Humidifier for a respiratory therapy device

Abstract

A medical humidifier for humidification of air to be delivered to a patient's airways may include a humidification chamber, a reservoir and a water delivery mechanism. The humidification chamber may include a water retention feature such as a wick, a heating element for heating the humidification chamber, and an air flow baffle configured to promote humidification. The humidifier may be further configured to execute one or more algorithms, for example to determine a condition of the humidifier and/or to mitigate any detected faults. In some forms, the humidifier may also comprise algorithms for controlling one or more components of the humidifier.

1 . A humidifier for increasing an absolute humidity of a flow of air to be delivered to a patient's airways, the humidifier comprising:
 a reservoir configured to retain a first volume of water;   a humidifier chamber comprising:
 an air inlet for receiving the flow of air; 
 a humidifier wick configured to retain a second volume of water and substantially enclosing a path therethrough for the flow of air; 
 a heating element; and 
 an air outlet for delivering the flow of air; 
   an air flow baffle configured to lengthen a path of the flow of air through the humidifier chamber; and   a delivery mechanism configured to deliver a flow of water from the reservoir to the humidifier wick,   wherein the heating element is configured to heat the humidifier wick to vaporise the second volume of water to add absolute humidity to the flow of air and the humidifier wick is removable from the humidifier chamber.   
     
     
         2 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick is anisotropically configured. 
     
     
         3 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the humidifier wick is further configured so that a rate of wicking is greater in a first direction than in a second direction. 
     
     
         4 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the second direction is a direction of the flow of air. 
     
     
         5 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the path enclosed by the humidifier wick is substantially cylindrical. 
     
     
         6 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick comprises one or more of: a corrugated, a dimpled, a perforated, a porous, a woven, a knitted, a textured and sintered surfaces. 
     
     
         7 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick comprises one or more of: paper, hydrophilic fibres and cellulose fibres. 
     
     
         8 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick comprises a substrate for the heating element. 
     
     
         9 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick is configured to retain between 2-30 g of water. 
     
     
         10 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick comprises a heated region and an unheated region. 
     
     
         11 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the unheated region comprises an upstream unheated region located upstream of the heated region. 
     
     
         12 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the upstream unheated region comprises a faster wicking rate than the heated region. 
     
     
         13 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein a length of the upstream unheated region is approximately between 5%-20% of the heated region. 
     
     
         14 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the unheated region comprises a downstream unheated region located downstream of the heated region. 
     
     
         15 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein a length of the downstream unheated region is approximately between 20%-40% of the heated region. 
     
     
         16 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the humidifier wick is coupled to a frame. 
     
     
         17 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the frame is configured to be removably coupled to the humidifier chamber. 
     
     
         18 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the frame is configured to be removed from an exterior of the humidifier. 
     
     
         19 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the frame comprises a grip surface. 
     
     
         20 . The humidifier as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the frame is configured to promote thermal contact between the humidifier wick and the heating element.