5399results about How to "Reduce clogging" patented technology

A medical catheter assembly including a removable inner sleeve. In one embodiment, the assembly is a low profile percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) device and comprises a body, a clamp, a feeding tube, a cap and an inner sleeve assembly. The body includes a base portion and a sleeve portion, the base portion being dimensioned to engage the skin of a patient and having a transverse bore, the sleeve portion extending upwardly from the base portion and having a longitudinal slot aligned with the transverse bore and a transverse slot intersecting the longitudinal bore. The clamp, which is slidably mounted on the base portion and across the transverse slot of the sleeve, comprises a plate having a transverse opening. The transverse opening has a wide region and a narrow region, the two regions being alternately alignable with the longitudinal bore to open and to close, respectively, the feeding tube. The feeding tube has a distal end adapted to be anchored to the inside of a patient and a proximal end inserted up through the base portion and the sleeve portion, including the transverse opening of the clamp situated within the sleeve, and then inverted over the top edge of the sleeve. The cap is then mounted on top of the sleeve so as to secure the inverted end of the catheter to the exterior of the sleeve. The cap is provided with an opening through which access to the catheter may be gained. An inner sleeve, sized to engage the inside surface of the feeding tube, is removably inserted through the cap and the feeding tube, the inner sleeve having a proximal end to which a tubular fitting is secured. Food and / or medications are dispensed to the patient through the fitting and the inner sleeve and, in this manner, prevent clogging of the feeding tube.

An apparatus configured for connection to a mixer for receiving a slurry and altering the flow characteristics of the slurry includes a conduit having a main inlet in slurry receiving communication with the mixer outlet and extending to a spout for discharging the slurry, at least one conduit restrictor associated with the conduit for creating back-pressure between the conduit restrictor and the mixer outlet for keeping the mixer full, and at least one pressure reducer associated with the discharge spout and configured for reducing the pressure of the slurry dispensed from the discharge spout. The apparatus is configured for maintaining a generally laminar flow from the mixer outlet to the discharge spout.

Dendritic polymers with enhanced amplification and interior functionality are disclosed. These dendritic polymers are made by use of fast, reactive ring-opening chemistry (or other fast reactions) combined with the use of branch cell reagents in a controlled way to rapidly and precisely build dendritic structures, generation by generation, with cleaner chemistry, often single products, lower excesses of reagents, lower levels of dilution, higher capacity method, more easily scaled to commercial dimensions, new ranges of materials, and lower cost. The dendritic compositions prepared have novel internal functionality, greater stability (e.g., thermal stability and less or no reverse Michael's reaction), and reach encapsulation surface densities at lower generations. Unexpectedly, these reactions of polyfunctional branch cell reagents with polyfunctional cores do not create cross-linked materials. Such dendritic polymers are useful as demulsifiers for oil / water emulsions, wet strength agents in the manufacture of paper, proton scavengers, polymers, nanoscale monomers, calibration standards for electron microscopy, making size selective membranes, and agents for modifying viscosity in aqueous formulations such as paint. When these dendritic polymers have a carried material associated with their surface and / or interior, then these dendritic polymers have additional properties for carrying materials due to the unique characteristics of the dendritic polymer, such as for drug delivery, transfection, and diagnostics.

A method and apparatus for forming a beverage involves the use of a filter aid, e.g., that is provided in a beverage cartridge with a beverage medium in a dry state. In one embodiment, a cartridge including a dried fruit material may also include a filter aid, such as perlite, diatomaceous earth or cellulose, that is mixed together with the fruit material. The filter aid may assist in flow through the beverage medium or through a filter, e.g., by helping prevent the clogging of pores of a filter used to remove particulate from a beverage formed by interaction of the beverage medium with water introduced into the cartridge. Thus, the filter aid may permit the use of some beverage media that would otherwise clog a filter and / or prevent proper dissolution of materials in the beverage media without the filter aid.

Described are pigmented inks comprising a liquid medium, a pigment, and a polyurethane dispersant, the pigment being stabilized by the polyurethane dispersant, and the ink being suitable for use in an ink jet printer.

Instruments for performing percutaneous biopsy procedures are disclosed, which have advantageous features for improving functionality and performance over prior art devices. These instruments comprise two types, single-use devices, and multiple-use devices having active tissue capture capability. Improved features include the ability to retrieve and evaluate multiple tissue samples during a single insertion procedure, without physical handling of the samples, as well as constructional features, such as a molded tissue cassette housing, variant vacuum port embodiments suited for different tissue environments, and a method for backflushing the instrument to remove biological debris, among others.

A unitary apparatus for isolating cells from adipose tissue including a lipid separation processor with a dispersing head equipped with a plurality of ports and a digestion chamber for dissociation of the constituent cells disposed in adipose tissue. The lipid separating apparatus is useful for the separation of lipids and adipocytes from a mixed cell population. A cell seeding chamber may be attached to the cell isolation apparatus. The components of the apparatus may be packaged in modular kit form.

An improved divided structure of a long plastic component for a vehicle is provided to facilitate an adjustment of a clearance in a joint between constituent parts thereof, thereby setting the clearance at an adequately small dimension. A plurality of constituent parts making up the long plastic component such as a side sill garnish are combined together into one long piece and mounted on a vehicle body. A first garnish is mounted on the vehicle body, and a second garnish is mounted on the first garnish in such a manner as to overlap with the first garnish from a direction substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the side sill garnish. Accordingly, the first garnish and the second garnish, which have been joined together, can be mounted on the vehicle body.

A submerged gas processor in the form of an evaporator or a submerged gas reactor includes a vessel, a gas delivery tube partially disposed within the vessel to deliver a gas into the vessel and a process fluid inlet that provides a process fluid to the vessel at a rate sufficient to maintain a controlled constant level of fluid within the vessel. A weir is disposed within the vessel adjacent the gas delivery tube to form a first fluid circulation path between a first weir end and a wall of the vessel and a second fluid circulation path between a second weir end and an upper end of the vessel. During operation, gas introduced through the tube mixes with the process fluid and the combined gas and fluid flow at a high rate with a high degree of turbulence along the first and second circulation paths defined around the weir, thereby promoting vigorous mixing and intimate contact between the gas and the process fluid. This turbulent flow develops a significant amount of interfacial surface area between the gas and the process fluid resulting in a reduction of the required residence time of the gas within the process fluid to; achieve thermal equilibrium and / or to drive chemical reactions to completion, all of which leads to a more efficient and complete evaporation, chemical reaction, or combined evaporation and chemical reaction process.

Dendritic polymers with enhanced amplification and interior functionality are disclosed. These dendritic polymers are made by use of fast, reactive ring-opening chemistry (or other fast reactions) combined with the use of branch cell reagents in a controlled way to rapidly and precisely build dendritic structures, generation by generation, with cleaner chemistry, often single products, lower excesses of reagents, lower levels of dilution, higher capacity method, more easily scaled to commercial dimensions, new ranges of materials, and lower cost. The dendritic compositions prepared have novel internal functionality, greater stability (e.g., thermal stability and less or no reverse Michael's reaction), and reach encapsulation surface densities at lower generations. Unexpectedly, these reactions of polyfunctional branch cell reagents with polyfunctional cores do not create cross-linked materials. Such dendritic polymers are useful as demulsifiers for oil / water emulsions, wet strength agents in the manufacture of paper, proton scavengers, polymers, nanoscale monomers, calibration standards for electron microscopy, making size selective membranes, and agents for modifying viscosity in aqueous formulations such as paint. When these dendritic polymers have a carried material associated with their surface and / or interior, then these dendritic polymers have additional properties for carrying materials due to the unique characteristics of the dendritic polymer, such as for drug delivery, transfection, and diagnostics.

The invention discloses a segmenting type sugar cane combine harvester, which comprises a machine frame, an engine, a crawler type traveling mechanism, a hydraulic power and control system, a sugar cane topper device, a sugar cane supporting device, a sugar cane pressing combing roller, a cutting device, a conveying leaf-removing device, a segmenting device, an impurity discharging device and a collecting device, wherein the cutting device comprises a left set of cutting component and a right set of cutting component, and each set of cutting component comprises a screw conveying rod, a rotary shaft sleeve, a cutter head and a plurality of blades; and the sugar cane supporting device comprises a left set of sugar cane supporting mechanism and a right set of sugar cane supporting mechanism, and each set of sugar cane supporting mechanism is controlled by an independent adjusting mechanism. The segmenting type sugar cane combine harvester has the advantages of having high capability of separating and harvesting sugar canes which are seriously flattened and / or intertwisted, lessening the choking phenomenon occurring in a process of harvesting sugar canes, improving fully removing rate of sugar cane leaves of the harvested sugar canes, reducing the impurity content in sugar cane segments, conveniently collecting sugar cane segments, avoiding the use of a following transport vehicle for collection and storage, along with compact structure, reasonable configuration, convenient travel and use in fields, good harvesting effect, high automation, low manufacturing cost and the like.

A drip irrigation hose formed with a plurality of outlets for discharging the water at longitudinally-spaced locations along the length of the hose includes a plurality of emitter elements secured to the hose at longitudinally-spaced locations along its length to define a plurality of turbulent flow passageways each in communication with the interior of the hose for discharging water from a hose outlet at a slow rate. Each of the turbulent flow passageways is defined by a relatively elastic first material coextruded with a relatively stiff second material different from the first material, such that the relatively elastic material is pressure-deformable as compared to the relatively stiff material to change the turbulent flow of each emitter element in response to the pressure of the water in the hose at the respective emitter element.

A faucet is provided comprising in-service separable parts that can be removed from the faucet without having to remove the entire housing. The faucet includes a main support housing, bolts, brackets and nuts to secure the main support body to a sink surface, two water inlets for connecting hot and cold incoming water lines. A flow control assembly is provided at each inlet to regulate the hot and cold water introduced into a mixing chamber. The valve housing includes an independent adjustable mixing valve for regulating the flow of water, an inline screen filter for removing particulate matter from the water stream, and a check valve for preventing water from returning back to the water source. Upon passing through the check valve and into water mixing housing inlets, the water is mixed in a mixing chamber. From the mixing chamber the water is regulated by a solenoid. When sink users place their hands, or other objects in front of the sensor the solenoid is activated. This permits water to flow into the faucet head portion and ultimately to the user.

A method for managing data traffic in a multi-user multiple-simultaneous-access (MUMSA) environment, for example in a code reuse multiple access (CRMA) environment or other physical environment having true random access with more than one transmission present at the same time, the method including estimating channel load for multiple users, then using the estimate of channel load to calculate a congestion threshold on an ongoing basis, at each terminal performing an experiment using that congestion threshold value and a random number generator to determine if a packet is eligible to be transmitted, transferring downstream virtual channel traffic and redistributing user terminals to affiliate with the proper downstream virtual channel.

A cleaning appliance includes a main body, a filter and an interlock. The main body includes an airflow generator, a separating apparatus separating dirt and dust from an airflow, and a flowpath between the separating apparatus and the airflow generator delimited by a wall. The interlock has a first part located on the filter and a second part located on the main body outside the flowpath, arranged to communicate remotely when the filter is correctly located in the pre-determined position. The interlock is arranged selectively to allow or prevent operation of the airflow generator depending upon the relative separation between the first and second parts. By providing an interlock which has first and second parts which communicate remotely, the second part located on the main body can be isolated from the airflow path so that the second part is not subject to dirt and dust carried by the airflow.

The invention provides a medical device and method to reduce the occurrence of pseudophakic pupillary block following implantation of an intraocular lens. The device includes an intraocular lens configured with channels traversing through the surfaces of the lens optic. The invention includes special edge angulations and locations in the optic zone that eliminate optical distortion from channels. The channels perform as valves configured to allow flow of a patient's aqueous humor from one surface of the lens through to the other surface of the lens, thereby preventing fluid pressure from building up in a patient's eye.

A valve assembly can automatically dispense aerosol content from an aerosol container at predetermined intervals without the use of electric power. A diaphragm at least partially defines an accumulation chamber that receives gas propellant from a portion of the can during an accumulation phase. Once the internal pressure of the accumulation chamber reaches a predetermined threshold, the diaphragm moves, carrying with it a seal so as to unseal an outlet channel, and thereby initiate a spray burst of the main active chemical. The diaphragm assumes its original position when the pressure within the accumulation chamber falls below a threshold pressure.

A fuel cell includes a stack of unit cells, each including: a hydrogen-ion conductive polymer electrolyte membrane; an anode and a cathode sandwiching the polymer electrolyte membrane; an anode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow path for supplying and discharging a fuel gas to and from the anode; and a cathode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow path for supplying and discharging an oxidant gas to and from the cathode. At least one of the anode-side and cathode-side separator plates has, in one face thereof, a plurality of independent gas flow channels, which constitute the gas flow path. When the fuel cell is operated at low load, the fuel gas or the oxidant gas is supplied to one or more of the plurality of independent gas flow channels, so that the fuel cell is capable of securing sufficient gas velocity.

An artificial liver system for treating liver failure includes a reservoir to provide albumin-containing dialysis fluid to the patient's peritoneum, an implantable device including a pump to pump the fluid from the peritoneum to the bladder via respective catheters, control circuitry, battery and transceiver; a charging and communication system configured to periodically charge the battery and communicate with the implantable device to retrieve data reflective of the patient's health; and monitoring and control software, suitable for use with conventional personal computers, for configuring and controlling operation of the implantable device and charging and communication system. The monitoring and control software allows a treating physician to remotely adjust the volume, time, and frequency with which fluid is pumped from the peritoneal cavity to the bladder based on the data reflective of the patient's health.

A fluid scrubber in the form of a submerged gas reactor includes a reaction vessel, a gas delivery lube partially disposed within the reaction vessel to deliver a gas into the reaction vessel and a scrubbing liquid inlet that provides a scrubbing liquid to the reaction vessel at a rate sufficient to maintain a controlled, constant level of fluid within the reaction vessel. A weir is disposed within the reaction vessel adjacent the gas delivery tube to form a first fluid circulation path between a first weir end and a wall of the reaction vessel and a second fluid circulation path between a second weir end and an upper end of the reaction vessel. During operation, gas introduced through the tube mixes with the scrubbing liquid and the combined gas and liquid flow at a high rate with a high degree of turbulence along the first and second, circulation paths defined around the weir, thereby promoting vigorous mixing and intimate contact between the gas and the scrubbing liquid. This turbulent flow develops a significant amount of interfacial surface area between the gas and the scrubbing liquid resulting in a reduction of the required residence time of the gas within the scrubbing liquid to achieve thermal equilibrium and / or to drive chemical reactions to completion, all of which leads to a more efficient and complete evaporation, chemical reaction, or combined evaporation and chemical reaction process.

A milker unit liner dome having an inner surface and flow diverters joined to the inner surface to redirect teat dip from an inlet to provide more uniform coverage of dip on a teat. The liner dome can also include more than one flow diverter for redirecting teat dip flow.

Filtration devices for collection and filtration of biological samples are disclosed. Devices having a filtration element oriented in a generally vertical orientation are provided, as well as filtration devices that incorporate a cooling mechanism to reduce the temperature of collected solids. Tissue collection devices, such as aspiration assemblies, tissue sampling devices, and the like incorporating filtration devices are disclosed. Methods of collecting biological samples and separating biological solids from a liquid / solids mixture are also disclosed, together with analytical techniques and protocols for analyzing biological samples.

A page binding device for binding pages 11 from a printer. The device having a support tray 18 for receiving and stacking printed pages 11 to form a bound document, and an adhesive applicator 16 for applying a two part adhesive to the printed pages. The two part adhesive has a first part and a second part, wherein the first part and the second part must contact eachother to form an adhesive bond. The adhesive applicator 16 applies the first part of the adhesive to one side of the printed pages and the second part to the opposite side of the page 11. The printed pages 11 are stacked in the support tray 18 such that the first part of the adhesive on one page 11 contacts the second part of the adhesive on the adjacent page in the adjacent page in the stack.Using a two part adhesive allows the adhesive applicator to be easily incorporated into a duplexed printhead assembly 13. As each side of the duplexed printhead 13 would only eject one part of the two part adhesive, the nozzle are far less prone to clogging.