near-infrared
imaging (NIR) is used to distinguish veins from the rest of the body tissue. The basic principle is
that NIR can penetrate up to 3-15 mm depth inside biological tissues. Moreover, reduced
hemoglobin in the venous blood absorbs more of the incident infrared radiation than the
neighboring tissues.

The teams’ approach to solve a community based problem by looking for different alternatives in
cost effective and simple way was successful; and the final design and the prototype has shown
even more and better testing results than what was expected in the design criteria. The developed
vein finder device using spectroscopic imaging was planned to be done within less than 5000EB
and after cost analysis of the final prototype the cost of the device was estimated to be 3800EB
which is low cost compared to vein finders from foreign countries. The next steps for this project
will be related to the recommendations outlined for future directions and works to be added to
the device to make it more sophisticated.

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5.2 Recommendation
Having successfully accomplished the design of a vein finder device using spectroscopic
imaging, as the design is iterative and ongoing, the team outlines the following future directions
and works to be added to the project to make the device more sophisticated.

 Development of GUI (Graphical User Interface):- This will allow healthcare

professionals to interact with the device easily. In this regard, the end user can have
his/her user name and password on the device.
 Incorporate a system to make patient’s fearless and relaxed while undergoing
intravenous therapy: - This can be achieved by incorporating a separate window tab
into the touch screen display so that one part of the display is used for looking at the
patient’s superficial vein; and the other part is used for playing different videos that can
attract the patient’s attention undergoing intravenous therapy.
 Adding features like vital signs (blood pressure, pulse oximetry, pulse rate) to the
device. In order to add the above mentioned vital signs, all that is required is to add
sensors and recovers for each vital sign. The good thing is raspberry pi microprocessor
and a 3.5 inch LCD touch screen display can be common for the vein finder part and all
the other vital signs. This will reduce the cost by providing a device with many functions
than buying a single separate device. Since raspberry pi microprocessor has an operating
system, one can install Arduino IDI on it and write an Arduino code that runs on
raspberry pi microprocessor for the aforementioned vital signs.
 Interfacing raspberry pi microprocessor and Matlab software for processing
images: - The processing stage can be high pass filter where the low value pixels in the
image are blocked and the high pixels are enhanced. In image enhancement, histogram
equalization and image segmentation is recommended.

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References
[1] Rivera A, Strauss K, Zundert A Et al. Matching the peripheral intravenous catheter to the
individual patient. Acta. Anaesth. Belg.58, 19-25 (2011).

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

Appendix
Appendix A: The pairwise cooperation chart.
X Durability Size Cost Safety Temp. Aesthetics Efficiency Total

Durability X 0.8 0.7 0.1 0.3 0.9 0.3 3.2

Size 0.2 X 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.8 0.1 1.6

Cost 0.3 0.8 X 0.2 0.2 0.9 0.2 2.7

Safety 0.9 0.9 0.8 X 0.5 1 0.7 4.8

Temperature 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.5 X 0.9 0.7 4.4

Aesthetics 0.1 0.2 0.1 0 0.1 X 0.1 0.6

Efficiency 0.7 0.9 0.8 0.3 0.3 0.9 X 3.9

Appendix B: Python code on lx terminal for interfacing the camera sensor and raspberry pi
microprocessor

./RPi_Cam_Web_Interface_Installer.sh update
# if needed
./RPi_Cam_Web_Interface_Installer.sh install
git clone https://github.com/silvanmelchior/RPi_Cam_Web_Interface.git
cd RPi_Cam_Web_Interface
chmod u+x RPi_Cam_Web_Interface_Installer.sh
./RPi_Cam_Web_Interface_Installer.sh install
webcontrol_port 6642
webcontrol_localhost on
webcontrol_html_output off
sudo chown www-data:www-data /etc/motion/motion.conf
sudo chmod 664 /etc/motion/motion.conf
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>RPi Cam Preview</title>
<script src="script_min.js"></script>
</head>
<body onload="setTimeout('init();', 100);">
<center>

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<div><img id="mjpeg_dest" /></div>

</center>
</body>
</html>
js:
var mjpeg_img;
function reload_img () {
mjpeg_img.src = "cam_pic.php?time=" + new Date().getTime();
}function error_img () { setTimeout("mjpeg_img.src = 'cam_pic.php?time=' + new
Date().getTime();", 100);
}f
unction init() {
mjpeg_img = document.getElementById("mjpeg_dest");
mjpeg_img.onload = reload_img;
mjpeg_img.onerror = error_img;
reload_img();
}
Appendix C: The pin lay out of raspberry pi microprocessor

Appendix D: Code to interface and load a driver for a 3.5 LCD screen on raspberry pi.
sudo rm -rf LCD-show
git clone https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show.git
chmod -R 755 LCD-show
cd LCD-show/
sudo ./LCD35-show

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 Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

chmod -R 755 LCD-show

cd LCD-show/
sudo ./LCD-hdmi
Appendix E: Recommendation Letter

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Vein Finder Device Using Spectroscopic Imaging 2019

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