Surgery – Respiratory method or device – Means for supplying respiratory gas under positive pressure
Patent
1997-04-28
2000-09-12
Weiss, John G.
Surgery
Respiratory method or device
Means for supplying respiratory gas under positive pressure
12820518, A62B 902
Patent
active
061162426
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an oxygen-conserving regulator assembly, and particularly to an oxygen-conserving regulator assembly for use with a high-pressure oxygen system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a modular oxygen-conserving regulator assembly and to an integrated pressure regulator, oxygen-flow control valve, and pneumatic demand oxygen valve assembly.
Supplemental oxygen-delivery systems are provided to administer medicinal gas, normally oxygen, to a patient undergoing respiratory therapy. Supplemental oxygen-delivery systems are used by patients that benefit from receiving and breathing oxygen from an oxygen supply source to supplement atmospheric oxygen breathed by the patients. A compact, portable supplemental oxygen-delivery system is useful in a wide variety of contexts, including hospital, home care, and ambulatory settings.
High-pressure supplemental oxygen-delivery systems typically include a cylinder or tank containing oxygen gas at a pressure of up to 3000 psig. A pressure regulator is used in a high-pressure oxygen-delivery system to "step down" the pressure of oxygen gas in the tank to a lower pressure level (e.g., 20 or 50 psig) suitable for use in an oxygen-delivery apparatus used by a patient in respiratory therapy.
The COMPANION.RTM. high-pressure portable oxygen systems available from Nellcor Puritan Bennett Incorporated, Cryogenic Equipment Division, Indianapolis, Ind., USA, include a COMPANIONS 360.RTM. regulator/flow controller unit Model No. 77231. This regulator/flow controller unit can be coupled to a high-pressure oxygen gas tank. This regulator/flow controller unit does not include a pneumatic demand valve.
A breathing assist apparatus including a flow controller and a pneumatic demand valve is disclosed in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,000 to Carter. A flow controller is included in the breathing assist apparatus to meter the flow rate of low-pressure oxygen (typically in liters per minute) delivered to the patient. A pneumatic demand valve is included in the breathing assist apparatus to distribute oxygen to a patient only when oxygen is "demanded" by the patient during inhalation and thus functions to "conserve" oxygen by not distributing oxygen to an exhaling patient. A demand valve delivers a pulse of oxygen at the onset of patient inspiration and continues to deliver oxygen throughout the entire patient inspiration. These demand valves do not deliver oxygen to the patient as the patient exhales.
Pneumatic demand oxygen valves are available from Nellcor Puritan Bennett Incorporated. For example, the COMPANION.RTM. 550 is a small lightweight portable liquid oxygen unit with a built-in demand valve and flow controller. A liquid oxygen unit contains liquid oxygen in a reservoir and is very different from a high-pressure oxygen gas cylinder or tank oxygen-delivery system.
What is needed is an oxygen-conserving regulator assembly that is modular and includes a pressure regulator, an oxygen-flow controller, and a pneumatic demand oxygen valve. Consumers would welcome a modular unit that could be reconfigured easily by replacing one modular component such as, for example, the flow controller or the pneumatic demand oxygen valve with another modular component to adapt the modular unit to current needs of a patient.
What is further needed is an integrated pneumatic demand oxygen valve and regulator assembly that is suitable for use with a high-pressure oxygen gas system. Integration of a pneumatic demand oxygen valve in a high-pressure oxygen-delivery system including a pressure regulator, and perhaps also an oxygen-flow controller, would provide a patient using a high-pressure oxygen gas system with the benefits of a pneumatic demand oxygen valve.
What is also needed is an oxygen-flow controller that is operable to provide oxygen to a patient either continuously or on patient demand without requiring a patient to operate a separate continuous/demand oxygen flow selector switch mounted on a separate demand-type pneumatic
REFERENCES:
patent: 4827964 (1989-05-01), Guido et al.
patent: 5360000 (1994-11-01), Carter
patent: 5743257 (1998-04-01), Koehler et al.
patent: 5755224 (1998-05-01), Good et al.
Puritan-Bennett Oxygen Therapy Regulators Product Literature, Sep. 1990 (eight pages).
Puritan-Bennett Companion.RTM. 550 Product Literature, Jan. 1992 (two pages).
Davis Richard A.
Frye Mark R.
Grenaway John R.
Leithauser Douglas R.
Anderson Charles W.
Nellcor Puritan Bennett Incorporated
Weiss John G.
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