LIQUID ANESTHETIC CARTRIDGES AND VAPORIZER
First Claim
1. A cartridge for use in a vaporizer system for providing anesthetic vapor, the cartridge comprising:
- a reservoir at least partially filled with liquid anesthetic material;
a valve in fluid communication with the reservoir, the valve adapted to engage with a structure in a vaporizer system to open the valve to allow for passage of vapor from the reservoir to the vaporizer;
a pressure relief system in fluid communication with the reservoir to prevent pressure in the reservoir from dropping below a prescribed difference from ambient air pressure; and
at least one memory device within the cartridge which may be read by the vaporizer;
the memory device containing at least an identification of the liquid anesthetic material contained in the reservoir.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vaporizer and cartridge system are disclosed. The vaporizer may be considered a universal vaporizer in that the vaporizer may use several different liquid anesthetic materials rather than just one. The cartridges may be single-use cartridges that are disposed after use rather than refilled by an end user. The cartridges may have one or more memory devices within the cartridge so that information about the cartridge may be communicated to the vaporizer such as the type of liquid anesthetic material carried by this cartridge. The vaporizer/cartridge system may be implemented to allow the vaporizer to update information in the cartridge memory such as the amount of liquid anesthetic material that was consumed during a particular session of use of the cartridge. The vaporizer may maintain a virtual logbook with information about the operation of the vaporizer. The information in the virtual logbook about the operation of a vaporizer with respect to a particular provision of anesthetic vapor to a particular patient may be communicated to a location outside of the vaporizer for storage along with other related medical records.
115 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A cartridge for use in a vaporizer system for providing anesthetic vapor, the cartridge comprising:
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a reservoir at least partially filled with liquid anesthetic material; a valve in fluid communication with the reservoir, the valve adapted to engage with a structure in a vaporizer system to open the valve to allow for passage of vapor from the reservoir to the vaporizer; a pressure relief system in fluid communication with the reservoir to prevent pressure in the reservoir from dropping below a prescribed difference from ambient air pressure; and at least one memory device within the cartridge which may be read by the vaporizer;
the memory device containing at least an identification of the liquid anesthetic material contained in the reservoir. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A cartridge for use in a vaporizer system for providing anesthetic vapor, the cartridge comprising:
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a reservoir for use in holding liquid anesthetic material; a valve in fluid communication with the reservoir, the valve adapted to engage with a structure in a vaporizer system to open the valve to allow for the passage of vapor from the reservoir to the vaporizer; a pressure relief system in fluid communication with the reservoir to prevent pressure in the reservoir from dropping below a prescribed difference from ambient air pressure; and at least one memory device within the cartridge for holding digital data.
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20. A vaporizer for use in the production of vapor for use in anesthesia, the vaporizer comprising:
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a means for opening a valve on a vaporizer cartridge to establish a path between the vaporizer and the vaporizer cartridge for vapor to flow from the vaporizer cartridge to the vaporizer; a means for heating a vaporizer cartridge reservoir; and a means for accessing digital information stored within the vaporizer cartridge to discern at least a type of liquid anesthetic material stored within the vaporizer cartridge. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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31. The vaporizer of 30 wherein the vaporizer is adapted to read information stored within the spare cartridge including an identification of a type of liquid anesthetic material contained in the spare cartridge so that the vaporizer can compare the type of liquid anesthetic material in the spare cartridge with the type of liquid anesthetic material in the vaporizer cartridge being used by the vaporizer to produce vapor.
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36. A method of producing vapor from a liquid anesthetic material, the method comprising:
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inserting a cartridge into a vaporizer for vapor production; opening a cartridge valve to provide at least a one-way route of fluid communication between a reservoir of liquid anesthetic material and at least a portion of the vaporizer; transferring digital information from the cartridge to the vaporizer to provide an identification of a specific liquid anesthetic material contained within the cartridge; operating the vaporizer based upon vapor production information in memory accessible to the vaporizer that applies to that specific anesthetic material contained within the inserted cartridge but not to all liquid anesthetic materials; providing heat to the liquid anesthetic material to promote formation of vapor; controlling the amount of heat provided to the liquid anesthetic material based upon at least one monitoring instrument; and selectively opening at least one valve within the vaporizer to allow for vapor from the cartridge to be added to gas to create carrier gas. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification