Introduction

As a sophomore in college, I worked with a senior design team on their final project required to graduate. This particular project was a biomedical engineering department project. A very interesting project for me as I have always been fascinated by the intersection of the human body and technology. In this case, an incubator to keep premature babies alive. The primary goal of this specific incubator was to function independently of a power grid. Many underdeveloped areas have either intermittent access or even no access to power. We believed that your location shouldn’t stop you from having access to life-saving technology, so we built the Apollo Neonatal Incubator. This incubator was designed to monitor and maintain its internal temperature to a suitable level for a neonate that isn’t able to regulate their own body temperature. The incubator could run hours off of the internal battery and charge through solar power or anything that can provide 12 volts. I was primarily in charge of building all the electrical and control subsystems and it was really an experience for me to build custom circuits that are cheap and reliable for a variety of environments. More technical information to come.