Tube connecting apparatus
AssigneeTerumo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHiroaki Sano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tube connecting apparatus includes first and second tube holders holding flexible tubes, a cutting blade for heating, melting and cutting the tubes held by the holders between the holders, and a holder displacing mechanism for relatively displacing the second holder to the first holder to closely contact and connect cutting ends of the tubes each other. Each of the first and second tube holders has a tube holding portion which holds the tubes in a state that the circular cylindrical surfaces of the tubes which are contacting each other.
Claims13
A tube connecting apparatus comprising:
- first and second tube holders for holding a plurality of flexible tubes, each tube holder including a tube holding portion having a groove which possesses a width that is substantially the same as that of each tube and into which the tubes are received and held in a stacked state so that peripheral surfaces of the tubes contact each other;
- a cutting device which heats, melts, and cuts the tubes held by the first and second tube holders at a position between the first and second tube holders;
- and
- a tube holder displacing device which displaces the second tube holder relative to the first tube holder after the tubes held by the first and second tube holders are cut by the cutting device at a location between the tube holders, and connects cut ends of the tubes held by the second tube holder to cut ends of the tubes held by the first tube holder.
A tube connecting apparatus comprising:
- a first tube holder and a second tube holder, the first and second tube holders each having a groove for receiving a plurality of flexible tubes, the groove of the first tube holder being aligned with the groove of the second tube holder;
- a cutting device for heating, melting and cutting the tubes held in the groove of the first tube holder and the groove of the second tube holder at a position between the first and second tube holders;
- and
- a tube holder displacing device for displacing the second tube holder relative to the first tube holder about an axis extending through the groove in the second tube holder after the tubes have been cut by the cutting device at a position between the first and second tube holders and for effecting connection of cut ends of the tubes held in the groove of the second tube holder to cut ends of the tubes held in the groove of the first tube holder.
A method for cutting tubes and connecting together cut ends of the tubes comprising:
- placing a first tube in a groove in a first tube holder and in a groove in a second tube holder so that the first tube is located in and extends between the groove in the first tube holder and the groove in the second tube holder;
- placing a second tube in said groove in the first tube holder and in said groove in the second tube holder so that the second tube is located in and extends between the groove in the first tube holder and the groove in the second tube holder and so that the first and second tubes are in stacked relation to one another;
- melting and cutting the first and second tubes at a location between the first and second tube holders to produce first and second cut ends on both the first and second tubes;
- displacing the second tube holder relative to the first tube holder;
- and
- connecting the first cut end of the first tube to the second cut end of the second tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.