Heat and moisture exchangers

A heat and moisture exchanger (HME) for heating and/or humidifying the flow of air for breathing by a patient using heat and/or moisture recovered from a flow of gases exhaled by the patient, the HME comprising a heat and moisture exchange component and a thermally conductive member to facilitate heat transfer within the HME, the thermally conductive member in contact with, or incorporated within, the heat and moisture exchange component, for incorporation into a patient interface, the patient interface comprising;

• key things that we want to stop a competitor from doing a plenum chamber pressurisable to a therapeutic pressure of at least 6 cm H2O above ambient air pressure, said plenum chamber including a plenum chamber inlet port sized and structured to receive a flow of air at the therapeutic pressure for breathing by a patient,
• a seal-forming structure constructed and arranged to form a seal with a region of the patient's face surrounding an entrance to the patient's airways, said seal-forming structure having a hole therein such that the flow of air at said therapeutic pressure is delivered to at least an entrance to the patient's nares, the seal-forming structure constructed and arranged to maintain said therapeutic pressure in the plenum chamber throughout the patient's respiratory cycle in use;
• and
• a vent structure to allow a continuous flow of gases exhaled by the patient from an interior of the plenum chamber to ambient, said vent structure being sized and shaped to maintain the therapeutic pressure in the plenum chamber in use.
• wherein the HME is removably connected directly or indirectly to the plenum chamber.