CURRENT SENSOR FOR MEDICAL DEVICES WITH CONTINUITY MONITOR

• Main Authors: THOMPSON, RICHARD K, SEVILLA, ERNESTO G
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 05.07.2005
• Edition: 5
• Subjects: DIAGNOSIS; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; IDENTIFICATION; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; SURGERY

A current sensing device enables sensing the current being delivered from a source to a load at a medical implement connected to the distal end of a primary conductor connected between the source and the load in situations wherein distributed capacitance between the primary conductor and a return path to the source prevents a measurement of current at the source end of the primary conductor from being an accurate measurement of the delivered current. The current sensing device includes a reference conductor which is located beside and is preferably twisted together with the primary conductor along the length thereof and which is connected to the medical implement load through a resistor at the load of a value such as to effectively electrically isolate the reference conductor from the load. A subtractor subtracts the current flowing through the reference conductor from the total load current flowing to the medical implement so as to offset the effect of the distributed capacitance and to thereby produce a current measurement corresponding to the delivered current. The subtractor can comprise a current transformer through which the conductors extend in opposing relation. An integrity detector monitors whether the reference conductor is intact.