US 5,490,500 AGranted

Anesthetic evaporator with intermediate container

AssigneeDragerwerk Aktiengesellschaft

InventorsDirk-Stefan Reichert, Gunther Hahmann, Wolfgang Falb

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Abstract

An anesthetic evaporator according to the bypass principle, in which a carrier gas system is partially led through an evaporation chamber, is enriched with an anesthetic vapor to saturation there, and is again fed into the bypass flow. The function of the elements that influence the metering are not impaired by the penetration of anesthetic in an unintentional position other than the position intended for operation, and that the anesthetic located in the mixed gas outlet is not influenced by anesthetic located outside the evaporation chamber. Either the evaporation chamber line leading to the evaporation chamber or the return line leading from the evaporation chamber to the flow regulating valve opens into an intermediate container, from which a channel communicates with the interior of the evaporation chamber. Anesthetic once penetrated into the intermediate container cannot accumulate even when the anesthetic evaporator is repeatedly placed into an unintended position, but an amount which does not impair the function of the anesthetic evaporator will remain in it [the intermediate container], or it evaporates during the operation, or it can again be emptied into the evaporation chamber in a simple manner.

Claims16

Dependent claims

Anesthetic evaporator, comprising:

a housing defining an evaporation chamber containing a liquid anesthetic, said housing having a gas inlet and a gas outlet, said liquid anesthetic in said evaporation chamber defining a liquid level, said inlete having a point of separation;
a wick device extending into said evaporation chamber, said wick device being impregnated with said liquid anesthetic;
an evaporation chamber line connected to said gas inlet and extending from said point of separation into said evaporation chamber;
a bypass line connected to said gas inlet and extending from said point of separation to said outlet;
a return line connecting said bypass line to said evaporation chamber;
a flow regulating valve arranged in said return line;
adjusting means connected to said flow regulating valve for metering an amount of carrier gas enriched with anesthetic flowing from said evaporation chamber into said bypass line;
and
an intermediate container forming an independent vessel within said evaporation chamber, at least one of said evaporation chamber line and said return line opening into said intermediate container, said intermediate container having a channel with a channel opening, said channel extending into said evaporation chamber from said intermediate container and communicating with an interior of said evaporation chamber whereby anesthetic which has penetrated into said intermediate chamber can be emptied.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.