1. An apparatus for altering the temperature of medicinal fluids to be dispensed to a patient comprising:
(a) a temperature altering chamber housing having a fluid inlet port and an internal chamber;
(b) a fluid delivery member contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing, said fluid delivery member having an outlet and an inlet in communication with said fluid inlet port of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(c) a chemical component contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber;
(d) a container housing connected to said temperature altering chamber housing;
(e) a collapsible container carried within said container housing, said collapsible container having an outlet in communication with said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(f) a solution contained within said collapsible container;
(g) an externally threaded pusher member connected to said container housing for movement between a first retracted position and a second advanced position, said pusher member having a pusher wall in engagement with said collapsible container; and
(h) an internally threaded control member threadably connected to said externally threaded pusher member for rotational movement relative thereto to urge said pusher member from said first retracted position toward said second advanced position;
(i) a collapsible container that includes a cylindrically shaped neck portion and in which said apparatus further comprises:
(j) an elongated dispersing tube connected to and extending from said rear wall of said heating chamber, said dispersing tube being in communication with said collapsible container;
(k) an annular shaped retainer member carried within said internally threaded container housing for receiving said cylindrically shaped neck portion of said collapsible container;
(l) a seal plug housing disposed within said cylindrically shaped neck portion of said collapsible container, said seal plug housing having a reduced diameter portion and an enlarged diameter portion having a plurality of circumferentially spaced bypass flow channels in communication with said internal chamber; and
(m) a seal plug carried within said reduced diameter portion of said seal plug housing for movement between a first retracted position and a second advanced position within said enlarged diameter portion.
2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 further including locking means carried by said internally threaded container housing for preventing rotational movement between said externally threaded control member and said internally threaded container housing.
3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 further including anti-rotation means carried by said internally threaded container housing for preventing rotational movement of said externally threaded control member from said second advanced position toward said first retracted position.
4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 further including an administration set interconnected with said outlet of said fluid delivery member.
5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said fluid delivery member comprises a helically shaped tube circumscribing said elongated dispersing tube.
6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said fluid delivery member comprises an inner helically shaped tube circumscribing said elongated dispersing tube and an outer helically shaped tube circumscribing said inner helically shaped tube.
7. An apparatus for heating medicinal fluids to be dispensed to a patient comprising:
(a) a temperature altering chamber housing including an outer wall, a rear wall connected to said outer wall and a front cover connected to said outer wall, said front cover having a fluid inlet port to receive the medicinal fluids to be dispensed to a patient, said outer wall, said rear wall and said front cover cooperating to define an internal chamber having a fluid inlet;
(b) an elongated dispersing tube connected to and extending from said rear wall of said temperature altering chamber housing and into said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(c) a fluid delivery member contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing, said fluid delivery member comprising a helically shaped tube circumscribing said elongated dispersing tube and having an outlet and an inlet in communication with said fluid inlet port of said front cover of said heat chamber housing;
(d) a chemical component contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(e) an internally threaded container housing connected to said temperature altering chamber housing;
(f) a collapsible container carried within said internally threaded container housing, said collapsible container having an outlet in communication with said internal chamber of said heat chamber housing;
(g) a solution contained within said collapsible container for intermixing with said chemical component contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing; and
(h) an externally threaded control member having a pusher wall in engagement with said collapsible container, said externally threaded control member being threadably connected to said internally threaded container housing for rotational movement relative thereto between a first retracted position and a second advanced position to collapse said collapsible container;
wherein a collapsible container includes a cylindrically shaped neck portion and in which said apparatus further comprises:
(i) an annular shaped retainer member carried within said internally threaded container housing for receiving said cylindrically shaped neck portion of said collapsible container;
(j) a seal plug housing disposed within said cylindrically shaped neck portion of said collapsible container, said seal plug housing having a reduced diameter portion and an enlarged diameter portion having a plurality of circumferentially spaced bypass flow channels in communication with said fluid inlet of said internal chamber; and
(k) a seal plug carried within said reduced diameter portion of said seal plug housing for movement between a first retracted position and a second advanced position within said enlarged diameter portion.
8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 further including locking means carried by said internally threaded container housing for preventing rotational movement between said externally threaded control member and said internally threaded container housing.
9. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 further including anti-rotation means carried by said container housing for preventing rotational movement of said externally threaded control member in a manner to move said pusher member from said second advanced position toward said first retracted position.
10. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 further including an administration set interconnected with said outlet of said fluid delivery member.
11. The apparatus as defined in claim 9 in which said fluid delivery member comprises an inner helically shaped tube circumscribing said elongated dispersing tube and an outer helically shaped tube circumscribing said inner helical shaped tube.
12. An apparatus for altering the temperature of medicinal fluids to be dispensed to a patient comprising:
(a) a temperature altering chamber housing including a generally cylindrical outer wall, a rear wall connected to said outer wall and a front cover connected to said outer wall, said front cover having a fluid inlet port in the form of a male Luer connector to receive the medicinal fluids to be dispensed to a patient, said outer wall, said rear wall and said front cover cooperating to define an internal chamber having a fluid inlet;
(b) an elongated dispersing tube connected to and extending from said rear wall of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(c) a fluid delivery member contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing, said fluid delivery member comprising a helically shaped tube circumscribing said elongated dispersing tube, said helically shaped tube having an outlet and an inlet in communication with said fluid inlet port of said front cover of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(d) a chemical component contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(e) a generally cylindrical container housing connected to said temperature altering chamber housing;
(f) an annular shaped retainer member carried within said container housing;
(g) a collapsible container carried within said container housing, said collapsible container having a bellows side wall, an end wall connected to said bellows side wall and a cylindrically shaped neck portion connected to bellows side wall, said cylindrically shaped neck portion being received within said annular shaped retainer member and having an outlet in communication with said elongated dispersing tube;
(h) a seal plug housing disposed within said cylindrically shaped neck portion of said collapsible container, said seal plug housing having a reduced diameter portion and an enlarged diameter portion having a plurality of circumferentially spaced bypass flow channels in communication with said elongated dispersing tube;
(i) a seal plug carried within said reduced diameter portion of said seal plug housing for movement between a first retracted position and a second advanced position within said enlarged diameter portion;
(j) a solution contained within said collapsible container for mixing with said chemical component contained within said internal chamber of said temperature altering chamber housing;
(k) an externally threaded pusher member having a pusher wall in engagement with said collapsible container, said externally threaded pusher member being moveable relative to said container member between a first retracted position and a second advanced position to collapse said collapsible container;
(l) an internally threaded generally cylindrical control member threadably connected to said externally threaded pusher member for rotational movement relative thereto to move said pusher member from said first retracted position toward said second advanced position;
(m) locking means carried by said externally threaded control member for preventing rotational movement of said externally threaded control member relative to said pusher member; and
(n) an administration set interconnected with said outlet of said fluid delivery member.
13. The apparatus as defined in claim 12 further including anti-rotation means carried by said container housing for preventing rotational movement of said externally threaded control member in a manner to move said pusher member from said second advanced position toward said first retracted position.
14. The apparatus as defined in claim 12 in which said pusher member is provided with a radial bore, in which said control member is provided with a radial bore in alignment with said radial bore of said pusher member and in which said locking means comprises a locking pin removably carried within said radial bores of said pusher member and said control member.
15. The apparatus as defined in claim 12 in which said chemical component is selected from a group consisting of: aluminum oxide, copper oxide, silicon elastomers, polybutadiene rubbers, bisphenol-A, iron oxide, aluminum, copper, phosphoric acid, iron, calcium, potassium, strontium oxide, sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, iron chloride, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, iron sulfate, sodium sulfate, barium iodide, calcium iodate, ammonium salts, sodium bicarbonate, potassium salts, acetone and pentane.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A microbead automatic recognition method comprising:
acquiring an image of a circular surface of a cylindrical microbead having a recognition pattern created on said circular surface and a plurality of reference points also created on said circular surface, each of two of said reference points located on a circumference of at least one of two concentric circles sharing a common center with said circular surface and having diameters different from one another, wherein said two reference points are not both located on a straight line which passes through said common center and the two concentric circles surround the recognition pattern; and
acquiring information on the rearfront andor orientation of said cylindrical microbead from said acquired image on the basis of the positions of said reference points.
2. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 1, further comprising
carrying out a pattern-matching process to determine whether said recognition pattern in said image matches a lattice used for detecting said recognition pattern by rotating said lattice on the basis of said information.
3. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 2, wherein determining whether said recognition pattern in said image matches a lattice used for detecting said recognition pattern comprises determining whether a penetration hole of the recognition pattern exists at an intersection of the lattice for each intersection of the lattice.
4. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 2, further comprising detecting an arcuate edge of the recognition pattern from the acquired image of the circular surface of the cylindrical microbead.
5. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 4, further comprising detecting an origin of the recognition pattern from the acquired image of the circular surface of the cylindrical microbead, laying a standard circle including the origin to overlap the arcuate edge, and determining whether the arcuate edge substantially matches the standard circle.
6. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 5, further comprising detecting a first reference point of the plurality of reference points disposed on said circular surface and determining an orientation angle formed by a reference axis and a straight line passing through the first reference point and the common center of the two concentric circles.
7. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 6, further comprising rotating the lattice by the orientation angle and determining whether said recognition pattern in said image substantially matches the lattice.
8. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 7, further comprising detecting a second reference point of the plurality of reference points disposed on said circular surface, determining the rear or front position of the cylindrical microbead, and detecting the recognition pattern of the cylindrical microbead.
9. The microbead automatic recognition method according to claim 1, further comprising converting the acquired image of the circular surface of the cylindrical microbead having the recognition pattern and the plurality of reference points created on said circular surface to binary values.
10. A cylindrical microbead configured to have a circular surface on which a recognition pattern and a plurality of reference points are created, wherein information on the rearfront andor orientation of said microbead can be obtained on the basis of the positions of said reference points, each of two of said reference points are located on a circumference of at least one of two concentric circles sharing a common center with said circular surface and having diameters different from each other; and
said two reference points are not both located on a straight line which passes through said common center and the two concentric circles surround the recognition pattern.
11. The cylindrical microbead according to claim 10, wherein the recognition pattern comprises a code matrix including a grid having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns.
12. The cylindrical microbead according to claim 10, wherein all of said plurality of reference points are located on the circumference of one of the concentric circles sharing a common center with said circular surface.
13. The cylindrical microbead according to claim 10, wherein no two of said plurality of reference points are located on the circumference of a single concentric circle sharing a common center with said circular surface.