Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Blood treating device for transfusible blood – Oxygenator
Patent
1980-05-15
1982-09-28
Spear, Jr., Frank A.
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Blood treating device for transfusible blood
Oxygenator
2103213, A61M 103, B01D 3100
Patent
active
043517978
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention is concerned with apparatus for effecting transfer of heat or mass between two fluids, of which at least one is usually a liquid, through a transfer membrane. Such apparatus is used in blood oxygenators, that is artificial lungs, and dialysers, such as artificial kidneys, in which case one fluid is blood, and the other is oxygen or dialysate. In practice the efficiency of the transfer across the membrane is limited by the extent to which the total volume of fluid can be brought into close proximity with the membrane. It is not sufficient to reduce the thickness of the fluid layers, by reducing the thickness of the conduits in which they flow, as this increases undesirably the pressure drop across the apparatus and leads to uneven perfusion and regions of stagnation, which, in the case of blood, provides a danger of thrombosis.
We believe that the proper solution lies in so shaping the fluid flow conduits that significant mixing of the fluid occurs within the conduits. It has previously been proposed in British patent specification No. 1,422,754 to provide an apparatus comprising a conduit for flow of one of the fluids at least partially defined by the membrane, a transverse dimension of the conduit varying in a regularly repeating manner along the length of the conduit, to provide a multiplicity of hollows in the membrane, the apparatus also comprising means communicating with the conduit for passing fluid through the conduit in pulsatile flow, the arrangement being such that pulsation of fluid past the hollows give rise in the hollows to rotational fluid flow having components of motion parallel and perpendicular to the general direction of flow in the conduit of the fluid. Such apparatus is hereinafter referred to as of the kind described.
The conduit may be defined between two predominently planar surfaces, so that it has an elongate cross section transverse to the general direction of flow through the conduit, at least one of the surfaces then being provided by a membrane in which the requisite hollows are provided by furrowing at least one of the surfaces defining the conduit. Alternatively, the conduit may be tubular, that is essentially axisymmetric with its wall provided by a membrane. Tubular conduits have the advantage of being self supporting and do not require complex moulded support plates. However, they have not been cheap to produce in the numbers required in a typical apparatus.
In accordance with the present invention, a conduit assembly for use in an apparatus of the kind described comprises two sheets of plastics material, at least one of which is a transfer membrane material, which are sealed together face to face along a number of pairs of sinuous lines extending generally in the same direction alongside one another with the undulations of the lines of each pair of lines out of phase with one another thereby providing, upon inflation of the passageways between the sheets and between each pair of lines, a tubular conduit with longitudinally and substantially regularly spaced hollows with intervening constrictions.
In this manner there is readily provided a unitary construction consisting of a generally planar array of tubular conduits, with walls of transfer membrane material, and of the required internal configuration.
If the undulations in the adjacent lines of each adjacent pair of lines are also out of phase with one another, a tubular conduit with the required internal configuration will also be provided between each adjacent pair of lines with the annular hollows in one conduit in lateral alignment with the constrictions in each adjacent conduit. This layout provides maximum saving of space and material.
The unitary structure comprising the array of conduits may also incorporate fluid inlet and outlet manifolds by providing additional lines of sealing which define between the two sheets spaces communicating with respective ends of the conduits.
Inlet and outlet passages to the respective manifold spaces may also be provided between the two sheets by means of further
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patent: 4075091 (1978-02-01), Bellhouse
patent: 4111659 (1978-09-01), Bowley
patent: 4173537 (1979-11-01), Newhart
Bellhouse Brian J.
Bellhouse Francis H.
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