Electric heating – Heating devices – With heater-unit housing – casing – or support means
Patent
1990-07-26
1992-08-11
Evans, Geoffrey S.
Electric heating
Heating devices
With heater-unit housing, casing, or support means
219217, 219218, 219527, 219546, 128376, H05B 306, H05B 102, H05C 300
Patent
active
051381389
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a heating system for an operating table having a multi-layer heating pad comprising at least one heating segment which is adapted for being electrically heated, which is pervious to X-rays and which can be connected to a control and regulating unit serving to control or regulate the heating current necessary for achieving an adjustable temperature.
Known heating pads for operating tables are relatively thick, either because their heating conductor consists of a rubber or plastic material which has been rendered conductive and which necessarily must have a certain sheet thickness to enable the sheet to absorb a current sufficient to achieve a reasonable heating capacity and/or because cushioning layers surrounding the heating pad proper are correspondingly thick. Thick or cushioned heating pads do not fold easily, their heat transmission deteriorates as their thickness rises, and they are also difficult to accommodate in the vessels available for sterilization. Besides, known heating pads are largely unsuited for sterilization because they are built up from separate unconnected layers and because the components used would be damaged by the sterilization process.
A heating pad for operating tables of the described type has been known from a certain leaflet entitled VITALMED Thermoauflage VIT 2000 as from BE-A-688 786.
The known heating pad provides, however, the disadvantage that the sheet-like heating conductors are suited for a limited heating capacity only and would become intolerably thick and rigid if the heating capacity were further increased. The existing form of a heating pad is already so thick that it cannot be folded together or rolled up. In addition, it comprises certain components which may damage the layered structure of the heating pad if the latter were rolled up. The components of the pad are not sufficiently temperature-resistant to enable the heating pad to be sterilized.
Moreover, for controlling the temperature of the heating pad known as Tetalmed Thermoauflage VIT 2000, the temperatures recorded within the same heating segment are compared in the heating pad proper, and the control and regulating unit is then supplied with a single actual temperature value for each heating segment.
Another heating pad has become known under the trade name of "Thermomaquet 1004.64".
This heating pad is not subdivided into separately operated heating segments and comprises in addition an aluminium film covering as a single sheet almost the full surface of the heating pad, thus counteracting any expansion of the individual layers of the heating pad. Consequently, this heating pad does not easily fold or roll up, and in addition it is unsuited for sterilization.
Further, a control system for controlling the surface temperature of a heated cushion, in particular a cushion for an operating table, has been described by DE-OS 31 19 757. The sensor used in this cushion can be moved relative to the latter, exhibits a flat design and is enclosed inside the cushion by rigid copper plates.
It is, therefore, a disadvantage of this known heating pad that monitoring of the heating capacity, which would be required under safety aspects, is possible only to a limited degree. Another disadvantage of this pad resides in the fact that the temperature sensors, being enclosed by copper plates, are impervious to X-rays and produce undesirable contrasts on X-ray images. It is therefore necessary to arrange temperature sensors of this type in the marginal areas of the heating pad which means, however, that they cannot record the actual temperature values prevailing in the heating zone. In addition, the plate-like structure of the temperature sensors and the multi-layer structure of the heating pad proper are not suited to enable the heating pad to be rolled up tightly for sterilization purposes.
DE-PS 715 880 describes a heating conductor for a flexible electric heating unit comprising a heating conductor whose carrier thread may consist of asbestos or any other insulating material. The carrier
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Burkert Josef
Stihler Axel
Stihler Hans-Peter
Theilacker Wolfgang
Evans Geoffrey S.
Hackler Walter A.
Stihler Electronic Medizintechnische Gerate Prod. und Vertriebs-
To Tuan Vinh
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