FR2613931A2 - Unit for the incontinent - Google Patents

Abstract

The casing containing the pump, the motor, the battery and the electric circuit is parallelepipedal, and includes a body 1 and a lid, the body 1 comprising a rectangular base 2 and perpendicular side walls 3-6 surrounding the periphery of the base, so as to close the sides of the casing, with the exception of two zones situated opposite each other on two opposite sides 5, 6, an intermediate perpendicular wall 7 being provided between these two zones, parallel to the said opposite sides 5, 6; the lid is composed of a rectangular plate provided on two edges with two perpendicular side walls corresponding to the said zones, when the lid is mounted on the body 1; mounting means are provided for fixing the pump 29 and its motor 28, respectively, on either side of the said intermediate wall 7 with their axes perpendicular to this wall, the said wall 7 including an orifice 27 for passage of the transmission of movement between the motor 28 and the pump 29.

Description

Incontinent set
The invention relates to underwear for people with urinary incontinence, of the type defined in main patent No. 2,555,044.

 Before the main patent, there were supplies whose role was to absorb urine, by capillary action, and to store them up to a more or less important retention point depending on the texture and the nature of the raw materials used.

 Document FR-A-2 498 447 also known a woman's urination panties having a drawing-off zone to which a flexible evacuation tube can be connected connected to a retaining pocket through a pump. These pants are only intended for voluntary evacuation: they require the control of a switch. It is hard to imagine demanding nocturnal enuretics to wake up first to switch the switch. In addition, it is clear that these pants are not designed so that the accessories (pipes, pockets) are permanently worn by the subject himself: at the end of the operation the evacuation pipe must be disconnected. These panties could not therefore meet the needs of incontinence.

We also knew, for the document
FR-A-2 477 881, a device intended for bedridden but not for incontinence who wish to lead a normal life. The proposed device is not autonomous: it requires an electrical connection to the mains. It does not allow to be worn permanently, but needs to be applied at the desired time, which is not suitable for incontinents for which this moment is known only when it is too late. Finally, this device is also designed for voluntary evacuation.

 The invention of the main patent had as its object an assembly which made it possible to control the flow of urine from its inception. This set had to be simple and inexpensive, without risk for the user, falling into the category of what is commonly known as "hygienic underwear for everyday use". Above all it was a question of presenting a set designed to be fully and permanently worn by the subject, and equipped with an automatic operation, which makes it perfectly suitable for all cases of incontinence.

 The subject of the main patent therefore consists of a kind of breeches, briefs, suspensory device, the part of which in contact with the external urinary tract, when worn, is equipped with a humidity detection system and an orifice. evacuation system connected to a pumping system. More specifically, the pants made, at least for its lower part, of waterproof material adapting in a sealed manner to the wearer, comprises in the lower part a drawing area to which a flexible evacuation tube connected to a retained through a pump. The set also includes a support carried by the subject and retaining on the one hand a housing housing the pump and a low-voltage direct current source, and on the other hand the retaining pocket. a timed electric circuit for triggering the pump, supplied by the current source and comprising triggering means reacting to the liquid arranged near the drawing-off zone and connected by flexible electric wires to said device.

 All of the energy required for operation for the detection and control of starting and stopping the pumping system comes from cells or batteries.

 The liquid arrival detection system consists of electrodes which transmit information to an electrically controlled device.

 The pump is preferably a self-priming silent pump whose flow rate is advantageously between 1 and 40 cm3 per second, it being understood that it is preferably close to 10 to 30 cm3. A flow rate of 900ml / min generally complies with the standards in this area.

 The object of the present invention is to perfect the invention of main patent No. 2,555,044.

 A first improvement relates to the production of the housing containing the pump and the low voltage direct current source. Insofar as the device described in the main patent is intended to be worn permanently by the user, it is particularly important to design a very compact housing that minimizes wasted space.

 According to the invention, this box is distinguished in that the box is essentially rectangular and comprises a body and a cover, the body comprising a rectangular bottom and perpendicular side walls surrounding the periphery of the bottom so as to form the sides of the box, with the exception of two zones located opposite one another on two opposite sides, a perpendicular intermediate wall being provided between these two zones parallel to said opposite sides, and in that the cover consists of a rectangular plate provided on two edges with two perpendicular side walls corresponding to said zones when the cover is mounted on the body, and in that mounting means are provided for fixing the pump and its motor respectively on either side of said intermediate wall, with their axes perpendicular to this wall, said wall comprising an orifice for the passage of the transmission of movement between the motor and the pump.

 Advantageously, the housing body has other dividing partitions forming separate housings for the batteries, the electronic control plate, the motor and a self-priming pump with rubber blades.

 A second improvement concerns the production of the electronic circuit managing the detection of liquid and the triggering of the pump.

 According to the invention, the supply current of the detection electrodes is an alternating voltage, preferably rectangular. The circuit supplied with direct current by the batteries therefore comprises an oscillator with rectangular signals.

This arrangement is particularly valuable for preventing scaling of the electrodes due to the electrolysis of urine in direct current.

 According to another aspect of the second improvement, the electrical circuit also includes a manual device for triggering the pump. This device, which is added to the triggering by detection, makes it possible to bypass the latter during special circumstances: for example to rinse the assembly with water, daily operation, the pump should operate while the electrodes detect no current due to the different resistivity between water and urine.

 Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the following description. Reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of the body and the housing cover according to the invention, Figure 3 shows the pump of the invention seen from above (without cover) in position in the housing body, Figure 4 shows the pump cover, seen from below, Figure 5 is a block diagram of the electronic control circuit.

 We see in Figure 1 the body 1 of the housing, formed of a rectangular bottom 2 surrounded on a part of its periphery by perpendicular side walls 3,4,5,6. The wall 3 forms a short side of the housing, and the wall 4 the other short side, with the exception of its upper edge left free. The walls 5 and 6 form opposite parts of the long sides, leaving free one end of the long sides. Between these two zones left free on the long sides, an intermediate wall 7 forms a recess on the short side 4 and is attached to the long side 5 by a connecting wall 8. A separating partition 9 extends the connecting wall 8 and another partition 10 is parallel to the partition 9, so as to form housings 11 and 12 provided respectively for the electronic control plate, and the power supply batteries. The partitions 9 and 10 do not separate the housing over its entire depth, so as to allow various connections to pass between the various housings.

 The cover 13 (fig. 2) comprises on the one hand a rectangular plate 14 whose dimensions correspond to those of the bottom 2, provided with two side walls 15, 16 perpendicular to the plate 14, located in the areas left free on the long sides of the body 1 of the housing 7. When the cover 13 is mounted on the body 1, these walls 15 and 16 are in the continuity of the walls 5 and 6 respectively and cooperate with the body of the housing to close the housings 17 and 18 of the engine and of the pump.

 Four candles 19,20 placed at an angle (19) or along a wall (20) are pierced with an orifice corresponding to orifices 22 in the plate 14 to allow the cover 13 to be fixed to the body 1 by suitable means .

 The bottom wall of the housings 17 and 18 comprises, near the free area of the long sides, a groove 23 into which the edge 24 of the walls 15 and 16 can be inserted, profiled or chamfered for this purpose.

 Projections 25 provided on the internal face of the plate 14 of the cover make it possible to position the latter exactly on the body.

 Two handles 26, made of material, are provided on the large upper side of the bottom 2 of the body to serve for the suspension of the housing.

 The wall 7 has a main orifice 27 for the passage of the transmission between the electric motor 28 and the pump 29. This orifice is surrounded by a ring of countersunk holes 30 intended for the screw fixing of the motor 28. This has been previously easily introduced into the housing 17 and applied against the wall 7 thanks to the fact that the lower side of the housing is left free.

 Once the motor has been fixed, the pump 29 is fixed above the wall 7 which is held by three screws passing through the jack stands 31 of the pump to be screwed into the orifices 32 of the plate 7.

 The flat pump 29 (fig.3) consists of a pump body 33 to which a cover 40 (fig.4) is fixed by the screws passing through the jack stands 31. The body 33 defines a substantially cylindrical cavity 34, the wall of which comprises two bores 35, 36 communicating with external suction and discharge connections 37, 38 whose end protrudes slightly from the housing 18 of the housing, through the unclosed wall of said housing. A flat wall portion 39 is provided between the entry of the bores 35, 36.

 The cover 40 is shaped to fit the body 33 and has a central plate 41 slightly penetrating into the cavity 34 to close it. An annular groove 42 accommodates an O-ring ensuring the tightness of the pump.

The pump body and cover are injection molded from a hard plastic with a low coefficient of friction (e.g. acetal resins filled with chalk, polycarbonate, PTFE, etc.)
The turbine with deformable blades 43 is molded from a resilient plastic material, for example rubber (nitride,
EPDM) advantageously treated by chlorination to resist pumped liquids.

 The turbine has a central ring 44 from which the deformable blades irradiate 45. In the center of the ring 44 and in one piece with it, two almost contiguous cylindrical half-shells 46 allow the turbine to be fixed on the axis of the engine. Said axis passes through the bottom of the pump body 33, where a casing, not shown, allows the positioning of an O-ring or lip seal.

 Once the motor 28 and the pump 29 and the connections with the control electronics and the batteries are in place, the cover 13 is put in place and fixed on the body of the case 1 which it allows to close in one surgery.

All of the preceding provisions make it possible to obtain
q a very compact arrangement of the housing (7 x 9 x 3.5 cm3) and quieter thanks to the reduction in all the parts or resonance spaces.

 We also see in Figures 1 and 3 that a notch 47 is formed at the rear of the housing body, behind the housing 11 of the electronic plate. This notch 47 has a bottom 48, from which a press button 49 projects. This button controls manual operation of the pump.

 An example of an electronic device will be described with reference to FIG. 5, allowing the control of a diaper pump for urinary incontinence, in accordance with the present invention.

 The electric motor 117 driving the pump is supplied from a + V power source, for example constituted by a rechargeable storage battery, by means of a relay or, preferably, as shown in the diagram, by a static switching element constituted for example by a power transistor 106, selectively controlled by an electronic device associated with a probe 101 disposed in the layer to be dried.

 An oscillator 102 with rectangular signals supplies the probe 101 with a rectangular alternating voltage at a frequency for example of the order of 125 Hz but which could be between approximately 1 Hz and 10000 Hz. The rectangular alternating voltage delivered by the oscillator 102 with a power of between approximately 0.2 and 1 milliwatt makes it possible to ensure depolarization at the level of the probe 101.

 The oscillator 102 can be produced from an inverting amplifier element 121 cooperating with a resistor 122 mounted between the input and the output of the amplifier 121. The amplifier 121 can be constituted for example by a NAND gate whose the two inputs are interconnected. The oscillator 102 further comprises a first capacitor 123 connected between the input of the amplifier 121 and the ground and a second capacitor 124 connected between the output of the amplifier 121 and an electrode 111 of the probe 101. A resistor 125 defining the output resistance of the generator 102 of rectangular signals is connected between the output of the oscillator 102 and the ground.

 A series circuit consisting of a resistor 131 and an adjustable resistor 132 is connected between the electrode 112 of the probe 101 and the ground. This series circuit defines the impedance of the probe 101 and the input resistance of the amplifier 104 used to amplify the signals delivered by the probe 101. The adjustable resistance 132 makes it possible to adjust the impedance of the probe 101 and therefore its sensitivity as a function of the resistivity range linked to urinary pH.

 The signals supplied by the probe 101 are integrated by the capacitor 133 connected in parallel on the serial circuit 131, 132, then amplified and shaped by the amplifier 104 which can be constituted like the amplifier 121 by a NAND gate.

 The output of amplifier 104 is connected to the cathode of a diode 141 whose anode is connected to the input of a second amplification stage 105 comprising two inverting amplifiers 151,152 connected in series and whose output is connected by a resistor 153 at the base of the power transistor 106. The inverting amplifiers 151, 152 can also be constituted by NAND gates.

 The point common to the anode of the diode 141 and to the input of the second amplification stage 105 is connected on the one hand to the positive pole of the power source + V by a resistor 191 and a diode 181, d on the other hand to ground by a capacitor 192.

 The resistor 191 and the capacitor 192 constitute a timing circuit 109 which makes it possible to maintain on the base of the transistor 106 a control signal for a predetermined duration, for example of the order of one second, after the end of the emission. a signal by the probe 101, to allow to empty the rest of the column still filled with liquid. The duration of the delay is thus adjusted to the volume of the column to be emptied.

 A series circuit 110 constituted by a push button 49 and a resistor 112 is connected between the cathode of the diode 181 and the input of the amplifier 104. This series circuit 110 makes it possible to apply artificially to the input of the amplifier 104 a positive voltage signal which makes it possible to operate the motor 17 in forced operation in the event of rinsing with the aid of a liquid such as water whose resistivity is different from that of urine.

 A capacitor 182 connected between the cathode ce the cc # e 181 and the ground also makes it possible to decouple the entire CisDcs: - electronic control device.

 The operation of the eor control device is as follows.

 In the absence of a signal at the output of the probe 101, the input of the amplifier 104 is at a low level and the output thereof is at a high level which prevents the diode 141 from being conductive. The input and output of the second amplifier stage 105 are therefore also at a high level, which blocks the transistor 106 and prevents the motor 117 from operating.

 The presence of a signal at the output of the probe 101 provides, after integration by the capacitor 133, a high level at the input of the amplifier 104 which produces a low level at the output of this amplifier and makes the diode 141 conductive thereby discharging the capacitor 192. The input and output of the second amplifier stage 105 are thus at a low level which makes the transistor 106 conductive during the whole time when a signal is delivered by the probe 101, or by the series circuit 110 when the push button 111 is closed, and for the additional time necessary for recharging the capacitor 192 which corresponds to the complete emptying of the column.

Claims (6)

1. Assembly according to any one of the claims of main patent n02 555 044, characterized in that the electric circuit supplies the detection electrodes (101) with an alternating voltage, preferably rectangular. 2. Assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the circuit is supplied with direct current and comprises an oscillator (102) with rectangular signals. 3. An assembly according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the electrical circuit further comprises a manual device (49) for triggering the pump. 4. Assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the housing is essentially rectangular and comprises a body (1) and a cover (13), the body (1) comprising a rectangular bottom (2) and perpendicular side walls (3-6) surrounding the periphery of the bottom so as to close the sides of the housing, with the exception of two zones facing each other on two opposite sides (5,6), a perpendicular intermediate wall (7) being provided between these two zones parallel to said opposite sides (5,6), and in that the cover (13) consists of a rectangular plate (14) provided on two edges with two side walls perpendicular (15,16) corresponding to said areas when the cover (13) is mounted on the body (1), and in that mounting means are provided to fix the pump (29) and its motor (28) respectively and other of said intermediate wall (7), with their axes perpendicular to this wall, said wall (7) having an orifice (27) for the passage of the movement transmission between the motor (28) and the pump (29). 5. Assembly according to claim 4, characterized in that the body (1) of the housing comprises other separating partitions (9,10). 6. An assembly according to any one of claims 4 or 5, characterized in that the pump (29) is a self-priming pump with rubber rotor.