Pump-Based Fluid Flow Meter
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.
Claims29
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;
- and
- 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.
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.
A fluid flow meter for metering fluid, the fluid flow meter comprising:
- a fluid connection to a fluid reservoir;
- a fluid pump with an outlet and an inlet, wherein the inlet is functionally associated with the fluid connection and adapted to displace metered amounts of fluid from the fluid connection by pumping strokes, wherein each of the pumping strokes of the pump displaces a known volume of fluid;
- a sensor adapted to:
- (1) be functionally associated with the fluid reservoir, (2) sense a fluid pressure in the fluid reservoir, and (3) generate a signal indicative of the sensed fluid pressure;
- and
- a controller adapted to command the pump to pump a single pumping stroke or a series of a known number of pumping strokes of the pump in response to the signal from the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.