Dialysate bag seal breakage sensor incorporated in dialysate bag management
AssigneesBaxter International Inc., Baxter Healthcare S.A.
InventorTom Westberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stand for a medical fluid treatment, a system for supporting medical fluid bags, and a method for testing and sensing whether a bag or a seal in a chamber of a multi-chamber bag has been broken prior to providing therapy. A stand stores one or more medical fluid bags, each bag stored on a single shelf. Each shelf has a sensor for sensing the presence or absence of fluid in the bag, and reporting the status of the bag to a central location, such as a computer. The sensor can also detect and report on whether fluid has leaked from the bag, or in the case of bags with two or more chambers, if a leak in a frangible seal separating the chambers has developed.
Claims19
A medical fluid supply bag stand, comprising:
- a support pole;
- at least one shelf movably connected to the support pole, the shelf configured for mounting only an upper portion of the medical fluid supply bag;
- and
- a sensor mounted on the shelf for sensing liquid in the upper portion of the supply bag, the sensor suitable for determining whether liquid is present in the upper portion.
A method of sensing medical fluid, the method comprising:
- providing a medical fluid supply bag stand, wherein at least one shelf is movably connected to the stand, the at least one shelf configured for mounting only a portion of a medical fluid supply bag, the medical fluid supply bag having at least two chambers;
- mounting only a portion of the medical fluid supply bag on the at least one shelf;
- sensing a presence of the medical fluid supply bag with a sensor mounted on the at least one shelf;
- and
- sensing an absence of liquid in the medical fluid supply bag if a seal separating the at least two chambers leaks or has been broken.
A medical fluid supply bag stand, comprising:
- a base;
- a support pole mounted on the base;
- a plurality of shelves in a vertical row, each shelf movably connected to the support pole, each shelf configured for mounting only a portion of a medical fluid supply bag;
- and
- a sensor mounted on each shelf for sensing liquid in an upper portion of the medical fluid supply bag, the sensor suitable for determining whether liquid is present in the upper portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.