Nasal cannula with inflatable plenum chamber
AssigneeMallinckrodt Inc.
InventorSteve Bordewick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nasal cannula for delivering a breathing gas includes a rigid support adapted for placement at least partly beneath the nose of a user, an inflatable plenum chamber mounted on the rigid support, and a pair of nares elements mounted on the inflatable plenum chamber for insertion into the nostrils of the user. The inflatable plenum chamber includes a flexible membrane mounted on the rigid support. The flexible membrane can be preformed to define laterally spaced humps for mounting individual nares element and can further be pleated. Alternatively, a pair of inflatable plenum chambers can be separately mounted on the rigid support.
Claims19
A nasal cannula for delivering a breathing gas to a user, said nasal cannula comprising
- a rigid support adapted for placement at least partly beneath the nose of the user;
- an inflatable plenum chamber mounted on said rigid support, said inflatable plenum chamber having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet;
- and
- at least one nares element mounted on said inflatable plenum chamber, said nares element having a gas flow passage therethrough in communication with said gas outlet.
A method of delivering a breathing gas to a user, said method comprising the steps of
- securing a nasal cannula to the head of the user, the nasal cannula including at least one inflatable plenum chamber mounted on a rigid support and a pair of nares elements mounted on the at least one inflatable plenum chamber;
- positioning the nasal cannula such that the nares elements are disposed within the nostrils of the user and the at least one inflatable plenum chamber is disposed between the nares elements and the rigid support;
- and
- delivering a breathing gas to the user via the inflatable plenum chamber and the nares elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.