Granted Patent B2

US 12,636,208 · App. 18/882,228 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Patrick Hudson Chancy (Atlanta, GA); Dinesh Puppala (San Bruno, CA); Jill Walthall Jones (Avondale Estates, GA); D. Claire Gloeckner (Lilburn, GA)

Assignee: C. R. Bard, Inc.

A61G7/0503A61G7/05A61G2203/40

Abstract

Claims (16)

1 . An automated drainage bag actuation system, comprising:

a movement control motor coupled to a vertical rail and a horizontal rail;

a drainage bag suspended from a tension control box, the drainage bag connected to tubing configured to drain bodily fluids; and

a tension load cell sensor electrically coupled to the movement control motor,

wherein the automated drainage bag actuation system is configured to:

receive signals from the tension load cell sensor indicating an amount of tension in the tubing; and

activate the movement control motor to adjust a position of the drainage bag to increase or reduce the amount of tension in the tubing.

2 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 1 , further comprising an infrared (IR) sensor electrically coupled to the movement control motor and disposed along the horizontal rail, the IR sensor configured to obtain a measurement of a distance between the IR sensor and an object.

3 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 2 , wherein the automated drainage bag actuation system is configured to utilize the measurement of the distance to determine whether the position of the drainage bag is inside a predetermined range of positions.

4 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 1 , wherein the tension control box is disposed over the horizontal rail.

5 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 1 , wherein the movement control motor is configured to translate vertically and rotationally with respect to the vertical rail.

6 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 1 , further comprising a slidable platform, wherein the vertical rail is rotationally coupled to the slidable platform.

7 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 6 , wherein the slidable platform includes a platform motor.

8 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 7 , wherein the slidable platform is disposed on a track and configured to move from a first position to a second position on the track.

9 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 7 , wherein the platform motor is configured to rotate the vertical rail.

10 . The automated drainage bag actuation system according to claim 1 , further comprising an alarm configured to activate when the tubing cannot be positioned at a continuous negative slope by the automated drainage bag actuation system.

Continuity (3)

References Cited (280)