Apparatus and method of measuring the flow of a liquid, in particular urine, from a patient
AssigneeMaersk Medical A/S
InventorBørge Stisen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring the discharge of a liquid, in particular urine, from a patient. The apparatus includes a measuring container (1), means (H) for applying a first acoustic signal to the liquid-empty part of the measuring container (1), means (H) for recording a second acoustic signal generated in the measuring container (1) in response to the first signal, means (45) for determining a current liquid amount in the measuring container (1) on the basis of the second acoustic signal. The measuring container (1) has a measuring pipe (5) defining a liquid-empty resonance chamber for generating the second acoustic signal.
Claims14
An apparatus for measuring the discharge of a liquid, in particular urine, from a patient, and comprising:
- a container (1) for receiving said liquid, said container (1) having a bottom wall (20), a top wall (25), side walls (22, 23) and an inlet opening (2) for said liquid,
- said container (1) being adapted to define a state of maximum filling in which a liquid-empty part of the container (1) has a smallest volume,
- a measuring pipe (5) having a first opening (14), a second opening (15) and a third opening (16),
- said first opening (14) communicating with said container (1) such that said liquid in said container (1) defines a surface (7) of said liquid within said measuring pipe (5), said surface (7) being at a highest level in said state of maximum filling of said container (1),
- said second opening (15) being arranged so as to communicate with said liquid-empty part of said container (1),
- means (H) for emitting a first acoustic signal through said liquid-empty part of said container (1),
- said second (15) and third (16) openings together with said liquid surface (7) in said measuring pipe (5) defining a liquid-empty resonance chamber,
- means (M) communicating with said third opening (16) for recording a second acoustic signal generated in said resonance chamber in response to said first signal, and
- means (45) for determining a current amount of liquid in said measuring container (1) on the basis of said second acoustic signal recorded by said means (M) for recording.
A method of measuring the discharge of a liquid, in particular urine, from a patient using an apparatus comprising:
- a measuring container (1) which has a bottom wall (20), a top wall (25), side walls (22, 23) and an inlet opening for the liquid and which is adapted to define a state of maximum filling in which a liquid-empty part of the container (1) has a smallest volume,
- means (H) for emitting a first acoustic signal through the liquid-empty part of the measuring container (1),
- means (M) for recording a second acoustic signal generated in the liquid-empty part of the measuring container (1) in response to the first acoustic signal emitted through the liquid-empty part of the measuring container (1),
- data processing electronics (45) for determining a current amount of liquid in the measuring container (1) on the basis of the second acoustic signal, and
- a collecting container (11) which is in flow communication with the measuring container (1) via activatable connecting means, and which has a larger volume relative to the measuring container, said connecting means, being adapted to allow draining of the measuring container (1) in the state of maximum filling,
- wherein first data is determined by the data processing electronics for the change Atop of the liquid amount in the container immediately after the draining,
- second data is determined by the data processing electronics (45) for the change Bbottom of the liquid amount in the container immediately after the draining,
- wherein the first and the second sets of data are used for determining, by the data processing electronics, an estimate V of the discharge of liquid from the patient to the measuring container during the draining.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.