Respirator facepiece
Tricuspid valves in respirators address the challenges of pre-stressed check valves by ensuring easier breathing and reducing size, enhancing user comfort and airflow efficiency.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/RU2025/050390
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2024-12-27
- Filing Date
- 2025-11-18
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-02
AI Technical Summary
Existing respirator designs face challenges with pre-stressed check valves that create noticeable pressure differences during breathing, requiring significant space and increasing the size of the facepiece, which affects carbon dioxide concentration and user comfort.
The use of tricuspid valves as check valves that operate without a pre-stressed state, allowing for almost instantaneous opening and lower pressure drops, reducing the size of the respirator and improving airflow efficiency.
Tricuspid valves facilitate easier breathing and reduce the respirator's dimensions while maintaining high airflow capacity, addressing the issues of pre-stressed valves in existing designs.
Smart Images
Figure RU2025050390_02072026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
FACE PART OF THE RESPIRATOR
[0001] The invention relates to personal protective equipment for human respiratory organs, namely to designs of face parts of respirators made of insulating or filtering material, in which openings are made for the passage of inhaled and / or exhaled air with check valves installed in them.
[0002] Respirators provide protection for the respiratory system from airborne pollutants (dust, aerosols, gases) by filtering the inhaled air.
[0003] Any respirator includes a means of securing the mask to the user's head (headband) and a facepiece, which serves to ensure a tight seal between the respirator and the user's face. The facepiece typically contains openings for the passage of inhaled and / or exhaled air, with check valves (umbrella, mushroom, flap, etc.) installed within them, ensuring air movement in a given direction during inhalation and exhalation, respectively. If the facepiece is made of insulating materials, the respirator may include one or more filters designed to remove contaminants from the air inhaled by the user.
[0004] When inhaling, air enters the sub-mask space through the inhalation port. The vacuum created in the sub-mask space causes the inhalation valve to open, while the exhalation valve remains closed, preventing air from entering the sub-mask space through the exhalation port. When exhaling, conversely, air from the user's lungs first enters the sub-mask space, creating excess air pressure. This causes the exhalation valve to open, forcing air out through the exhalation port. At the same time, the inhalation valve remains closed, preventing air from escaping through the inhalation port. Additionally, a filter element can be installed directly in or before the inhalation port to remove environmental contaminants from the air inhaled by the user.
[0005] If the facepiece is made of filtering material, then the difference in the above-described operating principle of the respirator will be that the inhaled air enters the sub-mask space directly passing through the walls of the facepiece.
[0006] The prior art includes designs of respirators equipped with an insulating face piece.
[0007] In particular, the respirator design disclosed in the publication of patent for invention RU2437693C2, published on 27.12.2011, is known and was chosen as a prototype.
[0008] A known design of a respirator comprises a rigid polymer body of a face mask having a first surface and a second surface; a silicone element of a face seal chemically bonded to at least one of the surfaces: the first surface or the second surface; and a second silicone element chemically bonded to at least one of the surfaces: the first surface or the second surface; wherein the rigid polymer body of the face mask comprises an inhalation valve, an exhalation valve or a speech opening, and the second silicone element forms a diaphragm for the inhalation valve, a diaphragm for the exhalation valve or a diaphragm for the speech opening.
[0009] The prior art analogues and prototypes have a common drawback, which is that the check valves (umbrella, mushroom, flap, etc.) used in the known respirator designs are in a pre-stressed state and, during their use, require the creation of a pressure difference within the face of the respirator that is noticeable to the user, necessary for opening the valves, which creates certain difficulties during breathing.
[0010] To ensure effective operation, such valves are typically installed in airflow openings located on the facepiece of the respirator. However, accommodating these valves requires significant space in the opening area. This means they must be installed at a considerable distance from the user's respiratory system, which unnecessarily increases the sub-mask volume, negatively impacting carbon dioxide concentrations in the inhaled air. Furthermore, these valves themselves are quite large, which consequently increases the size of the respirator's facepiece.
[0011] The claimed invention solves the technical problem of the need for the user of a respirator to overcome, during breathing, the resistance of the elastic elements of the check valves, caused by their pre-stressed state, as well as the partial blocking, in the transverse direction, of the air flow passing through the valve installation opening.
[0012] The technical result achieved with the help of the claimed invention is to facilitate breathing for the user of the respirator, as well as to implement an expansion of the arsenal of technical means for a specific purpose, namely respirators.
[0013] The specified technical result is achieved by the design of the face part of the respirator, which has openings for the passage of inhaled and / or exhaled air with check valves installed in them, while a tricuspid valve is used as at least one check valve.
[0014] Three-leaf valves, due to the ability to open almost instantly, provide the greatest throughput capacity of the respirator channels designed for the passage of air, while also ensuring the possibility of creating channels with minimal cross-sections.
[0015] The specified technical result is achieved due to the fact that the operation of the three-leaflet valves does not require their pre-stressed state, while during breathing, the pressure drop smoothly increases with the increase in flow force and is provided at a level lower than any other known designs of check valves (umbrella, mushroom, flap, etc.).
[0016] The claimed design is explained with the help of images:
[0017] Fig. 1 shows the tricuspid valve in a closed position;
[0018] Fig. 2 shows the tricuspid valve in the open position;
[0019] Fig. 3 shows the respirator assembly;
[0020] Fig. 4 shows the respirator without connecting tubes.
[0021] The figures show an example of the implementation of a respirator having a face part (1) in which there are openings for inhalation and exhalation, equipped with non-return three-leaf valves (2), connected by means of tubes (3) to air filters (4), and there is also a vocal membrane (5).
[0022] Moreover, due to the use of tricuspid valves as check valves, breathing is significantly facilitated for the user of the respirator, and, in addition, due to the fact that tricuspid valves are smaller in size compared to other known designs of check valves, it is also possible to reduce the dimensions of the respirator.
Claims
A facepiece of a respirator having at least one opening for the passage of an air flow, characterized in that at least one opening has a three-leaf valve installed.