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US 4,170,998 AGranted
Portable cooling apparatus
AssigneeChattanooga Pharmacal Company
InventorJames W. Sauder
Life of this patent
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AssigneeChattanooga Pharmacal Company
InventorJames W. Sauder
Estimating the term…
An improved portable refrigeration apparatus for cooling a limb of a patient or the like, and which includes at least one flexible pad adapted to be wrapped around a bodily limb and which incorporates flexible tubing serving as an evaporator. A separate auxiliary evaporator is positioned downstream of the pad to insure that all of the refrigerant is evaporated before returning to the compressor. Also, there is provided a temperature control system for the pad which includes a by-pass conduit which by-passes the pad, and a temperature controlled valve for selectively opening and closing the by-pass conduit, and so that the refrigerant will flow concurrently through the by-pass conduit and the pad when the valve is opened. In one embodiment, a positive pressure device is provided for maintaining a selected refrigerant pressure in the pad and to thereby prevent a possible vacuum in the tubing of the pad, and in addition, there may be provided a resistive heating element at the pad so that the apparatus may be selectively used for heating the limb of a patient.
A portable apparatus for cooling a limb of a patient or the like and comprising a compressor, a condenser, expansion valve means, at least one flexible pad adapted to be wrapped around a bodily limb and including flexible tubing serving as an evaporator, an auxiliary evaporator, conduit means for circulating a refrigerant composition serially from said compressor to said condenser, to said expansion valve means, to said tubing, to said auxiliary evaporator and back to said compressor, a by-pass conduit operatively connected to said conduit means and extending from a point downstream of said compressor and upstream of said pad to a point downstream of said pad and upstream of said auxiliary evaporator, and by-pass valve means for selectively opening and closing said by-pass conduit and so that the refrigerant composition will flow concurrently through the by-pass conduit and through the flexible tubing of said pad when said by-pass conduit is open, whereby the temperature of said pad may be controlled by the opening and closing of said by-pass valve means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.