Breathing aid

Abstract

This relates to the detection of bubbling in respiratory support devices, and / or the estimation of flow and / or pressure in gas pathways. [Solution] A respiratory support device 150 for providing respiratory therapy such as bubble CPAP therapy includes a flow generator 218, a gas flow path 121, a pressure regulator, a gas characteristic sensor, and a controller. The controller of the device 150 can be configured to detect the presence of bubbling in the pressure regulator based on at least one waveform characteristic from the measured flow rate and / or pressure waveform.

Claims

1. A respiratory support device for providing respiratory therapy, A flow generator, wherein the flow generator is configured to provide a gas flow to an intake conduit at a target flow rate, At least one gas characteristic sensor, the at least one gas characteristic sensor is configured to measure the flow rate and / or pressure of the gas in a gas flow path, The gas flow path includes at least an inspiratory conduit configured to connect to a patient interface, and an expiratory conduit configured to connect to the patient interface and a pressure regulator, the pressure regulator includes at least one gas characteristic sensor, and a chamber having a column of liquid in which the end of the expiratory conduit is immersed. The controller comprises, The system is configured to determine whether or not bubbling is occurring using a bubbling detection algorithm that includes a learning phase and a monitoring phase. During the learning phase, the controller is configured to determine whether or not bubbling is occurring within the system. If bubbling is not detected within the system, the learning phase fails; if bubbling is detected, the learning phase succeeds. A respiratory support device in which, during the monitoring stage, the presence or absence of bubbling is monitored based on the bubbling pattern determined in the learning stage.

2. The respiratory assistance device according to claim 1, wherein if the learning stage is successful, the algorithm proceeds to the monitoring stage.

3. The respiratory assistance device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bubbling detection algorithm determines the bubbling pattern during the learning stage.

4. The respiratory assist device according to claim 3, wherein the bubbling detection algorithm determines the bubbling pattern based on the number of counted peaks of the pressure and / or flow rate signals.

5. The respiratory assistance device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the monitoring stage is configured to detect the bubbling pattern determined during the learning stage.

6. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the controller is configured to generate an alarm if it is determined that there is a lack of bubbling or that the bubbling pattern is irregular.

7. The respiratory assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the bubbling detection algorithm determines whether or not the bubbling pattern has changed.

8. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein if the measured flow rate and / or pressure changes during the monitoring stage, the bubbling detection algorithm is restarted.

9. If the flow and / or pressure signal changes, and / or the target flow rate or other parameters are modified by the user, a) the learning stage is repeated, or b) the controller generates a notification that the flow, pressure and / or parameters have changed and prompts the user to repeat the learning stage.

10. The respiratory assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the peak detection threshold in the monitoring stage is adjusted based on the average amplitude of a predetermined number of maximum positive and / or maximum negative peaks determined in the learning stage.

11. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the learning stage is continued until bubbling is detected.

12. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the learning stage is continued until bubbling is detected within a detection time window.

13. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the learning stage requires a minimum level of interference in the pressure signal in order to proceed to the monitoring stage.

14. The respiratory support device according to claim 13, wherein the lowest level of interference is a fixed peak detection threshold.

15. The respiratory assistance device according to claim 14, wherein the peak detection threshold is coded in the controller and / or configurable by the use and / or dynamically calculated by the system.

16. The respiratory assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the learning stage lasts for a maximum of about 10 minutes before the learning stage is deemed to have failed.

17. The respiratory assistance device according to claim 16, wherein the maximum duration of the learning stage is approximately 1 minute to approximately 10 minutes, or approximately 2 minutes to approximately 8 minutes, or approximately 4 minutes to approximately 6 minutes, or approximately 5 minutes.

18. The respiratory assist device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the controller generates an alarm or notification if no bubbling is detected after the maximum duration of the learning stage has been reached.

19. The respiratory support device according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the controller automatically switches the mode to bubble CPAP therapy mode when bubbling is detected in the pressure regulator.

20. The respiratory support device according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein if bubbling is detected in a non-bubble CPAP mode, the controller provides the user with an alarm notifying that bubbling has been detected and / or that a limit has been applied to the flow rate setpoint.

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