Personal injector for liquid medicine

• US 20020133114A1
• Filed: 03/13/2002
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nipro Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nipro Corporation
• Inventors: Tomita, Hideyuki, Itoh, Takehito, Kobayashi, Susumu
• Granted Patent: US 6,913,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/67
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/31588 electrically driven
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/16 with back-up system in case of failure
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/18 with alarm
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/35 Communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/50 with microprocessors or computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/8206 battery-operated
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14566 with a replaceable reservoir for receiving a piston rod of the pump
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/20 Automatic syringes, e.g. with automatically actuated piston rod, with automatic needle injection, filling automatically A61M5/142 , A61M5/46 take precedence; hypodermic projectiles F42B12/54
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/31541 Means preventing setting of a dose beyond the amount remaining in the cartridge
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/31546 Electrically operated dose setting, e.g. input via touch screen or plus/minus buttons
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 19/08 for bone diseases, e.g. rachitism, Paget's disease
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 7/04 Antihaemorrhagics; Procoagulants; Haemostatic agents; Antifibrinolytic agents

Abstract

Personal injector for liquid medicine comprises a housing 1 provided with needle-mounting part 11, medicine container holder 12 and connecting port 13 to a personal computer; plunger 2 arranged in housing 1; electric motor 3 for driving plunger 2; limit switch 4 for limiting the forward movement of plunger 2; starting point sensor 5 for detecting return of plunger 2 to the starting point; and substrate 6 having display 61 and mode-select switch 62 mounted thereon. The plunger 2 is movable between the starting point and forward limit point. Limit switch 4 is arranged at the forward limit point. When limit switch 4 is turned on, motor 3 drives plunger 2 in reverse to move it to the starting point thereof.

Claims

1. A personal injector for liquid medicine comprising:

a housing having a distal end and a proximal end and including a needle-mounting part, a medicine container holder, and a connecting port to a computer;

a plunger arranged in said housing and adapted to be longitudinally moved, by said motor, between a starting point and a forward limit point within the housing;

an electric motor for driving said plunger;

a limit switch arranged at the forward limit point to stop the forward movement of said plunger;

a starting point sensor for detecting return of the plunger to the starting point; and

a substrate arranged in said housing and provided with a display and mode-select switch;

wherein said plunger is adapted to be moved to the starting point by the reverse driving of the motor when said limit switch is turned on.

2. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said limit switch is turned on in case that a desired dosage is greater than a residual liquid medicine content.

3. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said motor is driven to move the plunger to a forward limit point where the limit switch is turned on, in case that a desired dosage is greater than a residual liquid medicine content and an operation mode is set to a additional dosage mode, whereby calculating a difference between the desired dosage of the liquid medicine and an actual dosage of the liquid medicine to determine an additional desired dosage as well as to display the same.

4. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said injector is adapted to detect clogging of a needle attached to the needle-mounting part.

5. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with a battery holder for holding a battery and with a power switch.

6. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with a connector for a power source.

7. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said plunger is provided with a manual dial which allows the user to manually move the plunger forward.

8. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said medicine container holder is provided with a medicine container detect switch for detecting presence of the medicine container.