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US 7,695,448 B2Granted
Flow control in an intravenous fluid delivery system
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDavid E. Cassidy, Eric May, Richard Bucchianeri
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An intravenous flow control system provides closed loop control to maintain a desired flow rate. The actual flow rate is determined by two techniques, a geometrically based technique that uses geometric parameters of the IV system, and a thermally based technique that uses the power input to an IV fluid warmer and the temperature of the IV fluid entering and exiting the warmer.
Claims28
A system for control of the flow of an intravenous fluid in an intravenous tubing, the system comprising:
- a body for retaining an intravenous tubing;
- a movable element cooperative with the body to engage an outer wall portion of the tubing disposed in the body and to squeeze the tubing to vary an orifice size of the tubing;
- a force transducer operative to provide a signal representative of the force applied by the movable element to the tubing and of the geometry of the tubing;
- and
- a control apparatus operative in response to the signal from the force transducer and to drive the movable element to a position to produce an orifice size needed to obtain the intended flow rate of intravenous fluid in the tubing.
2 more elements
A method for controlling flow of an intravenous fluid in an intravenous tubing, comprising:
- retaining an intravenous tubing in a body;
- engaging an outer wall portion of the tubing with a movable element to squeeze the tubing to vary an orifice size of the tubing;
- providing a signal from a force transducer representative of the force applied by the movable element to the tubing and of the orifice size of the tubing;
- and
- driving the moveable element to a position to produce an orifice size needed to obtain an intended flow rate of intravenous fluid in the tubing.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.