JPH0464366A - Liquid transporting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the setting of a size of a bubble to be detected optimally by computing the size of the bubble to be detected from a time required for the passage thereof trough an ultrasonic sensor part. CONSTITUTION:An ultrasonic sensor 4 has a pair of an ultrasonic transmitter 4a and an ultrasonic receiver 4b as opposed to each other through a liquid transporting tube 2 as being mounted on the liquid transporting tube 2. When a bubble 6 is forced being mixed in the transporting liquid 5, the bubble 6 is detected intercepting ultrasonic waves when the bubble 6 passes through the ultrasonic sensor 4. When a size of the bubble to be detected is set and inputted from a setting section 8, a microcomputer 7 computes time required for the passage of the babble with a set size through the ultrasonic sensor 4 part based on the set value and a pressure feed speed of the transporting liquid and a warning is given with a display device 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an infusion device that pumps infusion fluid and detects air bubbles when they are mixed with the infusion fluid and are forced out.

<Prior Art> As shown in FIG. 3, the bubble detector 1.0 in this type of infusion device has an ultrasonic transmitter 11a and an ultrasonic receiver when attached to the infusion tube 2. 11b and
Two sets of ultrasonic sensors 11 are provided facing each other via the infusion tube 2, or are arranged at a predetermined interval X.

When the bubbles 6 in the infusion tube 2 pass between the ultrasonic transmitter 11a and the ultrasonic receiver 11b, the bubbles 6 block the ultrasonic waves and the output of the ultrasonic receiver 11b cannot be obtained. It turns out.

Therefore, in the conventional bubble detector 10, both ultrasonic sensor 1
1, when a bubble 6 of a certain size or more is detected, the drive of the infusion pump etc. that pumps the infusion 5 is stopped and a warning is displayed. .

<Problem to be solved by the invention> However, in such a conventional bubble detector 10, the size of the detectable bubble 6 is determined by the arrangement interval X between the two ultrasonic sensors II. , this arrangement interval X is unique to the bubble detector IO, and the size of the bubbles 6 to be detected cannot be changed depending on the person, for example, a child, an adult, etc., and in such a case, has the disadvantage that a separate bubble detector must be used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and an object of the present invention is to enable the size of bubbles to be detected to be arbitrarily set.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes an infusion device 1 that uses an infusion actuator to forcefully deliver an infusion and detect air bubbles mixed in the injected infusion. An ultrasonic sensor including a pair of ultrasonic transmitter and an ultrasonic receiver placed opposite each other in the middle of the infusion tube, and a setting section for setting the size of the bubble to be detected; a calculation means for calculating the time required for the bubble to be detected to pass through the ultrasonic sensor section based on the setting value of the setting unit and the pumping speed of the infusion; Based on the output of the ultrasonic sensor,
and determining means for determining the presence or absence of bubbles having the size set by the setting section.

According to the above configuration, by setting the size of the bubble to be detected in the setting section, the calculation means calculates the time required for a bubble of this size to pass through the ultrasonic sensor part. When the ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic sensor are blocked by air bubbles for longer than the calculated time, the determination means determines that there is an air bubble of a size that should be detected. The desired bubble size can be set arbitrarily from the setting section.

<Examples> Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an infusion device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 2 is an infusion tube, and an infusion nook is provided on the upstream side of this infusion tube 2, and a syringe needle is connected to the downstream side. In the middle of the infusion tube 2, there are provided an infusion actuator 3 for force-feeding the infusion solution, and an ultrasonic sensor 4 for detecting air bubbles when the infusion contains air bubbles.

The infusion actuator 3 is configured by, for example, attaching an eccentric cam to the rotating shaft of an infusion pump, and fixing a finger that presses the infusion tube 2 to the outer periphery of this eccentric cam.

When the ultrasonic sensor 4 of the present invention is attached to the infusion tube 2, as shown in the enlarged sectional view of FIG. They are configured to be arranged opposite to each other via the tube 2,
This ultrasonic sensor 4 detects that when air bubbles 6 are mixed with the infusion 5 and pumped, when the air bubbles 6 pass through the ultrasonic sensor 4, the air bubbles 6 block the ultrasonic waves. The air bubbles 6 are detected by this method. In addition, Figure 2 (I3
) shows the state one hour after FIG. 2(A).

The output of this ultrasonic sensor 4 is processed by a microcomputer 7 having functions as a calculation means and a determination means, which will be described later.
given to.

8 is a setting section, and in this setting section 8, control data such as the pumping speed of the transfusion and the size of air bubbles to be detected, which will be described later, are set and input.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a display device that displays a warning when, for example, air bubbles are detected.

In the infusion device 1 of this embodiment, air bubbles are detected as follows.

That is, first, the size of the bubble to be detected is inputted from the setting section 8.

The microcomputer 7 calculates the time required for a bubble of a set size to pass through the ultrasonic sensor 4 based on this set value and the pumping speed of the transfusion.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, if it corresponds to the set size or length of the bubble 6 and the pumping speed of the infusion is V, then the bubble 6 is connected to the ultrasonic transducer 4a. ,
The time T required to pass between 4b can be easily calculated using the following equation.

T=L/V Therefore, in the microcomputer 7, the ultrasonic sensor 4
When the output from the delivery device 4b is not obtained for the calculated time T or more, it is determined that a bubble 6 of a set size has passed, and the infusion actuator 3 is controlled to forcefully deliver the infusion. At the same time, the display 9 displays a warning to the effect that bubbles are present.

In this way, when the size of the bubble to be detected is set by the setting section 8, the microcomputer 7 detects the bubble of that size by the ultrasonic transducer 4a.

The time required for the bubble to pass between the bubbles 4b and 4b is calculated, and if the exit point of the ultrasonic wave receiver 4b cannot be obtained for longer than this time, it is determined that there is a bubble larger than a set size. Therefore, by changing the set value from the setting unit 8, bubbles of any size can be easily detected on the upstream side.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the present invention, by setting the size of the bubble to be detected in the setting section, it is possible to determine whether the bubble is of this size or not.
The calculation means calculates the time required for the ultrasonic sensor to pass through the area, and when the output of the ultrasonic sensor is blocked by air bubbles for a period longer than the calculated time, the determination means determines the time required for detection. Since it is determined that there is a bubble of a certain size, the size of the bubble to be detected can be arbitrarily set.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of an infusion tube in which an ultrasonic sensor is attached, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a conventional example. 2. Infusion tube, 3-. Infusion production! 11 parts, 4 ultrasonic sensor, 7 microcomputer, 8 setting part. FIG. 1 (Schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Infusion fluid (5) is pumped by the transfusion actuator (3), and air bubbles (6) mixed in the pumped transfusion solution (5)
In an infusion device that detects
b) an ultrasonic sensor (4) which is arranged opposite to each other via the infusion tube (2); and a setting section (8) for setting the size of the air bubble (6) to be detected.
and a calculation for calculating the time required for the bubble (6) to be detected to pass through the ultrasonic sensor (4) based on the set value of the setting section (8) and the pumping speed of the infusion (5). means (7); and the setting section (8) based on the time calculated by the calculation means (7) and the output of the ultrasonic sensor (4).
An infusion device comprising: determination means (7) for determining the presence or absence of air bubbles (6) having a size set in .