Extracorporeal blood filtering machine and methods

Inventors

Epshteyn, Vitaliy Gennad'yevich • Sandoval, Steven Daniel • Berg, Kalley Francis • Ulrich, Franz Willems • Yoch, Travis Ernest • Roberts, III, Robert Russell

Assignees

Nuwellis Inc

Abstract

An extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include a blood circuit, an effluent circuit, and a source fluid circuit and can be controlled by a controller. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can also include access ports for connecting the source fluid circuit to the blood circuit, as well as blood sensors to detect possible issues with the extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include density sensors and flow sensors that enable it to be more accurate and to operate while being transported. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can further include a user interface and can display fluid inflow/outflow information. A medical fluid container can automatically empty after being filled. An apparatus for supporting a medical fluid container can include a hanger and an attachment member with the apparatus able to adjust to ensure the medical fluid container remains properly oriented directly under a medical fluid container scale.

Core Innovation

The described invention provides an apparatus for supporting and aligning a medical fluid container with a scale of an extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The apparatus includes a hanger configured to hang the medical fluid container and a bracket configured to attach to the extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The hanger includes one or more hooks configured to engage one or more holes in the medical fluid container and an attachment member configured to fit into an inlet of a rail, slide along the rail, and be seated in a seat.

The invention uses the rail inlet and the sliding-to-seat engagement as an alignment mechanism. When the attachment member is seated in the seat, the hanger aligns the medical fluid container with the scale of the extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The rail assembly is configured to pivot relative to the mount about a first axis, and the hanger is configured to pivot relative to the rail assembly about a second axis that is different from the first axis.

In related embodiments, the invention permits pivoting about one or more horizontal axes while blocking pivoting about a vertical axis. A method is also described for aligning the medical fluid container with the scale by engaging the medical fluid container holes with the hanger hooks to hang the container, fitting the attachment member into the rail inlet, and sliding the attachment member along the rail into alignment. In additional configurations, the rail forms a declined angle with the horizontal to aid the attachment member in sliding to the seat.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims in the provided content cover four aspects: an apparatus for hanging and multi-axis aligning a medical fluid container to a machine scale, a method for performing that alignment, and embodiments that further specify the rail declined angle and motion constraints. Overall, the claims describe alignment features and motion constraints involving the hanger, hooks, attachment member, rail inlet, seat, and pivot axes.

Across the independent claims, the core inventive coverage centers on a rail inlet and seat that receive a hanger attachment member via sliding for alignment with the machine scale, relative pivoting in which the rail and hanger rotate about different axes, a method that performs the alignment via hook engagement plus attachment-member sliding, and embodiments that add declined rail angle and motion constraints that prevent vertical-axis pivoting.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications