Automatic air-in-line fluid detector
First Claim
1. An automatic fluid detector for detecting the presence of air in a fluid line containing either an opaque or a transparent fluid, includingmeans for supporting a portion of the fluid line for detection of air in the fluid line,first means operatively coupled to the supported portion of the fluid line and responsive to the fluid line containing air or the opaque fluid for producing a first signal in accordance with the fluid line containing air or the opaque fluid and responsive to the fluid line containing the transparent fluid for producing a second signal in accordance with the fluid line containing the transparent fluid,second means operatively coupled to the supported portion of the fluid line and responsive to the fluid line containing the opaque fluid for producing a first signal in accordance with the fluid line containing the opaque fluid and responsive to the fluid line containing air or the transparent fluid for producing a second signal in accordance with the fluid line containing air or the transparent fluid,third means operatively coupled to the first and second means and responsive to the first means producing the first signal for passing the first and second signals from the second means, andfourth means operatively coupled to the first and second means and responsive to the second means producing the second signal for passing the first and second signals from the first means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic air-in-line detector for either a transparent or an opaque fluid including first detector means for detecting air-in-line in the transparent fluid and second detector means for detecting air-in-line in the opaque fluid, and additionally including control means coupled to the first and second detector means and automatically responsive to the difference between the transparent fluid and the opaque fluid for enabling the first detector means in response to the transparent fluid and for enabling the second detector means in response to the opaque fluid and with an alarm in accordance with the detection of air-in-line in either the transparent or opaque fluid. If any of the detectors fail, the system either automatically alarms or becomes more sensitive. If the control means fail, the system automatically alarms.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An automatic fluid detector for detecting the presence of air in a fluid line containing either an opaque or a transparent fluid, including
means for supporting a portion of the fluid line for detection of air in the fluid line, first means operatively coupled to the supported portion of the fluid line and responsive to the fluid line containing air or the opaque fluid for producing a first signal in accordance with the fluid line containing air or the opaque fluid and responsive to the fluid line containing the transparent fluid for producing a second signal in accordance with the fluid line containing the transparent fluid, second means operatively coupled to the supported portion of the fluid line and responsive to the fluid line containing the opaque fluid for producing a first signal in accordance with the fluid line containing the opaque fluid and responsive to the fluid line containing air or the transparent fluid for producing a second signal in accordance with the fluid line containing air or the transparent fluid, third means operatively coupled to the first and second means and responsive to the first means producing the first signal for passing the first and second signals from the second means, and fourth means operatively coupled to the first and second means and responsive to the second means producing the second signal for passing the first and second signals from the first means.
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9. An automatic air-in-line fluid detector for detecting air-in-line fluid detector for detecting the presence of air-in-line for a fluid line containing either a transparent or an opaque fluid, including
first means operatively coupled to the fluid line for detecting air-in-line with the fluid line containing the transparent fluid, second means operatively coupled to the fluid line for detecting air-in-line with the fluid line containing the opaque fluid, and third means operatively coupled to the first and second means and responsive to the fluid line containing the transparent fluid or the opaque fluid and with the first means detecting air-in-line in the fluid line containing the transparent fluid when the third means is responsive to the fluid line containing the transparent fluid and with the second means detecting air-in-line when the third means is responsive to the fluid line containing the opaque fluid.
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16. An automatic air-in-line fluid detector for detecting the presence or absence of air in either a transparent or an opaque fluid in a fluid line, including
a first plurality of optical detectors operatively coupled to the fluid line for detecting the presence or absence of air-in-line with the fluid line containing transparent fluid and with the first plurality of optical detectors producing first signals in accordance with the presence of air-in-line and producing second signals in accordance with the absence of air-in-line, a second plurality of optical detectors operatively coupled to the fluid line for detecting the presence or absence of air-in-line with the fluid line containing opaque fluid and with the second plurality of optical detectors producing first signals in accordance with the presence of air-in-line and producing second signals in accordance with the absence of air-in-line, and means responsive to the first and second signals from the first and second plurality of optical detectors for determining the presence of either transparent or opaque fluid in the fluid line and for passing the first and second signals from the first plurality of optical detectors with the fluid line containing the transparent fluid and for passing the first and second signals from the second plurality of optical detectors with the fluid line containing the opaque fluid.
Specification