Low Cost High Efficiency Hemodialysis Fibre

Indian Patent Filling No.: 754/KOL/2014b dated 11-07-2014

[Updated: Award won:
1. National Award for Technology Innovation in the category of Polymer in public healthcare 2015
2. DST Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Program Award 2015 (video at the end of this post)]

Haemodialysis is a very expensive treatment procedure, administered to people suffering from end stage renal disease (ESRD). The crux of the problem lies in replacing the faltered kidney function with a cartridge driven mechanism to purify blood in an extracorporeal circuit. This cartridge has 7000 to 15,000 hollow fibres of 180-220 microns inner diameter and 15-35 micron thickness, thereby yielding a surface area of 1 m-square  or more for filtration. The focus of the problem lies in the spinning of fibres of specific dimensions, which is also a proprietary technology of the manufacturing houses of such fibres. Usually, the spinning of fibres is carried out with spinerrets, which are thousands of dollars in terms of their cost. These cartridges are generally German, Japanese or Korean imports to India, and cost anything around 1500-2500 INR per cartridge. A person suffering from ESRD requires at least 3 dialysis sessions per week. Ideally a fresh new cartridge is desired for every session, but for a developing economy like India, where reuse is indeed the name of the game, one cartridge is used for two or three sessions. This has a twofold negative effect. One, it is extremely unhygienic for a single cartridge to put to use for multiple sessions. Secondly, fouling of membrane reduces the performance of the cartridge, thereby prolonging the receding sessions. Prolonged dialysis sessions challenge the patients’ capability to withstand the ordeal of the process.




To address this, IIT Kharagpur research team comprising of Professor S. De and Mr. Aniban Roy with able support from Dr. Liyod Vincent, Senior Consultant Nephrologist and Clinical Director Dialysis Services of Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital, and Dr. Shyam Vasudeva Rao, President and CTO, Forus Health Pvt. Ltd have come up with a novel technology titled, "Low cost spinning and fabrication of high efficiency (HE) haemodialysis cartidge." Its Indian Patent is filed on 11th July, 2014 and international filing process is underway.

Members of the inventing explained us the USP of this technology. This patent introduces, for the first time, a technology to spin high efficiency (HE) dialysis grade hollow fibres (molecular weight cut off of 6000 Daltons), that too with the help of cheap needle assembly. Needle assemblies, made of disposable syringes, thereby reduce the costs by at least 5 orders of magnitude. The process design is such that it requires no electricity for its production. The invention discusses the detailed composition and spinning of HE dialysis fibres, with comparable urea, creatinine clearance values, ultrafiltration coefficient (K) and Kt/V values as reported in the literatures for dialysis operation. 

We were told that the cartridge thus developed is ultra low cost, and the sum of parts do not even look like reaching Rs. 100 which is about 15-20 times lower than existing product in the market. The inventing team helped us explaining this with a summary of technology details. 

The basic technology behind extrusion in this article was the assembly based on disposable syringes. This is depicted Fig. 1(a). A syringe of 230 microns diameter was bent at angle of 120 degree and inserted into an outer needle of diameter 700 microns. Both the syringes were commercially available, each costing Rs. 10 (USD 0.15). This assembly was sealed with adhesive to make it leak proof and also to maintain the concentric arrangement of the needles. The extrusion mechanism was carried out as depicted in Fig. 1(b) and 1(c). The polymer flow was facilitated by the pressure applied (140-200 kPa) by the nitrogen cylinder and the water was flown from an overhead tank due to gravity. The minimum height maintained for the spinning of fibers was 160 cm from the ground. The water flowing through the syringe forms the hollow core of the fiber which, after extrusion, was put into the gelation bath containing normal tap water. The fibers were then wound on the spool. In this whole arrangement, there was no need of electricity anywhere, except in the final step where the spool was rotated by a variable voltage variable frequency drive. Cost of syringe assembly was $0.3 (Rs.20) and the rest of the paraphernalia too were non-expensive making this technology to be ultra-low cost.

The industrial partners of this project, M/s Forus Health Pvt. Ltd. And M/s Renalyx Health Systems are going ahead with the commercialization of the technology.

Cell-Filled Concrete Pavement Technology

Patent Filing No. 1735/KOL/2007 dated 27-07-2007

IIT Kharagpur has developed a new technology for the construction of roads with flexible  concrete at a  cost lower than  that of  a black top road. The expected life can be about 15-20 years. The method of construction makes the concrete flexible, and the surface does not crack. It is labour based, maintenance free and ideally suited to rural road construction as per the policy of the government where employment generation is very important for the empowerment of the poor. It requires less initial cost than the conventional pavement. The technology can also be used for overlays over damaged black top roads, pavements of footpath, roads of housing complex, container yards, haul roads for transport of mineral products, parking area of heavy vehicles etc.

During August 22 - 25, 2014 a technology transfer workshop took place in the Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur for the engineers of Rural Engineering Dept.of Uttar Pradesh who are looking after Prime Minister's Gran Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) activities of that state. This was the second batch of engineers from Uttar Pradesh who got trained here. The third batch will commence training on Sept. 05, 2014. Earlier such technology transfer workshop was conducted for engineers of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram state and for NRRDA (National Rural Road Development Agency).

Prof. B. B. Pandey of Dept. of Civil Engineering briefly explained the technology to us. The foundation of a road is prepared as per standard specifications for road construction. A formwork of cells of fresh or recycled polyethylene sheets is placed across the full width of road under tension. Edge protection is provided by brick on end edge or concrete blocks. A  concrete mix  is filled into the cells and compacted by a skid/pan vibrator.. The cement content is such that the 28day characteristic compressive strength is a minimum of 30 Mpa for a village road. The strength should be at least 40Mpa for container yard, haul roads, parking yards for heavy vehicles. Elastic modulus of the concrete layer as determined by FWD is found to be over 2500MPA and 100mm of flexible concrete layer is equivalent to 220mm of Water Bound Macadam base and 130mm of Bituminous Concrete.

In the valedictory function of this workshop, Prof. K. S. Reddy of Dept. of Civil Engineering mentioned that Government of India now insists on and encourages use of novel technology and there is a risk mitigation strategy to overcome our concern to adopt something new fearing that it might not work. We were told that roads on this novel technology have been constructed in West Bengal, Karnataka and Mizoram. Other states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand have  initiated measures for  the construction of cell filled concrete pavements immediately after the current  monsoon. We also learnt that in one field level implementation, the cells are being stitched  by a group of women generating an employment for 300 man-days per KM of road that is 3.75m wide.

To know more about this technology and the procedure for technology transfer, one may contact Prof. B. B. Pandey (Link), Prof. K. S. Reddy (Link), Dean, SRIC (Link), PIC, IPR & IR (Link).

Happy Birthday

Today is the Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur. Today is not only the birthday of IIT Kharagpur but also the birthday of IIT System. IIT as a brand now is recognized and respected not only in India but in advanced countries too, and it represents the aspiration, the urge of young India. Pandit Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India during his visit to IIT Kharagpur in 1956 envisioned, “Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India.” IIT Kharagpur made a modest beginning this day in 1951 with 224 students and 42 teachers.

Technology Transfer Group (TTG) is a students’ initiative under the aegis of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Kharagpur. Since its inception in 2007, TTG has played its part in generating awareness on Intellectual Property (IP) creation, IP protection and IP transfer among IIT Kharagpur research communities.  

TTG so far has conducted four editions of Industry-Academia meet, 'IndAc' in short. This is a technical exposition which has its focus in showcasing the institute's technical competence and research findings to the visiting delegates from various companies, SMEs, IIT alumni and entrepreneurs. 

The '100 Days, 100 Patents' drive was conducted by TTG in the academic year 2012-13. This aimed at spreading awareness about intellectual property as well as to promote protection of newly developed technologies. More than 170 IP abstracts were received, out of which 102 have already been filed as patents. 

After the success of the “100 Days, 100 Patents” drive, its second edition was launched as 'IP Drive 2014' this year. The biggest feature of this was the launch of the official IP Portal for IIT Kharagpur, developed by the TTG team. The portal allows hassle-free web based filing for intellectual property protection for the research fraternity at IIT Kharagpur and streamlines the whole process of submitting and reviewing an IP abstract, reducing the amount of paperwork involved. The launch of the portal was marked by an interactive seminar with Mr. T. Chandrasekhar, Director, Technology Intelligence & I.P. Management, TIFAC and Mr. J. L. Anil Kumar, Head of IP&S India at Philips Electronics India Ltd. who enlightened the students on the various aspects of the patent filing process.

TTG derives its strength from direct association of institute's Intellectual Propert Rights and Industrial Relations (IPR & IR) Office and faculty from IITKGP law school, as well as other Engineering and Science faculty.

On this glorious Institute Foundation Day, TTG launches its blog to disseminate various information related to R & D at IIT Kharagpur e.g. activities at research lab.s, new IP filing, research-talks etc. that constitute our research ecosystem. The target audience is primarily our young researchers who can find useful information here to identify and connect themselves to various R & D initiatives of the institute.

Through the vision and efforts of its patrons and members, TTG aspires to play its role humbly while IIT Kharagpur reaches greater heights in R & D space and on this auspicious day, TTG dedicates  itself once again at the service of our beloved alma mater.

For any query / suggestion / information, you are welcome to connect to any of our core committee members mentioned below (please click on the image to enlarge).