Purpose Infusion pumps are the preferred method for intravenous delivery of drugs and fluids, and an essential tool in health facilities. Their high cost, complexity and reliance on electricity pose serious challenges to wide-spread use, availability and access in low- and middle-income countries. PATH developed the RELI Delivery System (RELI), a low cost, non-electric infusion pump to address these challenges. Input collected from fifty-nine newborn and maternal care providers and from seven national level decision makers in Uganda was used to guide product development, further informing product design requirements, and optimal design features to best serve their needs. Methods A formative evaluation following a mixed methods approach including focus group discussions (FGDs), stakeholder interviews, and observations was used to collect data from end users. Results Stakeholders provided critical input on the RELI prototype design features, safety criteria, and contexts of use of infusion pumps, as well as recommendations for design refinements. Infusion systems are greatly needed but not readily available and their use is limited to well-resourced higher level facilities, even though the need is high in non-tertiary care hospital where patient volume is high, resources are scarce, power is inconsistent, and facilities are understaffed and overcrowded. Users expressed a need for an affordable and simple device with an intuitive user interface, clear instructions for use, and basic safety features. Conclusion The study provided important guidance for further design refinements based on input from respondents and confirmed the need for robust, affordable, infusion pumps that meet the requirements for use in low-resource settings.
An ongoing program has made further technology advances in onboard fuel processors for use with PEM fuel cells. These systems are being explored as an option for reducing vehicle CO 2 emissions and for other benefits such as fuel-flexibility that would allow vehicles to operate on a range of bio-fuels, conventional fuels, and synthetic fuels to support diversification and/or "greening" of the fuel supply.As presented at the 2006 SAE World Congress 1 , Renault and Nuvera Fuel Cells previously developed fuel processor technology that achieved automotive size (80 liters) and power (1.4 g/s of hydrogen production) and reduced the startup time from more than 60 minutes to between 1.4 and 3.7 minutes to have CO <100 ppm. This paper presents an overview of the multi-fuel fuel cell power plant along with advances in the fuel processing system (FPS) technology and the testing results obtained since those reported in 2006.The latest generation of this technology has made advances by improving the hydrogen efficiency to more than 80% over the entire operating range (33 to 215 kW th fuel input) while keeping CO below the 100 ppm target, lowering the pressure drop to improve system efficiency, and simplifying the balance of plant including eliminating the need for unreliable steam components. This fuel processor system also replaced laboratory air supply components with a low pressure drop automotive-style air supply system that successfully controlled the split of flow from the main compressor into three parallel branches for the ATR, Prox, and TGC.In addition, an automotive fuel processor was tested with an automotive fuel cell stack and produced electricity from a broad range of fuels including ethanol, gasoline, and diesel. As an extreme demonstration of the fuelflexibility, data is presented for a real-time switch from ethanol to diesel while the fuel cell continues to produce electric power. This demonstrates a switch from a biofuel to a difficult conventional fuel and also shows the use of a spark ignition fuel and a compression ignition fuel in the same hardware.
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