Syringe plunger driver system

摘要

A syringe plunger driver system capable of capturing syringes of widely varying sizes comprises a pair of asymmetric plunger retainer arms pivotally mounted to a plunger driver. The system includes a low profile driver having a length that exceeds its width so that it may be mounted adjacent control modules and other operational modules. The arms are biased toward each other and one arm is longer than the other with a notch on an inside edge to receive the tip of the shorter arm when capturing small syringe flanges. A rotation knob mounted to the front surface of the low profile driver forces the arms apart when rotated to a first rotation position. A force sensor is mounted in the driver to detect occlusions in the fluid line. A processor monitors the force sensed by the force sensor and provides an alarm if the force exceeds a threshold. The driver includes a force concentrator that defines a pushing surface adapted to press against a plunger flange so that the force applied to the plunger flange is concentrated at a defined location for more accurate measurement.

主权项

1. A method for capturing syringe plungers of different sizes at a plunger driver, each syringe plunger having a plunger piston, a plunger flange, and a plunger stem interconnecting the piston with the flange, wherein each syringe plunger forms a part of a syringe, each syringe having a barrel in which the syringe plunger moves, each plunger flange having an inner side facing the syringe barrel and an outer side, the plunger driver adapted to move the syringe plunger into the syringe barrel in an operation mode, the method comprising the steps of:
rotating a rotation knob, connected with first and second asymmetric arms mounted to the plunger driver, to a first rotation position, at which the knob moves the first and second arms outward into a syringe plunger non-engagement position to permit coupling of a plunger flange to the plunger driver, wherein the first and second asymmetric arms rotate within a plane parallel to the plunger flange; and coupling a syringe plunger and the plunger driver by rotating the first and second arms inward toward each other to capture the plunger flange between the first and second arms.