A Complete Teardown of USB-C Curv Glucometer

In this blog, I am doing a teardown of a Made in India Curv Glucometer which you can connect to a smartphone via USB-C and in the app you will be able to access all the data.

Innovative product idea, no doubt.

I saw this product many months back on Amazon and recently purchased it to understand how they have built the product from electronics point of view.

What is a Glucometer?

A glucose meter, also known as a glucometer, is a medical device used to determine the concentration of glucose in the blood. It is commonly used by people with diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels.

The meter works by analyzing a small amount of blood, usually obtained from a fingertip prick. When the blood is applied to a test strip containing glucose oxidase, an enzyme that reacts to glucose, it generates an electrical signal. This signal is then measured and displayed as the blood glucose reading on the meter’s digital display.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices, on the other hand, use a sensor placed under the skin to measure glucose levels 24 hours a day, with the results being sent to a wearable device or cell phone. CGM devices provide real-time measurements and reduce the need for frequent fingerstick testing of glucose levels.

Back to the teardown, it comes in a very nice packaging.

This is the tiny Curv Glucometer which connects to your smartphone via USB-C port.

If you see the arrow mark, here you need to insert the test stripe.

Now, let us open and see what is there inside.

I did not like the plastic quality, it looks very low cost.

USB connector had stains.

Outer part of the enclosure is not cleaned, burs are still there.

The silk screen is not of good quality.

Looks they ended up spending more on packaging then the product itself.

If you are building a product, please focus on the product more and give priority. Everything else comes later.

Let us see the PCB of the Curv Glucometer, which all components they have used and what is the over all architecture.

This is the top side of the PCB

This is back side of the PCB

If you see closely, USB-C connection goes to U2 which is Silabs CP2102 USB to UART Converter chip. U4 is LD33 from STMicroelectronics, which is LDO, it converts 5V from USB to 3.3v for rest of the circuit.

S1 is the connector for the strip

U6 is LM358 a very common Op-amp IC, probably used for sensing the signals from the strip and feeding it back to the MCU. But, where is the MCU?

MCU is on the back side of the PCB (U1) and it is from Microchip, 16F1786 which does the whole interaction with the smartphone and sensing the strip. 5 pin ICSP connector is for the programming

Over all the design loose fairly simple. They can very easily combine MCU, USB to UART and Opamp using a single MCU. I also felt the PCB design could also be optimized.

That’s all in this teardown. I hope you have enjoyed reading and learned something new.

If you like it, do share with your friends.

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