Gas exchange apparatus
First Claim
1. A blood oxygenator comprisingfoaming means for bubbling gas into blood to form a foam composed of bubbles, each bubble having a wall formed of said blood,heat and gas exchanging means located downstream of said foaming means, said heat and gas exchanging means comprisinga heat-conductive corrugated sheet having first and second opposing surfaces,a housing adjacent said first opposing surface and defining therebetween a chamber for passing heat-transfer fluid along said first surface, said housing having an inlet for connection to a heat-transfer fluid source and an outlet for removing said heat-transfer fluid from said chamber, the flow through said chamber being isolated from said second opposing surface, anda wall surface adjacent to said second opposing surface, said wall surface and said second surface defining a plurality of passages corresponding to the corrugations in said sheet, said passages distributing said foam into a corresponding plurality of streams and providing locations for simultaneousheat transfer between said fluid and said foam andgas transfer between said gas and said blood at the walls of said bubbles, anddefoaming means located downstream of said heat and gas exchanging means for breaking up said bubbles.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Diffusing gas into and out of a liquid at a uniform rate by distributing a foam consisting of bubbles with liquid walls surrounding the gas through elongated passages defined by a corrugated surface adjacent to a smooth surface, while simultaneously providing for indirect heat - exchange of the blood foam while the foam is within the elongated passages.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A blood oxygenator comprising
foaming means for bubbling gas into blood to form a foam composed of bubbles, each bubble having a wall formed of said blood, heat and gas exchanging means located downstream of said foaming means, said heat and gas exchanging means comprising a heat-conductive corrugated sheet having first and second opposing surfaces, a housing adjacent said first opposing surface and defining therebetween a chamber for passing heat-transfer fluid along said first surface, said housing having an inlet for connection to a heat-transfer fluid source and an outlet for removing said heat-transfer fluid from said chamber, the flow through said chamber being isolated from said second opposing surface, and a wall surface adjacent to said second opposing surface, said wall surface and said second surface defining a plurality of passages corresponding to the corrugations in said sheet, said passages distributing said foam into a corresponding plurality of streams and providing locations for simultaneous heat transfer between said fluid and said foam and gas transfer between said gas and said blood at the walls of said bubbles, and defoaming means located downstream of said heat and gas exchanging means for breaking up said bubbles.
Specification