Patent Publication Number: US-2017367563-A1

Title: Airbag tube apparatus and method of operation

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to medical apparatus field, particularly to an airbag tube apparatus and an operation method thereof. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Medical devices contains varies airbag tubes and the operation method thereof. For example, airbag catheters, airbag faeces drainage tube, airbag tracheaostomy tube, endotracheal tube, airbag oropharynx tracheal tube, etc and the operation method thereof. An airbag anal drainage bag disclosed in the Chinese patent database with publishing number CN202051874U, and a four-chamber double-airbag catheter disclosed in the Chinese patent database with publishing number CN103463727A are airbag tube apparatus to drain urine and faeces. 
     These apparatus has disadvantages after practical, for example, the balloon has to deflate by manual work every once in a while to prevent the problems of ischemic necrosis of the tissue due to overlong inflecting period of balloon, leakage of the balloon, discomfort of the patient feeling the balloon pressing the tissue, the apparatus piecing or damaging the tissue as the operator is unable to view the situation, the operator unaware of the airbag tube sliding out. Above problems are needed to overcome. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is provided that a circuit module and a pneumatic module are configured to achieve automatically inflating and deflating of the balloons to overcome the problem of ischemic necrosis of the tissue (like intestine wall) due to overlong inflecting period of balloon; the balloon can be automatically adjusted of the pressure in the balloon is decreased or is overhigh; if the patient feels uncomfortable, the balloon can be automatically adjusted according to preset parameter; endoscopy and ultrasonic module are configured to prevent the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue due to unvisual of the situations in the path of the apparatus; communication function is configured to provide remote information and remote control; detecting module is configured to detect that whether the airbag tube slides out. The present invention further provides the operating method of the apparatus. The present invention is different from the existing known technology. The airbag of the present invention comprises gases and fluids. 
     An airbag tube apparatus of the present invention comprises: a hollow tube  11  with a closed end  19  and an open end  20 ; a side hole  18  is disposed near the closed end  19 ; when the apparatus of the present invention is used to drain some matter, the matter enters the hollow pipe  11  from the side hole  18  and then flows out of the open end  20 ; a balloon  12 , which is attached to the hollow pipe  11 , is connected to a vent  13 , the balloon shrinks when no liquid (gases or fluids) exists in the balloon and becomes larger when liquid fills the balloon, the balloon in a large volume can lock animal tissue, making the apparatus flexibly fixed to the animal tissue; a vent  13  is connected to the balloon  12 , a valve  14 , a pneumatic module  15  to form an air inflator to inflate, hold and deflate the balloon  12 ; the valve  14 , used to open and close the liquid flow in the vent  13 , is controlled by a circuit module  16 ; the pneumatic module  15 , providing inflating function, is controlled by the circuit module  16 ; the circuit module  16 , comprising a microprocessor unit, a memory unit and an input-and-output unit, provides default parameters, amended parameters and count-down functions and controls the open and close of the valve  14  and the inflating of the pneumatic module  15 ; a power supply  17  provides power to the apparatus; the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. 
     An operating method of the airbag tube apparatus comprises the steps: (1a) the operator determines that the balloon  12  is deflated completely, the balloon shrinks until the apparatus can enter the animal tissue; (1b) the operator puts the airbag tube  10  to a target position, like rectum or urethra of a human body; (1c) the circuit module  16  controls the valve  14  to make gases in the balloon  12  not leak out, and starts up the pneumatic module  15  to inflate the balloon  12  until the gas volume of the balloon  12  reaches the preset parameter, the balloon has the volume increased to achieve that the apparatus of the present invention can flexibly fix to animal tissue; (1d) the circuit module  16  counts down (according to the preset inflating maintaining period), the valve  14  is changed at the end of the period, the gases in the balloon  12  leaks out to deflate, the balloon  12  shrinks that the apparatus can not flexibly fix to the animal tissue; (1e) the circuit module  16  counts down according to preset deflating maintaining period, performing step (1c) at the end of the period, the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. The present invention further comprises at least one balloon  12 , at least one vent  13 , at least one valve  14  and at last one side hole  8 ; the circuit module  16  controls the pneumatic module  15  and the valve  14  to inflate, hold and deflate the balloons  12 . The balloons are changed to press the tissue area, preventing the problem of ischemic necrosis of the tissue like intestine wall due to overlong inflecting period of balloon. 
     The present invention is further provided that the hollow tube  11  is disposed with a transparent area, a camera module  22 , an illumination module  21  and a display module  24 ; the camera module  22  comprises necessary power wires and signal wires. The camera module  22  moves in and out of the hollow tube  11 ; the transparent area of the hollow tube  11  is provided for the illumination module  21  to illuminate of and for the camera module  22  to shoot the periphery of the hollow tube  11 ; the transparent area of the hollow tube  11  can be a partial area or the whole area, for example, if the closed end  19  is transparent, images are transmitted to the display module  24 , the operator can view the images from the display module  24 , the display module  24  is a screen, a tablet computer, a computer or a hand phone; the illumination module  21  is a visual light resource, an infrared resource or any other light resource with any wavelength; the camera module  22  is configured with a panoramic lens, a non-panoramic lens, a wide-angle lens, a non-wide-angle lens, a fish-eye lens or other camera lens; the camera module  22  further comprises a ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit. The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body with the help of the illumination, the camera and the screen, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. 
     The present invention further provides an operating method of the airbag tube apparatus with camera module, illumination module and display module, the method comprises the steps: (2a) the operator determines that the balloon  12  is deflated completely, the camera module  22  and the illumination module  21  are put in the transparent area of the hollow tube  11 , and the images of the camera module  22  displays in the display module  24 ; (2b) the operator views the images of the display module  24 , and moves the airbag tube  10  to the target area; after the position of the airbag tube  10  is determines, to prevent the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue, the operator moves the camera module  22 , the illumination module  21  and the display module  24  out of the hollow tube  11 , making the camera module  22 , the illumination module  21  and the display module  24  not contacted with the hollow tube  11 . At this time, a drainage bag  40  can be provided to connect to the open end  20  of the hollow tube  11  for drainage; (2c) the circuit module  16  controls the valve  14  to maintain the air of the balloon  12 , the pneumatic module  15  inflates until the air volume of the balloon  12  reaches the preset parameter, the balloon has the volume increased to make the apparatus flexibly fix to the animal tissue. (2d) the circuit module  16  counts down according to the maintain period; the circuit module  16  changes the valve  14  at the end of the maintain period and deflates the balloon  12 ; the balloon shrinks that the apparatus can not flexibly fix to the animal tissue; (2e) the circuit module  16  counts down according to the deflation period; the circuit module  16  performs step (2c) at the end of the deflation period; the operator can watch the video the camera module  22  films during the airbag tube  10  moves to the target area; the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. The apparatus of the present invention further comprises a detecting module  25  attached to the hollow tube  11 , the detecting module  25  is electrically connected to the circuit module  16  to provide detecting value, like resistance value, capacitance value, inducting value, PH, etc, to the circuit module  16 . The circuit module  16  judges when there is a change and determines a preset situation, it sounds out or alarms to automatically detecting that whether the airbag tube slides out of the animal body. 
     The present invention is further provided that the circuit module  16  is configured with communication function to communicate with a remote device  30  to provide the present information of the airbag tube  10  for long-distance operators or to receive parameters amended by long-distance operators through the remote device  30 . The communication function is selected from WiFi, internet, Bluetooth, wire communication, wireless communication, optical communication; the remote device  30  is selected from computer, hand phone and tablet computer. This provides long-distance operators more detail information and more convenient operation. Each module and component have function to automatically maintain the air pressure of the balloon  12  according to the preset parameters, achieving automatically processing leaking problem of the balloon. 
     The present invention further comprises a steering unit  23  of the camera module  22  with mechanism and function to control the direction of the camera module  22  and the closed end  19  of the hollow tube  11 . This mechanism and function is similar to a controllable camera of endoscopic or the same at the front end of the endoscopic. The present invention further comprises a drainage bag  40 , the open end  20  of the hollow tube  11  is connected to the drainage bag  40 , the drainage bag  40  is used to receive the drainage, the drainage bag  40  is configured with an outlet or without an outlet. When the apparatus is used to drain some matter, the drainage bag is used to store the matter like urine and faeces. 
     The method of the present invention further comprises a step that when the airbag tube  10  is put to the target area, the operator can operate the steering unit  23  of the camera module  22  to control the direction of the camera module  22  and the closed end  19  of the hollow tube  11 . The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be further described in accord with the drawings and the embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a partial sectional and schematic diagram of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a flow diagram of the camera module, the illumination module and the display module of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a sectional diagram and schematic diagram of the present invention with a detecting module, a remote device and a drainage bag. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram of the present invention without a camera module. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a flow diagram of the present invention with a camera module. 
     
    
    
     REFERENCE SIGNS 
     
         
         Airbag tube  10   
         Hollow tube  11   
         Balloon  12   
         Vent  13   
         Valve  14   
         Pneumatic module  15   
         Circuit module  16   
         Power supply  17   
         Side hole  18   
         Closed end  19   
         Open end  20   
         Illumination module  21   
         Camera module  22   
         Steering unit  23   
         Display module  24   
         Detecting module  25   
         Remote device  30   
         Drainage bag  40   
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will be further described in accord with the embodiments. Please referring to  FIG. 1 , an airbag tube apparatus of the present invention comprises: a hollow tube  11  with a closed end  19  and an open end  20 ; a side hole  18  is disposed near the closed end  19 ; when the apparatus of the present invention is used to drain some matter, the matter enters the hollow pipe  11  from the side hole  18  and then flows out of the open end  20 ; a balloon  12 , which is attached to the hollow pipe  11 , is connected to a vent  13 , the balloon shrinks when no liquid (gases or fluids) exists in the balloon and becomes larger when liquid fills the balloon, the balloon in a large volume can lock animal tissue, making the apparatus flexibly fixed to the animal tissue; a vent  13  is connected to the balloon  12 , a valve  14 , a pneumatic module  15  to form an air inflator to inflate, hold and deflate the balloon  12 ; the valve  14 , used to open and close the liquid flow in the vent  13 , is controlled by a circuit module  16 ; the pneumatic module  15 , providing inflating function, is controlled by the circuit module  16 ; the circuit module  16 , comprising a microprocessor unit, a memory unit and an input-and-output unit, provides default parameters, amended parameters and count-down functions and controls the open and close of the valve  14  and the inflating of the pneumatic module  15 ; a power supply  17  provides power to the apparatus; the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , an operating method of the airbag tube apparatus comprises the steps: 
     (1a) the operator determines that the balloon  12  is deflated completely, the balloon shrinks until the apparatus can enter the animal tissue; 
     (1b) the operator puts the airbag tube  10  to a target position, like rectum or urethra of a human body; 
     (1d) the circuit module  16  counts down (according to the preset inflating maintaining period), the valve  14  is changed at the end of the period, the gases in the balloon  12  leaks out to deflate, the balloon  12  shrinks that the apparatus can not flexibly fix to the animal tissue; 
     (1e) the circuit module  16  counts down according to preset deflating maintaining period, performing step (1c) at the end of the period, the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. 
     The present invention further comprises at least one balloon  12 , at least one vent  13 , at least one valve  14  and at last one side hole  8 ; the circuit module  16  controls the pneumatic module  15  and the valve  14  to inflate, hold and deflate the balloons  12 . The balloons are changed to press the tissue area, preventing the problem of ischemic necrosis of the tissue like intestine wall due to overlong inflecting period of balloon. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the present invention is further provided that the hollow tube  11  is disposed with a transparent area, a camera module  22 , an illumination module  21  and a display module  24 ; the camera module  22  comprises necessary power wires and signal wires. The camera module  22  moves in and out of the hollow tube  11 ; the transparent area of the hollow tube  11  is provided for the illumination module  21  to illuminate of and for the camera module  22  to shoot the periphery of the hollow tube  11 ; the transparent area of the hollow tube  11  can be a partial area or the whole area, for example, if the closed end  19  is transparent, images are transmitted to the display module  24 , the operator can view the images from the display module  24 , the display module  24  is a screen, a tablet computer, a computer or a hand phone; the illumination module  21  is a visual light resource, an infrared resource or any other light resource with any wavelength; the camera module  22  is configured with a panoramic lens, a non-panoramic lens, a wide-angle lens, a non-wide-angle lens, a fish-eye lens or other camera lens; the camera module  22  further comprises a ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit. The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body with the help of the illumination, the camera and the screen, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the present invention further provides an operating method of the airbag tube apparatus with camera module, illumination module and display module, the method comprises the steps: 
     (2a) the operator determines that the balloon  12  is deflated completely, the camera module  22  and the illumination module  21  are put in the transparent area of the hollow tube  11 , and the images of the camera module  22  displays in the display module  24 ; 
     (2b) the operator views the images of the display module  24 , and moves the airbag tube  10  to the target area; after the position of the airbag tube  10  is determines, to prevent the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue, the operator moves the camera module  22 , the illumination module  21  and the display module  24  out of the hollow tube  11 , making the camera module  22 , the illumination module  21  and the display module  24  not contacted with the hollow tube  11 . At this time, a drainage bag  40  can be provided to connect to the open end  20  of the hollow tube  11  for drainage; 
     (2c) the circuit module  16  controls the valve  14  to maintain the air of the balloon  12 , the pneumatic module  15  inflates until the air volume of the balloon  12  reaches the preset parameter, the balloon has the volume increased to make the apparatus flexibly fix to the animal tissue. 
     (2d) the circuit module  16  counts down according to the maintain period; the circuit module  16  changes the valve  14  at the end of the maintain period and deflates the balloon  12 ; the balloon shrinks that the apparatus can not flexibly fix to the animal tissue; 
     (2e) the circuit module  16  counts down according to the deflation period; the circuit module  16  performs step (2c) at the end of the deflation period; 
     The operator can watch the video the camera module  22  films during the airbag tube  10  moves to the target area; the balloon  12  is inflated, held and deflated automatically in accord with a preset period. The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the apparatus of the present invention further comprises a detecting module  25  attached to the hollow tube  11 , the detecting module  25  is electrically connected to the circuit module  16  to provide detecting value, like resistance value, capacitance value, inducting value, PH, etc, to the circuit module  16 . The circuit module  16  judges when there is a change and determines a preset situation, it sounds out or alarms to automatically detecting that whether the airbag tube slides out of the animal body. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the present invention is further provided that the circuit module  16  is configured with communication function to communicate with a remote device  30  to provide the present information of the airbag tube  10  for long-distance operators or to receive parameters amended by long-distance operators through the remote device  30 . The communication function is selected from WiFi, internet, Bluetooth, wire communication, wireless communication, optical communication; 
     the remote device  30  is selected from computer, hand phone and tablet computer. This provides long-distance operators more detail information and more convenient operation. 
     Each module and component have function to automatically maintain the air pressure of the balloon  12  according to the preset parameters, achieving automatically processing leaking problem of the balloon. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the present invention further comprises a steering unit  23  of the camera module  22  with mechanism and function to control the direction of the camera module  22  and the closed end  19  of the hollow tube  11 . This mechanism and function is similar to a controllable camera of endoscopic or the same at the front end of the endoscopic. 
     Please referring to  FIG. 3 , the present invention further comprises a drainage bag  40 , the open end  20  of the hollow tube  11  is connected to the drainage bag  40 , the drainage bag  40  is used to receive the drainage, the drainage bag  40  is configured with an outlet or without an outlet. When the apparatus is used to drain some matter, the drainage bag is used to store the matter like urine and faeces. 
     The method of the present invention further comprises a step that when the airbag tube  10  is put to the target area, the operator can operate the steering unit  23  of the camera module  22  to control the direction of the camera module  22  and the closed end  19  of the hollow tube  11 . The operator can view the situations in the path of the apparatus in the animal body, preventing the apparatus piercing or damaging the tissue. 
     The valve  14  of the present invention is a check valve, which doesn&#39;t need the circuit module  16  to control its close. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof for carrying out the patent for invention, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the patent for invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.