Apparatus and method to check extracorporeal circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9931456-B2
Application number	US-201214369805-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2012
Priority date	Dec 29, 2011
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

An extracorporeal treatment assembly including a pump and a controller wherein an extracorporeal circuit is mounted to the assembly, the controller causes the assembly to: control the pump to pump liquid through the passage and the flow coupling; collect actual fluid pressure data; store circuit type data uniquely corresponding to a certain type of extracorporeal circuit; determine a dimension of the certain type of extracorporeal circuit; determine an expected fluid pressure for the certain type of extracorporeal circuit; based on a comparison of the actual fluid pressure data and the expected fluid pressure, determine whether the certain type of extracorporeal circuit corresponds to the actual extracorporeal circuit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An extracorporeal treatment apparatus configured to receive an extracorporeal circuit, the treatment apparatus comprising:
a pump configured to pump a liquid through a passage in the extracorporeal circuit while the circuit is mounted to the treatment apparatus;
a flow coupling connectable to an outlet of the passage, wherein a flow impedance at the flow coupling is a constant or known value, and wherein the flow impedance at the flow coupling is due to a flow restriction having a smaller cross-sectional flow area for the liquid than any portion of the liquid passage extending from the pump to the flow coupling; and
a controller which is configured to:
store a flow resistance value at the flow coupling, said flow resistance value being either a value set by the operator before starting the apparatus or a pre-stored constant value known by the controller before starting the apparatus;
control the pump at a speed corresponding to a set fluid flow value to move liquid through the passage and the flow coupling;
collect actual data indicative of a pressure condition of the liquid flowing through the passage and flow coupling during control of the pump at said speed;
store circuit type data uniquely corresponding to an expected circuit type mounted to the treatment apparatus out of a plurality extracorporeal circuit types that may be mounted to the treatment apparatus;
retrieve a sectional dimension of the mounted circuit type based on said circuit type data uniquely corresponding to the mounted circuit type;
determine expected data indicative of an expected pressure value of the liquid flowing through the passage and flow coupling as a function of the set fluid flow value or pump speed and of the sectional dimension of the mounted circuit type and as a function of said flow resistance value;
compare the expected data with the actual data; and
determine as a function of the comparing step whether the expected circuit type

corresponds to the circuit type actually mounted on the apparatus.

2. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine an operational setting for the treatment apparatus or determine whether a current operational setting is proper based on the type of extracorporeal circuit corresponding to an identified parameter value.

3. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actual data is data output by a pressure sensor monitoring the pressure of the liquid flowing through the passage.

4. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a pressure sensor monitoring the pressure of the liquid flowing through the passage, a signal from the pressure sensor being received by the controller.

5. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actual data indicative of the pressure is collected during a priming operation of the apparatus.

6. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform the steps of controlling, collecting, identifying and determining during a priming operation of the apparatus and/or before starting an extracorporeal blood treatment operation, at least the steps of controlling and collecting being performed during a priming operation of the apparatus and the steps of identifying and/or determining being performed either during a priming operation of the apparatus or after the priming operation and before starting the extracorporeal blood treatment operation.

7. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the actual data indicative of the pressure is received substantially at the end of the priming.

8. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow coupling includes an inlet coupling to a liquid drain.

9. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow coupling includes a protruding portion configured to connect to the outlet of the passage by direct insertion into the outlet of the passage, the protruding portion defining internally a flow conduit receiving the fluid and directing the fluid towards a liquid drain.

10. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the protruding portion is in the form of a substantially circular tube, said tube having a smooth outer lateral surface without means for attaching to the passage.

11. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the flow coupling includes an external crown at least partially embracing the protruding portion, the external crown including a structure for attaching to the passage.

12. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow coupling comprises a male Luer connector for coupling to a corresponding female Luer connector of the passage.

13. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to further automatically check that the passage is connected to the flow coupling prior to the actuation of the pump.

14. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a sensor configured to sense a specific condition of the flow coupling, said specific condition being either a non coupled condition of the flow coupling to the passage or a condition in which coupling between the flow coupling and the passage is possible.

15. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the specific condition sensed by the sensor is a condition of an open door allowing coupling of the flow coupling to the passage or of a closed door indicating a non coupled condition of the flow coupling to the passage.

16. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation that the liquid passage is connected to the drainage container includes determining if a door covering a liquid connection is open.

17. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow coupling includes a connector included in an inlet portion of a drainage container.

18. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow coupling includes a Luer connector.

19. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to sense the liquid pressure for a certain period of pumping, the sensed pressure determined based on several pressure sensing events during the certain period.

20. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the sensed pressure is an average of the pressures measured during the pressure sensing events.

21. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the extracorporeal circuit may be one of a plurality of selectable types of circuits and the liquid passage in at least one of the circuit types has a different size than the liquid passage in another one of the circuit types.

22. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump is an occlusive pump, and the passage is a deformable tube, wherein the pumping includes the pump pinching the tube to move the priming liquid through the passage.

23. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flow impedance at the flow coupling is the flow resistance at the flow coupling.

24. The extracorporeal treatment apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller has a memory storing a flow resistance value at the flow coupling, said flow resistance value being either a value set by the operator before starting the apparatus or a pre-stored constant val

Assignees

• Gambro Lundia Ab

Inventors

• Rovatti Paolo
• Roncadi Fabio
• Genovese Bruno
• Verdi Pier Giorgio

Classifications

• A61M2205/18

  with alarm · CPC title

• A61M2205/70

  with testing or calibration facilities · CPC title

• A61M1/3644

  Mode of operation · CPC title

• A61M2205/50

  with microprocessors or computers · CPC title

• A61M2205/3355

  Controlling downstream pump pressure · CPC title