Many anesthetic machines have more than one vaporiser attached so that one has a choice of inhalational agents to use. However, it is important that only one vaporiser be used at a given time to avoid overdose with different vapors going into the patient simultaneously. There are many different safety mechanisms available which prevents more than one vaporiser to be used simultaneously. I describe one such system below. Please note that your anesthesia machine may use a different system.
In this system, each vaporiser has two pins protruding out. When the vaporiser is in use, the pins protrude outwards. When the vaporiser is turned off, the pins retract back to where they were.
On the other hand, if any of the pins are pushed in (i.e. by another vaporiser) this locks the vaporiser dial in the OFF position. When the pin is no longer pushed in, the dial once again becomes unlocked and can be turned.
When you put two vaporisers together, their pins touch.
When one vaporiser is turned on, it protrudes its pins which then pushes in the pins of adjacent vaporisers and locks them. When this vaporiser is turned off, its pins retract and releases the pins on the adjacent vaporisers and thereby unlocks them. In this way, only one dial can be turned on at a given time.
Click on button to see photos of an interlock mechanism
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