Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with container – enclosure – or support for material...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2001-07-10
Pelham, Joseph (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with container, enclosure, or support for material...
C219S394000, C219S399000, C604S114000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259067
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to systems for heating medical items. In particular, the present invention pertains to a system for heating and maintaining medical solution containers (e.g., bags or bottles containing saline or intravenous (IV) solutions, antibiotics or other drugs, blood, etc.) or other medical items (e.g., instruments, blankets, etc.) at desired temperatures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, various items are required to be heated prior to utilization in a medical procedure to prevent thermal shock and injury to a patient. These items typically include intravenous solution, surgical instruments, bottles and blankets. In order to provide the necessary heated items for use in medical procedures, medical personnel may utilize several types of warming systems to heat items toward their operational temperatures. For example, ovens may be disposed within operating rooms to heat items to desired temperatures. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,402 (Burdick et al) discloses a warmer for heating wet dressings and other articles disposed within a heating and storage compartment. The articles are arranged within the compartment in stacked relation and disposed on a plate that is supplied with thermal energy from a heater. The plate includes a center aperture whereby a first thermal sensor is disposed in the aperture in contact with a bottommost article. Control circuitry is disposed beneath the plate to control the heater to maintain temperature of the bottommost article at a desired level based on the temperatures sensed by the first thermal sensor and a second thermal sensor responsive to heater temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,576 (Bishop) discloses an intravenous fluid warmer having a cabinet structure to accommodate a plurality of intravenous fluid bags. A temperature sensor and pad of heating filaments are disposed within the cabinet structure, whereby the temperature sensor enables automatic temperature regulation of the pad of heating filaments to heat the intravenous fluid bags. The heating filaments are covered by a rubber layer to prevent melting of the bags during heating. A temperature indicator disposed on the cabinet structure permits a user to ascertain when a desired temperature is attained, whereby an intravenous fluid bag is removed from the intravenous fluid warmer via an opening defined in a side of the cabinet structure.
The warming systems described above suffer from several disadvantages. In particular, ovens typically do not have a high degree of accuracy or control, thereby enabling use of items having temperatures incompatible with a medical procedure and possibly causing injury to a patient. Further, the Burdick et al and Bishop warmers employ heaters that generally contact a particular portion of an article being heated, thereby heating articles in an uneven manner and enabling formation of hot spots. Moreover, the Burdick et al and Bishop warming systems heat items simultaneously to only a single desired temperature, thereby being incompatible for applications requiring various items to be heated to different temperature ranges.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems and provides several advantages. For example, the present invention evenly distributes heat among intravenous solution bags or other medical items contained within system drawer sub-compartments, thereby avoiding creation of “hot spots” and “cold spots” and ensuring relatively uniform heating of the entire bag with enhanced temperature control. Further, each system drawer includes a window to enable viewing of the intravenous solution bags or other medical items during heating, while the system drawers facilitate easy access to the medical items within the system. In addition, the present invention incurs low operating costs, while providing versatility since the system drawers are each individually controlled to enable the system to heat intravenous solution bags or various other medical items to the same or different desired temperatures.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to simultaneously maintain various items at different desired temperatures for use in medical procedures.
It is another object of the present invention is to simultaneously maintain various items at different desired temperatures for use in medical procedures via a temperature control system including individually controlled drawers, whereby each drawer is maintained at an associated desired temperature.
Yet another object of the present invention is to heat a medical item to a desired temperature by uniformly distributing heat about the medical item, thereby avoiding creation of “hot spots” and “cold spots”.
Still another object of the present invention is to uniformly distribute heat about a medical item within a system drawer sub-compartment by conducting heat from a sub-compartment bottom wall along sub-compartment side walls.
A further object of the present invention is to mount a temperature control system on a wall, intravenous (IV) pole, transportable cart or other support structure, via a support mechanism, to enable heating of medical items at various locations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to mount a plurality of temperature control systems in stacked or other relation on a transportable cart or other support structure to enable heating of numerous medical items to desired temperatures at various locations.
The aforesaid objects may be achieved individually and in combination, and it is not intended that the present invention be construed as requiring two or more of the objects to be combined unless expressly required by the claims attached hereto.
According to the present invention, a temperature control system includes a cabinet or system housing having a plurality of drawers for containing intravenous solution bags or other medical items. Each drawer is individually controlled, and generally includes a window and a plurality of sub-compartments with each sub-compartment accommodating an intravenous solution bag or other medical item. The drawers are each pivotable relative to the system housing to permit access to the sub-compartments, while the drawer windows enable the intravenous solution bags to be viewed during heating. A heating element is typically disposed beneath each drawer bottom wall to apply heat to walls of corresponding sub-compartments and evenly distribute heat to intravenous solution bags contained within those sub-compartments. Each drawer is associated with a controller that controls the heating element to apply heat to the corresponding drawer sub-compartments in accordance with a comparison between desired and measured temperatures associated with that drawer. Alternatively, the system may include a single common controller to control the heating element of each drawer based on the desired and measured temperatures associated with that drawer. The temperature control system may be mounted on a wall, intravenous (IV) pole, transportable cart or other suitable structure via a support mechanism. In addition, several temperature control systems may be mounted in a stacked or other arrangement on a transportable cart or other structure to provide heating capability for numerous medical items.
The above and still further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of specific embodiments thereof, particularly when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals in the various figures are utilized to designate like components.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1659719 (1928-02-01), Blake
patent: 2214215 (1940-09-01), Watermann et al.
patent: 2576874 (1951-11-01), Acton
patent: 2713112 (1955-07-01), Mills et al.
patent: 2741099 (1956-04-01), Beane
patent: 2885526 (1959-05-01), Paulding
patent: 2994760 (1961-08-01), Pecoraro et al.
patent: 3051582 (1962-08-01), Muckler et al.
patent: 3193339 (1965-07-01), Cooper
patent: 3241
Blankenship Calvin
Faries, Jr. Durward I.
Heymann Bruce R.
Medical Solutions, Inc.
Pelham Joseph
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