Patent Application
20250152062
Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.
The presented invention generally relates to the field of medical devices, and more specifically to methods of urine flow measurement and analysis.
Uroflowmetry is the measurement of urine flow. For humans, urine voiding events have a flow rate in the range of 5 to 50 ml/second. Typical flow rates for healthy adults are in the range of 15 to 25 ml/sec, depending on the age and gender of the patient. Abnormal urine flow may have patterns of tower, plateau, interrupted or staccato and/or may be less than 10 ml/sec. Such deviations from normal urine flow may be indicative of various medical conditions, such as urinary tract obstruction, overactive urine bladder or underactive urine bladder.
In order for urine flow meters to be effective as physician support systems, they must be able to relate to the full dynamic range of expected urinary flow. They must also be able to detect the commencement of low flow rate periods and individual droplets, to indicate an interrupted or restricted flow.
Urine flow meters should mitigate the inertia effects of urine hitting the device at various angles, or falling from different heights, and prevent high velocity urine from flowing directly onto the measurement device and disrupting flow measurement.
The present invention discloses a system for measuring instantaneous inflow rate of liquid, such as water or urine, comprising:
According to some embodiments of the present invention the sensing device comprises at least one electrode, placed along an inner side of a lateral wall of the receptacle, such that an increasingly longer portion of the at least one electrode is covered with liquid as liquid level (H) rises, wherein the sensing device is configured to sense specific physical qualities including at least one of resistance, or capacitance of the liquid as a function of the portion of the electrode that is covered by liquid, wherein the sensing device produces signals that are indicative to the sensed physical qualities, and propagate the signals to the processor.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the sensing device is a resistive sensor which comprises three electrodes, wherein the sensing device is configured to sense the resistance of liquid covering said three electrodes and produce signals that are indicative of the liquid level H.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the sensing device comprising three electrodes which create an electric circuit:
According to some embodiments of the present invention the processor is configured to calculate the inflow Qin by applying the steps of:
According to some embodiments of the present invention the level sensing operation is based on measuring the relative conductance between two electrodes and a series of multiple receiving pads electrodes that are spaced apart vertically.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the value of Qout as a function of H is empirically measured during a calibration process, to produce a lookup table, associating a given liquid level H with a momentary value of liquid outflow Qout.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the value of Qout as a function of H is dependent upon structural parameters of the receptacle and the outlet section, therefore computable according to parameters of the receptacle's dimensions.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the system of claim 1 wherein the outlet nozzle is between 4-7 mm, thus enhancing the linearity of Qout as a function of H throughout the entire expected flow range.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the multiple holes on the side section of said receptacle are configured, for enhancing the linearity of Qout as a function of H throughout the entire flow range.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the systems further comprising an accelerometer which measures the tilt of the system to compensate for deviation liquid level measurement.
According to some embodiments of the present invention the respectable is comprised of: an inner element having a cylindrically-shaped part and a dome-shaped upper part, wherein the dome-shaped upper part absorbs the kinetic energy of the fluid flowing into open receptacle, eliminating the effects of urine disposal height and orientation, and enabling the apparatus to measure urine flow as the momentary quantity of disposed urine;
According to some embodiments of the present invention the upper dome comprises a plurality of openings along its circumferential side walls and similarly, inner element comprises a plurality of openings along its circumferential side wall, hence the dome-shaped upper part spreads the flow evenly across the inner walls of the open receptacle.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is applicable to other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The present invention discloses a system and a method for easy, accurate and reproducible measurement of an instantaneous inflow rate (Qin) and volume of liquid such as water or urine into a receptacle.
In the case of urine inflow measurement, the system is configured to:
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, outlet nozzle 110 may be an outlet slit, a strainer and the like.
Seen in
The dome-shaped upper part 304 serves multiple purposes:
The dome-shaped upper part 304 spreads the flow evenly across the inner walls of the open receptacle 108. As seen in the figure, dome-shaped upper part 304 is not sealed but rather comprises a plurality of openings 306 along its circumferential side walls. Similarly, inner element 302 comprises a plurality of openings 308 along its circumferential side wall 310. Such openings elaborate the flow path of liquid as indicated by the arrows through the system. As the liquid hits the dome-shaped upper part 304, it flows and enters through openings 306 into the antechamber 312 underneath dome-shaped upper part 304. The liquid flows through the semi-circular openings 308 at the cylindrically shaped bottom part 302 into the internal section 314 of open receptacle 108.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, open receptacle 108 is designed to enable flow rate measurements of the liquid flowing therein, based on which the volume flow and emptying time can then be calculated and extrapolated.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, open receptacle 108 is designed to fit within every toilet depth and therefore may be as short as 70 mm.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, open receptacle 108 has separation of heights for every change in flow rate, as instantaneous flow changes (for example, distinct between 20 mlps flow rate and 19 mlps flow rate).
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention as seen in
In accordance with some embodiments, an aim of the present invention is to have residual urine in open receptacle 108 while urine flows in and out of outlet nozzle 110. The discharge flowrate via outlet nozzle 110 is changing as the residual in the container is changing. Therefore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the size of nozzle 110 and the dimensions of open receptacle 108 are optimized so that changes in the flowrate of urine entering outlet nozzle 110 may be reflected in changes in both the residual urine height within open receptacle 108 and the discharge rate. For instance, in case the outlet nozzle 110 is not optimal, the residual urine height within open receptacle 108 is same for flow rates of 30 mlps and 33 mlps. The reason for this is that gravitational pressure presses down on the residual urine and if outlet nozzle 110 is limited, there may be a scenario where the discharge rate out of outlet nozzle 110 is greater but the residual urine height within open receptacle 108 remains the same. Such scenario may result in the inability to separate flow rates.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, an optimal design of open receptacle 108, i.e., a design which enables the separation of flow rates is illustrated below in
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the number of holes 502 as well as their size, shape, and position in open receptacle 108 may vary for optimizing the resulting discharge rate.
The evacuation of liquid via outlet nozzle 110 facilitates momentary measurement of Qin, rather than deduction of Qin from differential measurement of the volume of liquid accumulated within the receptacle.
Outlet nozzle 110 is configured to evacuate the liquid from open receptacle 108 at an outflow rate Qout, which is a single-variable function of the level of liquid within the receptacle (H). Qout is therefore directly computable from the calculated H produced by the processor. The nozzle is located at the lowest gravitational point and therefore enabling consistence and measurable height to discharge ration in addition to ensuring that a full drainage is achieved.
According to some embodiments, the value of Qout as a function of H is empirically measured during a calibration process, so as to produce a lookup table, associating a given liquid level H with a momentary value of liquid outflow Qout.
According to some embodiments, the value of Qout as a function of H is dependent upon structural parameters of the receptacle and the outlet section (e.g., inclination of receptacle walls, width of the outlet section, etc.), and is therefore computable according to parameters of the receptacle's dimensions.
According to some embodiments, outlet nozzle 110 is relatively narrow, about 2 mm, thus enhancing the linearity of Qout as a function of H throughout the entire expected flow range, i.e., between 5 and 50 ml per second.
The evacuation of liquid via outlet nozzle 110 provides the following benefits to the present invention:
According to some embodiments of the present invention, the sensing device comprises at least one electrode, placed along an inner side of a lateral wall of the receptacle, such that an increasingly longer portion of the electrode(s) is covered with liquid as H rises. The sensing devices are configured to sense specific physical qualities (e.g., resistance, capacitance) of the liquid as a function of the portion of the electrode that is covered by liquid. The sensing device produces signals that are indicative to the sensed physical qualities, and propagate the signals to the processor. The processor is configured to calculate H according to said signals, and analyze the calculations to obtain the instantaneous inflow rate of liquid (Qin) through the following formula:
Wherein:
The function and different embodiments of the sensing devices are further elaborated below.
As seen in
The three electrodes create an electronic circuit that is configured to sense an output voltage (Vout) between electrodes 704A and 704B (R1), and between 704B and 704C (R2) produces signals that are indicative of Vout to the processor.
As soon as liquid flows into the receptacle, the resistance R1 between electrodes 704A and 704B is reduced due to conduction through the liquid at the base of the receptacle.
The sensing device is configured to sense the electric capacitance between the respective pairs of electrodes, and produce signals that are indicative of the liquid level H. The said signals are devoid of the effect of variable capacitance between different measurements that may arise, for example, from variations in the permittivity (dielectric constant) of the measured liquids or different environmental conditions in which the measurements have taken place (e.g., temperature).
An excitation electric voltage signal (Vin) is applied to electrode 704B. The electronic circuit is configured to sense an output voltage (Vout) between electrodes 704B and 704C.
As soon as liquid flows into the receptacle, the resistance R1 between electrodes 704A and 704B is reduced due to conduction through the liquid at the base of the receptacle and therefore, R1 remains constant throughout the measurement, and is not affected by the liquid level H.
As the level of liquid H increases, the resistance R2 between electrodes 704 B and C is proportionally reduced due to conduction through the liquid.
The liquid level H can therefore be expressed as:
wherein K is a constant which may be empirically measured during a stage of calibration. Note that the above expression is devoid of resistance or resistivity factors, and is therefore indifferent to the conductivity of the liquid.
According to some embodiments, the processor is configured to calculate the inflow Qin by applying the steps of:
The system hardware 950 comprising two separate circuit boards: control board 952 and ruler board 702 joined with an FFC ribbon cable 956.
The control board 952 comprising the main processing hardware, power management, signal processing and either wired or wireless connection.
The ruler board 702 contains the sensor hardware that provides an analogue signal level back to the control board 952 to indicate liquid level.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the level sensing mechanism is based on measuring the relative conductance between an electrode (stimulus transmitter) 704 signal (e.g., 3V, 1 kHz square wave) and a series of 64 receiving ‘Pads’ electrodes 706 that are spaced 1 mm apart vertically.
The system is not required to accurately measure the absolute conductance and can compare the relative conductance between the electrode and pads in case there is liquid presence in the respectable or not. As the pads are spaced at discrete steps of 1 mm, it is possible to detect which pad is immersed in liquid and which is not.
For measuring the conductance of each pad, a series of analogue multiplexers 957 which are used to scale down the 64 individual sensors into 4 channels of 16. Each of the 4 channels has its own dedicated analogue to digital converter configured to read the signal.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, Control Board 952 may be based on a system on chip device such as, for instance, the Nordic nRF52 system to read the pads and transmit the data via wireless connection.
In addition to that, control board 952 may also contain supporting hardware to display indicators, measure the tilt level and detect while in shipping mode.
The accelerometer is configured to measure deviation of the toilet tilt in relation to the ground surface, for compensating the calculation of the liquid level. For example, an accelerometer 980, such as a 3 axis digital MEMS accelerometer 980 as seen in
The system of the present invention may include, according to certain embodiments of the invention, machine readable memory containing or otherwise storing a program of instructions which, when executed by the machine, implements some or all of the apparatus, methods, features and functionalities of the invention shown and described herein. Alternatively or in addition, the apparatus of the present invention may include, according to certain embodiments of the invention, a program as above which may be written in any conventional programming language, and optionally a machine for executing the program such as but not limited to a general purpose computer which may optionally be configured or activated in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. Any of the teachings incorporated herein may, wherever suitable, operate on signals representative of physical objects or substances.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions, utilizing terms such as, “processing”, “computing”, “estimating”, “selecting”, “ranking”, “grading”, “calculating”, “determining”, “generating”, “reassessing”, “classifying”, “generating”, “producing”, “stereo-matching”, “registering”, “detecting”, “associating”, “superimposing”, “obtaining” or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or processor or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system's registers and/or mem01ies, into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. The term “computer” should be broadly construed to cover any kind of electronic device with data processing capabilities, including, by way of non-limiting example, personal computers, servers, computing system, communication devices, processors (e.g. digital signal processor (DSP), microcontrollers, field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.) and other electronic computing devices.
The present invention may be described, merely for clarity, in terms of terminology specific to particular programming languages, operating systems, browsers, system versions, individual products, and the like. It will be appreciated that this terminology is intended to convey general principles of operation clearly and briefly, by way of example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to any particular programming language, operating system, browser, system version, or individual product.
It is appreciated that software components of the present invention including programs and data may, if desired, be implemented in ROM (read only memory) form including CD-ROMs, EPROMs and EEPROMs, or may be stored in any other suitable typically non-transitory computer-readable medium such as but not limited to disks of various kinds, cards of various kinds and RAMs. Components described herein as software may, alternatively, be implemented wholly or partly in hardware, if desired, using conventional techniques. Conversely, components described herein as hardware may, alternatively, be implemented wholly or partly in software, if desired, using conventional techniques.
Included in the scope of the present invention, inter alia, are electromagnetic signals carrying computer-readable instructions for performing any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; machine-readable instructions for performing any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; program storage devices readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; a computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code, such as executable code, having embodied therein, and/or including computer readable program code for performing, any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; any technical effects brought about by any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, when performed in any suitable order; any suitable apparatus or device or combination of such, programmed to perform, alone or in combination, any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; electronic devices each including a processor and a cooperating input device and/or output device and operative to perform in software any steps shown and described herein; information storage devices or physical records, such as disks or hard drives, causing a computer or other device to be configured so as to carry out any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order; a program pre-stored e.g. in memory or on an information network such as the Internet, before or after being downloaded, which embodies any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order, and the method of uploading or downloading such, and a system including server/s and/or client/s for using such; and hardware which performs any or all of the steps of any of the methods shown and described herein, in any suitable order, either alone or in conjunction with software. Any computer-readable or machine-readable media described herein is intended to include non-transitory computer- or machine-readable media.
Any computations or other forms of analysis described herein may be performed by a suitable computerized method. Any step described herein may be computer-implemented. The invention shown and described herein may include (a) using a computerized method to identify a solution to any of the problems or for any of the objectives described herein, the solution optionally include at least one of a decision, an action, a product, a service or any other information described herein that impacts, in a positive manner, a problem or objectives described herein; and (b) outputting the solution.
The scope of the present invention is not limited to structures and functions specifically described herein and is also intended to include devices which have the capacity to yield a structure, or perform a function, described herein, such that even though users of the device may not use the capacity, they are, if they so desire, able to modify the device to obtain the structure or function.
Features of the present invention which are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment.
For example, a system embodiment is intended to include a corresponding process embodiment. Also, each system embodiment is intended to include a server-centered “view” or client centered “view”, or “view” from any other node of the system, of the entire functionality of the system, computer-readable medium, apparatus, including only those functionalities performed at that server or client or node.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62840195 | Apr 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17606653 | Oct 2021 | US |
| Child | 19026016 | US |
