Systems and methods for controlling operation of a reduced pressure therapy system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for applying negative pressure to a wound, comprising:
- a source of negative pressure configured to be coupled to a dressing configured to be placed over the wound and to create a substantially fluid impermeable seal over the wound; and
a controller configured to;
activate the source of negative pressure to establish a desired negative pressure level under the dressing;
deactivate the source of negative pressure when a pressure level under the dressing has reached the desired negative pressure level;
in response to detecting a loss of negative pressure under the dressing due to a leak, periodically activate the source of negative pressure to restore the desired negative pressure level under the dressing;
monitor a plurality of duty cycles of the source of negative pressure over a plurality of time durations;
update a duty cycle metric of the source of negative pressure in response to comparing each duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles to a duty cycle threshold; and
in response to determining that the duty cycle metric exceeds an overload threshold, indicate that the leak has a flow rate that exceeds a flow threshold.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Negative pressure wound therapy apparatuses and dressings, and systems and methods for operating such apparatuses for use with dressings are disclosed. In some embodiments, controlling the delivery of therapy can be based on monitoring and detecting various operating conditions. An apparatus can have a controller configured to monitor the duty cycle of a source of negative pressure and, based on the monitored duty cycle, determine whether a leak is present. The controller can be configured to provide an indication that a leak is present. For example, the controller can be configured to suspend and/or pause the delivery of therapy, and to restart the delivery of therapy due to a timeout, request from a user, etc. In addition, the controller can be configured to pause and/or restart the delivery of therapy upon a request from the user, such as in response to the user operating a switch.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. An apparatus for applying negative pressure to a wound, comprising:
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a source of negative pressure configured to be coupled to a dressing configured to be placed over the wound and to create a substantially fluid impermeable seal over the wound; and a controller configured to; activate the source of negative pressure to establish a desired negative pressure level under the dressing; deactivate the source of negative pressure when a pressure level under the dressing has reached the desired negative pressure level; in response to detecting a loss of negative pressure under the dressing due to a leak, periodically activate the source of negative pressure to restore the desired negative pressure level under the dressing; monitor a plurality of duty cycles of the source of negative pressure over a plurality of time durations; update a duty cycle metric of the source of negative pressure in response to comparing each duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles to a duty cycle threshold; and in response to determining that the duty cycle metric exceeds an overload threshold, indicate that the leak has a flow rate that exceeds a flow threshold. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 45)
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2. An apparatus for applying negative pressure to a wound, comprising:
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a source of negative pressure configured to be coupled to a dressing configured to be placed over the wound and to create a substantially fluid impermeable seal over the wound; and a controller configured to; activate the source of negative pressure to establish a desired negative pressure level under the dressing; deactivate the source of negative pressure when a pressure level under the dressing has reached the desired negative pressure level; in response to detecting a loss of negative pressure under the dressing due to a leak, periodically activate the source of negative pressure to restore the desired negative pressure level under the dressing; monitor a duty cycle of the source of negative pressure; and based at least on part on the monitored duty cycle, provide an indication that the leak has a flow rate that exceeds a flow threshold. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46)
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3. A method for operating a source of negative pressure, comprising:
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delivering negative pressure to a dressing positioned over a wound from the source of negative pressure; stopping the delivery of negative pressure when a pressure level under the dressing has reached a desired negative pressure level; periodically restarting the delivery of negative pressure to the dressing in response to detecting a loss of negative pressure under the dressing due to a leak; monitoring a duty cycle of the source of negative pressure; and based at least in part of the monitored duty cycle, providing an indication that the leak has a flow rate that exceeds a flow threshold. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of operating a source of negative pressure, comprising:
delivering negative pressure to a dressing positioned over a wound from the source of negative pressure, wherein the delivering comprises; activating the source of negative pressure to attempt to generate a desired negative pressure level under the dressing and updating a first count of activations; if upon expiration of a first time interval, negative pressure under the dressing has not reached the desired negative pressure level, deactivating the source of negative pressure for a second time interval, provided that the first count of activations is less than a first retry threshold; if the first count of activations is not less than the first retry threshold, deactivating the source of negative pressure for a third time interval, resetting the first count of activations, and, upon expiration of the third time interval, activating the source of negative pressure to attempt to generate the desired negative pressure level under the dressing; activating the source of negative pressure upon expiration of the second time interval to attempt to generate the desired negative pressure level under the dressing and updating the first count of activations; deactivating the source of negative pressure when the negative pressure under the dressing has reached the desired negative pressure level, resetting the first count of activations, and monitoring negative pressure under the dressing; when negative pressure under the dressing rises above a negative pressure threshold, activating the source of negative pressure and updating a second count of activations, wherein the desired negative pressure level corresponds to a pressure that is more negative than the negative pressure threshold; if before expiration of a fourth time interval negative pressure under the dressing has reached the desired negative pressure level, deactivating the source of negative pressure, monitoring negative pressure under the dressing, and resetting the second count of activations; if upon expiration of the fourth time interval negative pressure under the dressing has not reached the desired negative pressure level, deactivating the source of negative pressure for the second time interval, provided that the second count of activations is less than a second retry threshold; if the second count of activations is not less that the second retry threshold, deactivating the source of negative pressure for the third time interval, resetting the second count of activations, and, upon expiration of the third time interval, activating the source of negative pressure to attempt to generate the desired negative pressure level under the dressing and updating the first count of activations; continuously monitoring a duty cycle of the source of negative pressure; tracking a number of duty cycles that exceed a duty cycle threshold; and deactivating the source of negative pressure for a duration of the third time interval when the number of duty cycles that exceed the duty cycle threshold exceeds an overload threshold.
Specification