Liquid anesthetic cartridges and vaporizer

A cartridge for use in a vaporizer system for providing anesthetic vapor, the cartridge comprising:

• a reservoir for use in holding liquid anesthetic material;
• a valve in fluid communication with the reservoir, the valve adapted to engage with a structure in a vaporizer system to open the valve to allow for the passage of vapor from the reservoir to the vaporizer;
• a pressure relief system in fluid communication with the reservoir to prevent pressure in the reservoir from dropping below a prescribed difference from ambient air pressure;
• and
• at least one memory device within the cartridge for holding digital data.

A vaporizer for use in the production of vapor for use in anesthesia, the vaporizer comprising:

• a means for opening a valve on a vaporizer cartridge to establish a path between the vaporizer and the vaporizer cartridge for vapor to flow from the vaporizer cartridge to the vaporizer;
• a means for heating a vaporizer cartridge reservoir;
• and
• a means for accessing digital information stored within the vaporizer cartridge to discern at least a type of liquid anesthetic material stored within the vaporizer cartridge.

A method of producing vapor from a liquid anesthetic material, the method comprising:

• inserting a cartridge into a vaporizer for vapor production;
• opening a cartridge valve to provide at least a one-way route of fluid communication between a reservoir of liquid anesthetic material and at least a portion of the vaporizer;
• transferring digital information from the cartridge to the vaporizer to provide an identification of a specific liquid anesthetic material contained within the cartridge;
• operating the vaporizer based upon vapor production information in memory accessible to the vaporizer that applies to that specific anesthetic material contained within the inserted cartridge but not to all liquid anesthetic materials;
• providing heat to the liquid anesthetic material to promote formation of vapor;
• controlling the amount of heat provided to the liquid anesthetic material based upon at least one monitoring instrument;
• and
• selectively opening at least one valve within the vaporizer to allow for vapor from the cartridge to be added to gas to create carrier gas.