FR2646771A1 - Hydraulic blocker device, intended in particular to be implanted in the human body - Google Patents

Abstract

Hydraulic blocker device, intended to permit the opening or closure of a fluid circuit, comprising a body 1 equipped with inlet and outlet channels 2 and 3, characterised in that the communication between the said channels 2 and 3 is permitted or prohibited by a ball 8 which can occupy only two stable positions. Application in particular to the control of an implantable prosthesis with hydraulic functioning.

Description

The present invention relates to a hydraulic blocker, that is to say a device intended to open or close a fluid circuit, and operating in "all or nothing'l, like a switch or a circuit breaker.

The features which characterize it more specifically make it part of a device implantable in the human body, such as, for example, a system for controlling an implantable prosthesis with hydraulic operation.

The fact remains, however, that the hydraulic blocker according to the invention can be used without being installed, in all cases where it is necessary to be able to open or close a fluid circuit.

In the following description, a circuit where the circulation of the fluid is blocked is called "open", and a circuit where the fluid can circulate is "closed".

The principle implemented by the hydraulic blocker according to the invention consists in authorizing or prohibiting communication, in an otherwise closed body, between two fluid inlet and outlet channels, by means of a ball which can occupy only two stable positions, the existence of these only two positions being due to the fact that the body of the blocker is made of an elastically deformable material, and that said ball is made of a non-deformable material.

The description which follows, with reference to the appended drawings, explains the operation and the embodiment of a hydraulic blocker according to the invention.

Figures 1 to 4 are partial sectional views of the blocker, intended to make it understand the operation.

FIGS. 5 and 6 represent a variant of an embodiment other than that of FIGS. 1 to 4.

Figure 1 partially shows a hydraulic blocker, in section along its plane of symmetry. Said blocker essentially comprises a body 1 of elastic material, provided with two fluid inlet and outlet channels 2 and 3, placed side by side on the body 1, and each of which ends up inside the body 1, in a chamber 4, respectively 5, of substantially spherical shape.

The two chambers 4 and 5 have equal diameters and are close enough to each other so that one encroaches on the other, which defines a passage of circular shape, delimited by an annular lip 7, by which they communicate.

One of the two chambers is occupied by a spherical ball 8, made of hard material, with a diameter slightly greater than that of the chambers when they do not contain the ball.

Thanks to the elasticity of the material of the body 1, and under the effect of a sufficient external force, the ball 8 can pass from one chamber to another, by enlarging the diameter of the annular lip 7, which amounts to its initial diameter after the passage of the ball 8, to ensure the maintenance in its new position.

The external force, intended to pass the ball 8 from one chamber to another, can be transmitted to it by a pusher 9 or 10, or control button, secured to the body 1 of the blocker, for example molded, and # whose translational movement is facilitated by the presence of an it or 12 cavity which surrounds it.

In FIG. 1, the two pushers 9 and 10 are shown at rest, the ball 8 being in the chamber 5.

In FIG. 3, illustrating the same section plane as in FIG. 1, the pusher 9 is shown in the depressed position, the ball 8 having passed into the chamber 4. The return of the ball 8 in the chamber 5 is obviously obtained by application of a force on the pusher 10, to push it in (position not shown in FIGS. 1 to 4).

Depending on whether the ball 8 is located in one or other of the chambers 4 and 5, the hydraulic circuit will be open or closed: for this purpose, one of the chambers (here chamber 5) is surrounded by an annular groove 13, surrounding the ball 8 when it is in the chamber 5, and forming a channel which communicates on the one hand with the fluid inlet or outlet channel 3, and on the other hand with the chamber 4 by l through a channel 14.

The annular groove 13 is illustrated more clearly in FIG. 2, which is a view of FIG. 1, along a cutting plane passing through the center of the chamber 5 and the axis of the channel 3, and orthogonal to the cutting plane of Figure 1.

The operation of the hydraulic blocker according to the invention is as follows.

When the ball 8 is in the chamber 5, the channel 2 communicates with the chamber 4, which communicates with the annular groove 13 via the channel 14, and said annular groove 13 communicates with the channel 3.

The hydraulic circuit is therefore closed, and a fluid can circulate through the blocker, between channels 2 and 3, either in one direction (for example that illustrated by the arrows in bold line in FIG. 1), or in the other. .

When the ball 8 is in the chamber 4, it is in contact with the internal end of the channel 2, which it closes.

The circuit is therefore open.

This state is illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 4, the plane of section of the latter passing through the center of the chamber 4 and the axis of the channel 2.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a variant of a hydraulic blocker according to the invention, in which the inlet and outlet channels 2 and 3 are coaxial and placed on either side of the body 1.

In the case of this variant, the channels 2 and 3 both open into the same chamber 4, the ball 8, when housed in the chamber 5, no longer needs to be bypassed so that the continuity of the circuit hydraulic is ensured. However, the channel 3 does not open directly into the chamber 4, but rather via a channel 14, which connects the two chambers 4 and 5 outside the annular lip 7. Thus, when the ball 8 is in the chamber 4 (position not shown), it can return to the chamber 5 by driving the fluid towards the channel 3 via the channel 14. Conversely, when the ball 8 is passed from the chamber 5 towards chamber 4, chamber 5 can be filled with fluid coming from channel 3 via channel 14.

The operation of the variant of FIGS. 5 and 6 is obvious, in view of the explanations given with regard to the variant of FIGS. 1 to 4: depending on whether the ball 8 is located in chamber 4 or chamber 5, it prohibits or authorizes the communication between channels 2 and 3, via chamber 4 and channel 14, so that the hydraulic circuit is, respectively, open or closed.

FIGS. 5 and 6 also illustrate an improvement, which could just as easily apply to the variant of FIGS. 1 to 4.

This improvement consists of an elastic ring 15, which surrounds the body 1 at the level of the pushers 9 and 10.

This ring 15 is mounted tensioned and glued, with a tension just sufficient to hold one of the pushers 9 and 10 in the depressed position, and insufficient to cause the other pushbutton to sink, in the absence of external force.

 By sight, or by touch (in the case of a blocker implanted under the skin), we can therefore determine the opening or closing state of the hydraulic circuit, depending on whether one or other of the pushers 9 and 10 is in the depressed position, as shown in FIG. 6.

In the case of the presence of a ring 15, the cavities 11 and 12, formed in the body 1 proper, can optionally be open towards the outside, their closing being ensured subsequently by the bonding of the ring 15.

Finally, to further facilitate the identification of the state of the hydraulic blocker, the outer surface of one of the pushers 9 and 10 can optionally be provided with more or less coarse reliefs, such as ribs or pins, intended to allow, by touching it through the skin and, if necessary, through the ring 15, to distinguish between the two pushers.

 The material constituting the body 1 of the hydraulic blocker is obviously an inert and elastic material, for example a synthetic elastomer such as a silicone, and physiologically acceptable in the case where the device must be implanted in the human body.

The ball 8 is made of a hard inert material, for example stainless steel, glass, polypropylene, polyamide, polytetrafluoroethylene, etc.

The ring 15, like the body 1, is made of an elastomeric material, for example silicone.

The entire hydraulic blocker according to the invention can be produced according to well known techniques of molding and bonding of synthetic materials.

Claims (10)

Claims 1. Hydraulic blocker, intended to allow the opening or closing of a fluid circuit, comprising a body (1) provided with inlet and outlet channels (2 and 3), characterized in that the communication between said channels (2 and 3) is authorized or prohibited by a ball (8) which can occupy only two stable positions. 2. Blocker according to claim 1, characterized in that the body (1) is made of an elastically deformable material, and in that the ball (8) is made of a non-deformable material. 3. Blocker according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the ball (8) occupies one of two spherical chambers (4 and 5), of the same diameter and communicating with each other by a passage of circular shape delimited by an annular lip (7), the diameter of the ball (8) being slightly greater than that of the chambers when they do not contain the ball. 4. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the ball (8) can pass from one chamber to another under the effect of an external force transmitted by a pusher (9 or 10) , by enlarging the diameter of the annular lip (7). 5. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the channels (2 and 3) are placed side by side on the body (1), and in that one of the spherical chambers (5) is surrounded by an annular groove (13) communicating on the one hand with a fluid inlet and outlet channel (3), and on the other hand with the other chamber (4) via a channel ( 14). 6. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the channels (2 and 3) are coaxial and placed on either side of the body (1), and in that they both open into the same chamber (4), the channel (2) opening directly therein, and the channel (3) opening therein via a channel (14).  7. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that an elastic ring (15) encircles the body (1) at the level of the pushers (9 and 10), with sufficient tension to maintain in the depressed position l 'one of said pushers, and insufficient to cause itself the depression of the other pushbutton in the absence of external force. 8. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the body (1) is made of silicone. 9. Blocker according to one of claims 7 and 8, characterized in that the ring (15) is made of silicone. 10. Blocker according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it is made of a material implantable in the human body.