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US 9,194,390 B1Granted
Pump tester
AssigneePronk Technologies Inc.
InventorsKarl A. Ruiter, Mirik Hovsepian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of and devices for testing medical pumps via tracking induced bubble trajectories within a fluid flow conduit comprising a valve and methods of synchronized corrections of flow data estimates.
Claims18
A method of measuring fluid flow, the method comprising:
- initiating a fluid flow in a conduit and in a first direction;
- tracking, by a signal processing unit, a travel of an edge of a bubble present in the fluid flow and moving in the first direction;
- stopping the fluid flow;
- initiating the fluid flow in a second direction, wherein the second direction is a direction that is a reverse direction of the first direction;
- and
- tracking, by the signal processing unit, a travel of the edge of the bubble present in the fluid flow and moving in the second direction.
3 more elements
A pump tester comprising:
- a light-transmissive fluid conduit;
- at least one valve disposed between a fluid inlet port and the light-transmissive fluid conduit;
- at least one imager configured to image at least a portion of the light-transmissive fluid conduit;
- and
- a signal processing unit comprising a central processor and addressable memory, the signal processor configured to:
- output a signal to the at least one valve to effect at least one of:
- (i) fluid flow from the inlet port through the at least one valve and into the light-transmissive fluid conduit in a first fluid flow direction, (ii) fluid flow blocked in the light-transmissive fluid conduit by the at least one valve, and (iii) fluid flow from the inlet port through the at least one valve and into the light-transmissive fluid conduit in a second fluid flow direction, wherein the second fluid flow direction is a reverse direction of the first fluid flow direction;
- and
- output a signal to the at least one imager to effect at least one of:
- (i) tracking a travel of an edge of a bubble in the light-transmissive fluid conduit moving in the first fluid flow direction;
- (ii) switching a tracking position to an opposite side of the bubble when the fluid flow is blocked;
- and (iii) tracking the travel of the edge of the bubble in the light-transmissive conduit moving in the second fluid flow direction.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.