MOTOR-DRIVEN MEDICAL SUCTION PUMP

Abstract

The present invention relates to a motor-driven medical suction pump with a pump unit for generating a negative pressure with a housing which accommodates the pump unit therein, wherein the pump unit comprises a vacuum opening for the negative pressure to be generated by the pump unit and at least one further opening communicating with the vacuum opening through the pump unit. The present invention indicates a suction pump of the type mentioned above which is easy to produce, compact in design and provided with good sound damping properties and which for this purpose comprises a sound damping chamber which is tightly connected to and encloses the further opening.

Claims

1. A motor-driven medical suction pump with a pump unit for generating a negative pressure with a housing which accommodates the pump unit therein, wherein the pump unit comprises a vacuum opening for the negative pressure to be generated by the pump unit and at least one further opening which communicates with the vacuum opening through the pump unit and which is connected to a sound damping chamber comprising an outlet opening, wherein the sound damping chamber is tightly connected to and encloses the further opening.

2. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the further opening being an air release opening of the pump unit.

3. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the further opening being provided opposite the outlet opening.

4. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the further opening having a larger flow cross-section than the outlet opening.

5. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the sound damping chamber having a volume of at least 6 ml.

6. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, a sound damping housing surrounding the sound damping chamber being rigid.

7. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the sound damping chamber being formed by a hose piece.

8. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 9, the sound damping chamber being fastened to the pump unit.

9. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 10, a sound damping housing surrounding the sound damping chamber being locked to the pump unit.

10. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 10, a sound damping housing surrounding the sound damping chamber including a fastening flange which bears tightly against at least two surface sections of the pump unit which extend substantially at right angles to each other.

11. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 12, a sound damping housing (16) surrounding the sound damping chamber (14) being of a cylindrical design.

12. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 12, a sound damping housing surrounding the sound damping chamber being made open on one side and being closed by the pump unit.

13. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, a sound damping housing surrounding the sound damping chamber completely surrounding the sound damping chamber and being open outwards only via the further opening and the outlet opening.

14. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the pump unit being mounted on a pump unit carrier which forms a receptacle for an energy store, at the height of which a vacuum hose branches off laterally from the pump unit, which vacuum hose connects the vacuum opening to a through-opening and to which a controllably adjustable ventilation opening is connected.

15. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 1, the pump unit being formed by an elongate body comprising the sound damping chamber at its one end and a motor of the pump unit at its other end, and that an elongate energy store extending substantially parallel to the pump unit is mounted together with the pump unit on a pump unit carrier which carries a ventilation valve upstream of the energy store and adjusting a ventilation opening.

16. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 5, the sound damping chamber having a volume of not more than 30 ml.

17. The motor-driven medical suction pump according to claim 7, the sound damping housing being made of ABS.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Further details and advantages of the present invention become apparent from the following description of an embodiment in conjunction with the drawing. In this drawing,

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a pump unit with a first embodiment of a sound damping chamber;

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a pump unit with a second embodiment of a sound damping chamber;

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a pump unit with a third embodiment of a sound damping chamber;

[0037] FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of a motor-driven medical suction pump;

[0038] FIG. 5 shows a top view on the embodiment shown in FIG. 4; and

[0039] FIG. 6 shows a perspective side view of the embodiment according to FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0040] In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference sign 2 marks a pump unit which comprises an electric motor 4 and a work unit 6. The work unit 6 can comprise the components described in WO 2006/032156 A1 and may be constructed in a similar way. The electric motor 4 is made cylindrical, with electrical connection tongues 5 projecting from the free front side. Adjacent to the opposite front side is the work unit 6 which is also essentially of a cylindrical design and from which a vacuum nozzle 9, which surrounds a vacuum opening 8, projects in the circumferential direction and at which an air release opening 10 is provided opposite the electric motor 4 and is formed by an air release nozzle 11, which projects there from a front face of the work unit 6. The diameter of the electric motor 4 is slightly smaller than the diameter of the work unit 6. This creates a ring surface 12 between the two components 4, 6.

[0041] FIG. 1 shows a first example of a sound damping chamber 14, which in this case is formed by a pot-shaped sound damping housing 16 open on one side, which is closed off by the work unit 6 opposite to the front face comprising the air release opening 10. The sound damping housing 16 comprises a fastening flange 18 with a multi-stepped course. The fastening flange 18 has an outer ring section 20 which surrounds the end of the outer circumferential surface of the work unit 6 and from which locking hooks 22 project, the hooks locking against the ring surface 12. As FIGS. 4 to 6 in particular show, several locking hooks 22, distributed in the circumferential direction, branch off from the outer ring section 12 and are connected in a form-locking manner to the pump unit 2 in the way mentioned above and as can be seen in FIG. 1. The outer ring section 20 is connected via an outer radial section 24, an inner ring section 26 and an inner radial section 28 to a cylinder section 30, which surrounds the actual sound damping chamber 14 circumferentially and is provided with an end cap 32, which comprises an outlet opening 34. The fastening flange 18 with the stepped structure described above, the cylinder section 30 and the cap 32 are formed by a unitary plastic component which also forms the locking hooks 22. The plastic component is here injection-molded from ABS.

[0042] FIG. 1 shows the housing of the work unit 6 in dash-dotted fashion. In this design of the work unit 6, only the outer ring section 20 and the outer radial section 24 rest against surface sections of the work unit 6 which extend at right angles to each other. However, the work unit 6 may also have a stepped course corresponding to the stepped course of the fastening flange 18, so that all surface sections of the fastening flange 18 formed from the inner radial section 28 to the outer ring section 20 lie against the work unit 6, thereby forming a very effective labyrinth seal via which the sound damping housing 16 lies tightly against the work unit 6. Thus the sound damping chamber 14 is substantially airtightly connected to the pump unit 2.

[0043] As FIG. 1 shows, the outlet opening 34 has a smaller diameter than the air release opening 10. It is located together with the air release opening 10 on an axis L defined by the shaft of the electric motor 2.

[0044] Corresponding diameter ratios are also realized in the second example of a sound damping chamber according to FIG. 2. Identical components are marked with identical reference signs. The sound damping chamber 14 is surrounded by a sound damping housing 16, which is made cylindrical and completely closed in the circumferential direction and has only on its opposite caps 32, which extend transversely to an axial direction of the cylindrical body, on the one hand the outlet opening 34 and on the other hand a receiving bore 36, which is adapted to the outer diameter of the air release nozzle 11, so that the sound damping housing 16 is sealed off from and held on this air release nozzle 11. The sound damping housing 16 is glued to the air release nozzle 11 or otherwise airtightly connected.

[0045] FIG. 3 also shows a corresponding fastening of the sound damping chamber 14 to the pump unit 2. There, the sound damping chamber 14 is formed by the lumen of a hose 38 which is tightly pushed onto the air release nozzle 11 and can consist of a soft-elastic plastic, e.g. silicone. The free end of the hose 38 forms the outlet opening 34. This outlet opening 34, too, preferably has a smaller diameter than the air release opening 10 and also a smaller diameter than the diameter of the sound damping chamber 14. This reduced diameter can be achieved by means of a plug connected to the hose 38. The outlet opening is a free opening exposed in a housing of the pump.

[0046] FIGS. 4 to 6 show an embodiment of a motor-driven medical suction pump using a pump unit 2 with a sound damping housing 16 corresponding to the first embodiment according to FIG. 1. Identical components are also marked here with identical reference signs.

[0047] The embodiment comprises a housing lid 40 and a housing bottom 42 which, when closed, accommodate a pump unit carrier 44 between them. Between the pump unit carrier 44 and the housing bottom 42, a printed circuit board assembly (not shown) with control elements may be provided; the control elements of this board are exposed against a cover marked with reference sign 46, as described in WO 2019/096700 A2. The elements 40 to 44 form a housing of the embodiment.

[0048] This laid-open publication provides further information on details of the embodiment, which have also been implemented here. Thus, reference can be made to the prior disclosure.

[0049] Deviating from the disclosure of WO 2019/096700 A2, an energy store 48 and the pump unit 2 are here provided on the pump unit carrier 44 in parallel arrangement. The pump unit 2 (without the sound damping chamber 14) has approximately the same axial length as the energy store 48 (see FIG. 5). It can also be seen there that a vacuum hose marked with reference sign 50 and connected to the vacuum nozzle 9 first branches off radially from the pump unit 2 at approximately the middle height of the energy store 48 and is then led out in the axial direction of the energy store 48 and above it as well as parallel to it. The vacuum hose 50 is clamped in a hose receptacle 52, which is formed by a wall penetrating the pump unit carrier 44 in width direction, which forms a first pump unit receptacle 54 as an extension of the hose receptacle 52. Directly adjacent to the hose receptacle 52 is a ventilation valve 56, which is connected flowwise to the vacuum hose 50 via a ventilation line 58. The function of the ventilation valve is described in particular in WO 2006/032156 A1. The ventilation valve 58 prevents excessive negative pressure in the vacuum hose 50.

[0050] The free end of the vacuum hose 50 is connected to a vacuum connection 60 which is exposed in a through-opening 62 formed by the pump unit carrier 44. The corresponding design serves as a receptacle of a plug of a suction hose that leads to the chest cap. The vacuum connection 60, for example, can be made of a soft elastic plastic material such as TPE or silicone to seal the plug connection.

[0051] A second pump unit receptacle 64 protrudes from the bottom of the pump unit carrier 44. The two pump unit receptacles 54, 64 are located approximately at the same height as the axial ends of the energy store 48. They accommodate first and second bearing modules 66, 68, which were pushed onto the pump unit 2 prior to its assembly. For this purpose the first bearing module 66 has a stepped bore which forms a ring surface inside the first bearing module 66 for the front contact of the electric motor 4. A correspondingly stepped bore is also realized for the second bearing module 68. This stepped bore forms contact surfaces for the inner radial section 28 and the inner ring section 26. After insertion into the pump unit receptacles 54, 64, which are designed as sliding guides, the pump unit 2 together with the sound damping housing 16 is thus fixedly mounted on the pump unit carrier 44.

[0052] As FIGS. 5 and 6 show, the ventilation valve 56 is located at the level of the sound damping chamber 14. The sound damping chamber 14 has a slightly smaller diameter than the work unit 6, leaving sufficient space radially adjacent to the sound damping chamber 14 for the arrangement of the ventilation valve 56.

[0053] At the opposite front side of the pump unit carrier 44, a cable feed-through 70 protrudes from a front wall 72 which leaves between itself and the axial ends of the pump unit 2 and the energy store 48, respectively, sufficient space for accommodating cables that lead from the cable feed-through 7 to the printed circuit board (not shown) and from there to the connection tongues 8 of the electric motor 4.

[0054] All in all, the embodiment illustrates a compact arrangement of the suction pump components. The pump unit carrier 44 is designed as an injection-molded part and has, in addition to the receptacles 52, 54, 64 for the pump unit 2 and the vacuum hose 50, clamps 74 formed in one piece on the pump unit carrier 44 for fastening the energy store 48 and locking edges 76, which interact with the locking projections 78 there for fastening to the housing bottom 42, as well as an upstanding edge section 80 to which the housing lid 40 is connected. Between the clamps 74, a receptacle 82 is formed for the energy store 48.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0055] 2 pump unit [0056] 4 electric motor [0057] 5 connection tongue [0058] 6 work unit [0059] 8 vacuum opening [0060] 9 vacuum nozzle [0061] 10 air release opening [0062] 11 air release nozzle [0063] 12 ring surface [0064] 14 sound damping chamber [0065] 16 sound damping housing [0066] 18 fastening flange [0067] 20 outer ring section [0068] 22 locking hook [0069] 24 outer radial section [0070] 26 inner ring section [0071] 28 inner radial section [0072] 30 cylinder section [0073] 32 cap [0074] 34 outlet opening [0075] 36 receiving bore [0076] 38 hose [0077] 40 housing lid [0078] 42 housing bottom [0079] 44 pump unit carrier [0080] 46 cover [0081] 48 energy store [0082] 50 vacuum hose [0083] 52 hose receptacle [0084] 54 first pump unit receptacle [0085] 56 ventilation valve [0086] 58 ventilation line [0087] 60 vacuum connection [0088] 62 through-opening [0089] 64 second pump unit receptacle [0090] 66 first bearing module [0091] 68 second bearing module [0092] 70 cable feed-through [0093] 72 front wall [0094] 74 clamp [0095] 76 locking edges [0096] 78 locking projection [0097] 80 edge section [0098] 82 receptacle for the energy store