Neonatal incubator and humidifier system therefor

A neonatal incubator comprising:

• a bed configured to support a neonate;
• a hood above the bed configured to encapsulate a microenvironment around the neonate;
• a humidifier system configured to humidify the microenvironment, the humidifier system having:
• a reservoir configured to hold water to be evaporated for humidifying the microenvironment, the reservoir having a top side and a bottom side;
• a plurality of heating elements, each heating element positioned at a different height within the reservoir;
• and
• a controller configured to control power to each of the plurality of heating elements based on a water level of the water in the reservoir and the measured humidity so as to heat a surface region of the water to a higher temperature than a bottom region of the water closer to the bottom side of the reservoir.

A method of controlling a humidifier system in a neonatal incubator, the humidifier system comprising a reservoir configured to hold water to be evaporated for humidifying the microenvironment and a plurality of heating elements, each heating element positioned at a different height between a top side and a bottom side of the reservoir, the method comprising:

• identifying a top heating element out of the plurality of heating elements, wherein the top heating element is the highest heating element that is below a water level of the water in the reservoir;
• providing a maximum power amount to the top heating element;
• and
• providing a lesser power amount to each of a subset of heating elements below the top heating element, wherein the lesser power amount is less than the maximum power amount.