Bringing Glucose Monitoring to New Levels through Integrated Sensor Design
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Country
- Worldwide
Product
- COMSOL Multiphysics®
- Roche Glucometers
Tech Stack
- Multiphysics Simulation
- Michaelis Menten Enzyme Kinetics
- Butler-Volmer Electrode Kinetics
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Customer Satisfaction
- Innovation Output
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
- Life Sciences
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Clinical Image Analysis
- Remote Patient Monitoring
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Roche Diabetes Care, a division of Roche Diagnostics, is a global leader in diabetes diagnostic products and services. The company is dedicated to improving the lives of people with diabetes through innovative solutions and technologies. Roche Diabetes Care offers a wide range of products, including glucose meters, test strips, and insulin delivery systems, designed to help individuals manage their diabetes effectively. With a strong focus on research and development, Roche Diabetes Care continuously strives to enhance the accuracy and reliability of its products, ensuring that users can make informed decisions about their health. The company operates worldwide, providing support and resources to healthcare professionals and patients alike.
The Challenge
Close metabolic control through glucose monitoring is essential for persons with diabetes to maintain good health and avoid medical complications. However, the chemical reactions on the sensing strips used in glucose monitors are sensitive to environmental conditions and chemical interferences. Sensors are shipped worldwide, stored under uncertain conditions, and used by individuals with varying levels of knowledge and experience. Robust design is crucial for enabling sensors to survive these environments, deliver accurate results, and detect conditions that would cause errors. Multiphysics simulation is now used alongside experiments and calculations, enabling scientists to understand the chemical, electrical, and biological phenomena interacting in these systems so they can optimize their design and measurement methods.
The Solution
Engineers at Roche Diabetes Care are pursuing a better understanding of the electrochemistry in their existing devices and designing new sensing methods to provide more accurate monitoring. Their glucometers measure the electric current that results when a voltage is applied to an electrode system, with the current being proportional to glucose levels in an electrolyte solution. Using COMSOL Multiphysics® software simulations, the Roche team studied a new test strip design and isolated the chemical reactions from the electrical, mechanical, and temperature conditions to analyze the voltage response. They built a one-dimensional model to understand and predict the responses, combining Michaelis Menten enzyme kinetics and mixed Butler-Volmer electrode kinetics. Additionally, they applied an AC signal to obtain impedance information used to compensate for temperature and hematocrit effects. This mathematical algorithm provided the sensor with the information needed to make accurate glucose predictions. The team also built a second model of the cell in 3D to solve the electrical problem, investigating different electrode configurations and materials to predict the sensitivity of the impedance measurements to hematocrit and other mechanical properties of the sensor.
Operational Impact
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