Respiratory therapy unit with non-contact sensing and control

Inventors

Leonard, Scott A. • Bodwell, Jesse • Adams, David • Winston, David • Davidson, Marc • Jalbert, Joseph • Lauder, Nick

Assignees

Vapotherm Inc

Abstract

The systems, devices, and methods described herein relate to providing breathing gas to a patient using a base unit and an auxiliary unit configured to be removably disposed on or at least partially in the base unit. The base unit has several couplings for improved control and sensing of the auxiliary unit and its components, wherein the couplings are configured to be non-contact with the corresponding components of the auxiliary unit and/or otherwise configured to minimize operational defects or improve efficiency. Non-contact couplings include induction heating, capacitive level sensing, a magnetically coupled rotor pump, RFID tag and reader, and Hall effect sensing. The breathing gas can be provided at high velocities by setting breathing gas flowrates based on dimensions of a nasal cannula used to direct the breathing gas into a patient's nares.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a high velocity respiratory therapy system that provides heated and humidified breathing gas to a patient using an attachable auxiliary unit and a base unit. The base unit includes a low-pressure blower with an operational gauge pressure limit of less than 270 hPa and a recess sized and shaped to receive the attachable auxiliary unit.

A humidifier is fluidly coupled with the low-pressure blower and humidifies the breathing gas using an internal reservoir in the attachable auxiliary unit that contains a volume of a liquid. The base unit provides a non-contact heat actuator with a magnetic coil configured to heat, via induction, a plate disposed in the internal reservoir by inducing eddy currents in the plate when the attachable auxiliary unit is seated in the recess, and a level sensor of the base unit measures a level of the liquid using a capacitive sensing circuit that measures change in capacitance as the level changes.

The system delivers heated and humidified breathing gas through a non-sealing nasal cannula having at least one nasal prong that provides the gas to a nare of the patient through a distal opening. The nasal prong is configured so the heated and humidified breathing gas exits the distal opening at an exit velocity of at least 40 m/s and less than 75 m/s and at a flowrate of at least 8 L/min and less than 80 L/min.

A controller and a processor receive first data indicative of one or more dimensions of the nasal cannula and second data indicative of a flowrate of breathing gas and calculate the exit velocity based on the first data and the second data. In one system configuration, a user input is received to change the exit velocity to a modified velocity.

Claims Coverage

The document includes three independent claims. The claims center on a high velocity respiratory therapy system with low-pressure breathing gas delivery, induction heated humidification in an attachable auxiliary unit, non-sealing nasal cannula delivery at specified exit velocity and flowrate ranges, and calculation of exit velocity from cannula dimensions and flowrate; one system further includes user input to change exit velocity.

Across the independent claims, the inventive focus is the combination of a low-pressure blower system with an attachable auxiliary unit humidifier using non-contact induction heating and capacitive liquid level sensing, delivering heated and humidified breathing gas through a non-sealing nasal cannula with specified exit velocity and flowrate ranges, and calculating exit velocity from nasal cannula dimensions and flowrate data; one claim family additionally adds user input for changing the exit velocity to a modified velocity.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications