Soft Bag Connection Checking in Extracorporeal Blood Circuits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing extracorporeal blood treatment systems lack a reliable method to verify the connection of soft bags, such as warmer bags, infusion fluid bags, and treatment fluid bags, before patient treatment, posing a safety risk due to potential disconnection or improper installation.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize pressure sensors and pumps to monitor pressure trends in the extracorporeal blood circuit, checking for the presence of soft bags by measuring how they collapse under negative pressure, acting as a one-way valve, to ensure proper connection before patient treatment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If soft bags are used in extracorporeal blood treatment circuits, then flexibility and ease of handling are improved, but reliable verification of proper connection becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection of soft bag connections with an automated pressure-based detection system. Pressure sensors monitor the blood treatment circuit to automatically detect whether soft bags are properly connected, eliminating the need for manual verification while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous pressure monitoring with feedback to the control unit. When a soft bag is connected or disconnected, the pressure characteristics change, and this feedback allows the system to automatically detect and respond to connection status, ensuring reliable verification throughout treatment.
2Reliability
If pressure monitoring is implemented to detect soft bag connection, then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure monitoring system serves multiple functions: it detects soft bag connection status, monitors patient treatment parameters, and provides safety alerts. By using existing pressure sensors for multiple purposes, the system achieves reliable connection verification without adding dedicated complex hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the inherent pressure characteristics of the blood treatment circuit itself to detect bag connections, rather than requiring separate active sensors in each bag. The circuit's own pressure dynamics provide the detection signal, simplifying the overall system architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures safe and reliable connection of soft bags in the blood treatment circuit, preventing disconnection-related issues and reducing the risk of hypothermia during treatments by verifying bag presence and connection before starting patient therapy.
Implementation Method 1
at least a pressure sensor configured to measure at least a pressure in the blood circuit or in the treatment fluid circuit
Implementation Method 2
sucking a medium from the connecting zone through the blood pump or through the fluid pump
Implementation Method 3
measuring how they collapse under negative pressure, acting as a one-way valve
Data Source
AI summary
An extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus (1) and a method for checking the connection of a soft bag (30, 24; 33, 34) in the apparatus (1). The apparatus (1) comprises a blood treatment device (2), an extracorporeal blood circuit (3, 5) and a fluid circuit (8, 12, 15, 17, 18, 22; 41, 42, 44). A control unit (32) is configured to check the connection of a soft bag (30, 24; 33, 34) to the extracorporeal blood circuit (3, 5) or to the fluid circuit (22; 41, 42, 44) through the following procedure: sucking a medium from a connecting zone (29) through a blood pump (6) or a fluid pump (23; 37, 39) of the apparatus (1); measuring at least a pressure trend (P1, P1-P2, P2-P1, Pwdr, Pwdr-Pret, Pret-Pwdr) over time in the extracorporeal blood circuit (3, 5) or in the fluid circuit (22; 41, 42, 44) through at least a pressure sensor (25, 26); establishing from said measured pressure trend (P1, P1-P2, P2-P1, Pwdr, Pwdr-Pret, Pret-Pwdr) if the soft bag (30, 24; 33, 34) is connected to the extracorporeal blood circuit (3, 5) or to the fluid circuit (22; 41, 42, 44) at the connecting zone (29).