Urine measurement apparatus and method for the determination of the density of urine
First Claim
1. A body fluid measurement apparatus for monitoring body fluids produced by a catheterized patient, comprising:
- a housing mountable to a hospital bed;
a discharge hose connected to said housing and connectable to a catheterized patient disposed on the hospital bed for receiving body fluids produced by the patient;
a force transducer coupled to said housing;
a container suspended from said housing and coupled to said force transducer, said container being in fluid communication with said discharge hose;
at least two angle sensors coupled to said housing and oriented in orthogonal planes to each other to provide a correction signal indicating an inclined position of said housing;
a storage battery cell, coupled to said housing, providing a current supply; and
a computer coupled to said force transducer and to said angle sensors to collect and process signals from said angle sensors and from said force transducer, to determine values for total collected patient body fluid volume and average body fluid volume flow in a predetermined time interval, and to generate signals corresponding to said values.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A body fluid measurement apparatus for continually monitoring the body fluids produced by a catheterized patient is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a discharge hose in fluid communication with the patient, a housing that supports the discharge hose, a dripping chamber for temporarily holding the body fluid while temperature and electrical conductivity measurements are made, a force transducer for producing a signal representing the weight of the body fluid mass collected, a container for collecting the body fluid that is suspended from the force transducer, a storage cell power source, and a computer for processing a signal generated by the force transducer, for generating a timing signal, and for computing the patient'"'"'s body fluid volume flow in a certain time interval. All computed measurements are sent to a display also located on the apparatus. Additionally, two angle sensors, located in two planes orthogonal to one another, provide a signal to the computer for the compensation of the inclined position of the housing and for the compensation of an erroneous measurement of the weight of the body fluids collected. In addition, a method for the automatic monitoring and recording of the corrected volume flow of body fluids produced by a catheterized patient is also disclosed.
90 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A body fluid measurement apparatus for monitoring body fluids produced by a catheterized patient, comprising:
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a housing mountable to a hospital bed; a discharge hose connected to said housing and connectable to a catheterized patient disposed on the hospital bed for receiving body fluids produced by the patient; a force transducer coupled to said housing; a container suspended from said housing and coupled to said force transducer, said container being in fluid communication with said discharge hose; at least two angle sensors coupled to said housing and oriented in orthogonal planes to each other to provide a correction signal indicating an inclined position of said housing; a storage battery cell, coupled to said housing, providing a current supply; and a computer coupled to said force transducer and to said angle sensors to collect and process signals from said angle sensors and from said force transducer, to determine values for total collected patient body fluid volume and average body fluid volume flow in a predetermined time interval, and to generate signals corresponding to said values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method, for the automatic monitoring and recording of the volume flow of body fluids produced by a catheterized patient, which are captured in a collecting container that is suspended on a holder from a fluid measurement apparatus, comprising the steps of:
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determining a weight of the body fluids collected in the container; determining a correction factor based on signals generated from two angle sensors coupled to the fluid measurement apparatus, oriented orthogonal to each other, that determine a value for an inclined position of the holder; determining a corrected value of said weight of the body fluids produced by the patient; and determining a value for volume flow of the body fluids by subtracting off a stored tare value of the container from said corrected actual weight to produce a value for weight of body fluid collected, and dividing said value for weight of body fluid collected by a stored value for the specific gravity of the body fluid, producing a value for the total collected body fluid volume. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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Specification