| 摘要 |
A peristaltic pump (1) comprises a flexible tube (2) for guiding a liquid to be pumped, a compression mechanism (5) being actuatable for compressing the flexible tube (2), an upstream valve mechanism (3) arranged in an upstream direction with respect to the compression mechanism (5) and being actuatable to selectively open or close the flexible tube (2) upstream of the compression mechanism (5) and a downstream valve mechanism (4) arranged in a downstream direction with respect to the compression mechanism (5) and being actuatable to selectively open or close the flexible tube (2) downstream of the compression mechanism (5). A drive mechanism (6) periodically actuates the compression mechanism (5), the upstream valve mechanism (3) and the downstream valve mechanism (4) and a pressure sensor (7) measures a pressure signal (P) indicative of a pressure in the flexible tube (2) at a location between the upstream valve mechanism (3) and the downstream valve mechanism (4). For detecting a fault condition, a first signal value indicative of a pressure value downstream the downstream valve mechanism (4) and a second signal value indicative of a pressure value upstream the upstream valve mechanism (3) are computed from the measured pressure signal (P), a threshold value is computed from the first signal value and the second signal value, and the measured pressure signal (P) or at least one signal parameter derived from the measured pressure signal (P) is compared with the threshold value to detect the fault condition. In this way, a method for operating a peristaltic pump is provided which allows for a safe and reliable detection of a fault condition such as an upstream occlusion or a downstream occlusion. |
