Modular heater cooler with disposable heat transfer fluid circuit

A modular system for heating or cooling a patient's blood during a procedure involving extracorporeal blood circulating, the system comprising:

• a plurality of heating/cooling systems, each including:
• a heater/cooler module including a heater/cooler element fluidly coupled to a primary circuit including a heating circuit path and a cooling circuit path, and configured to heat and/or cool a first fluid in the primary circuit, wherein each of the heating and cooling circuit paths in each of the first and second heating/cooling systems are separate and fluidly coupled to the heater/cooler element;
• a heat exchanger including at least part of the primary circuit through which the first fluid flows and at least part of a secondary circuit through which a second fluid flows to facilitate heat transfer between the first fluid and the second fluid, wherein the primary circuit and the secondary circuit are separate circuits;
• and
• a heat transfer fluid circuit including at least part of the secondary circuit configured to provide the second fluid to the heat exchanger;
• wherein the secondary circuit includes at least a portion of the heat transfer fluid circuit of each of the plurality of heating/cooling systems, wherein the secondary circuit is configured to provide the second fluid to a single target device containing blood therein to heat and/or cool the blood.

A method of heating and/or cooling blood in a target device via at least first and second heater/cooler modules each including a first fluid in a primary circuit, a heater/cooler element, and a heat exchanger, the method comprising:

• pumping the first fluid through the primary circuit and the heat exchanger of each heater/cooler module, each primary circuit including a heating circuit path and a separate cooling circuit path;
• heating and/or cooling the first fluid in the primary circuit with the heater/cooler element of each of the first and second heater/cooler modules, wherein each of the separate heating and cooling circuit paths are fluidly coupled to the heater/cooler element of each of the first and second heater/cooler modules such that heating the first fluid in the primary circuit and cooling the first fluid in the primary circuit each involve pumping the first fluid through the heater/cooler element;
• providing a second fluid in a secondary circuit that is separate from the primary circuit and coupled to the primary circuit of each of the first and second heater/cooler modules, such that the first fluid and the second fluid are maintained as separate fluids;
• pumping the second fluid through the secondary circuit and the heat exchanger;
• facilitating heat transfer in the heat exchanger between the second fluid in the secondary circuit and the first fluid in the primary circuit;
• and
• providing the second fluid to the target device to facilitate heat transfer between the second fluid and the blood.