This application claims priority from Taiwan Patent Application No. 112144353 filed on Nov. 16, 2023, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure is related to the fields of blood pressure monitors, in particular to an upper arm blood pressure monitor or arm-based sphygmomanometer having a male connector and a female connector.
The upper arm blood pressure monitor or arm-based sphygmomanometer is a widely used device in the medical field. Its operation primarily relies on an air pump within the sphygmomanometer that inflates and deflates the cuff attached to the patient's arm by delivering and releasing air. A pressure sensor then measures the pressure in the cuff and provides the sphygmomanometer with the necessary data. Since the patient's life and health may be directly or indirectly impacted by blood pressure measurements, any issue with the airtight stability of the male connectors can lead to inaccurate readings. Additionally, there is a risk of the cuff being mistakenly connected to other medical devices, or the sphygmomanometer may not be properly attached to other equipment. Such errors could cause medical personnel to implement incorrect treatments or procedures. To address these concerns, adhering to the international standard ISO 80369-5, ‘Small-bore connectors for liquids and gases in healthcare applications,’ can effectively reduce these risks and improve safety.
Furthermore, the plug-in connector of the current arm-based sphygmomanometer is just used to extend the connection between the tube (or conduit) and cuff further to the host of the sphygmomanometer. So, its function is quite simple. Furthermore, since there are more restrictions on the required specification of a male connector, most of the design changes focus on the structural design of the female connector. In addition, the female connector is installed inside the main host and is extended and connected to each of an air pump and tubes. Therefore, various manufacturers inevitably have different considerations in structural design of the female connector. Regardless of how to avoid incorrectly plugging the connector into other devices, it is still a fundamental requirement to maintain better connection stability after the male connector connects with the female connector. Moreover, in different applicable fields, the same mechanism design basis can still be adapted to the implementation through slight changes in the mechanism design even under different pull-out force requirements. Such modification also has a beneficial effect on the overall design cost consideration in practice.
In view of above, the applicant conceived and proposed an arm-based sphygmomanometer with a newly changed female connector to comply with international standards, maintain a better and stable plug-in effect, reduce the risk of air leakage, and obtain better results of blood pressure measurement.
The aspect of the present disclosure is to improve the structure of the female connector of the upper arm blood pressure monitor or arm-based sphygmomanometer, and to use the housing of the arm-based sphygmomanometer to retain the female connector. Since the housing has a large volume and has better stability after being stressed, even if the plug-in action is repeated, it will not cause the female connector to shake or detach. In addition, for the internal design of the female connector, the present disclosure also proposes that the male connector can be stably engaged with the female connector. Moreover, in response to the needs of different applicable fields, the structural design can be slightly adjusted to satisfy the different pull-out forces using an embedded buckle matched with a hermetic ring (such as O-ring) so that such disclosure has better air sealing effect.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, an upper arm blood pressure monitor comprises: a measuring host including a housing with a first insertion opening, and a latching slot formed within the housing corresponding to the first insertion opening; a female connecter disposed inside the housing, and the female connector comprising: a gas manifold member including a latching section, a front end pipe body, a rear end pipe body and a branch pipe that are communicated with each other in sequence along a axial direction and are integrally formed, the gas manifold member including a second insertion opening, wherein the latching section is inserted and fixed in the latching slot, and the second insertion opening corresponds to the first insertion opening; a hermetic ring disposed in the gas manifold member; and an embedded buckle disposed in the gas manifold member and between the second insertion opening and the hermetic ring, the embedded buckle comprising: a brim portion being an annular body and including a third insertion opening, wherein the brim portion abuts an inner wall of the latching section, and the brim portion blocked and limited by a portion of the housing around the first insertion opening; and a crown portion extending from a periphery of the third insertion opening of the brim portion, wherein the crown portion has a plurality of notches, the notches evenly divide the crown portion to form a plurality of buckling pieces, and each of the buckling pieces has an inner surface and an outer surface; wherein the inner surfaces of the buckle pieces are respectively provided with protrusions, and each protrusion has a height; and a male connector including an annular recess, and connected to an cuff with a tube; wherein when the protrusions of the embedded buckle are correspondingly clamped into the annular recess of the male connector, the male connector and the female connector are tightly matched with each other.
In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, the inner wall of the latching section has a first inner diameter and a second inner diameter, the first inner diameter is larger than the second inner diameter; an inner wall of the front end pipe body has a third inner diameter, a fourth inner diameter and a fifth inner diameter, the third inner diameter is greater than the fourth inner diameter, the fourth inner diameter is greater than the fifth inner diameter, and the third inner diameter is substantially equal to the second inner diameter so that a junction where the latching section and the front end pipe body connect with each other is coplanar; and an inner wall of the rear end pipe body has a sixth inner diameter, and the sixth inner diameter is substantially equal to the fifth inner diameter so that a junction where the front end pipe body and the rear end pipe body connect with each other is coplanar.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, the hermetic ring is disposed at a location of the inner wall of the front end pipe body that is between the third inner diameter and the fourth inner diameter.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, an offset clearance is from the outer surfaces of the buckling pieces to the second inner diameter, and a width of the offset clearance is greater than the height of the protrusions.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, the gas manifold member and the embedded buckle have an elastic modulus greater than 700 MPa, and the hermetic ring has an elastic modulus less than 700 MPa.
In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, the protrusions are wedge-shaped.
In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, the notches have a length ranging from 1.9 mm to 3.5 mm.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, the brim portion abuts and is welded to a location of the inner wall of the latching section that is between the first inner diameter and the second inner diameter.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, ultrasonic welding is used to weld the brim portion and the latching section together.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, the embedded buckle is made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, an outer contour of the front end pipe body is circular, and the latching slot has an arc neck which the front end pipe body abuts.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, two protruding ribs is disposed on an outer surface of the latching section, and the housing extends inwards and is partially clamped between the two protruding ribs so that the housing covers one of the protruding ribs.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, a female connecter for an upper arm blood pressure monitor, wherein a first insertion opening is exposedly disposed on a housing of the upper arm blood pressure monitor and the female connecter is disposed within the housing, the female connecter comprises: a gas manifold member including a latching section, a front end pipe body, a rear end pipe body and a branch pipe that are communicated with each other in sequence along a axial direction and are integrally formed, the gas manifold member including a second insertion opening, the second insertion opening disposed in correspondence with the first insertion opening; a hermetic ring disposed in the gas manifold member; and an embedded buckle disposed in the gas manifold member and between the second insertion opening and the hermetic ring, the embedded buckle comprising: a brim portion being an annular body and including a third insertion opening, wherein the brim portion abuts an inner wall of the latching section, and the brim portion blocked and limited by a portion of the housing around the first insertion opening; and a crown portion extending from a periphery of the third insertion opening of the brim portion, wherein the crown portion has a plurality of notches, the notches evenly divide the crown portion to form a plurality of buckling pieces, and each of the buckling pieces has an inner surface and an outer surface; wherein the inner surfaces of the buckle pieces are respectively provided with protrusions, and each protrusion has a height.
In view of above, the upper arm blood pressure monitor of the present disclosure uses the housing to press against the female connector. Accordingly, since the housing has a large volume, the structural stability of the connection between the female connector and male connector is well increased during the plugging and unplugging operations so that the male connector is difficult to shake and loose when connected to the gas manifold member. Regarding the internal design of the female connector, the present disclosure also proposes an embedded buckle that can stably engage with the male connector and meet different pull-out force requirements just by slightly adjusting the structural design in response to the needs of different fields. Based on the stability when the gas manifold member is assembled with the housing, embedded buckle, and hermetic ring and connected with the male connector in fluidically communication, the gas manifold member is designed to have a latching section, front-end pipe body and rear-end pipe body in sequence. Furthermore, through the preferable inner diameters, the gas manifold member has excellent structural stability after being assembled with the foregoing components, eliminating each component from shaking and shifting during the plugging and unplugging action of the male connector or blood pressure measurement. Therefore, the sphygmomanometer has excellent plugging stability, gas tightness and flow stability. In addition, in order to avoid the dangerous situation of mis-plugging, the present disclosure also proposes to limit the elastic modulus of each component so that the hermetic ring located at the rearmost position in the structure of the female connector can be used as a deformable component under pressed force. The deformation can be deemed as the basis for judging whether the plug is correct or not, thus eliminating the misjudgment caused by the object being deformed due to force when the male connector is inserted into the front end of the female connector. Furthermore, in order to improve the strength and stability of the connection during plugging, it can be achieved by making the protrusions into wedge shapes. In addition, in order to meet the more common pulling force requirements of the sphygmomanometer, it can be achieved by adjusting the length, number and so on of the notches. Moreover, considering the assembly strength of the gas manifold member and the embedded buckle, in order to reduce the occurrence of component detachment caused by repeated plugging and unplugging, the brim portion of the embedded buckle and the inner wall of the gas manifold member are welded to each other through, for example, ultrasonic waves. The embedded buckle is made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer to ensure its rigidity and prevent it from being deformed during plugging and causing the misjudgment of correct plugging. Also, there is a slight elastic margin or widow so that the male connector can be smoothly plugged and unplugged. In addition, based on the assembly stability of the gas manifold member and the inside of the housing, the present disclosure also proposes that the housing can be partially covered by the protruding ribs on the outer surface of the latching section, and the front end pipe body and the latching slots are further designed into a circular outline to improve the close contact between them.
In order to sufficiently understand the essence, advantages and the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the following detailed description will be more clearly understood by referring to the accompanying drawings.
The following description shows the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure. The present invention is described below by referring to the embodiments and the figures. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown but is to be accorded the principles disclosed herein. Furthermore, that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this application and scope of the appended claims.
Referring to
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Further, the embedded buckle 13 includes a brim portion 131 and a crown portion 132. The brim portion 131 is an annular body and has a third insertion opening 130. The brim portion 131 is disposed at the location of the inner wall of the latching section 111 that is between the first inner diameter 1111 and the second inner diameter 1112. The crown portion 132 extends from the periphery of the third insertion opening 130 of the brim portion 131. In this embodiment, the crown portion 132 has four notches 133, and the notches 133 evenly divide the crown portion 132 to form four buckling pieces 134. Therefore, in the consideration of the pulling force requirements under various application fields, for example, if the pulling force standards for household or sphygmomanometers are different, the pulling force can be adjusted through different numbers of notches 133.
Further, the buckling pieces 134 respectively have an inner surface 1341 and an outer surface 1342, wherein the inner surface 1341 of each buckling piece 134 is provided with a protrusion 135. There is an offset clearance from the outer surfaces 1342 of the buckling pieces 134 to the second inner diameter 1112 as marked with L in
Referring to
The pulling force requirement of the arm-based sphygmomanometer 1 can be varied by adjusting the length of the notches 133 in addition to adjusting the number of the notches 133 as described above. For example, using the length of the notches 133 as the controlling factor, when the length of the notches 133 is longer, it can be applied to sphygmomanometers with smaller pulling force requirements, such as consumer or household ones. By contrast, if the length of the notches 133 is short, it can be suitable for sphygmomanometers with larger pulling force requirements, such as professional or medical ones. In this embodiment, the length of the notches 133 ranges from 1.9 mm to 3.5 mm so as to meet the pulling force requirements of the above common sphygmomanometers. For example, when the length of the grooves 133 is 1.9 mm, the embedded buckle 13 can achieve an interlocking force of about 35 Newtons, which can meet the requirements of a medical sphygmomanometer. When the length of the notches 133 is 3.5 mm, the embedded buckle 13 can reach an interlocking force of about 3 Newtons, which is suitable for household sphygmomanometers. Of course, the length of the notches 133 can be in the range of 1.9 mm to 3.5 mm, and can be changed according to actual pulling force requirements. It is further emphasized that this embodiment only illustrates one of the preferable structure of the embedded buckle 13. That is, the number of the notches 133 is four, and the length of them is 3 mm. Based on this structure, another factor that can change the interlocking force of the embedded buckle 13 is introduced, that is, the number of the notches 133, so that the number and length of the notches 133 meet the above conditions, Accordingly, the embedded buckle 13 can achieve a interlocking force of about 10 Newtons. This or the specific examples of the length or number of the notches 133 can also prove that the embedded buckle 13 can indeed adapt to different fields and meet different required pulling forces by slightly adjusting the structural design of the notches 133.
In order to improve the assembly strength and structural stability of the embedded buckle 13 and the gas manifold member 11 during use, preferably, the brim portion 131 can abut upon the location of the inner wall of the latch section 111 between the first inner diameter 1111 and the second inner diameter 1112 and is further firmly welded together, for example, through ultrasonic welding. In this way, it is possible to avoid the loosening of components caused by the plugging and unplugging actions of the male connector 8.
The embedded buckle 13 needs to be slightly elastic without breaking due to stress and has an elastic modulus greater than 700 Mpa. Preferably, the embedded buckle 13 can be made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer material so as to make the embedded buckle 13 have appropriate structural performance. In this embodiment, the elastic modulus of thermoplastic polyester elastomer (THERMOPLASTIC POLYESTER ESTER ELASTOMER, TPEE) is about 770 MPa.
In order to improve the assembly strength and stability of the gas manifold member 11 and the latching slot 102 of the housing 101, the outer contour of the front end pipe body 112 can be circular, and the latching slot 102 has an arc neck 1021 for the front end pipe body 112 to abut. Through the circular outline and the design of the arc neck 1021, when the front end pipe body 112 abuts the latching slot 102, the mutually abutting parts form a closer contact. In addition to the function of firmly supporting the front end pipe body 112 from below, it can also have a reliable retaining effect on the side according to the circular and arc-shaped contours. In this regard, the installed gas manifold member 11 is enhanced to maintain the stability of the connection of the male connector 8 and female connector 7 during repeatedly plugging and unplugging.
Further referring to
In view of above, the arm-based sphygmomanometer of the present disclosure uses the housing to press against the female connector. Accordingly, since the housing has a large volume, the structural stability of the connection between the female connector and male connector is well increased during the plugging and unplugging operations so that the male connector is difficult to shake and loose using few buckle pieces against push and pull-out forces. Regarding the internal design of the female connector, the present disclosure also proposes an embedded buckle that can stably engage with the male connector and meet different pull-out force requirements just by slightly adjusting the structural design in response to the needs of different fields. Based on the stability when the gas manifold member is assembled with the housing, embedded buckle, and hermetic ring and connected with the male connector in fluidically communication, the gas manifold member is designed to have a latching section, front-end pipe body and rear-end pipe body in sequence. Furthermore, through the preferable inner diameters, the gas manifold member has excellent structural stability after being assembled with the foregoing components, eliminating each component from shaking and shifting during the plugging and unplugging actions of the male connector or blood pressure measurement. Therefore, the sphygmomanometer has excellent plugging stability, gas tightness and flow stability. In addition, in order to avoid the dangerous situation of mis-plugging, the present disclosure also proposes to limit the elastic modulus of each component so that the hermetic ring located at the rearmost position in the structure of the female connector can be used as a deformable component under pressed force. The deformation can be deemed as the basis for judging whether the plug is correct or not, thus eliminating the misjudgment caused by the object being deformed due to force when the male connector is inserted into the front end of the female connector. Furthermore, in order to improve the strength and stability of the connection during plugging, it can be achieved by making the protrusions into wedge shapes. In addition, in order to meet the more common pulling force requirements of the sphygmomanometer, it can be achieved by adjusting the length, number and so on of the notches. For example, the length of the notches 133 can be in the range of 1.9 mm to 3.5 mm. Moreover, in another modification to the embedded buckle, the number of the notches 133 is four, and the length of them is 3 mm. Moreover, considering the assembly strength of the gas manifold member and the embedded buckle, in order to reduce the occurrence of component detachment caused by repeated plugging and unplugging, the brim portion of the embedded buckle and the inner wall of the gas manifold member are welded to each other through, for example, ultrasonic waves. The embedded buckle is made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer to ensure its rigidity and prevent it from being deformed during plugging and causing the misjudgment of correct plugging. Also, there is a slight elastic margin or widow so that the male connector can be smoothly plugged and unplugged. In addition, based on the assembly stability of the gas manifold member and the inside of the housing, the present disclosure also proposes that the housing can be partially covered by the protruding ribs on the outer surface of the latching section, and the front end pipe body and the latching slots are further designed into a circular outline to improve the close contact between them.
Although the present invention is written with respect to specific embodiments and implementations, various changes and modifications may be suggested to a person having ordinary skill in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompass such changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112144353 | Nov 2023 | TW | national |