Device for suctioning bodily fluids and for supplying a substance

Inventors

Ehlert, Hilmar

Assignees

Medaxis AG

Abstract

A device for aspirating body fluids and for supplying a substance to a human or animal body is defined. The device comprises a first pump (8) for the aspiration of the body fluids, and a second pump (3), or a coupling element (76′) for connecting a second pump (3′) in order to convey the substance to the body by means of the second pump (3, 3′). Moreover, the device comprises a drive (70, 70′) for driving the first pump (8). The same drive (70, 70′) which serves to drive the first pump (8) also serves to drive the second pump (3, 3′).

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a device for aspirating body fluids and for supplying a substance to a human or animal body. The device includes a first pump in the form of a vacuum pump for aspiration of body fluids through a suction line and a second pump for conveying the substance to the human or animal body. Both pumps are driven by a drive, and the first pump and the drive are housed in a pump unit housing interior.

A freewheel couples the second pump to the drive so that rotary motion of the drive is transmitted to the second pump only when the drive rotates in a specific direction. The device also uses a pneumatic valve that allows the first pump to be fully connected to an environment instead of to the suction line, in order to fully aspirate air from the environment instead of the body fluids. The pneumatic valve further allows the first pump to be partially connected to the environment to vary a suction power for aspiration of the body fluids while a drive power for driving the first pump remains constant.

In the device, the second pump is disposed on an outer side of the pump unit housing and includes a plug-on part capable of being plugged on and rotated relative to the pump unit housing. The plug-on part and the pump unit housing form a tube bed of the second pump, thereby defining the physical arrangement of the second pump relative to the pump unit housing. The arrangement ensures that the second pump coupling is direction-dependent via the freewheel while suction conditions of the first pump are controlled via the pneumatic valve.

Depending on the embodiment, the first pump can be a diaphragm pump and the second pump can be a peristaltic pump. The device is configured to adjust pumping power so that pumping power of the first pump and pumping power of the second pump are adjustable largely independently. The document also describes combined negative pressure and instillation treatment of wounds and provides additional clinical use cases for aspiration and flushing using the device.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim set defines a portable device with three inventive features: a shared drive with a direction-sensitive freewheel coupling the second pump only in a specific drive rotation direction, a pneumatic valve that switches the vacuum pump between fully aspirating environmental air and partially connected operation to vary suction power while keeping drive power constant, and a structural arrangement in which the second pump plug-on part forms a tube bed on the pump unit housing exterior.

The claims cover the combination of a vacuum pump and a conveying second pump both driven by one drive, where the second pump receives drive motion only for a specific rotation direction via a freewheel, and the suction power of the vacuum pump is varied using a pneumatic valve with the first pump drive power kept constant. The claims further fix the mechanical placement of the second pump as an outer-side plug-on tube-bed arrangement relative to the pump unit housing.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications