Linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion

Abstract

The present invention relates to a linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion, and more particularly, to a flow regulating apparatus which is used in an infusion set for intravenous infusion to regulate the flow rate of a solution injected into a body. To eliminate the difficulties caused by the nonlinearity of conventional flow regulating apparatuses, which regulate flow rates by pressing a solution flow tube to adjust the flow passage area, the linear flow regulating apparatus has a control unit to be put in or taken out along the width of a flow channel unit through which the solution flows when the height and length of the flow channel unit are fixed, and is capable of linearly regulating the flow rate by varying the flow passage area of the flow channel unit by adjusting the width of a flow channel unit.

Claims

1. A linear flow regulating apparatus for an intravenous infusion set, the apparatus comprising: a flow channel unit having a rectangular cross-section, and a rectangular shaped flow passage area inside the flow channel unit so as to allow that allow a solution to flow therethrough; a control unit that is adapted to be put in or taken out of one side of the flow channel unit to vary a width of the flow passage area; and an adjustment unit that is formed at a contact region between the flow channel unit and the control unit to adjust a moving distance of the control unit along a width direction of the flow channel unit, wherein the width direction is transverse to a flow direction of the solution, wherein the control unit is configured to by uniformly decreasing the flow passage area of the flow channel unit by being inserted into the flow channel unit along the width of the flow channel unit towards an opposite side of the one side of the flow channel unit, and wherein the control unit is configured to regulate the flow rate of the solution to be linearly proportional to the width of the flow passage area.

2. The linear flow regulating apparatus of claim 1, wherein a gauge is formed on one surface of the control unit to check the flow rate of the solution varying with the flow passage area of the flow channel unit when the control unit is put in or taken out.

3. The linear flow regulating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flow channel unit comprises: an inlet tube connected at a front end of the flow channel unit to allow the solution to simultaneously flow in over the entire width of the flow channel unit; and an outlet tube connected at a rear end of the flow channel unit to allow the solution to simultaneously flow out over the entire width of the flow channel unit.

4. The linear flow regulating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustment unit comprises: a plurality of protruding parts formed on an inner peripheral surface of the flow channel unit; and a plurality of coupling parts formed on an outer peripheral surface of the control unit so as to engage the protruding parts.

5. The linear flow regulating apparatus of claim 4, wherein the flow channel unit further comprises a pinion adjustment unit that is rotatable in meshing engagement with the plurality of coupling parts formed on the outer peripheral surface of the control unit, wherein the control unit is put into or taken out of the one side of the flow channel unit by rotating the pinion adjustment unit.

6. The linear flow regulating apparatus of claim 5, wherein the pinion adjustment unit comprises: a pinion part meshing with the coupling parts; and a fixing part for fixing the pinion part to the outer peripheral surface of the flow channel unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional infusion solution bag.

(2) FIG. 2 is a front cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of a conventional roller clamp type infusion flow regulator shown in FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion in accordance with the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of FIG. 3.

(5) FIG. 5 is a view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 4

(6) FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an infusion set to which a linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a planar cross-sectional view showing a pinion adjustment unit in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(8) Before exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail, it will be understood that, detailed constitution and arrangements of elements described in the detailed description or illustrated in the drawings should not be construed as limiting the application of the invention. The invention may be embodied in many alternate forms and performed in various methods.

(9) The terms or words to describe the direction of an apparatus or element (for example, front, back, up, down, top, bottom, left, right and lateral, among others) are used to simplify the description of the invention. It will be, therefore, understood that these terms do not mean that the relevant apparatus or element shall be only in the specific direction.

(10) The present invention has the following features to attain the aspect mentioned above.

(11) The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. It will be understood that words or terms used in the specification and claims shall not be interpreted as the meaning defined in commonly used dictionaries. It will be further understood that the words or terms should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the technical idea of the invention, based on the principle that an inventor may properly define the meaning of the words or terms to best explain the invention.

(12) Therefore, configurations described in embodiments and shown in drawings of the present specification indicate only the most preferred example rather than indicating all the technical ideas of the present disclosure and therefore, it is to be understood that various equivalents and modifications that can replace the above configurations may be present.

(13) Hereinafter, a linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

(14) Referring to FIG. 4, the linear flow regulating apparatus 70 for intravenous infusion according to the present invention includes a flow channel unit 10, a control unit 20, a fine adjustment unit 30, and a gauge 40.

(15) The flow channel unit 10 is hollow inside, and its front and rear ends have an open rectangular cross-section. In the present invention, the height of the flow channel unit 10 is denoted by h, its length is denoted by l, and its width is denoted by b, where the width b is much greater than the height (b>>h), making the flow channel unit 10 in a rectangular shape.

(16) By ignoring end wall effects, the Hagen-Poiseuille law in channel can be applied as shown in the following Equation 2.

(17) $\begin{array}{cc}Q=\frac{{\mathrm{ph}}^{3}b}{121}& \mathrm{Equation}2\end{array}$

(18) (where Q is the flow rate, p is the pressure difference in the channel (flow channel unit 10), h is the height of the channel, b is the width of the channel, is the viscosity of the fluid, and l is the length of the channel.)

(19) That is, it can be seen that, while adjusting the area by pressing the conventional connecting tube 104, as shown in FIG. 2 depicting the conventional infusion flow regulator, does not contribute to linear regulation of flow rate by Equation 1 set forth in [Background of the Invention], the flow rate in the flow channel unit 10 having a rectangular cross-section is inversely proportional to the length l, proportional to the third power of the height h, and linear to the width b.

(20) According to the present invention, the height h and length l of the flow channel unit 10 are fixed and the width b of the flow channel unit 10 is adapted to be controlled by the control unit 20 to be described later. Therefore, the flow rate can be linearly and accurately regulated by controlling the width b of the flow channel unit 10, which is linear to the flow rate (Q (flow rate) b (width)).

(21) Moreover, an inlet tube 51 and an outlet tube 52 are connected at the open front and rear ends of the flow channel unit 10 so as to allow a solution N to flow therethrough. The inlet tube 51 is disposed at the front end of the flow channel unit 10, and the outlet tube 52 at the rear end of the flow channel unit 10, so that the solution flowing from the inlet tube 51 migrates to the outlet tube 52 through the inside of the flow channel unit 10.

(22) An expanding or contracting tube portion 53 is formed such that ends of the inlet tube 51 and outlet tube 52 having a circular cross-section respectively correspond to the front and rear ends of the flow channel unit 10 communicating with each other. Thus, the solution entering from the inlet tube 51 simultaneously flows in over the entire width b of the front end of the flow channel unit 10.

(23) Also, the solution flowing out through the inlet tube 51 and the flow channel unit 10 simultaneously exits over the entire width b of the rear end of the flow channel unit 10.

(24) Referring to FIG. 5, the control unit 20 is configured to be inserted into one side of the flow channel unit 10, and has a rectangular cross-sectional shape corresponding to the flow channel unit 10.

(25) With this configuration, the control unit 20 may be put in or taken out along the width b of the flow channel unit 10 by the user, when the control unit 20 is inserted corresponding to one side of the flow channel unit 10.

(26) That is, as the flow passage area of the flow channel unit 10 decreases when the control unit 20 is put in, and the flow passage area of the flow channel unit 10 increases when the control unit 20 is taken out (the flow channel unit 10 is not fully removed from the control unit 20), the flow rate in the flow channel unit 10 can be regulated.

(27) In other words, the control unit 20 is inserted into one side of the flow channel unit 10 so as to correspond to and come in contact with the inside of the flow channel unit 10 whose height h and length l are fixed, whereby the flow rate of the solution through the flow channel unit 10 can be regulated while moving the control unit 20 along the width b of the flow channel unit 10.

(28) Moreover, as the flow passage area of the flow channel unit 10 is linear (proportional) to the width b, as described above, the flow rate of the solution through the flow channel unit 10 of the present invention is linearly adjusted with the same amount as the width b of the flow channel unit 10. As a result, the linear flow regulating apparatus for intravenous infusion according to the present invention is able to accurately regulate the flow rate of an infusion solution when applied to an infusion set.

(29) As described above, the fine adjustment unit 30 is for finely adjusting the moving distance of the control unit 20 put in or taken out along the width b of the flow channel unit 10.

(30) The fine adjustment unit 30 includes protruding parts 11 and coupling parts 21.

(31) The protruding parts 11 may consist of one or more protrusions protruding on an inner peripheral surface of the flow channel unit 10. If the protruding part 11 consists of two protrusions, the protrusions are spaced apart from each other on an inner peripheral surface of the flow channel unit 10.

(32) The coupling parts 21 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the control unit 20 so as to engage the protruding parts 11.

(33) More specifically, as the control unit 20 is put into or taken out of one side of the flow channel unit 10, the above-described protruding parts 11 are formed along the width b (in the movement direction of the control unit 20) on a region contacting the outer peripheral surface of the control unit 20, i.e., on the inner peripheral surface of the flow channel unit 10, and the above-described coupling parts 21 are formed along the width b (in the movement direction of the control unit 20) on a region contacting the inner peripheral surface of the flow channel unit 10, i.e., on the outer peripheral surface of the control part 20.

(34) If the plurality of coupling parts 21 formed on the control part 20 sequentially and bilaterally engage the protruding parts 11, like gears, and then the control unit 20 is put in along the width b of the flow channel unit 10, this means that the plurality of coupling parts 21 are inserted between some of the protruding parts 11 along the width b and then between another protruding parts 11 in a repetitive fashion.

(35) That is, the moving distance of the control unit 20 along the width b is accurately adjusted as the distance between the protruding parts 11 or the distance between the coupling parts 21 changes (ex: a decrease or increase of 10 cc/hr each time the coupling parts 21 move one space), so that the flow passage area of the flow channel unit 10 can be accurately varied.

(36) While the protruding parts 11 and the coupling parts 21 are configured to protrude outward, various changes can be made, including the protruding parts 11 configured to be put in and the coupling parts 21 configured to engage the protruding parts 11 in a male-female relation, according to a variety of exemplary embodiments, as long as the moving distance of the control unit 20 along the width b can be accurately and sequentially adjusted.

(37) The gauge 40 is formed along the width b (in the movement direction of the control unit 20) on one surface of the control unit 20 that is put into or taken out of the flow channel unit 10. By checking a measurement on the gauge 40 corresponding to one edge of the flow channel unit 10 whenever the control unit 20 is put into or taken out of the flow channel unit 10 by means of the fine adjustment unit 30, the user is able to find the flow rate through the variable flow passage of the flow channel unit 10, based on the measurement on the gauge 40.

(38) The gauge 40 has no protrusion, and serves to prevent a solution from migrating along the length l from the control unit 20 through the protruding parts 11.

(39) Referring to FIG. 7, a pinion adjustment unit 60 includes a fixing part 61, one end of which being fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the flow channel unit 10 and the other end of which extending toward the control unit 20, a reference axis 62 formed at the center of a circular-shaped body, with the fixing part 61 being fixed to the reference axis 62, and a pinion part 64 having a plurality of gears 63 formed on the outer circumference, and meshing with the plurality of coupling parts 21 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the control unit 20.

(40) That is, a plurality of gears 63 are formed on the outer circumference of the pinion part 64, and the gears 63 may mesh with the plurality of coupling parts 21 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the control unit 20.

(41) In this case, the user may put or take the control unit 20 into or out of the flow channel unit 10 by directly pushing or pulling the control unit 20. Otherwise, the user may put or taken the control unit 20 into or out of the flow channel unit 10 in the rotating direction of the pinion part 64 by rotating the pinion part 64, because the gears 63 formed on the outer circumference of the pinion part 64 mesh with the coupling parts 21 of the control unit 20.

(42) In other words, if the pinion adjustment unit 60 consisting of the fixing part 61 and the pinion part 64 is rotated counterclockwise, the gears 63 of the pinion part 64 push the control unit 20 toward the flow channel unit 10, thus causing the control unit 20 to be put into the flow channel unit 10.

(43) On the contrary, if the pinion adjustment unit 60 is rotated clockwise, the gears 63 of the pinion part 64 pulls the control unit 20 outward of the flow channel unit 10, thus causing the control unit 20 to be taken out of the flow channel unit 10.

(44) While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.