Anesthesia machine

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is directed to an anesthesia machine that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the system particularly pointed out in the written description and claims, as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the anesthesia machine includes a breathing system for delivering a gas mixture, including an anesthetic gas, to a patient for inhalation and for collecting exhaled gas from the patient; means, in flow communication with the breathing system, for removing carbon dioxide from the exhaled gas; and a pressure relief valve having a housing that defines a chamber in flow communication with the breathing system, a valve member for regulating a flow of gas from the breathing system into the chamber and venting gas into the chamber when pressure in the breathing system exceeds a threshold setting, and vent override means for preventing the flow of gas into the chamber independent of the pressure in the breathing system without changing the pressure threshold setting.
In another aspect, the breathing system of the anesthesia machine includes a manifold having a first internal channel formed therein for receiving the gas mixture for inhalation by the patient and a second internal channel formed therein for receiving the exhaled gas from the patient.
In yet another aspect, the carbon dioxide removing means of the anesthesia machine includes a cannister comprising a casing open at its top and bottom ends, first and second mounting plates for covering the top and bottom ends of the casing, a first seal supported by the first mounting plate and a second seal supported by the second mounting plate, and a plurality of rods secured to and extending from one of the first and second mounting plates and receivable in openings in the other of the first and second mounting plates for joining the mounting plates with the casing therebetween, the first and second seals engaging top and bottom edges of the casing to effectively seal the cannister