HME and compact breathing apparatus
AssigneeFisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited
InventorsJonathan David Harwood, Andrew John Partington, Andrew Paul Maxwell Salmon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An adjustable heat and moisture exchanger (HME) for use with a breathing apparatus to humidify air comprising: an inlet for coupling to a source of air, and an outlet for delivering air to a patient and an air flow path between them, HME material in the flow path with two or more surfaces exposed to the air flow path to exchange humidity between patient air flow and an inlet air flow, at least one adjuster for adjusting the configuration of the HME material and/or the air flow to alter the air flow over the surfaces of the HME material to alter the exchange of humidity.
Claims14
An adjustable heat and moisture exchanger (HME) for use with a breathing apparatus to humidify air comprising:
- an inlet for coupling to a source of air, an outlet for delivering air to a patient, and an air flow path between the inlet and the outlet,
- HME material in the air flow path with two or more surfaces exposed to the air flow path configured to exchange humidity between a patient air flow and an inlet air flow,
- at least one adjuster for adjusting the configuration of the HME material and/or the air flow to alter the air flow over the surfaces of the HME material to alter the exchange of humidity, wherein the HME material has raised portions and is spiral wound on a spindle and the at least one adjuster is configured to manipulate the spindle to tighten or loosen the spiral of the HME material and/or adjust the diameter of the spiral.
An HME for use with a breathing apparatus to humidify air comprising:
- an inlet for coupling to a source of air, and an outlet for delivering air to a patient and an air flow path between the inlet and the outlet,
- HME material in the air flow path and configured to be exposed to the air flow path to exchange heat and moisture and/or humidity between a patient air flow and an inlet air flow,
- wherein the HME material is sheet material with raised portions and is spiral wound on a spindle, wherein an adjuster manipulates the spindle to tighten or loosen the spiral of the HME material and/or adjust the diameter of the spiral.
A compact breathing apparatus for providing flow or pressure to a patient, comprising:
- a housing with an inlet for receiving air and an outlet for providing airflow to a patient,
- a blower in the housing, the blower comprising an impeller coupled to a motor, wherein upon operation the blower rotates the impeller to draw air from the inlet and pass air to the outlet, and
- a flexible air inlet tube with an air inlet and an air outlet coupled to the inlet of the housing wherein the flexible air inlet tube is configured to be manipulated to position the air inlet away from occlusions when the compact breathing apparatus is placed,
- an adjustable heat and moisture exchanger comprising:
- an HME inlet, an HME outlet, and an air flow path between the HME inlet and the HME outlet,
- HME material in the air flow path with two or more surfaces exposed to the air flow path configured to exchange humidity between a patient air flow and an inlet air flow,
- at least one adjuster for adjusting the configuration of the HME material and/or the air flow to alter the air flow over the surfaces of the HME material to alter the exchange of humidity, wherein the HME material has raised portions and is spiral wound on a spindle and the at least one adjuster manipulates the spindle to tighten or loosen the spiral of the HME material and/or adjust the diameter of the spiral.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.