According to the present invention, an airway humidifier for directly humidifying the air flow requirement of a respiratory tract during the inspiration phase of a breathing cycle is provided, which comprises a nest of relatively large bore, thin wall air transmitting elongated hollow fibers termina
According to the present invention, an airway humidifier for directly humidifying the air flow requirement of a respiratory tract during the inspiration phase of a breathing cycle is provided, which comprises a nest of relatively large bore, thin wall air transmitting elongated hollow fibers terminating at an output end that is adapted to communicate the merged flow through a tube to the respiratory tract, a water chamber surrounding said fibers and having sufficient rigidity to resist collapse when subjected to negative operational water pressure, a water source for water heated to about 105° F. (40° C.) and a water pump connected to said chamber and said source and adapted to maintain said chamber filled with water under negative pressure, said fibers having an internal diameter of the order of 0.050 inch, and being present in sufficient number and length to enable the peak air flow rate of said requirement to proceed through said nest with a characteristic pressure drop of less than 5 centimeters of water, the walls of said fibers having a wettable surface and under said negative pressure water conditions being permeable to water vapor and impermeable to liquid water, and the aggregate wetted surface area of said fibers being sufficient to humidify the peak flow rate of said requirement of said respiratory tract, whereby pulsing air flow into the respiratory tract can be humidified by a compact, closely-located unit.
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1. An airway humidifier for directly humidifying the air flow requirement of a respiratory tract of a living being breathing directly through the humidifier during the inspiration phase of a breathing cycle, said humidifier comprising a nest comprising a large multiplicity of relatively large bor
1. An airway humidifier for directly humidifying the air flow requirement of a respiratory tract of a living being breathing directly through the humidifier during the inspiration phase of a breathing cycle, said humidifier comprising a nest comprising a large multiplicity of relatively large bore, thin-walled-air-transmitting elongated hollow fibers terminating at an output end that is adapted to communicate the merged flow through a tube to the respiratory tract, said fibers having an internal diameter of the order of 0.050 inch, up to about 0.080 inch, and being present in sufficient number and length to enable the peak air flow rate of said air flow requirement to proceed through said nest with a characteristic pressure drop of less than 5 centimeters of water, a water chamber surrounding said fibers and having sufficient rigidity to resist collapse when subjected to negative operational water pressure, a water source for water heated to about 105° F., and a water pump connected to exhaust said chamber, said water chamber connected to said water source whereby said pump is adapted to maintain said chamber filled with water under negative pressure by drawing water through said chamber from said source, said fibers incorporating a wetting agent whereby the walls of said fibers having a wettable surface and under said negative pressure water conditions being permeable to water vapor and impermeable to liquid water, and the aggregate wetted surface area of said fibers being sufficient to humidify the peak flow rate of said air flow requirement of said respiratory tract, whereby pulsing air flow into the respiratory tract can be humidified by a compact, closely-located unit. 2. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein under operating conditions said fibers have a water vapor transmission characteristic of about 45 milligrams of water vapor for each liter of peak air flow requirement. 3. The airway humidifer of claim 2 adapted for the human adult having a characteristic flow rate of about 60 liters per minute at a pressure drop of 3 cm of water. 4. The airway humidifier of claim 2 adapted for children having a characteristic flow rate of about 10 liters per minute at a pressure drop of 2 cm of water. 5. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein said hollow fibers have a wall thickness that is 10 percent or less of the internal diameter of said fibers. 6. The airway humidifier of claim 5 wherein said hollow fibers have a wall thickness of less than 0.005 inch. 7. The airway humidifier of claim 5 adapted to meet the flow requirement of the adult human, wherein said fibers define an aggregate effective water-vapor transmitting surface area of less than about one half square foot. 8. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein said wetting agent is glycerine. 9. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein said wetting agent is dioctyl sodium sulfo succinate. 10. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein the substance of said fibers is selected from the group consisting of polysulfones and acrylic copolymers. 11. The airway humidifier of claim 1 wherein there are less than 350 fibers in the humidifier. 12. The airway humidifier of claim 11 wherein said fibers have an effective length of the order of 10 centimeters or less. 13. The airway humidifier of claim 1 including a relief valve connected to the water side of said unit, constructed to respond to the occurrence of positive water pressure surrounding the fibers to automatically vent said water to the atmosphere to prevent positive pressure build-up in the water surrounding the fibers, whereby said humidifier can provide full humidification of air directed into a person in a fail-safe manner without risk of flow of liquid into the bore of said fibers in the event of fiber leak. 14. The airway humidifier of claim 1 including means sized for connection of its inlet end to the hose of a respirator and its outlet end to a breathing tube leading to the airway of a person, said humidifier adapted to humidify pulses of air received from the respirator and deliver humidified air to the respiratory tract at about body temperature. 15. The airway humidifier of claim 1 comprising a disposable tubular component of a breathing circuit. 16. The humidifier of claim 1 characterized in that said bundle of fibers has an aggregate air flow figure of merit resistance value R of about 1300 where ##EQU##R=L/D 4 ×1/N L and D are length and internal diameter of fibers in inches, and N is the number of fibers.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (7)
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