Syringe pump and the like for delivering medication

Claim 1

A syringe pump comprising: a housing; a retainer mounted on the housing for receiving therein a syringe of the type including a barrel for holding liquid medication and a plunger movably positioned in the barrel for expelling the liquid medication therefrom; a driver movably mounted on the housing for engagement with the plunger and for pushing the plunger into the barrel to thereby force the liquid medication out of the barrel; a motor assembly as part of the driver for providing rotary motion and for converting the rotary motion to linear driver movement; control means within the housing for setting the rate of movement of the driver against the plunger to thereby regulate delivery of the liquid medication from the barrel; a potentiometer carried by the housing to provide an input signal for indicating the position of the driver; a rotary indicator associated with the motor assembly and responsive to rotary movement of a part thereof, the rotary indicator providing an additional input signal indicative of the movement of a part of the motor assembly; and a monitoring circuit mounted on the housing and connected with the potentiometer and the rotary indicator to receive the input signal from the potentiometer and to receive the additional input signal from the rotary indicator, the monitoring circuit comprising a processor for processing and comparing the input signal from the potentiometer and the additional input signal from the rotary indicator to detect a malfunction of the syringe pump.