Compact Oscillometric Blood Pressure Simulator

Abstract

A system for generating pressure pulses to calibrate a blood pressure (BP) monitor or other pressure sensing device is disclosed. The oscillometric blood pressure (BP) simulator of the preferred embodiment comprises an elastomeric bladder pneumatically coupled to the BP monitor, and an actuator adapted to reversibly compress the elastomeric bladder and induce one or more pressure pulses of predetermined magnitude, duration, and frequency in the BP monitor. The elastomeric bladder generally comprises an elastomeric tube such as medical grade hose or tubing that is compressed by a piston and bearing driven by a linear actuator, preferably a stepper motor and cam. The simulator further includes a plurality of serially coupled H-bridges for energizing the stepper motor windings with bipolar square pulses.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.