Combined exhaled air and environmental gas sensor apparatus

Inventors

Everman, Bradford R • Bradke, Brian Scott

Assignees

Spotlight Labs

Abstract

A combined exhaled air and environmental gas sensor apparatus for mobile respiratory equipment includes a housing, wherein the housing includes a port aperture, a connector configured to attach the port aperture to a respiratory exhaust port, and at least an ambient aperture connecting to an exterior environment, a sensor positioned within the housing, the sensor configured to detect a carbon dioxide level and generate sensor outputs indicating detected carbon dioxide level, a processor communicatively connected to the sensor, the processor including a memory, a breath analysis mode and an environmental analysis mode, wherein the processor is configured to receive a plurality of sensor outputs from the sensor, match the plurality of sensor outputs to mode parameter profile, and switch between the breath analysis mode and the environmental analysis mode as a function of the mode parameter profile.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a combined exhaled-air and environmental gas sensor apparatus for mobile respiratory equipment. The apparatus includes a housing with a port aperture and a connector configured to attach the port aperture to a respiratory exhaust port, an at least an ambient aperture connecting to an exterior environment, and a plenum comprising the port aperture and the at least an ambient aperture.

The plenum is configured to permit free flow of exhaled air from the port aperture and environmental gas from the exterior environment by way of the at least an ambient aperture. A sensor positioned within the plenum detects a carbon dioxide level of gas within the plenum and generates a plurality of sensor outputs indicating detected carbon dioxide level. The apparatus further includes a processor communicatively connected to the sensor and a memory.

The processor operates in a breath analysis mode and an environmental analysis mode. The processor receives the plurality of sensor outputs, matches the plurality of sensor outputs to a mode parameter profile, and switches from the breath analysis mode to the environmental analysis mode as a function of the mode parameter profile. In the environmental analysis mode, the processor measures the carbon dioxide level of the environmental gas, and in the breath analysis mode, the processor measures the carbon dioxide level of the exhaled gas.

The disclosure also describes sensing related compounds including H2 and VOC/tVOC, environmental sensing including temperature, pressure, and humidity, calibration approaches, and user signaling based on physiological-condition detection such as hypocapnia and hypercapnia. Breath pattern detection and measured concentrations are used to support detection and alerting based on the sensor outputs and breath-related information.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim (clm-00001) provides a combined multi-stream CO2 sensing architecture with a mode-switching processor driven by matching sensor outputs to a mode parameter profile. The inventive features across the independent claim focus on plenum-based free flow of exhaled and ambient gas, CO2 detection and sensor-output generation, and mode-dependent switching and measurement for exhaled versus environmental CO2.

Across the independent claim, the coverage centers on combining exhaled-air and ambient-environment gas streams in a plenum, detecting CO2 with a sensor generating sensor outputs, and using a processor that matches sensor outputs to a mode parameter profile to switch between breath analysis and environmental analysis.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications