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Extracorporeal blood circuit air removal system and method

  • US 7,740,800 B2
  • Filed: 02/05/2007
  • Issued: 06/22/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2003
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A venous air removal device (VARD) of an extracorporeal blood circuit providing extracorporeal oxygenation of a patient'"'"'s blood by drawing venous blood from the venous system of a patient through a venous return line and delivering oxygenated blood through an arterial line to the arterial system of the patient during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery adapted to be performed on the patient in the presence of a perfusionist, the VARD comprising:

  • a VARD housing enclosing a lower VARD chamber and an upper VARD chamber;

    an upper venous blood inlet through the VARD housing to the upper VARD chamber adapted to be coupled to the venous return line;

    a lower venous blood outlet through the VARD housing to the lower VARD chamber adapted to be coupled to a blood pump to draw venous blood into the upper VARD chamber and out of the lower VARD chamber;

    a purge port through the VARD housing to the upper VARD chamber;

    an upper air sensor supported by the VARD housing in relation to the upper VARD chamber adapted to be powered to provide an electrical signal having a characteristic indicating the presence of air in the upper VARD chamber; and

    a lower air sensor supported by the VARD housing in relation to the lower VARD chamber adapted to be powered to provide an electrical signal having a characteristic indicating the presence of air in the lower VARD chamber,wherein the upper air sensor comprises first and second piezoelectric elements mounted at respective first and second locations of the VARD housing having a portion of the upper VARD chamber between the first and second locations and the lower air sensor comprises third and fourth piezoelectric elements mounted at respective third and fourth locations of the VARD housing below the first and second piezoelectric elements and the first and third piezoelectric elements are adapted to be coupled to an excitation source for applying element excitation signals to cause the first and third piezoelectric elements to emit acoustic energy and the second and fourth piezoelectric elements are adapted to be coupled to signal processing circuitry for processing electrical signals generated in the second and fourth piezoelectric elements in response to acoustic energy emitted by the respective first and third piezoelectric elements and transmitted through any blood or air therebetween, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth piezoelectric elements are each rectangular having an element length, an element width shorter than the element length, and an element thickness and the first piezoelectric element is mounted to the VARD housing at the first location with the element length extending in a first direction, the second piezoelectric element is mounted to the VARD housing at the second location with the element length extending in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction, the third piezoelectric element is mounted to the VARD housing at the third location with the element length extending in a third direction and the fourth piezoelectric element is mounted to the VARD housing at the third location with the element length extending in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the fourth direction, and further wherein the first, second, third, and fourth piezoelectric elements comprise piezoelectric crystal layers having opposed major surfaces bearing conductive electrodes, wherein an electrical conductor is connected with each conductive electrode, and are mounted to the VARD housing with a conductive electrode disposed toward an exterior surface of the VARD housing at the respective first, second, third and fourth locations, wherein the electrical conductors extend to connector elements of a VARD connector adapted to coupled to a cable connector of a VARD cable, the VARD connector having a further pair of connector elements coupled together to enable a continuity check to be performed through a pair of conductors of the VARD cable when the cable connector is properly connected to the VARD cable.

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