Omron to launch blood pressure monitors in spring 2009

Omron Healthcare has developed two blood pressure monitors for the series, a manual upper-arm and automatic upper-arm model. Both are charged by exposure to sunlight through the solar panel at the back of the product. After just four hours of direct exposure to sunlight, the manual model can take more than 100 readings while the automatic model can take 28 readings. Wherever sunlight is available, the monitors facilitate easy readings, regardless of proximity to an electrical supply source.

The Hem-Solar blood pressure monitors are environmentally conscious and use rechargeable batteries to reduce waste and emit less Co2 by using solar energy. Omron Healthcare aims to release the products in spring 2009 and will continue R&D efforts to improve device quality with respect to temperature and humidity, and will make the devices more airtight so that they can be recharged under a wider variety of conditions.

Keiichiro Akahoshi, CEO of Omron Healthcare, said: “Hem-Solar monitors will allow health practitioners and individuals to take blood pressure readings wherever sunlight is available.”