Foam Seal Patient Interface for CPAP Comfort and Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing respiratory therapy devices, such as CPAP machines, often suffer from discomfort, poor fit, and difficulty in use, leading to reduced patient compliance and effectiveness in treating respiratory disorders like sleep apnea.
Innovation Solution
A patient interface design featuring a plenum chamber with a sealing structure that forms a seal around the patient's nares, incorporating a tie or loop to resist deformation and maintain therapeutic pressure, along with a positioning and stabilising structure for comfort and effectiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a sealing structure is used to maintain therapeutic pressure, then treatment effectiveness is improved, but patient comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible foam seal-forming structure that can deform and adapt to the patient's facial contours. The foam material provides sealing capability to maintain therapeutic pressure while its flexibility and conformability ensure patient comfort by distributing pressure evenly and avoiding sharp edges or rigid contact points.
Solution Approach 2:
The foam structure's density, firmness, or shape may be varied in different regions to optimize both sealing effectiveness and comfort. By adjusting physical parameters of the foam material, the design achieves a balance between maintaining adequate seal pressure for treatment effectiveness and ensuring patient comfort during prolonged wear.
2Reliability
If a secure fit is provided to maintain therapeutic pressure, then treatment reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The foam seal-forming structure is designed to be dynamically adjustable, allowing patients to easily put on and remove the device. The foam's inherent flexibility enables automatic adaptation to facial contours without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms, thereby maintaining treatment reliability while preserving ease of operation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a foam seal-forming structure is used to improve comfort, then patient compliance is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The foam structure may incorporate regions of varying density or firmness tailored to specific facial areas. This local variation in material properties allows optimization of comfort in critical sealing zones while maintaining adequate sealing performance, and can be achieved through standard foam manufacturing techniques without requiring excessive precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enhances patient compliance by providing improved comfort and a secure fit, maintaining therapeutic pressure throughout the respiratory cycle, and minimizing rebreathing of exhaled CO2.
Implementation Method 1
a foam cushion and an elastomeric support portion configured to support the foam cushion
Implementation Method 2
The foam cushion may be more compliant in a nasal bridge region than other regions of the cushion assembly
Data Source
AI summary
A cushion assembly for a patient interface includes a foam cushion and an elastomeric support portion configured to support the foam cushion. The foam cushion is more compliant in a nasal bridge region than other regions of the cushion assembly, the nasal bridge region being a region configured to engage the patient's nasal bridge when the cushion assembly is mounted on the patient's face.