The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 04, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 23, 2001
Hideo Fumiyama, Tokyo, JP;
Takeshi Aizawa, Yokohama, JP;
Jostra Bentley, Inc., Anasco, PR (US);
Abstract
A blood filter ( ) has a small priming volume and a high ability of trapping and removing the air bubbles. The blood filter ( ) according to the present invention includes a housing ( ) accommodating a blood inlet ( ), a blood outlet ( ), an air bubble outlet ( ), and a filter element ( ) disposed in the housing ( ). The blood inlet ( ) is preferably disposed in the vicinity of a bottom surface ( ) of the housing. The housing ( ) includes a spiral chamber ( ) defined between an inner wall ( b) and an outer wall ( a) of the housing ( ) and a center chamber ( ) defined within the inner wall ( b). The spiral chamber ( ) extends in a helix shape to surround the center chamber ( ). Due to such a structure, even when air bubbles are introduced to the blood filter ( ) through the blood inlet ( ), the air bubbles are effectively separated from the blood in the spiral chamber ( ). The blood filter having such a spiral chamber ( ) is unlikely influenced by the blood flow rate and the amount of air bubbles. It has a high ability of removing the air bubbles at a high flow rate despite a small priming volume and it has a sufficiently small pressure loss.