Stool Drainage Gas Branch Filtration for Continuous Odor Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional stool drainage systems fail to provide sufficient decompression and odor control, especially when dealing with large volumes of gas or strong-smelling stools, due to insufficient adsorbing or filtering material and positioning issues that lead to contamination and saturation of the degassing components.

Innovation Solution

A T-piece-shaped drainage system with a tube-like structure that separates intestinal gas from stool, featuring a backflow-inhibiting function and an adsorption/filtering device positioned upstream of the collection bag, ensuring continuous and position-independent gas decompression by using activated carbon-based substances and a water-repellent separating layer to prevent contamination.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a patient is placed in a prone position for thoracic surgery, then surgical access to the thoracic cavity is improved, but the patient's ability to breathe independently deteriorates due to compression of the diaphragm and lungs

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurgical accessVSAvoidindependent breathing
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

A gas evacuation system acts as an intermediary between the thoracic cavity and the external environment. The system includes a catheter inserted through the chest wall into the pleural space, connected to a pump that actively removes excess gas, allowing the prone position to be maintained while preventing respiratory compromise through continuous gas evacuation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Temperature

If general anesthesia with positive pressure ventilation is used during prone position surgery, then adequate oxygenation is maintained, but the risk of barotrauma and postoperative pulmonary complications increases

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveoxygenationVSAvoidbarotrauma risk
Core Design Contradiction:
TemperatureVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes excess gas from the thoracic cavity through a catheter and pump system, preventing gas accumulation that would otherwise require high positive pressure ventilation. This active gas removal allows for reduced ventilation pressures, maintaining adequate oxygenation while minimizing barotrauma risk associated with prolonged positive pressure ventilation in the prone position

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Reliability

If the patient is repositioned from prone to supine after surgery, then independent breathing improves, but the risk of intra-abdominal organ injury increases due to sudden pressure changes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveindependent breathingVSAvoidorgan injury risk
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The gas evacuation system is maintained in place and continues to function during the transition from prone to supine positioning. This preliminary establishment of gas removal capability ensures that any gas accumulation or pressure changes during repositioning are immediately managed, preventing sudden pressure shifts that could cause intra-abdominal organ injury while allowing the patient to resume independent breathing in the supine position

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

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

The system effectively maintains efficient gas decompression and odor control, preventing contamination and blockage of components, even when the system is moved from a vertical to a horizontal position, by guiding gases through a dedicated path that avoids contact with stool and liquid.

Implementation Method 1

The pump is configured to remove gas from the thoracic cavity of the patient

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectSuction: Suction

Data Source

PatentEP4028069B1Apparatus for continuously removing gas through a natural opening in the body of a patient
Publication Date: 2026.05.20 ADVANCED MEDICAL BALLOONS GMBH
  • EP4028069B1 patent drawingFigure 1a~1b
  • EP4028069B1 patent drawingFigure 1c
  • EP4028069B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing, in a manner that is as odour-free as possible, intestinal gas or other malodorous gases as part of a system for the closed, preferably continuous, removal and/or collection of stools or other strongly odour-forming excretions or secretions from the human or animal body, wherein the stool or the removed excretions or secretions are guided outside the body through a hose- or tube-like structure which, in addition to an inflow port and an outflow port and a passage region that connects said ports and is intended for the passage of stool or other excretions or secretions, has a branch where intestinal gas or other malodorous gases are separated from the stool or the other excretions or secretions and are conducted through an adsorption and/or filter device to an outlet, wherein at least some regions of the adsorption and/or filter device are spaced apart from the passage region in order to prevent, as far as possible, close contact with the stool or other excretions or secretions flowing through the passage region.