Heated respiratory humidifier conduit
AssigneeFisher & Paykel Limited
InventorStephen W. McPhee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heated respiratory humidifier conduit for use with a respiratory humidifier/ventilator circuit. The conduit consists of an inspiratory tube passing gases from the humidifier/ventilator to the patient and an expiratory tube passing exhaled gases from the patient back to the gases supply. An insulated resistance heating wire runs the full length of the inspiratory tube to reduce condensation forming on the walls of the tube. The return path for the heating wire is supplied by an insulated conductor which also runs the full length of the inspiratory tube and is connected to the heating wire near the patient. This ensures that the voltage of the heating wire is substantially zero volts at the patient end of the conduit, minimizing the interactions with other patient connected equipment.
Claims8
A heated respiratory conduit for use with a respiratory humidifier/ventilator circuit comprising:
- a tube having couplings at a patient end and an equipment end respectively,
- an insulated resistance heater wire contained within the tube running substantially the full length of the tube,
- a low resistance insulated return wire contained within the tube running substantially the full length of the tube,
- said resistance heater wire and said return wire each being terminated at the equipment end to respective electrical connectors and being connected together at the patient end.
A heated respiratory conduit adapted to receive and channel gases from a humidification device comprising:
- a conduit having a connection means at its distal end for connection to said humidification device to receive said gases,
- heating element means within said conduit extending along the length of said conduit,
- low resistance electrical conducting means within said conduit extending along the length of said conduit,
- said heating element means and said low resistance electrical conducting means being connected together at their proximal ends.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.