Syringe pumps

摘要

A syringe pump has a motor (9) rotating a leadscrew (8), which drives a plunger head retainer (10) to push a plunger (35) along the barrel (30) of a syringe (3) so as to dispense medication to a patient. A force sensor (20) in the head retainer (10) measures the force on the plunger (35) to detect when there is an occlusion restricting flow of medication. When an excess force is detected an alarm is generated and the motor (9) is reversed to reduce the force to about 10% of that at which the occlusion is detected. The occlusion can be removed with a reduced risk of a bolus of medication being dispensed after which the user restarts the pump so that the plunger (35) is driven normally. <IMAGE>