Ventilator with integrated cough-assist

Inventors

DeVries, Douglas F. • Good, David H. • Gaw, Shan E. • Cipollone, Joseph

Assignees

Ventec Life Systems Inc

Abstract

A passive valve for use as a fixed leak valve. The valve includes a body having an internal chamber, first and second body ports in fluid communication with the chamber with the first port configured for fluid communication with a patient connection and the second body port configured for fluid communication with a ventilator, a body passageway in fluid communication with the chamber and with ambient air exterior of the body, and a check valve seal positioned to seal the body passageway to permit the flow of gas within the chamber through the body passageway to the exterior of the body and to prevent the flow of ambient air exterior of the body through the body passageway into the chamber. In alternative embodiments, the valve is incorporated into the patient connection or constructed as a separate part connectable to the patient connection.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a ventilator operable in a ventilation mode and a cough-assist mode, where a breath includes an inspiration phase and an exhalation phase, and a cough includes an insufflation phase and an exsufflation phase. The ventilator includes one or more ventilator connections connectable to a patient circuit for fluid communication, and a blower having an inlet and an outlet moves gases. A cough-assist feature is coupled to the blower to switch fluid connections between a first position and a second position depending on the therapy phase.

In the ventilation mode, the controller controls the blower to provide a desired pressure and/or flow during the inspiration phase and the exhalation phase of the breath. In the cough-assist mode, the controller controls the position of the cough-assist feature such that the cough-assist feature is in the first position during the inspiration phase and the second position during the exsufflation phase of the cough, and controls the speed of the blower to provide the desired pressure and/or flow during the insufflation phase and the exsufflation phase of the cough.

The architecture integrates the fluidic switching functionality of a cough-assist valve assembly with the blower-driven gas pathway. The cough-assist feature moves between positions that fluidically connect the outlet of the blower to the patient circuit and that fluidically connect the inlet of the blower to the patient circuit, enabling switching between insufflation and exsufflation conditions. The system includes coordination between cough-assist feature movement and blower speed control, and the controller may coordinate sensing components such as airway pressure transducers, airway flow transducers, and ambient pressure transducers as part of the ventilator control elements.

The documented description also addresses a coupled oxygen generation and oxygen delivery assembly used in a ventilation system, including an oxygen generator/oxygen concentrator using vacuum pressure swing adsorption with rotary valve assemblies, pressure regulators/transducers, optional solenoid control, oxygen tank storage, and oxygen sensing. Oxygen delivery is associated with oxygen pulses/boluses synchronized through metering and valve switching, and extends to system modes such as nebulization and cough assist with coordination of valve transitions and preservation of shared tubing.

Claims Coverage

The patent contains two independent claims covering a ventilator with a movable cough-assist feature and blower-speed control across breath and cough phases, and a respiratory therapy system with a patient circuit and target pressure/flow control across those phases. Across the independent claims, the core inventive features are phase-dependent switching of fluidic connections via a cough-assist feature and phase-dependent blower speed control to achieve desired or target pressure and/or flow.

Claim coverage centers on coordinated respiratory therapy operation in which a controller changes the cough-assist feature position between first and second fluidic connection states aligned to inspiration and exsufflation, while simultaneously controlling blower speed to provide desired or target pressure and/or flow during the ventilation breath phases and the cough insufflation/exsufflation phases.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications