Portable pap device with humidification

Inventors

Goff, Thomas G. • CHIANG, Kirby • BOWDITCH, Nathaniel

Assignees

Resmed Pty Ltd • Resmed Inc

Abstract

A portable, efficient, integrated humidification system for use, e.g., with a positive airway pressure devices. The portable, efficient, integrated humidification system described herein offers many advantages over current humidification systems! There are many advantages to a portable respiratory humidifier. Portability reduces the amount of space the humidifier occupies in the user's bedroom environment. Portability enhances travel for the user. With less to pack, carry, and manage, the user is more likely to remain adherent to therapy when not at home. Portability allows for better utilization in recreational vehicles, while camping, in foreign countries, in the sleeping cabins of trucks or airliners, and on marine craft.

Core Innovation

A positive airway pressure system supplies pressurized air to a patient interface via an air conduit lumen. The system integrates a humidifier in-line with the air conduit so that a lumen of the air conduit and a lumen of an air flow structure form an air flow path for the pressurized air between the air flow generator and the patient interface. The humidifier comprises an air flow structure configured to enable the in-line integration and define the humidifier portion of the air flow path.

Water is received from a water reservoir external to the humidifier and is sanitized in a sanitization chamber formed on an exterior surface of the air flow structure. The sanitized water is then received by a humidification chamber. A humidification element configured to transform the water in the humidification chamber into vapor adds the vapor to the pressurized air along the air flow path. The sanitization chamber and humidification chamber are structured as part of the integrated humidifier assembly.

The described portable/in-line architecture provides multiple structural embodiments and supporting hardware that can be incorporated into the integrated humidifier system. These embodiments include sanitization features such as ultraviolet sanitization and water treatment via filtration and/or antimicrobial coatings along the reservoir-to-humidifier path, and humidification via humidification elements such as ultrasonic nebulization and other vapor-generating mechanisms. Additional embodiments include optional heating on-demand, selective cycling timed to the respiratory cycle, sensors for operating conditions, and structures for condensate collection and re-misting, while maintaining the in-line connection between the air flow generator and the patient interface.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim defines a positive airway pressure system with an integrated in-line humidifier between an air flow generator and a patient interface, using a lumen-to-lumen air flow path and an exterior-surface sanitization chamber feeding a humidification chamber. Dependent claims further specify sanitization mechanisms, humidification element types, activation control, comparative storage capacity, and placement of a heating element.

Across the independent claim and dependent refinements, coverage is anchored on an in-line humidifier integrated with an air conduit lumen to create a continuous air flow path, with water sanitized in an exterior-surface sanitization chamber from an external reservoir, transferred to a humidification chamber, and transformed into vapor by a humidification element for addition to pressurized air. Dependent claim refinements specify ultraviolet sanitization, ultrasonic transducer atomization, controller-based activation/deactivation, comparative external reservoir storage capacity, and placement of a heating element in a fluid channel connecting sanitization and humidification chambers.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications