Universal air bubble detector
AssigneeZevex, Inc.
InventorsTimothy A. Riley, Mark D. Stringham, David H. Blaine, Frank A. Crandall, Philip N. Eggers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A universal air bubble detector allows for use with a variety of sizes and types of tubing. The detector maintains proper alignment of a sensor emitter and receiver with different sizes of tubing. The detector may be mounted on existing equipment or may be used to monitor a tubing at any position along the tubing, and may operate in a stand alone mode or in combination with existing equipment.
Claims27
An air bubble detector for detecting the presence of air in a conduit comprising:
- an air bubble sensor having an emitter and a receiver, and an adjustment mechanism for enabling the emitter and the receiver to be moved toward and away from each other to thereby accommodate conduits of different sizes, the emitter and the receiver being attached to the adjustment mechanism so that the emitter and the receiver maintain alignment with one another so that the signal transmitted from the emitter is properly received by the receiver for any of a plurality of different conduit sizes;
- and wherein the adjustment mechanism comprises a joint for selectively increasing and decreasing the distance between the emitter and the receiver, a first pivotable mount for holding the emitter and a second pivotable mount for holding the receiver, and wherein the first and second pivotable mounts pivot to change the angular orientation of the emitter and receiver without substantially changing the distance between the emitter and receiver so that the emitter and receiver maintain alignment with each other for a variety of conduit sizes.
An air bubble detector for detecting the presence of air in a conduit comprising:
- an air bubble sensor having an emitter and a receiver, and an adjustment mechanism for enabling the emitter and the receiver to be moved towards and away from each other to thereby accommodate conduits of different sizes, the emitter and the receiver being attached to the adjustment mechanism so that the emitter and the receiver maintain alignment with one another so that a signal transmitted from the emitter is properly received by the receiver for any of a plurality of different conduit sizes;
- and wherein the emitter and the receiver are slidably mounted to arms so as to slide along the length of the arms, and wherein the arms are pivotable with respect to each other to thereby vary the distance between the emitter and the receiver.
A detector for detecting undesired substances in a fluid comprising:
- an emitter;
- a receiver spaced a distance away from the emitter;
- and an adjustment mechanism for changing the distance between the emitter and the receiver, and wherein the means for changing the distance between the emitter and the receiver maintains an alignment between the emitter and the receiver;
- and wherein the adjustment mechanism comprises a joint for varying the distance between the emitter and the receiver, a first pivotable mount for holding the emitter and a second pivotable mount for holding the receiver, and wherein the first mount and the second mount pivot to change the angular orientation of the emitter and the receiver so that the emitter and the receiver maintain alignment with each other for a variety of conduit sizes.
A detector for detecting undesired substances in a fluid comprising:
- an emitter;
- a receiver spaced a distance away from the emitter;
- and an adjustment mechanism for changing the distance between the emitter and the receiver, and wherein the means for changing the distance between the emitter and the receiver maintains an alignment between the emitter and the receiver;
- and wherein the emitter and receiver are slidably mounted to respective first and second arms, and wherein the first and second arms are pivotable with respect to each other to thereby vary the distance between the emitter and receiver.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.