Medical infusion flow measurement and control system uses digital

摘要

A medical infusion system has a control system. The infusion system has a droplet chamber (10) with an inlet for the fluid. The inlet is positioned over a space which is over an outlet for the fluid. The space between the inlet and the outlet is monitored by a digital image sensor being either a charged coupled device or an active pixel sensor. The space between the inlet and outlet is also monitored by an infrared detector (30). The passage of droplets through the space is detected (36) and transmitted to a processor (34) which calculates the volume and flow rate of fluid which has passed in droplet form. The processor further detects any deviation from the target flow rate, which is corrected as required by a control unit (38).