APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE PATENCY OF TUBING IN A PNEUMATIC MEDICAL DEVICE

摘要

Pneumatic medical apparatus comprising: an inflatable appliance for positioning onto the surface of a limb and adapted to apply pressure to the limb beneath the appliance when inflated with gas; tubing for establishing a pneumatic conduit between the inflatable appliance and a pressure control means; and pressure control means for supplying the tubing with gas at a controlled pressure, wherein the pressure control means includes pulse generating means for generating a pneumatic pulse at a sensing location in the tubing by producing a variation in the pressure of the gas at the sensing location during a finite time interval, and tubing patency monitoring means adapted to sense the variation of pneumatic pressure at the sensing location and produce a tubing obstruction signal when the variation of pneumatic pressure sensed after the finite time interval exceeds a reference level.