| 摘要 |
<p>An apparatus and method for flow analysis during collection of a urine sample are disclosed, and for simultaneously maintaining the sterile urine sample for use in clinical and microbiological analysis. A disposable vessel (90) for collecting the urine is mounted on a commode adapter, and includes a variable capacitor (220), with a capacitance value which varies with the amount of urine (or other fluid) in the vessel. The variable capacitor forms a part of a capacitance bridge (340), which is used to produce a potential relating to the varying capacitance value. A microprocessor (470) controlled by a clock is used to periodically sample the varying capacitance value as fluid flows into the vessel, and thereby determine the flow rates of the fluid and other useful values. A tube (180) is provided which communicates with the interior of the vessel for drawing off a sterile sample (200) of the urine for laboratory analysis, and a drain (140) is provided which is operable without contacting the urine. The flow rates determined by the microprocessor are subjected to post-processing, wherein retrospective averages of the flow rates are taken for a certain block of predetermined intervals during which the rates were being generated, prospective averages are determined for a second block for such predetermined intervals with the second block having an overlap with the first block, and combined averages are generated by merging the retrospective and prospective averages for the overlap.</p> |
