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US 5,811,658 AGranted
Ultrasonic diversion of microair in blood
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorsMichael R. Van Driel, Jorge Jeffery, Yu-Tung Wong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Microair bubbles in a bloodstream are diverted from the bloodstream in a diversion chamber by ultrasonic energy, and are collected in a blood-filled stasis column where they can be accurately measured by a bubble detector and then vented to atmosphere. Bubbles of different sizes can be separated into different stasis columns for enhanced measurement.
Claims6
An ultrasonic microair filter for heart-lung machines or the like, comprising:
- a) a blood flow path having a blood stream flowing therethrough, said bloodstream carrying microair bubbles therein;
- b) a diversion chamber interposed in said blood path;
- c) at least one stasis column, said diversion chamber communicating with said stasis column at a point laterally spaced from said blood path;
- and
- d) a transducer so acoustically connected to said diversion chamber as to radiate acoustic energy through said diversion chamber in a direction transverse to said bloodstream and toward said stasis column;
- e) said acoustic energy being of a power level and frequency sufficient to push said microair bubbles out of said bloodstream into said stasis column.
3 more elements
An ultrasonic microair filter for heart-lung machines or the like, comprising:
- a) a blood flow path having a bloodstream flowing therethrough, said bloodstream carrying microair bubbles therein;
- b) a diversion chamber interposed in said blood path;
- c) at least one stasis column, said diversion chamber communicating with said stasis column at a point laterally spaced from said blood path;
- and
- d) a transducer so acoustically connected to said diversion chamber as to radiate acoustic energy through said diversion chamber in a direction transverse to said bloodstream and toward said stasis column;
- e) said acoustic energy being of a power level and frequency sufficient to push said microair bubbles out of said bloodstream into said stasis column;
- f) said filter having a plurality of stasis columns spaced from one another in a direction transverse to said bloodstream, said acoustic power level and frequency being such that bubbles of a first predetermined range of sizes are diverted into one of said stasis columns, and bubbles of another predetermined size range are diverted into another of said static columns.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.