| 摘要 |
Automated tracking devices for counting, sorting, weighing, and containing articles, such as sponges that contain fluids from patients undergoing surgery. Devices according to the present invention employ a suspended container for receiving and sorting the articles. The cumulative weight of the container contents is sensed accurately and registered reliably after an appropriate settling period via a load cell structure which is aimed at eliminating bending moments and non-vertical force components imposed by the container and its contents. Automatic sensing of the presence of the container allows continuous, rather than solely end-point, fluid monitoring during the surgical procedures and allows this monitoring to continue as successive containers are changed during an operation. Appropriate warnings occur after a predetermined number of articles have been introduced into the container, in order to indicate that a container change is due. Automated accumulation and retention of the articles reduces handling and provides enhanced health-care personnel safety by reducing potential exposure to blood-borne pathogens. Disposable containers according to the present invention may accordingly be formed of flexible material such as plastomeric material, and thus manufactured, shipped, handled and stored efficiently and inexpensively. |
