Flow controllers for fluid infusion sets

Details Flow controllers for fluid infusion sets Flow controllers for fluid infusion sets

1992-10-21

1994-10-18

Yasko, John D.

Surgery

Means for introducing or removing material from body for...

Material introduced into and removed from body through...

604246, 604186, A61M 100

Patent

active

053563760

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to flow controllers for administration sets for the purpose of delivering fluids into the human body. Infusing fluids into the human body is done for a variety of medical reasons and there have been many administration sets which have been developed for this purpose.
It is presently well known to provide for liquid infusion into a living body by providing a container, acting as a reservoir for holding liquid to be infused and which is connected to the body via a conduit in which pressure supplying the fluid is created by either a gravitational pressure head or by pressure generation means.
In these systems there are two main factors controlling the actual infusion rate of the liquid to be infused into a patient. The first is the height that the liquid container is held relative to the outlet and the second factor is the degree of back pressure which is experienced as the liquid enters the patient. It is a disadvantage in such a simple arrangement that the back pressure can provide significant changes in flow rate and this can be altered almost casually without intention by the patient perhaps rolling over in bed or simply changing to a more comfortable position.
Furthermore, it is necessary on many occasions keep the flow rate of the liquid within selected limits and this becomes either very difficult or impossible with the simple gravitationally actuated device of the type discussed.
Thus, in the past it has been very difficult to provide a fluid for infusion into a body at a constant flow rate and to ensure that a selected quantity of the fluid is infused into the body at any given time and with a high degree of accuracy and without the unwanted effects of back pressure. The present invention seeks to improve administration sets used for the purpose of infusing fluids into the human body by providing a flow controller which is adapted to be used as an attachment to the administration set or alternatively to be integral with an administration set.
The present invention therefore comprises: a fluid flow controller for insertion in a selected position in a fluid flow line of an administration set. More particularly,. the invention resides in a flow controller adapted for detachable or fixed attachment to an administration set, said flow controller essentially comprising; a housing having a chamber inside which a flow restrictor fits and which is adapted to enable attachment to the administration set or to be integral therewith, wherein when fluid flows through said administration set to a patient via said flow controller said flow restrictor thereby restricts the flow of fluid to the extent that the fluid discharged into the body of said patient takes place at a constant rate irrespective of blood viscosity or fluid or body temperature.
The present invention seeks to provide a convenient form of providing a controlled flow in an administration set and like infusion apparatuses and to overcome the problem of fluid impedence which changes significantly with change of temperature especially over the conventional range of temperatures in which administration sets of the type to which the present invention is ideally adapted is used.
As fluids have different viscosities fluid flow rate changes of up to 8% can be caused by this difference alone.
In these circumstances and according to the prior art methodology, it becomes necessary for manual intervention in the infusion process to compensate for changes in flow rate and this provides problems when it is necessary to deliver constant flow. Such manual intervention needs to be initiated in association with sophisticated electronic controls or by an arrangement by which constant manual supervision is necessary to keep the flow rate within adequate limits.
It is necessary therefore to provide a simple and economic means of providing a constant flow rate when infusing fluids into a patient given a substantially constant pressure drop for a given temperature change. Use of the present invention avoids the problem of manual intervention to

REFERENCES:
patent: 3620500 (1971-11-01), Santomieri
patent: 4343305 (1982-08-01), Bron
patent: 4807660 (1989-02-01), Aslanian
patent: 4822344 (1989-04-01), O'Boyle

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