CONTROLLING FLOW OF MEDICAL FLUIDS

• US 3,823,724 A
• Filed: 05/25/1973
• Issued: 07/16/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: William P. Davis
• Original Assignee: William P. Davis
• Inventors: Davis, William P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Klinksiek, Henry T.
• Application Number:
  US05/364,184
• Time in Patent Office: 417 Days
• Field of Search: 251/5,14,61.4 137/15,561,608,315,612.1
• US Class Current: 137/15.01
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 27/00 Construction of housing methods for welding housings B23K; Use of materials therefor
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 7/00 Diaphragm valves or cut-off apparatus, e.g. with a member deformed, but not moved bodily, to close the passage container gates or closures operating by deformation of flexible walls B65D90/56; means for plugging pipes or hoses F16L55/10 ; Pinch valves
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0402 Cleaning, repairing, or assembling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/87861 Spring coaxial with valve

Abstract

Medical pinch valve assemblies, networks, manifolds and related methods, the assemblies comprising two or more pinch valves each of which comprises an actuator, a spring-loaded plunger and a valving arm which collapses an array of channel-contained medical tubing with memory at a selected site to occlude flow of medical fluid across the site. When open, the memory of the tubing and the pressure of the medical fluid opens the previously occluded site to permit flow. Hence, flow of medical fluid from source to destination sites is facilitated. Only the tubing is sterilized and tubing removal and replacement is rapidly achieved so that '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'down time'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' is virtually non-existent.

Claims

1. A pinch valve assembly for controlling the flow of medical fluids comprising:

a non-sterile body;

a groove in the surface of said body;

a sterile disposable pliable tube of synthetic material having memory disposed at least in part in the said surface groove;

a non-sterile stem;

means mounting the stem within said body for (a) lineal reciprocation between extended and retracted positions and (b) rotational displacement between functional and nonfunctional positions;

means normally biasing the stem into one of said two lineal positions;

force-applying means displacing the stem into the other of said two lineal positions counter to said bias;

an arm carried by the stem and juxtaposed the groove when the stem is in the functional rotational position such that the arm pinches the tube closed against the body groove to prevent fluid flow through the tube when the stem is in a first of said two lineal positions, and the arm releases the tube to accommodate the flow of medical fluid through the tube when in the second of said two lineal positions;

means rotataionally displacing the stem and arm to the nonfunctional rotational position whereby the tube, after it becomes contaminated, may be readily removed from the groove and replaced in the groove by another sterile tube, following which the stem and arm are returned to their functional rotational position.

2. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising a removable cover plate substantially covering the groove and having a slot adjacent the arm to accommodate said lineal reciprocation.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said biasing means comprise a force-applying spring.

4. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said displacing means comprise a fluid driven diaphragm.

5. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said displacing means comprise solenoid means.

6. A medical flow control assembly comprising:

a non-sterile L-shaped actuator;

a non-sTerile body carrying the actuator for lineal reciprocable movement along the axis of one leg of the actuator, said body having an open groove passageway with a base and side edges normal to and juxtaposed the other leg of the actuator;

a length of sterile disposable medical tubing for communicating medical fluid from one site to another site removably located in the passageway, the depth of the base of the groove being substantially less than the diameter of the medical tubing;

non-sterile means normally biasing the other leg of the actuator away from the tubing allowing substantial unimpeded flow of medical fluid between said sites through the open bore of the medical tubing and non-sterile means for displacing the other leg of said actuator counter to said bias against the tubing and the body juxtaposed the side edges of the groove occluding the tubing by flattening without crushing the same a distance equal to the diameter of the tubing less the depth of the groove, whereby flow of medical fluid through the tubing is accommodated and prevented, respectively.

7. A medical flow control manifold comprising;

an array of sterile tubing of biologically inert plastic material having memory, for electively communcating medical fluid between one site and at least two other sites, said array comprising at least one connector whereby one length of tubing from the one site is joined to at least two other lengths of tubing respectively connecting to said other two sites;

body means having an array of interconnected open surface grooves each comprising a base with side walls into which said array of tubing is correspondingly placed in contiguous relation with the base;

a plurality of separate slots in the surface of the body means, each slot comprising a base and intersecting one of said surface grooves but having a depth less than the depth of the intersected groove;

a tube-occluding arm disposed in each slot across the groove and adjacent the branch of tubing in the groove;

an actuating piston connected to each tube-occluding arm and associated with the body means for limited reciprocation of the connected arm against and away from the base of the associated slot adjacent branch of tubing to occlude by flattening without crushing the adjacent tubing or accommodate opening of the tubing respectively thereby respectively preventing and permitting flow of medical fluid in said branch;

a plurality of automated means each associated with the body means and each respectively moving one actuating piston and associated tube-occluding arm between the reciprocable positions thereof whereby flow of medical fluid across the connector between selected sites in the branches of the tubing is facilitated.

8. The manifold of claim 7 wherein said plurality of automated means are normally positioned to cause the associated tube-occluding arm to occlude the adjacent branch of tubing.

9. The manifold of claim 7 further comprising a cover plate positioned over and covering said surface grooves and intersecting slots.

10. A manifold as defined in claim 9 wherein said cover plate comprises elongated openings accommodating reciprocation of each tube-occluding arm.

11. a medical flow control manifold comprising;

an array of sterile tubing of biologically inert plastic material having memory, for selectively communicating medical fluid, said array comprising at least one connector whereby one length of tubing is joined to at least two other lengths of tubing;

body means having an array of surface grooves each comprising a base into which said array of tubing is correspondingly placed in contiguous relation with the base;

a plurality of slots in the surface of the body means, each slot intersecting one of said surface grooves;

a tube-occluding arm disposed in each slot away from the base of the groove and adjacent the thick branch of tubing in the groove;

an actuating piston connected to each tube-occluding arm and associated wIth the body means for limited reciprocation of the connected arm against and away from the adjacent branch of tubing to occlude or accommodate opening of the tubing respectively thereby respectively preventing and permitting flow of medical fluid in said branch;

a plurality of automated means each associated with the body means and each respectively moving one actuating piston and associated tube-occluding arm between the reciprocable positions thereof whereby flow of medical fluid across the connector between selected branches of the tubing is facilitated;

means exposed beyond the body means and connected to each actuating piston for manual displacement of the associated tube-occluding arm from its slot and rotation thereof out of superimposed relation with the adjacent surface groove whereby the disposable tubing, once contaminated, may be readily removed and replaced by a like array of tubing in sterile condition.

12. A method of controlling flow of medical fluid comprising the steps of:

placing disposable sterile tubing in an open surface groove of a non-sterile pinch valve with an eccentrically disposed tube-occluding arm superimposed over the tubing;

actuating the eccentrically disposed tube-occluding arm of the pinch valve between occluding and non-occluding positions by remote control to selectively pass and prevent passage of medical fluid across the valve from a source site to a destination site;

preventing, at a site remote from the pinch valve, fluid flow in the tubing across the pinch valve;

positioning the tube-occluding arm out of superimposed contiguous relation with the tubing;

disconnecting the used tubing in respect to said source and destination sites;

removing the used tubing from the surface groove and discarding the same;

replacing the used tubing with new sterile tubing in said groove and in connected relation between the source and destination sites without sterilization of the pinch valve returning the tube-occluding arm for displacement between the occluding and non-occluding positions.

13. A method of controlling fluid flow of medical fluid comprising the steps of;

placing an array of disposable sterile tubing comprising interconnected branches in an arrangement of open surface grooves in a non-sterile body;

actuating selected ones of a plurality of tubeoccluding arms, each comprising part of a pinch valve, respectively, between a stop engaging tube flattening but not crushing occluding position and a non-occluding position by remote control to selectively channel medical fluid from source to destination sites through selected tube branches;

preventing, at one or more sites remote from the body, fluid flow in any branch of the tubing;

disconnecting the used array of tubing in respect to said source and destination sites;

removing the used array of tubing from the arrangement of surface grooves;

replacing the used array of tubing with a new array of sterile tubing positioned in said arrangement of grooves and connected between said source and destination sites, without sterilization of the body and pinch valves.