MULTI-WAY CONNECTOR

Abstract

One aspect of the present disclosure pertains to a connector for conveying a suspension of particles through a system, comprising: a housing (10) comprising an internal cavity (12) and a first passageway (14) for conveying fluid; two or more inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) formed in the housing and arranged radially with respect to a longitudinal axis of the first passageway; and a rotatable component (18) received in the internal cavity of the housing and rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the first passageway such that a continuous flow path can be established between the first passageway and a selected inlet conduit; wherein an angle between each of the inlet conduits and the first passageway (22) is greater than 90 degrees. Other aspects pertain to systems that employ such a connector and to methods of using such systems.

Claims

1. A connector for conveying a suspension of particles through a system, said connector comprising: a housing (10) comprising an internal cavity (12) that comprises a first passageway (14) having a longitudinal axis for conveying fluid and wherein the first passageway terminates in an outlet; two or more inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) formed in the housing and arranged radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway; and a rotatable component (18) received in a portion of the internal cavity that is adjacent to the first passageway, the rotatable component being rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the first passageway, wherein the rotatable component comprises an internal second passageway (20) in fluid communication with the first passageway at a first end (20a) of the second passageway, and wherein the rotatable component is rotatable such that a second end (20b) of the second passageway is selectively alignable with any one of the inlet conduits such that a continuous flow path is established between the first passageway and a selected inlet conduit; wherein an angle between a longitudinal axis of each of the inlet conduits and the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is greater than 90 degrees.

2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the angle between the longitudinal axis of each of the inlet conduits and the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is greater than 110 degrees.

3. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable component is configured to indicate which of the inlet conduits is selected as the selected inlet conduit such that a continuous flow path is established through the second passageway between said selected inlet conduit and the first passageway.

4. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the first passageway terminates in an outlet port.

5. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable component is engaged within the internal cavity of the housing by a clip fit.

6. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the inlet conduits are arranged such that they have rotational symmetry with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway.

7. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the connector comprises two, three or four inlet conduits.

8. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the first passageway and/or any one or more than one of the inlet conduits terminate in a Luer connector.

9. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the first passageway terminates in a male Luer connector and the one or more inlet conduits terminate in female Luer connectors.

10. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the first passageway, the second passageway, and/or any of one or more of the inlet conduits comprise a circular or oval cross-sectional profile.

11. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the housing is integrally formed in a single moulded piece.

12. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is coaxial with a central axis of the housing.

13. A system for conveying a suspension of particles, comprising: two or more sources of fluid, wherein at least one source of fluid is a suspension of particles; a connector comprising: a housing (10) comprising an internal cavity (12) that comprises a first passageway (14) having a longitudinal axis for conveying fluid and wherein the first passageway terminates in an outlet; two or more inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) formed in the housing and arranged radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway; and a rotatable component (18) received in a portion of the internal cavity that is adjacent to the first passageway, the rotatable component being rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the first passageway, wherein the rotatable component comprises an internal second passageway (20) in fluid communication with the first passageway at a first end (20a) of the second passageway, and wherein the rotatable component is rotatable such that a second end (20b) of the second passageway is selectively alignable with any one of the inlet conduits such that a continuous flow path is established between the first passageway and a selected inlet conduit; wherein an angle between a longitudinal axis of each of the inlet conduits and the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is greater than 90 degrees; two or more feed lines for supplying fluid to the connector wherein each of the two or more feed lines is connected to each of the two or more inlet conduits at a first feed line end and each of the two or more feed lines is connected to each of the two or more sources of fluid at a second feed line end; and a catheter in fluid communication with the first passageway.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the system further comprises a bracket configured for holding the connector in an orientation such that a clearance of particles through the connector towards the outlet is maximised.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the angle between the longitudinal axis of each of the inlet conduits and the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is greater than 110 degrees.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the rotatable component is configured to indicate which of the inlet conduits is selected as the selected inlet conduit such that a continuous flow path is established through the second passageway between said selected inlet conduit and the first passageway.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the inlet conduits are arranged such that they have rotational symmetry with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway.

18. The system according to claim 13, wherein the connector comprises two, three or four inlet conduits and the system comprises two, three or four feed lines.

19. A method of conveying a suspension of particles through a system comprising (a) two or more sources of fluid, wherein at least one source of fluid is a suspension of particles; (b) a connector comprising: a housing (10) comprising an internal cavity (12) that comprises a first passageway (14) having a longitudinal axis for conveying fluid and wherein the first passageway terminates in an outlet; two or more inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) formed in the housing and arranged radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway; and a rotatable component (18) received in a portion of the internal cavity that is adjacent to the first passageway, the rotatable component being rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the first passageway, wherein the rotatable component comprises an internal second passageway (20) in fluid communication with the first passageway at a first end (20a) of the second passageway, and wherein the rotatable component is rotatable such that a second end (20b) of the second passageway is selectively alignable with any one of the inlet conduits such that a continuous flow path is established between the first passageway and a selected inlet conduit; wherein an angle between a longitudinal axis of each of the inlet conduits and the longitudinal axis of the first passageway is greater than 90 degrees; (c) two or more feed lines for supplying fluid to the connector wherein each of the two or more feed lines is connected to each of the two or more inlet conduits at a first feed line end and each of the two or more feed lines is connected to each of the two or more sources of fluid at a second feed line end; and (d) a catheter in fluid communication with the first passageway, the method comprising: using the rotatable component to select a first inlet conduit of the two or more inlet conduits thereby delivering fluid through the system from a first source of fluid of the two or more sources of fluid to the catheter; and rotating the rotatable component to select a second inlet conduit of the two or more inlet conduits thereby delivering fluid through the system from a second source of fluid of the two or more sources of fluid to the catheter.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising rotating the rotatable component to select a third inlet conduit of the two or more inlet conduits thereby delivering fluid through the system from a third source of fluid of the two or more sources of fluid to the catheter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] FIG. 1 represents a cross-sectional view of the connector according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0050] FIG. 2 represents an expanded partial view of the central portion of the connector with the angle between an inlet conduit and an axis of the first passageway shown and also the angle between an inlet conduit and the rotational axis of the rotatable component shown.

[0051] FIG. 3 represents a top view of the connector according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0052] FIG. 4 represents a perspective view of the connector according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0053] FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of the system according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0054] FIG. 6 represents a perspective view of a bracket which is configured for holding a connector according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0055] FIG. 7 is a photograph of a bracket supported by a bracket arm according to an aspect of the disclosure.

[0056] FIG. 8 is a photograph of a connector positioned in a bracket supported by a bracket arm according to an aspect of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0057] A detailed description of one embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the drawings.

[0058] FIG. 1 represents a cross-sectional view of the connector (1) according to an aspect of the disclosure. In this embodiment of the disclosure, the longitudinal axis (14a) of the first passageway (14) is coaxial with the rotational axis (18a) of the rotatable component (18). The connector (1) comprises housing (10) comprising an internal cavity (12) that includes the first passageway (14) arranged about the longitudinal axis. Inlet conduits (16a, 16c) are formed in the housing (10) and arranged radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing (10), which is coaxial with the passageway axis (14a) and the rotational axis (18a). In the cross-sectional view of the connector (1) shown in FIG. 1, only two of the inlet conduits (16a, 16c) can be seen out of four total inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d). The rotatable component (18) is received in a portion of the internal cavity (12) of the housing at a position adjacent to the first passageway (12), and rotatable component (18) is rotatable about its longitudinal axis (18a) which is coaxial with the axis (14a) of the first passageway (14). The rotatable component (18) comprises a second passageway (20) in fluid communication with the first passageway (14) at its first end (20a). The rotatable component is rotatable such that the second end (20b) of the second passageway is selectively alignable with any one of the inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d). In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 1, the second end (20b) of the second passageway (20) is aligned with the first inlet conduit (16a) such that a continuous flow path is established between the first passageway (14) and the first inlet conduit (16a) (the first inlet conduit (16a) being the selected inlet conduit in this instance). In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 1, the rotatable component (18) has a top part (18a) with a pointer (18c) which indicates that the first inlet conduit (16a) is the selected inlet conduit. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 1, the first passageway (14) terminates in an outlet port (28).

[0059] FIG. 2 represents an expanded view of the central portion of the connector (1) with the angle (22) between the axis (26) of the first inlet conduit (16a) and the axis (14a) of the first passageway (14) being shown and also the angle (24) between the axis (26) of the first inlet conduit and the rotational axis (18a) of the rotatable component (18) being shown. The central portion of the connector shown in FIG. 2 is a schematic representation, and the second passageway is not shown. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 2, the longitudinal axis (14a) of the first passageway (14) is coaxial with the rotational axis (18a) of the rotatable component (18) and where this is the case the sum of angle (22) and angle (24) should always equal 180 degrees. The angle (22) between the axis of the first inlet conduit and the axis of the first passageway should always be greater than 90 degrees.

[0060] FIG. 3 represents a top view of the connector (1) and FIG. 4 represents a perspective view of the connector (1) according to an aspect of the disclosure. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the connector (1) has four inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) and these inlet conduits are arranged 90 degrees apart from each other with respect to the longitudinal axis of the first passageway (14) such that they have a rotational symmetry of four. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rotatable component has a top part (18a) which extends beyond the housing and also a protruding section (18b) configured to be gripped by a human hand. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rotatable component also has a pointer (18c) for indicating which of the inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d) has been selected to be in fluid communication with the first passageway (14) such that a continuous flow path is established between the selected inlet conduit and the first passageway (14) via the second passageway (20). In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pointer (18c) is pointing towards the first inlet conduit (16a) to indicate that the first inlet conduit (16a) is the selected inlet conduit and so is in fluid communication with the first passageway (14). In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 3, the first passageway (14) terminates in an outlet port (32).

[0061] FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of a system according to an aspect of the disclosure. The system comprises a connector (1) like that previously described, a first source of fluid (34) and a first feed line (36), wherein the first feed line (36) is connected to the first source of fluid (34) at a first end (36a) and to a first inlet conduit (16a) on the connector at its second end (36b). The system further comprises a second source of fluid (38) and a second feed line (40), wherein the second feed line (40) is connected to the second source of fluid (38) at a first end (40a) and to a second inlet conduit (16c) on the connector at a second end (40b). The system also comprises a catheter (42) in fluid communication with the first passageway (14) on the connector. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 5, the catheter (42) is attached to the first passageway (14) at its outlet port (32) via a Luer connector. In the embodiment of an aspect of the disclosure shown in FIG. 5, the system comprises two sources of fluid and two feed lines however optionally the system may also comprise one or more additional sources of fluid and a corresponding number of additional feed lines for connecting the additional sources of fluid to one or more additional inlet conduits on the connector. In the embodiment of the disclosure shown in FIG. 5, the first source of fluid and second sources of fluid (34, 38) are vials.

[0062] FIG. 6 represents a perspective view of a bracket (5) in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, which is configured for holding a connector (1) in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure like that described above. The bracket (5) is comprises with four concavities (52a, 52b, 52c, 52d), each of which is configured to cradle each of four inlet conduits (16a, 16b, 16c, 16d). The bracket (5) is further provided with a slot (54) to allow the connector (1) to be seated in the bracket (5) and/or removed from the bracket (5) while a catheter (42) is attached to the connector (1).

[0063] FIG. 7 is a photograph of a bracket (5) like that of FIG. 6 supported by a bracket arm (5a), in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0064] FIG. 8 is a photograph of a connector (1), in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, positioned in a bracket (5) supported by a bracket arm (5a) in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.