Apparatus for collecting constant amounts of blood from individual donors

Abstract

An apparatus for the collection of blood via a collapsible inflow pipe into an inflatable bag having an anticoagulant prefilled therein. The bag is placed on a weighing platform coupled to a load cell, which produces an electric voltage signal representative of the weight of the blood being collected in the bag. The load cell is mounted on a swing cradle capable of oscillation about a horizontal axis, so that the bag is shaken during blood collection for intimately intermingling the collected blood and the anticoagulant. When a predetermined amount of blood is collected, as ascertained from the voltage output of the load cell, a controller actuates a collection stop mechanism thereby causing the same to tightly grip and collapse the inflow pipe.