Personal injector for liquid medicine

• US 6,913,591 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2002
• Issued: 07/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nipro Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nipro Corporation
• Inventors: Tomita, Hideyuki, Kobayashi, Susumu, Itoh, Takehito
• Primary Examiner(s): MENDEZ, MANUEL A
• Application Number:
  US10/095,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20020133114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: 128/DIG.1, 128/DIG.12, 128/DIG.13, 222/327, 222/386, 604/207, 604/208, 604/156, 604/232, 604/67
• US Class Current: 604/67
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/31588 electrically driven
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/16 with back-up system in case of failure
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/18 with alarm
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/35 Communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/50 with microprocessors or computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/8206 battery-operated
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14566 with a replaceable reservoir for receiving a piston rod of the pump
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/20 Automatic syringes, e.g. with automatically actuated piston rod, with automatic needle injection, filling automatically A61M5/142 , A61M5/46 take precedence; hypodermic projectiles F42B12/54
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/31541 Means preventing setting of a dose beyond the amount remaining in the cartridge
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/31546 Electrically operated dose setting, e.g. input via touch screen or plus/minus buttons
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 19/08 for bone diseases, e.g. rachitism, Paget's disease
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 7/04 Antihaemorrhagics; Procoagulants; Haemostatic agents; Antifibrinolytic agents

Abstract

Personal injector for liquid medicine comprises a housing provided with needle-mounting part, medicine container holder and connecting port to a personal computer; plunger arranged in housing; electric motor for driving plunger; limit switch for limiting the forward movement of plunger; starting point sensor for detecting return of plunger to the starting point; and substrate having display and mode-select switch mounted thereon. The plunger is movable between the starting point and forward limit point. Limit switch is arranged at the forward limit point. When limit switch is turned on, motor drives plunger in reverse to move it to the starting point thereof.

Claims

1. A personal injector for liquid medicine comprising:

a housing having a distal end and a proximal end and including a needle-mounting part, a medicine container holder, and a connecting port to a computer;

a plunger arranged in said housing and adapted to be longitudinally moved between a starting point and a forward limit point within the housing;

an electric motor for driving said plunger;

a limit switch arranged at the forward limit point to stop the forward movement of said plunger;

a starting point sensor for detecting return of the plunger to the starting point; and

a substrate arranged in said housing and provided with a display, a mode-select switch, and a confirmation switch;

wherein the confirmation switch confirms an on-state of the starting point sensor, a set mode of the injector, and a notice of an administration of the liquid medicine, and

wherein said plunger is adapted to be moved to the starting point by the reverse driving of the motor when said limit switch is turned on.

2. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said limit switch is turned on when a desired dosage is greater than a residual liquid medicine content.

3. The personal injector according to claim 1,

wherein said motor is driven to move the plunger to a forward limit point where the limit switch is turned on, in case that a desired dosage is greater than a residual liquid medicine content and an operation mode is set to an additional dosage mode, thereby calculating and displaying a difference between the desired dosage of the liquid medicine and an actual dosage of the liquid medicine to determine an additional desired dosage.

4. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said injector is adapted to detect clogging of a needle attached to the needle-mounting part.

5. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with a battery holder for holding a battery and with a power switch.

6. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with a connector for a power source.

7. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said plunger is provided with a manual dial which allows the user to manually move the plunger forward.

8. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein said medicine container holder is provided with a medicine container detect switch for detecting presence of the medicine container.

9. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein a rotary motion of the electric motor is converted into a rotary motion of a ball screw, which is then converted into a longitudinal linear motion of the plunger.

10. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein the electric motor is adapted to cause the plunger move in either a forward or a backward longitudinal linear motion.

11. The personal injector according to claim 4, further comprising a strain gauge arranged between the electric motor and the housing.

12. The personal injector according to claim 1, wherein the mode select switch includes a mode switch M for displaying an additional dosage mode on the display when a desired dosage is judged to be greater than a residual content of the liquid medicine, a plus-signed switch for a user to push in case the additional dosage is required, and a minus-signed switch for the user to push in case the additional dosage is not required.

13. The personal injector according to claim 12, wherein pushing the push-signed switch activates the motor to start the administration of the liquid medicine.

14. The personal injector according to claim 12, wherein pushing the minus-signed switch turns on the limit switch, and drives the motor in reverse.

15. A personal injector for liquid medicine comprising:

a housing having a distal end and a proximal end and including a needle-mounting part, a medicine container holder, and a connecting port to a computer;

a plunger arranged in said housing and adapted to be longitudinally moved between a starting point and a forward limit point within the housing;

an electric motor for driving said plunger;

a limit switch arranged at the forward limit point to stop the forward movement of said plunger;

a starting point sensor for detecting return of the plunger to the starting point; and

a substrate arranged in said housing and provided with a display and a mode-select switch;

wherein the mode select switch includes a mode switch M for displaying an additional dosage mode on the display when a desired dosage is judged to be greater than a residual content of the liquid medicine, and

wherein said plunger is adapted to be moved to the starting point by the reverse driving of the motor when said limit switch is turned on.

16. The personal injector according to claim 15, the mode select switch further comprises a plus-signed switch for a user to push in case the additional dosage is required, and a minus-signed switch for the user to push in case the additional dosage is not required.

17. The personal injector according to claim 16, wherein pushing the push-signed switch activates the motor to start the administration of the liquid medicine.

18. The personal injector according to claim 16, wherein pushing the minus-signed switch turns on the limit switch, and drives the motor in reverse.

19. The personal injector according to claim 15, the substrate being provided with a confirmation switch for confirming an on-state of the starting point sensor, a set mode of the injector, and a notice of an administration of the liquid medicine.