EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Summer / Winter Time

Yes, Huw, and there was at least one other ancient thread on this topic, and it included a poll (...perhaps it's time for another)!

Anyone got a prototype ready to rock the world with yet?

The spec so far:-

1) Small, rugged, cheap and easy to fit to parent equipment (inside or outside, depending upon application).
2) Receiving MSF (Modulated Standard Frequencies) clock signals from Anthorn. Unit to default to GMT (UTC).
3) Possibility to bring out clock display onto parent equipment.
4) RFID enabled (ie, to act as a transmitter in an RFID equipment locating system).
5) Powered from own battery (but with an ability to sip power from parent equipment).
6) Must not invade parent equipment (ie, any condition monitoring, sensor monitoring etc. to use eaves dropping technology [EDT] only)!
7) Programmable and able to generate signals (optionally a slowly flashing LED, a mild bleep and a RF signal in response to interrogation from a passing technician’s hand-held device) in case of (for example, and in respect of parent equipment):-

a) Announce presence
b) PM falling due (by date)
c) Pre-defined failure modes (eg, battery level)
d) "Tilt" (drop) sensor being triggered
e) Unplugged from mains power

8) Non-volatile (battery-backed) memory for data logging, to include (for example):-

a) Hours run
b) Mains on/off
c) Logging of events dependent on type of parent equipment (eg, alarm conditions, defib discharges etc.)
d) Other recordings (eg, temp, humidity etc.)

We need to decide upon:-

1) Type of battery.
2) Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or both?
3) RFID ... active, passive, or both?
4) Should we also go for "mains power signaling" (ie, sending signals through the fixed mains-power wiring to another location within the building - easy, then, to notice when the equipment has been unplugged)?

Hi

I was looking at the posts about the Fluke trackers ages ago but now I've come back to get some info the links dont point to them. Does anyone know whether their still selling them? Our hospital is getting more wireless points so theyd be worth looking at for our library in the future. The library staff are run ragged looking for stuff.

Only thing is I was a bit put off about the post saying the power outputs the same as a mobile phone because they say you shouldnt put mobile phones within six feet of medical equipment. Is that right? Sounds a bit dodgy if thats true.

There are quite a few alternatives about, Rob.

But ... why not make your own (see my earlier posts, like the one above)!

Hiya

If my lecturer at tech got wind of me dsigning anything then hed be doubled up laughing! Them Fluke trackers look like their made for the job but I can't find anyhing.

Thanks for the links Geoff I'll have a look, theres RFID and WiFi so I'll see how they work. Do you know anywere thats using that sort of thing?

Don't sell yourself short, Mate! Meanwhile, here's a handy little site that I quite like.

And don't forget the Rigel Brain Cell idea (there are a load of links from that page)!

Next weekend those of us lucky enough to reside in the paradise that is Modern Britain are once again required to touch our forelocks (or at least, where our forelocks used to be) and dutifully put our clocks on by one hour. At the moment we are following GMT, but although Greenwich is indeed in London, we follow the ritual of changing the clocks twice each year (forward in the spring, back in the autumn).

In those bygone happy days when the typical household had only one clock (set on the mantle piece above the hearth), this was probably not too onerous a task. But in these more hectic days when we have many devices containing a clock (especially, of course, in our hospitals) it all becomes a bit much. I wonder when some bright spark is going to calculate how much all this effort costs our precious "economy"? Why do we not just stick with GMT throughout the year? Search me!

Frankly, I would have thought that in our modern, connected, globalized world, it doesn't really matter what hour it is, just as long as we all agree what time it is. I sometimes wonder if I'll live long enough to see the UK drag itself into the 21st. century. And I make this point whilst enjoying the lovely (?) English weather over the "Easter Bank Holiday" (early this year, for some archaic reason) in an increasingly secular (thank God) nation that banks on-line, or at the nearest ATM!

I have the Honour to remain, Ma'm, your most Humble and Obedient Servant etc., etc. ... Citizen Geoff

PS: Happy Easter, everyone!

Blame this Bloke on why the times changed!

DW - Still on the Daftside

Geoff sent me over to this topic from another.

If I read this right time/date stamp seems to be a problem here, and it is compounded by the fact that every clock in the hospital is different because the PFI partner were to cheap to have a centrally managed solution for it.

It also doesn't help that the IT depts. servers dont even point to an NTP Server.

Where I was we had 2 servers that were the NTP servers for the site. Although to date the wall clocks are still wrong however. But thats down to PFI at that site also.

Looking at using active wifi RFID(RTLS) tags could as it would just be as simple as pressing the button on the tag, that would then update a record accordingly. However I guess you want more than that.