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US 12,140,127 B2Granted
Pump having a pressure sensor to displace a known volume of fluid from a reservoir, which stretches and contracts
AssigneeFize Medical Ltd.
InventorNoam Levine
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fluid flow meter comprising a fluid pump to displace fluid with pumping strokes of one or more pumping stroke types wherein each of the one or more stroke types displaces a known volume of fluid, a sensor functionally associated with a fluid reservoir and adapted to generate a signal indicative of a fluid pumping condition within the fluid reservoir, which fluid reservoir is integral or functionally associated with the pump, and circuitry to trigger one or a sequence of strokes of the pump in response to a signal from the sensor.
Claims14
A method for controlling a pump, comprising:
- connecting the pump to an outlet of a fluid reservoir, which has an inlet connected to a fluid source and which stretches and contracts in response to changes in a volume of the fluid within the reservoir;
- sensing a pressure of the fluid in the fluid reservoir using a sensor coupled to the outlet of the fluid reservoir;
- using a controller coupled to the sensor, activating the pump when the sensed pressure reaches a defined threshold to displace a known volume of the fluid from the fluid reservoir,
- wherein the pump is activated when the pressure reaches an upper threshold, and wherein the method comprises continuing to activate the pump until the sensed pressure falls below a lower threshold;
- counting a number of cycles of the pump over a period of time, wherein the cycles displace respective cycle volumes;
- and
- calculating a rate of flow of the fluid through the outlet from the fluid reservoir based on the counted number and the cycle volumes.
4 more elements
Apparatus for pumping a fluid, comprising:
- a pump configured for connection to an outlet of a fluid reservoir, which has an inlet connected to a fluid source and which stretches and contracts in response to changes in a volume of the fluid within the reservoir;
- a pressure sensor configured to be coupled to the outlet of the fluid reservoir and to sense a pressure of the fluid in the fluid reservoir;
- and
- a controller coupled to the sensor and configured, when the sensed pressure reaches a defined threshold, to activate the pump to displace a known volume of the fluid from the fluid reservoir,
- wherein the controller is configured to activate the pump when the pressure reaches an upper threshold, and to continue to activate the pump until the sensed pressure falls below a lower threshold, and
- wherein the controller is configured to count a number of cycles of the pump over a period of time, wherein the cycles displace respective cycle volumes, and to calculate a rate of flow of the fluid through the outlet from the fluid reservoir based on the counted number and the cycle volumes.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.