Surgery – Respiratory method or device – Means for heating respiratory gas or respiration device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-16
2001-11-13
Dawson, Glenn K. (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Respiratory method or device
Means for heating respiratory gas or respiration device
C128S205110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314957
ABSTRACT:
The object of the present invention is to propose a portable apparatus allowing a patient to be provided with domiciliary and ambulatory oxygen therapy.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Conventionally, some people suffering from respiratory insufficiencies are treated by administering gaseous oxygen so as to correct the gas contents of their blood, in particular the carbon dioxide and oxygen contents.
In some cases, the pathological state of these people requires chronic and long-term administration of gaseous oxygen, especially for patients suffering from chronic obstructive broncho-pneumopathies, the arterial oxygen pressure of whom is stabilized at values of less than 55 mm of mercury.
To do this, various methods and types of apparatus for delivering oxygen, that can be employed in the home, have been developed.
At the present time, the oxygen used for this purpose is:
either brought to the site of use by being stored in gaseous form, for example in gas bottles of various sizes, in order to be subsequently administered to the patient;
or brought to the site of use by being stored in liquefied form, for example in a suitable container which is connected to an evaporation system intended to vaporize the liquid oxygen so as to be able to administer it to the patient in gaseous form; such an apparatus is sold by the company Taema under the name FREELOX™;
or produced directly on the site of use by means of a concentrator device allowing oxygen to be extracted from the air by virtue of selective nitrogen adsorption on a molecular sieve in an alternating-pressure adsorption cycle, in particular a PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) cycle in order to produce gaseous oxygen having a purity of approximately 90 to 95%; such an apparatus is sold by the company Taema under the name ZEFIR™.
In all cases, the oxygen is administered to the patient via a gas delivery interface capable of being connected to the upper airways of the patient, particularly nasal clips delivering gaseous oxygen to the patient continuously, i.e. during the inspiration and expiration phases, or synchronously with the breathing, i.e. during the inspiration phases only.
For effective administration of the oxygen to the patient synchronously with the patient's inspiration phases, it is possible, for example, to use a system having an “economizer” valve of the type sold by the company Taema under the name OPTIMOX™.
In general, the choice of oxygen administration apparatus must not only take account of the patient's oxygen consumption, i.e. the flow rate of oxygen consumed by the patient, and of the daily duration of the treatment, but must also allow, as far as is possible, a patient to continue to lead a normal existence, i.e. to continue walking and carrying out activities outside his home, especially professional activities, without being impeded by the said apparatus, or impeded as little as possible thereby.
Thus, the portable apparatuses preferably used at the present time are those fitted with a liquid-oxygen container connected to an evaporation system intended to vaporize the liquid oxygen before it is sent to the patient, i.e. apparatuses of the FREELOX™ type.
However, these apparatuses have the drawback of having a relatively limited autonomy, namely approximately 24 hours when they operate synchronously with the breathing, i.e. during the inspiration phases, but only a few hours continuously, i.e. during the inspiration and expiration phases.
In general, such containers have a capacity ranging from 0.5 to 2 litres of liquid oxygen, or approximately 400 to 1600 litres of gaseous oxygen.
Once the liquid-oxygen container is empty, it must be filled again from a source of liquid oxygen, such as a storage tank for example, or replaced by another full container.
It therefore follows that ambulation is, in this case, closely dependent on the supply of liquid oxygen from the container, and therefore also on the supply of liquid oxygen from the liquid-oxygen source or on the replacement of the empty container with a full container.
Moreover, systems exist which allow portable containers, such as bottles, to be filled with gaseous oxygen produced from oxygen concentrators.
Such apparatuses comprise an oxygen concentrator making it possible to take up and/or separate the oxygen from the ambient air and to then compress it in a portable container which may or may not be disconnectable from the concentrator.
However, some apparatuses do not provide the possibility of disconnecting the container from the rest of the concentrator and, in this case, the filling of the container takes place, for example, not only during the expiration phases but possibly also during the inspiration phases by diverting some of the oxygen produced by the concentrator into the filling container.
Although this type of apparatus offers an alternative for the ambulatory patient, at a lower operating cost compared with delivery from sources of oxygen in liquid form, it turns out that this type of apparatus has several drawbacks, in particular:
it requires a greater investment than with a device having a liquid-oxygen container;
it does not always produce enough oxygen to satisfy the patient's needs, particularly when the latter needs a lot of oxygen;
the autonomy of the portable gaseous-oxygen container is often more limited than for a device with a liquid-oxygen container, namely a few hours at the most;
since only a small part of the flow of oxygen produced is diverted into the oxygen container, the time taken to fill the container may prove too long, particularly when the necessary flow to the patient is approximately equal or equivalent to that produced by the concentrator, for example from 4 to 6 litres per minute; and
compressing gaseous oxygen may entail risks, especially due to the possible presence in the stream of gaseous oxygen of droplets of grease and/or of oil coming from the compression means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is therefore to propose an improved portable apparatus for domiciliary and ambulatory oxygen therapy, which apparatus does not have the abovementioned drawbacks, as well as a process for operating such an apparatus.
In other words, the aim of the invention is to propose an apparatus which has greater autonomy and a greater output of oxygen produced and which can be used for the purpose of filling an oxygen storage container efficiently and the overall safety of which is improved.
The invention therefore relates to a portable medical apparatus for delivering an oxygen-rich gas to a user, comprising:
gas compression means for delivering air at a pressure of greater than 10
5
Pa to gas concentrator means;
electric-current supply means for supplying electric current to at least the said gas compression means;
gas concentrator means allowing an oxygen-rich gas containing from 50 vol % to 99 vol % of oxygen to be produced from air compressed by the said gas compression means;
gas liquefaction means allowing at least some of the oxygen contained in the said oxygen-rich gas produced by the said gas concentrator means to be liquefied;
gas accumulation means allowing at least some of the oxygen liquefied by the said gas liquefaction means to be collected and stored, at least temporarily;
liquefied-gas warming/vaporizing means allowing at least some of the liquefied oxygen coming from the said gas accumulation means to be warmed and vaporized; and
gas transport means allowing at least some of the oxygen produced by the said gas concentrator means and/or of the oxygen warmed and vaporized by the said warming/vaporizing means to be transported to at least one gas delivery interface capable of being connected to the upper airways of a user.
Preferably, the gas concentrator means are chosen from:
at least one gas separation chamber containing at least one bed of adsorbent and/or at least one bed of catalyst, preferably at least two gas separation chambers operating in parallel; and/or
at least one membrane module, preferably at least two membrane modules arranged in series.
Depending on
Boissin Jean-Claude
Hennebel Vincent
Air Liquide Sante ( International)
Dawson Glenn K.
Young & Thompson
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