Abstract:
An extracorporeal blood therapy control unit housing has a first and second manually mounted panels and spring loaded components configured for releasably engaging and tensioning the said panels against a side of said housing. The first and second panels have arch-shaped tubing segments mounted on the interior side of said respective panels. Each of the tubing segments are held in operational engagement with a different peristaltic pump rotor by the panel engaging and tensioning components.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/105,712 filed Oct. 15, 2008 and is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    In patent application Ser. No. 12/183,527, filed Jul. 31, 2008 (TRANSVI.024A) there is described a modular hemofiltration apparatus with removable panels for multiple and alternate blood therapy. In the present application, more specific and preferred embodiments are described for securing the panels to a control unit housing. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The apparatus described herein includes a control unit housing having rotary peristaltic blood and fluid pumps mounted on different sides of the housing, and self-engaging and manually releasable components whereby the panels can be manually mounted on the housing and manually released from the housing at will by an operator. The panel set comprises three panels, a first blood panel having blood directing tubing secured on the inside panel surface, a second panel having fluid directing tubing secured on the inside panel surface and a center panel configured for manually securing and/or removing a hemofilter cartridge. The third center panel is positioned between the two side panels using flexible hinges attached to each of the side panels. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIGS. 1 and 2  are perspective front corner views of a control unit housing without mounted panels; 
           [0005]      FIGS. 3 and 4  are perspective views of the side panels of the apparatus illustrating components and features for supporting tubing; 
           [0006]      FIG. 5  is a detailed view showing the three-panel set and tubing secured and mounted in the panels; and 
           [0007]      FIGS. 6 and 7  are front corner perspective views of the control unit housing showing the apparatus with the panels mounted on the housing. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0008]      FIG. 1  shows the blood pump side of the apparatus housing without a mounted panel. Housing  10  covers a welded aluminum internal frame (not shown) and on which is mounted a blood pump, the rotor  11  of which is visible. Also shown on the blood pump side is an air detector  13  with a slot through which blood directing tubing (not shown) is inserted. Pressure transducer connector sockets  14 ,  16  and  18  are also visible as are mounting pegs or hangers  15 ,  17  for mounting a front panel on the housing. A panel engaging and tensioning clip  12  is also secured to the housing or a frame. 
         [0009]    As shown on  FIG. 2 , on the opposite side of the housing  10  are fluid pump rotors  21 ,  23 ,  25 , pressure transducer socket  27  and a blood detector  26 , having a slot in which is received a section of blood supply tubing (not shown) as will be explained further hereinafter. A panel engaging and tensioning clip  20  is attached to the housing or frame. It is to the housing shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  that a three-panel set is manually mounted and dismounted. 
         [0010]    Observing  FIG. 3 , the interior surface  31  of panel  30  is generally flat and planar with a tubing support shelf  34  formed thereon and extending upwardly. At opposite ends of the support shelf are slanted tube support channels  35 ,  37 , which are slanted upwardly at an angle toward arched tube segment  36  (see  FIG. 5 ). The purpose of the inclined or slanted channels is to maintain the spacing of the arched tubing from the interior panel surface and to avoid tubing droop and better present the tubing segment for engagement with the rotor of the peristaltic blood pump when the panel is mounted on the control unit housing. The slant or inclination of the channels upwardly toward the arch of the tubing segment is at an angle preferably at least about 5° and more preferably about 10° or more relative to the plane of the flat interior surface  31  of panel  30 . The panel is also provided with an aperture  32  for receiving panel engaging and tensioning clip  12  ( FIG. 1 ) when the panel is mounted on the control unit housing  10 . 
         [0011]    In  FIG. 4 , fluid tubing panel  40  is illustrated, also with generally flat and planar interior surface  31  on which are formed and projected tubing support shelves  41 ,  43 ,  45 , each of which also has a slanted tubing support channel  42 ,  44  at opposite ends of the respective shelves. Again, like the slanted or angled channels in tubing support shelf  34  previously discussed regarding  FIG. 3 , the channels are slanted upwardly in the direction of the respective arch-shaped tubing segments  47 ,  51 ,  39 , for the purpose of presenting an inclined support for maintaining the arch-shaped segments spaced away from the panel surface and avoiding or minimizing tubing droop, thereby better presenting the tubing segments for engaging the rotors of the peristaltic pumps when the panel is mounted on the control unit housing. An aperture  48  for receiving panel engaging and tensioning clip  20  ( FIG. 2 ) is also formed on panel  40 . A tubing support bridge  46  is also formed on and projects from the interior fluid panel surface and supports a tube section  49  which extends across the bridge. The purpose of the bridge is to support the tube section  49  ( FIG. 5 ) for being received in blood detector  26  ( FIG. 2 ) when the fluid tubing panel  40  is mounted on the control unit housing. 
         [0012]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , the three-panel set assembly is illustrated with the tubing mounted on the respective panels  30  and  40 . On panel  30 , the blood panel, are shown three pressure transducers  52 ,  53 ,  54 , each having a cable  58  extending to a pressure transducer plug. Cable  58  extends between pressure transducer  52  to plug  55 , and a cable extends between transducer  53  and plug  56 , and another cable between pressure transducer  54  and plug  57 . The length of cables between different sets of pressure transducers and plugs may be selected so as to assist an operator in inserting a plug into the correct socket on the control unit housing. It may be useful to glue or otherwise secure the transducer cables along the panels, thereby effectively achieving different desired cable lengths.  FIG. 6  shows pressure transducer sockets  60 ,  62 ,  64  on control unit housing  10 . Correctly installed, plug  55  is inserted in socket  60 , plug  56  in socket  62 , and plug  57  in socket  64 . The different lengths of cable  58  between the respective pressure transducers and sockets, when fully extended, will provide just enough length of the respective cables to allow each respective plug to be plugged into the correct socket. Alternatively, or in addition, the pressure transducer connectors and the sockets may be shaped or otherwise designed or keyed to prevent a plug from entering or fitting into the wrong socket. 
         [0013]    A center panel  50  is attached to each of the panels  30  and  40  with flexible hinges  63 ,  65 . The hinges are preferably living hinges. Such hinges allow the three panels to be held together and at the same time allow for panel movement when the panel set is mounted on the control unit housing. Center panel  50  also is provided with means for securing a hemofilter cartridge  28  on the front of the panel. Such means are cartridge securing components, such as a clip, clamp or more preferably a flexible strap which may be adjusted to provide for filter cartridges of different diameters. Such a strap may be provided with well-known hook and loop components for easily and firmly securing a filter cartridge as well as for separating the ends of the strap for convenient cartridge removal and replacement. 
         [0014]    Other components and features of the tubing mounted on the respective panels are further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/183,527, filed Jul. 31, 2008 (TRANSVI.024A) and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/105,703, filed Oct. 15, 2008 (TRANSVI.025PR), which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, respectively. 
         [0015]    One feature of the apparatus described above is in easily manually mounting and dismounting the panel set from the control unit housing. To accomplish panel set mounting, an operator places the panels of the panel set against the respective sides and front of the housing with the apertures  59  and  61  of the middle panel  50  aligned with the two protruding hangers or pegs  15  and  17  on the front of the housing so that the hangers may pass through the apertures. In one embodiment, the front panel hangers have an enlarged button or flange at its extremity and a narrower post extending from the flange into the housing. The two apertures on the front panel are also preferably shaped with an enlarged aperture portion and a narrower aperture slot as shown in  FIG. 5 . To mount the front panel, the operator aligns the enlarged aperture portions with the flanges, presses the panel against the front housing, and then seats the panel on the hangers by allowing it to settle with the enlarged flanges extending outwardly as illustrated in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . The operator then forces the two side panels against the sides of the housing with the respective clips  12  and  20  passing through the apertures on the side panel. The clips shown are shaped to provide a slanted flange at the outer end. As the clip end passes through the aperture, the slanted flange is forced against an edge of the aperture against the spring bias, loading the spring, and the clip snaps into place when the flange clears the aperture. The clips are preferably formed of a material such as spring stainless steel or similar spring material, which not only engages the panels and extends through the respective apertures, but which also then firmly tensions or snugs the respective panels against the sides of the unit housing. The specific shape and size of the clips may be varied, and the shape of the illustrated clips is by example only. Other shaped spring-loaded, panel-engaging and tensioning members may be used, including coiled springs as well as other shapes, known to those skilled in the art. Similarly, other sizes and shapes of the apertures for engaging and receiving such spring-loaded, panel-engaging components may be used as well. Thus, the panels are easily and efficiently manually mounted by an operator, and are disengaged, by simply forcing the spring-loaded clips or other side panel mounting components to clear and pass through the aperture, without requiring other mechanically operated hardware components. These as well as other embodiments and variations of the design of the components described herein may be used as will be understood by those skilled in the art.