General Electric Company

David Michael Wahl

Joseph James Lacey

Russell James Kuzelka

Thomas Lane Bender, Ii

Julie Anne Mills

An anesthesia vaporizer system includes a vaporizer reservoir forming a sump chamber that contains liquid anesthetic agent and a fill chamber isolated from the sump chamber configured to receive liquid anesthetic agent from a refill container. A piston is in the sump chamber configured to maintain a constant force on the liquid anesthetic agent in the sump chamber, and a transfer valve is configured to permit the liquid anesthetic agent to flow from the fill chamber to the sump chamber. The vaporizer reservoir has an outlet port that delivers the liquid anesthetic agent from the sump chamber to a vaporizing system that vaporizes the liquid anesthetic agent for delivery to a patient.

Anesthesia vaporizer reservoir and system

A system for tracking anesthetic agent in a vaporizer reservoir includes a mass flow sensor configured to measure a flow rate entering or exiting a vaporizer chamber, a gas pressure sensor configured to measure a pressure of a mixed gas provided from the vaporizer chamber, a gas temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the mixed gas provided from the vaporizer chamber, and an agent time module executable on a processor. The agent time module is configured to calculate a remaining agent time based on at least the gas flow rate, the pressure of the mixed gas, the temperature of the mixed gas, and an anesthetic concentration in the mixed gas. The remaining agent time is then provided for display on a display device.

System and method for tracking anesthetic agent in a vaporizer reservoir

An anesthesia vaporizer system includes a vaporizer reservoir forming a sump chamber containing a liquid anesthetic agent, a piston that forms a first chamber on a first side of the piston. The vaporizer reservoir has a fill port configured to receive a refill container containing liquid anesthetic agent and to permit flow into the first chamber. A motor moves the piston between a first position and a second position, wherein the volume of the first chamber increases as the piston moves from the first position towards the second position. The liquid anesthetic agent is thereby drawn from the refill container into the first chamber. A transfer valve is configured to permit the liquid anesthetic agent to flow from the first chamber into the sump chamber. An outlet port delivers the liquid anesthetic agent from the sump chamber into a vaporizing system that vaporizes it for delivery to a patient.

Liquid accumulators and methods for reducing pulsations of a liquid flow are disclosed. A liquid delivery system comprises a pump configured to drive liquid to a pipe. The pipe is configured to transmit a liquid flow. A liquid accumulator is fluidically connected to the pipe. The liquid accumulator comprises a chamber containing the liquid and a vapor column and a power source configured to input energy to the chamber to generate vapor from the liquid to form the vapor column. The vapor column constitutes a gas spring to reduce pulsations of the liquid flow in the pipe. The spring rate of the gas spring can be adjusted by changing the input energy level from the power source to the chamber.

Vapor column liquid accumulator

Methods and systems are provided for delivering anesthetic agent to a patient. In one embodiment, a system includes an anesthetic agent reservoir, a pump fluidically coupled to the agent reservoir, an injector configured to receive pressurized anesthetic agent from the pump, a vaporizer comprising a heated chamber configured to receive and vaporize the anesthetic agent injected by the injector and supply a mix of the vaporized anesthetic agent and medical gas to a subject via a supply line, and a controller. The controller stores instructions executable to determine a concentration of the vaporized anesthetic agent in the mix and adjust one or more injector parameters based on a difference between the concentration of the vaporized anesthetic agent and a commanded concentration.

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Verona, WI, United States of America

David Michael Wahl