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-"Wirelox is a recent and promising technology"

"Wirelox is a recent and promising technology"

It was a challenging Project for Linde Saúde and CeNTI. The Wirelox Project’s promoters are satisfied with its results and believe in its potential.

Read the interview with the project responsible of each entity - Leonel Lourenço, Project Manager from Linde Saúde, and Juliana Soares, Project Manager from CeNTI - and find out why Wirelox was born, in what context, and what are its main objectives and functionalities.

How did the idea of developing Wirelox came up?

The Wirelox Project arose from Linde’s internal need to improve the management and control of resources (material and human). This need was intensified by the pandemic situation. Linde intends to reduce the number of Linde professionals' visits to patient’s homes, protecting them from the risk of contagion, a critical aspect at times of many requests as in a pandemic situation.

With a view of continuous improvement, and as, at Linde, we have a solid commitment to the safety of our patients and home care technicians, Wirelox is an essential step in that direction. The primary motivation for creating Wirelox is to eliminate unnecessary interactions related to the replacement of liquid oxygen. As is known, patients with respiratory diseases are particularly susceptible to this pandemic that is devastating us. Mitigating COVID-19 transmission risk is at the heart of this initiative and the creation of this equipment. It is in this context that the idea of developing Wirelox was born.

What problems does it mean to solve?

Without access to oxygen level information from the patient's home, deliveries that happen earlier than needed are frequent. The logistics process, before Wirelox, was set up according to the theoretical oxygen consumption that resulted in a prediction of when delivering liquid oxygen to the patient. In this way, Wirelox allows you to adjust the visit day according to the patient's actual needs.

Is Wirelox an innovative solution in the national market? (or are there similar solutions already)?

From the research carried out at the time of the application and throughout the Project, it was found that there are no devices similar to the one contemplated in the Project on the market.

What are its main features or innovative qualities?

At this moment, the technologies used to monitor the oxygen level inside the containers are ultrasound technologies or sensors directly contacting oxygen, with wireless communication. However, these solutions are expensive, and it is needed intervention in homelox, which are certified medical devices. The Wirelox solution aims to develop a plug & play device without requiring any intervention in the current homelox, thus avoiding the need to re-certify the homelox.

How will it work in practice?

This solution will be attached to the homelox, by a Linde technician, and it's intended that through an electromechanical button, the set of LEDs that demonstrate the oxygen level of the container is activated, sending the information via Wi-Fi to Linde's server and management platform.

What are its main advantages for the patients?

The main advantages for the patient are the reduction of the number of visits by Linde technician, and it's a small device with no significant impact on their daily lives.

Less exposure to contamination risk by COVID-19 is in the first line of expected results. The patient has even more flexibility in leaving the house and does not need to be available to receive the Linde technician for home visits. This benefit is also applicable to family members when they are the patient's caregivers.

And for the company, what are the main advantages?

Our technicians’ safety comes first. But there are others more related to operational questions. The reduction in the number of trips makes the operation more efficient, giving a real contribution to Linde's competitiveness in providing services.
Reducing the waste of unused liquid oxygen molecules is also an essential contribution to making service delivery to the patient more efficient.

There are also sustainability benefits because it reduces the ecological footprint with the lowest fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. 
Looking ahead, there is a possibility to expand Wirelox's scope and create a consumption register. Thus, it will be possible to use this information to develop trends and help doctors and patients to adjust the parameters and make treatment decisions.

When is estimated its introduction in the market?

Wirelox is a recent and promising technology. Nevertheless, it requires more testing and development. We are convinced that soon we will give you more news about its use on a larger scale.

** This Project is co-financed by Portugal 2020, under the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE2020) through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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