Becton Dickinson and Company Limited

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Brian Ray Hipszer

Feras Al Hatib

Hengchu Cao

Zhongping Jian

Peiyuan Li

Peter James Ifft

Morgan T McKeown

Geertruida Lucretia Van Der Sar

Sakyasingh Tripathy

Cole Emerson Feagler

Described herein are thermal mass flow sensors that combine calorimetric and anemometric (e.g., hot-wire) elements to provide a hybrid approach to determining flow rate of a liquid. The flow probes or flow sensors are configured to use a heater to apply heat to a thermally-conducting material in contact with the flowing liquid, to measure a temperature of the thermally-conducting material upstream of the heater and downstream or at the heater, to adjust power to the heater to achieve a targeted temperature difference, and to determine a flow rate based at least in part on the power supplied to the heater and the measured temperatures. This approach provides flow rate due at least in part to the fluid cooling the thermally-conductive material proportionate to flow rate with non-linear effects. This hybrid approach can provide accurate readings of flow rates of liquids delivered through an IV line to a patient.

Thermal mass fluid flow sensor

The present disclosure provides systems that include a flow probe that senses fluid flow or mass flow of fluid delivery to a patient. Based at least in part on the sensed fluid or mass flow, the flow probe provides flow-related data (e.g., volume or mass flow rate) that the system uses to derive a volume of fluid being delivered. The fluid can be delivered from an IV bag, another in-line port, or a combination of the two. The disclosed systems provide fluid volume and/or fluid rate for display to a clinician and an informative understanding of what volume of fluid/mass a patient has received.

Fluid bolus detection

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Irvine, CA, United States of America

Brian Ray Hipszer