Systems and methods for active humidification in ventilatory support

A method for humidifying ventilator delivered breathing gases, comprising:

• during a first time period:
• delivering, via a humidifier, a first amount of water in one or more bursts of atomized water directly into a flow path of the breathing gases;
• controlling a temperature of at least one of a heating tube or a heating circuit based on a first target inhalation temperature;
• and
• measuring humidity of breathing gases exhaled from a patient;
• and
• during a second time period subsequent to the first time period:
• based on the measured humidity of the exhaled breathing gases, determining a second amount of water to add to the breathing gases;
• and
• delivering, via the humidifier, the second amount of water in one or more bursts of atomized water directly into a flow path of the breathing gases.

A humidifier for a ventilation system, the humidifier comprising:

• an atomizer configured to deliver water droplets into a flow of breathing gases;
• a heating element configured to vaporize the water droplets emitted from the atomizer;
• a processor;
• and
• memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the humidifier to perform a set of operations comprising:
• based on an internal temperature of a patient, setting a target inhalation gas temperature;
• based on inspiratory flow and humidity data about breathing gases upstream of the atomizer of the humidifier, calculating an amount of water to add to the breathing gases to reach a target humidity;
• delivering, via the atomizer, the amount of water in one or more bursts of atomized water directly into a flow path of the breathing gases;
• and
• based on the target inhalation gas temperature, controlling a temperature of the heating element,
• wherein setting the target inhalation gas temperature is further based on the target humidity.