JPH0435669A - Pipe-form connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To pick up a coil part from a connector main body to use again when the connector main body is thrown away by installing the coil part which composes a probe for elentromagnetic flow meter to the connector main body to mount and demount freely. CONSTITUTION:At a cylinder 53 Aa of a main body 53A at the down-stream side, a probe 61 for electromagnetic flow meter made in a body separated from the main body is fitted and fixed facing its major part to a blood flow route 40. Contact parts 65A, 65B, and 65C are picked out as terminals 48 through lead lines 47, and both ends of a coil 43 are picked out as terminals 48 through lead lines 46 respectively. The probe 61 for electromagnetic flow meter is composed of above parts. The components of the probe 61 are shielded magnetically by a plastic coverage members 61a and a plastic holding member 61b each other. When the coverage member 61a and the holding member 61b are insertion-moulded, the insertion moulding is in the pouring mould method to prevent the movements of a core 42, the coil 43, the contact parts 65A, 65B, and 65C, and the lead lines 46 and 47.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a tubular connector that connects a first fluid conduit and a second fluid conduit to each other, and is suitable for, for example, a blood flow pump device for an artificial heart. Relating to tubular connectors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, progress has been made in the development of artificial hearts for supplementary and temporary replacement of the functions of the heart outside the body during targeted surgeries and other surgeries. For example, as shown in Figure 5,
A sac-type blood pump device 11 is connected between the right atrium and the pulmonary artery of the living body's heart 1110, and between the left atrium and the aorta. However, in the figure, only one of the blood pump devices 11 is shown. Such blood pump devices are being researched in Japan ahead of the rest of the world, and have already been put into clinical use as auxiliary hearts.

This blood pump device 11 is called a sack type, and mainly includes a pressure-resistant (for example, made of polycarbonate or polyurethane) housing outer case 1, and a flat sack type that is airtightly housed within the housing outer case. It consists of a blood chamber 2. In the upper part of the blood chamber 2, a blood introduction pipe 3 and a blood discharge pipe 4 are formed upward and substantially parallel to each other so as to communicate with the blood chamber. A flange portion 5 forming a part of the housing is provided around the upper portion of a portion of the blood chamber, and the blood chamber is hermetically housed within the housing outer case 1 by this flange portion.

In addition, an artificial check valve for preventing backflow of blood is installed inside each of the blood introduction tube 3 and the blood discharge tube 4 via a ring-shaped valve seat. Blood introduced into the blood chamber 2 is pumped out from a blood discharge pipe 4. Blood is pumped out by alternately introducing and discharging fluid, such as compressed air and decompressed air, through the boat 8 provided at the bottom of the housing outer case 1, and the blood chamber expands and contracts as the external pressure changes. This is done by repeating. Each cannula 12 connected to the heart of the living body and each blood conduit 3 and 4 on the blood chamber 2 side are inserted from both ends of each connector 13 to the position of a ring-shaped flange 14 provided at the center thereof.

In the blood pump device 11 as described above, since check valves are incorporated into the inner surfaces of the blood introduction pipe 3 and the blood discharge pipe 4, sufficient dimensional accuracy must be achieved at the installation positions.

Therefore, each valve seat of the valve is firmly seated on the inner surface of the conduit 3.4 (
It is necessary to improve the accuracy of the internal dimension of the conduit 3.4 so that it can be closely attached to the ring-shaped convex portion. And for this reason, a highly accurate middle mold (core) is required during molding. In addition, the conduit 3.4 containing the valve is integrated with the blood chamber 2 in the pump device 11, but it is extremely difficult to form these in one molding operation because the blood chamber 2 is bag-shaped. This is difficult and therefore requires many molding steps as a whole, which tends to result in high costs.

Therefore, one idea is to incorporate the above-mentioned valve into the connector 13 itself. This allows the connector function and the valve function to be combined in one connector, alleviates the above-mentioned problems, and allows various types of artificial valves to be integrated into the connector. Can be easily installed by replacement.

By the way, in the above blood pump device, it is very important to measure the amount of blood in each conduit and control the flow rate to an appropriate level. For this purpose, a flow rate needle called an electromagnetic blood flow meter is used, and a measurement probe thereof is attached facing the blood flow path. Generally, such a probe is mounted on the blood outlet side, ie on the side of the outlet tube 4 in FIG. However, when using the above-described connector with a built-in artificial valve, the blood discharge tube 4 and cannula 12
A connector and a conduit with a probe (intubation type probe) are connected in series between the two.

This results in a so-called double connector structure, and a situation in which thrombus is likely to occur between the tubes.

In view of the above circumstances, the applicant has previously proposed a tubular connector that is easy to manufacture, allows for easy installation of artificial valves, is capable of measuring fluid flow rate, and has a relatively simple structure (in practice). (Gan Sho 61-114439).

This tubular connector has a structure in which an artificial valve is disposed in a fluid flow path inside the connector body, and an electromagnetic flowmeter probe is provided in the connector body so as to face the fluid flow path. Specifically, an artificial valve was not provided in the blood introduction pipe and the blood discharge pipe of the blood pump device, but instead, as shown in FIG.
The introduction pipe side is also the same, so illustration and explanation are omitted. )
It has a structure in which the artificial valve 7 is built into a tubular connector 33 that connects the cannula 12 to the living heart and blood vessels. Furthermore, the artificial valve 7 is not only built into the connector 33, but also has a special design in its mounting structure. That is, this connector 33 has a tubular portion 33a on the cannula 12 side and a tubular portion 33 on the blood conduit 4 side.
b is configured to be detachable via a threaded portion 30, and in particular, the artificial valve 7 is fixed via a seal ring (or elastic body mount) 31 to the opening area of the tubular portion 33a on the connection side to the tubular portion 33b. . 32 in the figure is a gasket for tightly joining both the tubular portions 33a and 33b.

Note that as the check valve IN'7 used above, a known or commercially available valve can be used.

The main body of this connector 33 (specifically, the tubular part 33a side)
It looks like it's facing the blood flow path 40! A probe 41 for a magnetic blood flow needle is built-in.

The connector 33 connects both tubular parts to each other by screwing the female thread 35 provided on the other tubular part 33b into the male thread 34 provided on the other tubular part 33a,
Moreover, the two tubular parts are configured to be able to be separated from each other by rotating in a direction opposite to the screwing direction. When the two tubular parts are connected, a ring-shaped packing 32 is inserted into the tubular part 33b side, and the artificial valve 7 is fitted into the tubular part 33a side. The seal ring 31 is fitted into the inner periphery of the seal ring 31 inserted into the ring-shaped recess 36 provided in the connector.

Since this tubular connector has an artificial valve built into the connector itself, it has wider dimensional tolerances than conventional devices that have a built-in structure in the blood inlet and outlet tubes, allowing it to accommodate artificial valves of various shapes and sizes. Even if there are variations in the dimensions of each part, this can be absorbed and the parts can be securely fixed in the desired position. Moreover, since the above-mentioned artificial valve and electromagnetic flow meter probe are both provided in one connector, the structure can be simplified and the fluid flow rate can be measured, and the structure is such that thrombus etc. do not easily occur in the flow path. This has the advantage of smooth fluid flow.

However, as a result of studies conducted by the present inventor, it has been found that the above tubular connector still has the following problems that need to be solved.

The connector body needs to have a shape that makes it difficult for ring-shaped thrombus to adhere to its end, and for this purpose, the wall thickness of the end face (6th
d) in the figure must be 0.1 im or less. In order to achieve such a sharp edge, the connector body must be made of engineering plastic, and injection molding is advantageous from the viewpoint of workability and productivity. However, the connector body containing the electromagnetic flowmeter probe cannot be insert-molded by injection molding due to the structure and strength of the electromagnetic transmitting coil. This is because in injection molding, the coil and yoke move due to injection pressure. Therefore, whether the probe is of the clamp-on type (inserted into a surround) or the plug-in type (inserted into a pipe), the connector body is molded by casting epoxy resin. For assembly efficiency, the connector with a built-in artificial valve is a male-female mating body as mentioned above, so both parts are molded from different materials (the side with the probe built-in is made of epoxy resin, and the other side is made of injection-molded engineering plastic). It is possible that However, the side of the epoxy resin molded by the casting method must be manually finished after molding, which causes a significant increase in cost and is also unfavorable in terms of appearance.

Moreover, in the casting method, it is difficult to reduce the wall thickness of the end face to 0.11 or less. Furthermore, the parts of medical instruments that are directly connected to blood are considered disposable after use because it is difficult to completely clean them, so the probe embedded in the connector body is also disposable together with the connector body. Since the probe is expensive, it is extremely uneconomical.

C9 Object of the Invention The present invention retains the advantages of the tubular connector based on the above-mentioned Utility Model Application No. 114439/1985, is economical in that an electromagnetic flowmeter probe can be used repeatedly, and has a connector main body. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a tubular connector that is easier to manufacture without being limited by the materials used.

20 Structure of the Invention The present invention provides an electromagnetic flowmeter probe provided in the connector body so as to face the fluid flow path inside the connector body that connects the first fluid conduit and the second fluid conduit to each other. In the tubular connector, an artificial valve is disposed in the fluid flow path, and a coil portion constituting the electromagnetic flowmeter probe is detachably attached to the connector body. .

E, Example The present invention will be explained in detail below.

Figure 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along the central axis (not shown) of a tubular connector (hereinafter simply referred to as a connector) that functions as a check valve, and Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the line ■-■ in Figure 1. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■--■ in FIG. 1.

The connector has the following configuration. That is, the downstream main body 53A having the downstream valve seat 53Ab and the upstream valve seat 5
3Bb is connected to the upstream main body 53B by a screw connection described later, and the downstream (left side in the figure) region of the upstream valve seat 53Bb of the upstream main body 53B (the enlarged diameter part 58A described later)
, 58B), a ball 57 as a movable valve body is accommodated in the connector 53G.

On the upstream side of the downstream main body 53A, there is an enlarged diameter part 5 whose inner diameter is enlarged.
8A is provided, and a male screw 54 is threaded on the outer circumferential surface of the rear end of the downstream main body. A valve seat base 50 is provided upright at three locations (or more than four locations are acceptable) on the inner circumferential surface of the enlarged diameter portion 58A, and a ball 57 comes into contact with the rear end of the valve seat base 50, and this contact location is connected to the downstream ball. The receiver forms a portion (downstream valve seat) 53Ab.

During the forward flow of blood, the blood 17 flows between the upstream valve seats 53Ab and between the valve seat bases 50.

On the downstream side of the upstream main body 53B, there is an enlarged diameter part 5 whose inner diameter is enlarged.
8B is provided, and the upstream rear end of the enlarged diameter part 58 and the cylindrical part 5
There is a circumferential ball receiver on the boundary with 8Ba (upstream valve seat 5).
3 days b) is formed. When blood tries to flow backwards,
A ball 57 shown by an imaginary line contacts the upstream valve seat 53Bb in line contact on the circumference to prevent backflow of the blood flow 17. The upstream main body 53B has a female thread 5 screwed into the male thread 54 at its tip end.
5 is screwed.

An annular gasket 52 is interposed between the rear end surface of the downstream main body 53A and the tip end surface formed inside the rear end of the female thread 55 of the upstream main body 53B. The connector 53G is assembled by inserting the ball 57 into the enlarged diameter part 58A and 58, inserting the gasket 52 deep into the female thread 55, and tightening the male thread 54 and the female thread 55. 57, and has a structure in which the downstream main body 53A and the upstream main body 53B are connected by screwing, thereby making it easy to assemble the connector 53C.

Both main bodies 53A, 53B are molded by injection molding,
The materials used include polycarbonate, polysulfone, and other engineering plastics. However, other hard plastics such as hard vinyl chloride, polyurethane, epoxy resin, acrylic resin, nylon, etc. can be used.

However, transparent materials are selected for both main bodies 53A, 53B and the ball 57 so that attachment of blood clots and the like can be monitored from the outside. The ball 29 was made of silicone with a specific gravity of 1.03.

In addition, polyacetal, polycarbonate, polysulfone, polyurethane, nylon 6, poly4 methylpentene 1, polypropylene, etc. can be used.

What should be noted in this example is that, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, most of the electromagnetic flowmeter probe 610, which is manufactured separately, is attached to the cylindrical portion 53Aa of the downstream main body 53A. It is externally fitted and fixed so as to face the flow path 40. This will be explained in detail below.

The U-shaped core 42 and the electromagnetic transmission coil 43 wound around the center of the core 42 are buried and protected in a U-shaped covering material 61a made of epoxy resin. Covering material 61
a is an annular thick walled portion (the outer diameter is increased to make the wall thicker) provided in the cylindrical portion 53Aa; 53Ac (thick walled portion 53A);
c may be omitted. ) can be installed so as to straddle the

A presser portion 61b, which is swingably attached to one end of the covering material 61a by a shaft 61c, is urged inward by a spring 61d, thereby fixing the presser portion 61b to the annular thick wall portion 53Ac. Through holes 53Ad, 53Ad, and 53Ad in the shape of a truncated cone whose diameter decreases outward are provided in the cylindrical portion 53Aa at a position facing the coil 43, at a position 180 degrees from this position, and at a central position between both positions. truncated conical platinum electrodes 64A, 64B, 64C are placed in these through holes.
is inserted. By forming the through-hole and the platinum electrode into a truncated cone shape as described above, the platinum electrode will not be pulled out of the cylindrical portion by the pressure of blood. Platinum electrode 64A
, 64B, 64C contact points 65A, 65B
, 65C are fitted into the covering material 61a and the holding portion 61b. The contacts 65A, 65, and 65C are aligned with the platinum electrodes 64A, 64B, and 64C by local uneven fitting as shown in A in FIG. Contact 65A
, 65B, and 65C are connected to conductive wires 47, and both ends of the coil 43 are taken out as terminals 48 through the conductive wires 47, respectively. The electromagnetic flowmeter probe 61 is constituted by each of the above parts. The components of the electromagnetic flowmeter probe 61 are magnetically shielded from each other by a plastic coating 61a and a holding portion 61b. Furthermore, since the electromagnetic flowmeter probe 61 is located downstream of the ball 57 as shown in FIG. 1, it is in a position where the blood 17 flows in a rectified state. It can be made to work well. From this point of view, it is desirable to keep a sufficient distance between the electromagnetic flowmeter probe and the ball.

The fluid flow rate is independent of fluid viscosity, temperature, turbulence, etc.
Since it is proportional to the electromotive force generated between the electrodes, the blood flow rate can be accurately and easily detected as an electrical signal. Based on this detection result, the blood pump device shown in Figure 5 is created! Controls the driving of a driving device (not shown) that drives 11.

When insert molding the covering material 61a and the holding part 61b, the core 42, coil 43, and contacts 65A, 65B, and 65C are
This insert molding is performed by a casting method so that the conductive wires 46 and 47 do not move.

Since the electromagnetic flowmeter probe 61 is separate from the connector main body and has the above-described structure, the electromagnetic flowmeter probe 61 can be attached to and removed from the downstream main body 53A. Therefore, even if the used connector body is discarded, the expensive electromagnetic flowmeter probe can be removed from the connector body and reused, which is extremely economical. In addition, the platinum electrode 64A
1648.64C, after removing the covering material 61a and the holding part 61b, it can be easily pulled out into the cylindrical part 53Aa and taken out.
Can be reused.

Furthermore, since the connector 53C has a built-in artificial valve, the dimensional tolerance is wider compared to the conventional structure in which the valve is built into the blood inlet tube and the discharge tube. The valve can be fixed, and even if there are variations in the dimensions of each part, this can be absorbed and the valve can be securely fixed in the desired position. Moreover, when inserting the ball 57 as a movable valve body into the connector 53C, one of the tubular portions 53A is separated.
Alternatively, if the ball 57 is inserted from one end side of the valve 53B, it is only necessary to connect the two tubular parts by screwing, making it very easy to attach the artificial valve.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view similar to FIG. 1 of a tubular connector according to another example.

In this tubular connector 53E, the downstream main body is a union screw, the upstream main body is a union collar, and has a union joint structure consisting of these and a union nut.

That is, in place of the upstream main body 53B in FIG. 1, a distal end surface of an upstream main body 53D having a flange 530C at the distal end;
An annular gasket 52 is interposed between the downstream main body 53A and the rear end surface of the downstream main body 53A in FIG. And an inward flange 59b
Connect the female thread 59a of the nut 59 with the downstream main body 53A.
and tighten these screws to form the connector body 53E. In other respects, there is no difference from the examples shown in FIGS. 1 to s. In FIG. 4, 53Da is an upstream cylindrical portion, and 53Db is an upstream valve seat.

By configuring the connector body as a union joint as described above, when assembling the connector body, the upstream body 5
3D, there is no need to rotate the downstream main body 53A, and the connector main body is assembled by rotating the nut 59, so the assembly work is easy. Particularly, in a surgical field, the upstream main body 53E is connected to the blood discharge pipe 4 (the blood inlet pipe 3 is also the same) of the blood pump device, and the downstream main body 53E is
3A to the cannula 12 before assembling the connector main body 53D, the assembly work becomes easier.

In the example of FIG. 1 and the example of FIG. 4, the connector main body is assembled by joining the separately manufactured upstream main body and downstream main body, but the entire connector main body may be integrally molded. In this case, the ball serving as the movable valve body is molded within the connector body. This method may be carried out as follows.

The connector body is immersed in a liquid whose specific gravity is approximately the same as that of the ball forming material solution (or the ball itself) with the central axis perpendicular. Then, while maintaining the liquid at a constant temperature to prevent convection, a predetermined amount of the ball forming material solution is gently injected into the enlarged diameter portion of the connector body from above through the injection needle of a syringe such as a microsyringe. Here, the liquid is
polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethylcellulose,
Protective colloids or surfactants such as methylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and sodium polyacrylate, as well as those containing inorganic salts (e.g., sodium polyphosphate) may be used. The temperature may be high as long as convection does not occur.Also, the solution to be injected may be a two-component room temperature curing monomer, such as a silicone solution. Monomer solutions for other polyurethane and epoxy resins (however, the solvent should be outside the water plate) can also be used.

In this way, the solution injected from the syringe needle floats within the enlarged diameter part of the connector body, but because it has approximately the same specific gravity as the liquid, it receives equal pressure from all directions, and becomes spherical while standing still in a state of weightlessness. , it is allowed to harden as it is. As a result, a ball with a predetermined diameter and high sphericity is formed. Thus, the ball can be molded without any special equipment by simply injecting the molding material and allowing it to harden, eliminating the need for precise surface finishing.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the movable valve body may have a spherical shape, a conical shape, or any other suitable shape that can function as a movable valve body. In place of the seat 53Bb or 53Db and the ball 57 as a movable valve body, the artificial valve 7 shown in FIG. 6 may be used.

In this case, there is no need to provide the enlarged diameter portions 58A and 58B.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above, various modifications can be made to the above embodiments based on the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the electromagnetic flowmeter probe attached to the connector body may have various structures other than those described above, and its fixing position may be changed, for example, to the upstream side of the body. Furthermore, the present invention can of course be used in blood pump devices other than the sack type, such as tubular type and diaphragm type, and can also be applied to devices other than artificial hearts, such as artificial heart-lung devices.

Effects of the Invention In the present invention, the coil portion that constitutes the electromagnetic flowmeter probe is detachably attached to the connector body, so when the connector body is discarded, the coil portion can be removed from the connector body and reused. can be used. Therefore, since electromagnetic flowmeter probes are expensive, this is extremely advantageous economically. In addition, because the electromagnetic flowmeter probe has a delicate structure, it is difficult to insert and mold it by injection molding, unlike the tubular connector with a built-in probe for electromagnetic flowmeter, which is molded by the casting method. The electromagnetic flowmeter probe, which is formed by inserting and molding the above-mentioned coil part, is manufactured separately from the connector body (because it is removable).As a result, the connector body can be molded by injection molding, which is highly mass-producible. Productivity improves significantly. In addition, since the present invention has an artificial valve in the connector itself, the dimensional tolerance is wider compared to the conventional structure in which the valve is built into the blood inlet tube and the discharge tube. The valve can be fixed, and even if there are variations in the dimensions of each part, this can be absorbed and the valve can be securely fixed in the desired position.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along the central axis of the tubular connector, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Large cross-sectional view Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line m--■ in Figure 1, and Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view similar to Figure 1 of another example of a tubular connector cover. 5 and 6 show conventional examples, 1,
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the state of use of the blood pump device, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the tubular connector similar to FIG. 1. In addition, in the symbols shown in the drawings, 2...Blood chamber 3...Blood introduction tube 4...Blood discharge tube 7... ......Artificial valve (check valve) 12...
...Cannula 17...Blood 20...Valve seat 40...Blood channel 42...・Core 43... Coil 46.47--- Conductor wires 53Aa, 53Ba, 53Da---Cylindrical part 5
3Ab・・・・・・Downstream valve seat 53Ad・・・
...Through holes 53Bb, 530b...Upstream valve seat 53
C, 53E・・・・・・Connector 57・・・・・・
Ball (movable valve body) 61 Probe for electromagnetic flowmeter 61a Covering material 61b Holding part 61d ...... Spring 64A, 64B, 64C... Electrode 65A
, 65B, 65C --- Contact points.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tubular connector in which an electromagnetic flowmeter probe is provided in the connector body so as to face a fluid flow path inside the connector body that connects a first fluid conduit and a second fluid conduit to each other, An artificial valve is placed in the flow path,
A tubular connector characterized in that a coil portion constituting the electromagnetic flowmeter probe is detachably attached to the connector body.