Thermoelectric chiller and automatic syringe

Claim 1

A thermoelectric device for rapidly changing injectate temperature in a cardiac output thermodilution catheter system wherein a bolus of an injectate passes through a heat exchanger comprising; a thermoconductive means made of an energy conductor having a pair of major surfaces one of which surfaces is shaped to exchange energy and definitively configured to mount in intimate and maximum surface contact with a source of heating or cooling energy having a complimentary configuration for contact with the definitively configured major surface, the contact for uniform, rapid and efficient heat transfer through the thermoconductive means, and fluid path means made of a material more resistant to heat transfer and less conductive than the energy conductor of the thermoconductive means and associated with said other surface of said thermoconductive means to define a tortuous passageway thereacross for providing contact with the bolus during its passage prior to injection and for maintaining the bolus in intimate heat transfer relation with said thermoconductive means, the combination of said tortuous passageway and said thermoconductive means sufficient to change the temperature of the injectate bolus volume.