Design and Simulation of Infant Incubator with Temperature Control

Abstract: This paper presents a concept of mathematical model of premature infants placed in an infant incubator, it is developed to investigate all heat exchange relationships, variables and factors that have an influence on the overall thermoneutrality of the environment. An incubator is a device made of a box like structure in which a premature baby kept in a controlled environment for medical care. An infant incubator provides stable temperature. The model consists of the infant incubator system which include incubator air space, incubator wall, infant core. Results of the simulation are in form of the temperature variation vs time, of the following parts of the system: infant temperatures and incubator air space temperature. The model of this simulation is a closed-loop system with a PID controller for each mode. The controller parameters are virtually calculated by the Zeigler-Nichols Method. The overall stability of the system has been achieved by applying a step input which was verified by the Root Locus Method. These simulations provide a useful basic information to prepare a real validation in future. Keywords-Infant incubator, PID controller, Zeigler-Nichols