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US 8,997,998 B2Granted
Controller for an acoustic standing wave generation device in order to prevent clogging of a filter
AssigneeSmith & Nephew, Inc.
InventorsStephen John Curran, Jonathan Nicholas Ridgway, Pei-Sheng Chen, Michael Pratt, Marc Tanner, Stephen Latham, Nick Reback
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and apparatus to continuously monitor and control acoustic energy and vacuum pressure to maintain a net unidirectional flow of multi-phase heterogeneous fluids through a porous filter or membrane. The heterogenous fluid may come form a variety of sources including biological sources such as, blood, bone marrow aspirate (BMA), adipose tissue (lipoaspirate), urine, saliva, etc.
Claims14
An apparatus for separating a solid fraction from a fluid sample, the apparatus comprising:
- a filtration unit comprising:
- an energy generating element;
- at least one filter which divides the unit into a pre-filtration chamber for receiving the fluid sample and a post-filtration chamber for receiving a fluid;
- and
- a substrate configured to be associated with the fluid in the post-filtration chamber and with the energy generating element such that the energy generating element is operable to transmit energy through the substrate which in turn transmits energy through the fluid in the post-filtration chamber and through the fluid sample within the pre-filtration chamber;
- a sensor capable of measuring an amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- a controller capable of controlling characteristics of energy made by the energy generating element as a function of the measured amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- and a suction device to remove fluid from the post-filtration chamber, thereby applying a vacuum pressure across the filter so as to generate a net unidirectional flow of fluids through the filter from the pre-filtration chamber to the post-filtration chamber.
5 more elements
An apparatus for separating a solid fraction from a fluid sample, the apparatus comprising:
- a filtration unit comprising:
- an energy generating element;
- at least one filter which divides the unit into a pre-filtration chamber for receiving the fluid sample and a post-filtration chamber for receiving a fluid filtrate thereof;
- and
- a substrate configured to be associated with the post-filtration chamber and to be associated with the energy generating element, such that the energy generating element is operable to transmit energy to the substrate, which in turn transmits energy through both the fluid within the post-filtration chamber and the fluid sample within the pre-filtration chamber;
- a sensor to measure an amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- a controller to control at least the energy generating element so as to adjust characteristics of the energy produced as a function of the measured amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- and
- a device to apply a first pressure to move fluid from the post-filtration chamber through the filter into the pre-filtration chamber, and a device to apply a second pressure to move fluid from the pre-filtration chamber though the filter to the post-filtration chamber.
6 more elements
A system for separating a solid fraction from a fluid sample, the system comprising:
- a filtration unit comprising:
- an energy generating element;
- at least one filter which divides the unit into a pre-filtration chamber for receiving the fluid sample and a post-filtration chamber for receiving a fluid filtrate from the at least one filter and the pre-filtration chamber;
- and
- a substrate configured to be associated with the post-filtration chamber and with the energy generating element such that energy made by the energy generating element is operable to transmit energy to the substrate which in turn transmits energy to both the fluid within the post-filtration chamber and the fluid sample within the pre-filtration chamber;
- a sensor to measure an amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- a controller to control at least the energy generating element so as to adjust characteristics of the energy produced as a function of the measured amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- and
- a filter tipping device to tilt at least the pre-filtration chamber so as to facilitate collection of the material within the pre-filtration chamber.
6 more elements
A system for separating a solid fraction from a fluid sample, the system comprising:
- a filtration unit comprising:
- an energy generating element;
- at least one filter which divides the unit into a pre-filtration chamber for receiving the fluid sample and a post-filtration chamber for receiving a fluid filtrate from the pre-filtration channel and at least one filter;
- and
- a substrate configured to be associated with the post-filtration chamber and with the energy generating element, the substrate when associated with the energy generating element capable of at least one of motion, vibration, resonation, or movement in response to the energy generating element which in turn transmits energy through both the fluid within the post-filtration chamber and the fluid sample within the pre-filtration chamber;
- an amount sensor to measure an amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- a controller to control at least the energy generating element so as to adjust characteristics of the energy generated as a function of the measured amount of fluid in the pre-filtration chamber;
- an electronic measuring device to measure a degree of filtration and for generating a signal when a predetermined degree of filtration has been achieved;
- and
- a filter tilting device to tilt the filter from a first orientation relative to a horizontal plane to a second orientation relative to the horizontal plane;
- wherein the filter tilting device is operable to tilt the filter in response to the signal from the electronic measuring device.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.