Patent Application
20250187357
The present invention relates to a printing mechanism for a medical monitoring device and a medical monitoring device comprising such a printing mechanism.
A medical monitoring device such as a fetal monitor, an electrocardiogramator or an ultrasound diagnostic device generally comprises a main unit and a printing mechanism disposed in the main unit. In the case of the printing mechanism for a fetal monitor, for example, the laminated thermal print papers are usually housed in a print paper drawer. When the printing mechanism operates, a rubber platen driven by a stepper motor rotates at a preset speed to drag a print paper past a thermal printing head to record a curve characterizing fetal vital characteristics on thermal print paper. A prerequisite for accurately printing is the stability of a print paper drawer, which means that proper damping is required when the print paper drawer moves, and proper force is required to maintain the print paper drawer at a working position without any wobbling and any offset after the print paper drawer is put in place. In the existing printing mechanism, the drawer-shaped print paper drawer has protruding slide rails on both sides, and the slide rails cooperate with the pulleys on the medical monitoring device to allow the print paper drawer to slide back and forth. The outer edge of the slide rails on the print paper drawer and the wall of a housing of the medical monitoring device limit the position of the print paper drawer. As the print paper drawer needs to be pushed and pulled frequently, the outer edge of the slide rails on the print paper drawer and the wall of the housing of the medical monitoring device can not cooperate too tightly. Otherwise, the sliding damping is excessive when the print paper drawer is pushed and pulled. Not tight cooperation between the outer edge of the slide rails on the print paper drawer and the wall of the housing of the medical monitoring device leads to wobbling of the print paper drawer in the housing. When the medical monitoring device operates in a vertically hung state, the print paper drawer can't be naturally positioned at any position on the slide rails but slides directly and completely out of the housing of the medical monitoring device due to gravitational force. Further, when the print paper drawer moves, the sliding damping comes from the sliding friction between the outside wall of the print paper drawer and the inside wall of the housing of the medical monitoring device. However, since the outer edge of the slide rails on the print paper drawer and the wall of the housing of the medical monitoring device can not cooperate too tightly, the print paper drawer can't move stably so that it is difficult to control the sliding friction force and the user thus feels a poor controllability when pushing and pulling the print paper drawer.
Therefore, there is a need to improve the existing printing mechanism for the medical monitoring device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing mechanism for a medical monitoring device which can overcome at least one of the above-mentioned disadvantages in the prior art.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing mechanism for a medical monitoring device comprising:
Preferably, two elongated openings may be formed between adjacent sleeves of each set of the spaced sleeves so as to define an elastic beam between the two elongated openings, and the damping bracket is provided on the elastic beam.
Preferably, the damping bracket may be V-shaped, U-shaped or semi-circular.
Preferably, a guide groove may be provided on the body at a portion where the guide rod passes but no sleeve is provided, and the guide rod is partially accommodated in the guide groove when it passes the guide groove.
Preferably, spaced through-holes may be formed in the body at a position where the guide groove is provided, the printing mechanism further comprises a friction strip comprising a planar-shaped carrier and a projecting pad formed at the center of the carrier, the pad passes through the through-hole from the bottom of the body and protrudes toward a top of the body so that the guide rod squeezes the pad when it comes into contact with the pad.
Preferably, a bottom surface of the holes defined by the sleeves facing the body may be open, and the pad passes through a through-hole below the sleeve.
Preferably, a hollow section may be formed below a top surface of the pad.
Preferably, the printing mechanism may further comprise:
Preferably, the printing mechanism may further comprise a locking mechanism comprising a pair of resilient clamping claws disposed opposite to each other at a rear end of the frame and a locking post disposed on the support plate correspondingly to the resilient clamping claws, the resilient clamping claws tend to clamp together, the resilient clamping claws open under an external pushing force to receive the locking post and clamp the locking post tightly, and the resilient clamping claws are disengaged from the locking post under an external pulling force.
Preferably, the driving mechanism may comprise a first pulley fixedly mounted at one end of the rubber platen, an electric motor mounted on the frame, a second pulley mounted on a rotating shaft of the electric motor, and a timing belt for connecting the first pulley and the second pulley so as to drive the rubber platen to rotate when the electric motor operates, and the electric motor is disposed at a rear end of the frame adjacent to the inside of the medical monitoring device.
Preferably, the support arm may be L-shaped, the support arm is rotatably mounted on the support plate at one end and provided with a printing head mounting portion at the other end, and the printing head is mounted on the printing head mounting portion.
Preferably, the frame may comprise a first mounting plate and a second mounting plate disposed opposite to each other, and a first connecting plate and a second connecting plate connecting fixedly the first mounting plate and the second mounting plate together, a first guide slot extending along a longitudinal direction is formed in the first mounting plate and a second guide slot extending along the longitudinal direction is formed in the second mounting plate, and two ends of the printing head mounting portion are movably supported in the first guide slot and the second guide slot.
Preferably, the medical monitoring device may be a fetal monitor.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical monitoring device, wherein the medical monitoring device comprises a printing mechanism for a medical monitoring device as above stated.
The printing mechanism for the medical monitoring device according to the present invention may provide a beneficial damping force for the movement of the movable frame assembly (i.e., the print paper drawer), which not only provides a good controllability when the user pushes and pulls the print paper drawer, but also prevents the print paper drawer from wobbling, thereby ensuring that the print paper drawer is positioned with high accuracy and is opened and closed smoothly when the printing mechanism operates in the horizontally arranged state or the vertically hung state.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail hereinafter in connection with the drawings. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the drawings are intended to illustrate the invention only and are not meant to form any limit to the present invention.
The movable frame assembly 9 also comprises a rubber platen 21 whose ends are rotatably supported on the first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15. The rubber platen 21 is rotatably supported at the front end of the first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15 adjacent to the outside of the medical monitoring device by bearings, and a first pulley 23 is fixedly mounted at one end of the rubber platen 21. The movable frame assembly 9 also comprises an electric motor 25, which is spaced apart from the rubber platen 21 along a longitudinal direction of the first mounting plate 13 and mounted on the first mounting plate 13, and a second pulley (invisible in the drawings) is mounted on a rotating shaft of the electric motor 25. A timing belt 27 connects the first pulley 23 and the second pulley so that the electric motor drives the rubber platen 21 to rotate by means of the second pulley, the timing belt 27, and the first pulley 23 when the electric motor operates. Thus, according to the present invention, the rubber platen 21, the electric motor 25, and the timing belt 27 connecting the rubber platen 21 and the electric motor 25 are all mounted on the frame 11. In this way, even though the movable frame assembly 9 is pulled out of the housing of the medical monitoring device to pick up and add the print paper and then is inserted into the housing of the medical monitoring device 13, the rubber platen 21, the electric motor 25, and the timing belt 27 move together with the frame but their relative positions remain unchanged, thus ensuring that they are positioned accurately, which in turn allows the printing mechanism to operate smoothly without generating noise or generating significantly reduced noise.
Preferably, the electric motor 25 is disposed at a rear end of the first mounting plate 13 adjacent to the inside of the medical monitoring device, which allows the movable frame assembly 9 to be formed with a substantially uniform thickness and thus have a relatively flat and regular shape. As a result, the printing mechanism may have a relatively compact and regular layout. More preferably, the first pulley 23, the second pulley, and the electric motor 25 are all provided adjacent to the first mounting plate 13, thus making the overall structure more compact and occupying as little space as possible. The first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15 are sized such that the rubber platen 21, the first pulley on the rubber platen 21, the timing belt 27, the electric motor 25, and the second pulley on the electric motor 25 are all located inside of at least one of the first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15, ensuring that no moving component protrudes out of the frame 11 or is exposed on the outside of the frame 11. Although the first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15 may have the same length, in the preferred embodiment the length of the second mounting plate 15 may be shorter than that of the first mounting plate 13 because the second mounting plate 15 does not have to support the electric motor 25, which reduces the amount of material used and lowers the weight of the frame 11. Although in the above preferred embodiment the driving mechanism for driving the rubber platen to rotate comprises the electric motor, the first pulley, the second pulley and the timing belt, it should be understood that the driving mechanism for driving the rubber platen to rotate may be of other construction, including for example an electric motor mounted on the frame, which drives the rubber platen also mounted on the frame by gear engagement.
A first guide slot 29 and a second guide slot 31 extending along the longitudinal direction are formed in the first mounting plate 13 and the second mounting plate 15 respectively. Two ends 7a, 7b of the printing head mounting portion 7 are movably supported in the first guide slot 29 and the second guide slot 31 respectively.
The printing mechanism 1 for the medical monitoring device according to the present invention further comprises a locking mechanism comprising a first locking member 33 provided on the outside of the second connecting plate 19 of the frame 11 (i.e., at a rear side of the frame 11 facing the inside of the housing of the medical monitoring device), and a second locking member 35 provided on the support plate 3. When the frame 11 provided with the print paper drawer 16 is pushed into the housing of the medical monitoring device, the first locking member 33 and the second locking member 35 can be engaged together under external pushing force, thereby locking the movable frame assembly 9 and the print paper drawer 16 in place in the housing of the medical monitoring device. When the frame 11 provided with the print paper drawer 16 is pulled outwardly from the housing of the medical monitoring device, the first locking member 33 and the second locking member 35 may be disengaged from each other under external pulling force, thereby pulling the movable frame assembly 9 and the print paper drawer 16 outwardly from the housing of the medical monitoring device.
In the preferred embodiment as shown in
In order to reliably clamp the locking post 39 by the pair of resilient clamping claws 37, each of the resilient clamping claws 37 is formed with a wrapping portion 37a which is bent outwardly and subsequently bent inwardly. Two oppositely arranged wrapping portions 37a preferably form a ( ) or <>shape to hold the locking post 39. Further, each of the resilient clamping claws 37 may further comprises a guiding portion 37b that is bent outwardly again from the wrapping portion 37a. Two oppositely arranged guiding portions 37b are preferably in a trumpet shape to guide the locking post 39 into a space between the two wrapping portions 37a. Although the locking post 39 may be in a cylindrical shape, two sides of the locking post 39 are preferably beveled and two planes 39a formed by beveled sides converge toward the print paper drawer 16, which further helps to guide the locking post 39 into engagement with the pair of resilient clamping claws 37.
According to the locking mechanism of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the print paper drawer 16 is about to be fully closed, the inner walls of the wrapping portions 37a of the resilient clamping claws 37 exert a pushing force on the locking post 39, which helps to push the print paper drawer 16 into the housing. After the print paper drawer 16 is fully closed, the resilient clamping claws 37 reset and generate a “click” sound to provide a feedback to the user that the print paper drawer 16 is fully closed.
In the preferred embodiment shown in
In a normal state, the movable frame assembly 9 is inserted into the space between the support plate 3 and the support arm 5 in the housing of the medical monitoring device such that the printing head on the printing head mounting portion 7 is in contact with the rubber platen 21 under pressure. The print paper 16 may pass between the rubber platen 21 and the printing head. When the printing mechanism operates, the electric motor 25 drives the rubber platen 21 to rotate by means of the second pulley, the electric motor 25 and the first pulley 23, thereby dragging thermal print paper past the printing head to record a curve characterizing fetal vital characteristics on the print paper.
When the movable frame assembly 9 is pulled outwardly to pick up and add the print papers, the resilient clamping claws 37 disengages from the locking posts 39 under external pulling force, thereby moving the print paper drawer to the outside of the housing of the medical monitoring device to pick up and add the print paper. After picking up and adding the print paper, the resilient clamping claws 37 open under external pushing force to receive the locking post 39 and subsequently clamp the locking post 39 tightly, thereby locking the print paper drawer 16 in place in the housing of the medical monitoring device.
The printing mechanism according to the present invention has fewer parts and is simpler in design and assembly. And, in use, the user may perform the opening and closing operation of the print paper drawer with only one hand without any additional pressing operation or great effort. Further, the print paper drawer may be pushed or pulled steadily without any wobbling, and achieve a stable and reliable locking.
As shown in
In order to easily pull the print paper drawer out, the number of sleeves in each set of sleeves is not too much. In order to further guide and limit the guide rod 41, a guide groove 3f is provided on the body 3a of the support plate 3 at a portion where the guide rod 41 passes but no sleeve is provided. As a result, the guide rod 41 may be partially accommodated in the guide groove 3f when it passes the guide groove 3f.
Spaced through-holes 3g may be formed in the support plate 3 at a position where the guide groove 3f is provided. In the preferred embodiment, four through-holes 3g are shown at the position where the guide groove 3f is provided. It should be understood that the number of through-holes may be more or less than four. As mentioned above, the bottom surface of the holes defined by the sleeves 3b facing the body 3a may be open. In this case, it means that in the preferred embodiment seven through-holes are respectively formed in the body 3a at the position where each guide rod 41 passes.
According to the present invention, by providing the guide groove and/or the friction strip with the pad, the positioning accuracy and the smoothness of the opening and closing of the print paper drawer when the printing mechanism operates in the horizontally arranged state or the vertically hung state can be further improved.
Although the present invention has been described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments, it should be understood that such detailed description is intended only to illustrate the present invention and does not constitute any limit to the present invention. For example, the first locking member may be provided as a shaft, the second locking member may be provided as a sleeve for receiving the shaft, and the shaft and the sleeve may engage releasably with each other by friction force. Thus, the scope of the present invention is defined by the technical solutions in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202210215705.X | Mar 2022 | CN | national |
| 202220478538.3 | Mar 2022 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/054764 | 2/27/2023 | WO |
