Patent Application
20220151823
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The disclosure relates to heating devices and more particularly pertains to a new stimulation device for increasing the visibility of veins in a patient's arm for easing an intravenous injection.
The prior art relates to heating devices including a fluid heating device for warming a thermal blanket. The prior art also discloses a variety of vein inflation devices for inflating veins which each employ a variation of an inflatable cuff. The prior art discloses a therapeutic heat pad that is heated with an external heat source.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a sleeve that has a first portion which is hingedly coupled to a second portion. The first portion is positionable in an open position to have a patient's arm positioned therein and the first portion is positionable in a closed position to surround the patient's arm. A plurality of nozzles is each integrated into the sleeve. A plurality of heating elements is each coupled to the sleeve to warm the patient's arm when the heating elements are turned on thereby increasing blood flow in the arm for enhancing the appearance of veins. A steam unit is integrated into the sleeve to produce steam that is delivered onto the patient's arm for increasing blood flow in the arm for enhancing the appearance of veins.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each of the nozzles 26 has a distal end 28 with respect to the outer surface 24 and the distal end 28 of each of the nozzles 26 is open. The nozzles 26 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed over an entirety of the outer surface 24. Each of the inner wall 22 and the outer wall 20 is comprised of a thermally insulating material. The inner wall 22 has a steam space 30 integrated therein and the steam space 30 is in fluid communication with each of the plurality of nozzles 26. An arm rest 32 is coupled to the sleeve 12 for supporting the patient's arm 18 when the patient's arm 18 is positioned in the sleeve 12. The arm rest 32 is concavely arcuate to conform to the patient's arm 18. The arm rest 32 includes a pair of supports 34 that is each coupled to the outer surface 24 of the inner wall 22 of the sleeve 12 thereby spacing the arm rest 32 from the outer surface 24.
A plurality of heating elements 36 is provided and each of the heating elements 36 is coupled to the sleeve 12. Each of the heating elements 36 warms the patient's arm 18 when the heating elements 36 are turned on thereby increasing blood flow in the arm 18 for enhancing the appearance of veins. Each of the heating elements 36 is positioned on the outer surface 24 of the inner wall 22 and each of the heating elements 36 is elongated to extend substantially between a front end 38 and a back end 40 of the sleeve 12. The heating elements 36 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around a full circumference of the inner wall 22. Additionally, each of the heating elements 36 may comprise a light emitter that emits infra-red radiation for heating the patient's arm 18.
A steam unit 42 is integrated into the sleeve 12 for producing steam. The steam unit 42 is in fluid communication with each of the nozzles 26 to deliver the steam onto the patient's arm 18 for increasing blood flow in the arm 18 for enhancing the appearance of veins. The steam unit 42 comprises a heating coil 44 that is positioned between the inner wall 22 and the outer wall 20 of the sleeve 12. A heat shield 46 is positioned between the heating coil 44 and the inner wall 22 to define a water space 48 between the heat shield 46 and the inner wall 22 which can contain water 50. The heat shield 46 is comprised of a thermally conductive material thereby facilitating the heating coil 44 to heat the heat shield 46 when the heating coil 44 is turned on. In this way the heat shield 46 heats the water to produce steam. Additionally, the water space 48 is in fluid communication with the steam space 30 such that the steam space 30 can receive the steam from the steam space 30.
A control unit 52 is coupled to the sleeve 12 such that the control unit 52 is accessible to a user. The control unit 52 is in communication with each of the heating elements 36 and the steam unit 42. The control unit 52 comprises a touch screen 54 that is coupled to the outer wall 20 of the sleeve 12 and the touch screen 54 is positioned on the first portion 14. The touch screen 54 may comprise an LED or other type of electronic touch screen.
The control unit 52 includes a control circuit 56 that is integrated into the touch screen 54. The control circuit 56 is electrically coupled to the touch screen 54 and the control circuit 56 is electrically coupled to each of the heating elements 36 and the heating coil 44. The control unit 52 includes a plurality of buttons 58 that is each movably coupled to the outer wall 20 of the sleeve 12. Each of the buttons 58 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56 and each of the buttons 58 controls operational parameters of respective ones of the heating elements 36 and the heating coil 44. A power cord 60 is coupled to and extends away from the sleeve 12. The power cord 60 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56 and the power cord 60 has a distal end 61 with respect to the sleeve 12. A male plug 62 is electrically coupled to the distal end 28 and the male plug 62 is pluggable into a power source 64 comprising a female electrical outlet.
A fill port 66 is integrated into the outer wall 20 of the sleeve 12 and the fill port 66 is in fluid communication with the water space 48 for filling the water space 48 with water. The fill port 66 includes a closure 68 for opening and closing the fill port 66. A latch 70 is movably coupled to the first portion 14 of the sleeve 12 and the latch 70 releasably engages the second portion 16 for retaining the first portion 14 in the closed position. A stand 72 is coupled to the sleeve 12 and the stand 72 comprises a first section 74 slidably that engages a second section 76 such that the stand 72 has a telescopically adjustable height. The stand 72 has a lower end 78 and an upper end 80; the lower end 78 is associated with the first section 74 and the upper end 80 is associated with the second section 76. The upper end 80 is coupled to the outer wall 20 of the second portion 16 of the sleeve 12.
A screw 82 is rotatably coupled to the first section 74 of the stand 72 and the screw 82 engages the second section 76 when the screw 82 is tightened to retain the stand 72 at a selected height. The screw 82 disengages the second section 76 when the screw 82 is loosened to facilitate the stand 72 to be lengthened or shortened. A base 84 is included that has a top surface 86 and a bottom surface 88. The top surface 86 is coupled to the lower end 78 of the stand 72 and the stand 72 is centrally positioned on the base 84. A plurality of rollers 90 is each rotatably coupled to the bottom surface 88 of the base 84 to roll along a support surface.
In use, the patient's arm 18 is positioned in the sleeve 12 and each of the heating elements 36 and the steam unit 42 is turned on the heat the patient's arm 18. In this way blood flow in the patient's arm 18 is increased which subsequently increases the visibility of veins in the patient's arm 18. In this way an intravenous injection can more easily be performed on the patient's arm 18. The patient's arm 18 is removed from the sleeve 12 prior to administering the intravenous injection. Additionally, the patient's arm 18 is left in the sleeve 12 a sufficient duration of time to make the veins more visible.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
