US 12,070,544 B2
Negative pressure device
Bryan Greener, York (GB)
Assigned to Smith & Nephew PLC, Watford (GB)
Filed by Smith & Nephew PLC, Watford (GB)
Filed on Dec. 27, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/234,257.
Application 16/234,257 is a continuation of application No. 13/824,967, granted, now 10,188,776, previously published as PCT/GB2011/051748, filed on Sep. 16, 2011.
Claims priority of application No. 1015709 (GB), filed on Sep. 20, 2010; and application No. 1015710 (GB), filed on Sep. 20, 2010.
Prior Publication US 2019/0240381 A1, Aug. 8, 2019
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61M 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 1/743 (2021.05) [A61M 1/60 (2021.05); A61M 1/74 (2021.05); A61M 1/96 (2021.05)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vacuum pressure regulator valve produced by a process comprising:
compressing first and second opposing sidewalls of a first portion of a tube toward one another in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of the tube to move the first and second opposing sidewalls into a deformed configuration;
heating the first portion to a deforming temperature while maintaining the first portion of the tube in the deformed configuration;
maintaining the first portion of the tube in the deformed configuration at the deforming temperature for a duration of time; and
cooling the first portion of the tube to a setting temperature after the duration of time has elapsed,
wherein the first portion of the tube includes a deformed section in which the first and second opposing sidewalls are closer to one another than in another section of the first portion, the deformed section facilitating transitioning between collapse and expansion of the deformed section, and
wherein the deformed section of the first portion of the tube is configured to:
collapse as a result of the first and second opposing sidewalls coming into contact and block flow through the tube responsive to an internal pressure within the tube being reduced compared to an ambient atmospheric pressure outside the tube, the internal pressure within the tube being reduced as a result of negative pressure being applied to the tube, and
expand as a result of the first and second opposing sidewalls coming apart and permit flow of negative pressure from a negative pressure reservoir through the tube responsive to the internal pressure approaching the ambient atmospheric pressure.