SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN ARGON AND HELIUM GASES FOR ENHANCED SAFETY OF MEDICAL DEVICES

摘要

Systems and methods for discriminating between various gases, e.g., argon and helium, for enhanced safety of medical devices are provided. The present disclosure may take the form of a dedicated-use embodiment where a specific gas, helium for example, is expected, and an enabling or “Go” signal is issued when that gas is detected, or an inhibitory or “No-Go” signal when a gas is present that is not identified as helium. Alternately, a control line or input command can be used to select between helium and argon as the expected gas and then issue the appropriate “Go/No-Go” signal, depending on which gas is identified.

主权项

1. An apparatus for use with a medical device comprising:
at least one gas input configured to receive a gas; a gas discriminator coupled to the at least one gas input and configured to determine a type of the gas, the gas discriminator further configured to generate a signal indicative of the determined gas type; and a controller configured to receive the gas type signal, compare the gas type to an expected gas type and generate a control signal to enable or disable the medical device based on the comparison.