Animal cage with means for automatic detection of cage condition
AssigneeTecniplast S.P.A.
InventorsPietro Bernardini, Giovanni Malnati
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus that detects a condition of a cage for housing laboratory animals includes providing an animal cage including a base part and a top and cage means for automatically detecting at least one of at least one bedding condition corresponding to a humidity level or an occurring flooding condition. At least one of the resistance or the impedance of material between said pair of electrodes is determined using one of direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). At least one of the bedding condition or the flooding condition is measured based on a rate of one or more changes of one of a resistance or an impedance of said material between said electrodes.
Claims19
An animal cage apparatus, comprising:
- a base part and a top;
- and
- a cage condition detection apparatus that automatically detects at least one bedding condition corresponding to a humidity level or an occurring flooding condition, wherein said cage condition detection apparatus comprises at least a pair of electrodes provided proximate a bottom wall of said base part and electrically connected to conductive material positioned on an external surface of said bottom wall and projecting toward an interior portion of the cage.
A method for detecting a bedding condition, comprising:
- periodically determining at least one of a resistance or an impedance of conductive material projecting toward an interior portion of the animal cage and provided between a pair of electrodes disposed proximate an external surface of a bottom wall of a base part of an animal cage using one of direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC);
- determining whether a rate of change of the resistance or the impedance of said material between said electrodes exceeds a threshold;
- and
- providing an indication of a bedding condition when it is determined that the rate of change of the resistance or the impedance exceeds the threshold.
An animal cage, comprising:
- a base part and a top;
- and
- at least a pair of electrodes provided proximate a bottom wall of the base part and conductive material electrically connected to the pair of electrodes, positioned on an external surface of the bottom wall, and projecting toward an interior portion of the animal cage, wherein the bottom wall converges proximate the at least a pair of electrodes or the conductive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.