Rigid Nasal Adapter for CPAP Mask Seal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sleep apnea masks often experience air leakage and discomfort due to the inability to maintain an airtight seal, especially around the nose bridge, leading to noise disruption and skin dryness, and require tight straps that compromise comfort.
Innovation Solution
A nasal adapter with a relatively rigid, personalized design that combines with a flexible nose-piece to maintain an airtight seal, utilizing a positive sealing coefficient to ensure the mask remains in place without excessive leakage, even under dislodging forces, and is made from bio-compatible materials like ABS plastic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If tight straps are used to maintain an airtight seal, then sealing reliability is improved, but patient comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the nose-piece from rigid to flexible, allowing it to deform and conform to the patient's nose shape. This flexibility maintains the airtight seal through material deformation rather than mechanical constraint, thereby preserving comfort while ensuring sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining a flexible nose-piece material with the mask body. The flexible material portion allows adaptation to facial contours and movement, maintaining the seal without requiring tight straps, thus resolving the contradiction between seal reliability and comfort.
2Reliability
If rigid mask materials are used to maintain seal stability, then sealing reliability is improved, but adaptability to facial movement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making only the nose-piece portion flexible while the rest of the mask remains rigid. This localized flexibility allows the nose-piece to adapt to facial movements and contours, maintaining seal stability without requiring the entire mask to be rigid, thus preserving adaptability to movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible nose-piece introduces dynamic adaptability to the mask system, allowing it to deform and adjust to facial movements during sleep. This dynamic characteristic maintains sealing reliability while accommodating natural facial motion, resolving the contradiction between seal stability and movement adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If flexible nose-piece materials are used to improve comfort, then patient comfort is improved, but sealing reliability deteriorates due to air leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the nose-piece from rigid to flexible, allowing it to deform and conform to the patient's nose shape. This flexibility maintains the airtight seal through material deformation rather than mechanical constraint, thereby preserving comfort while ensuring sealing reliability.
4Manufacturing precision
If custom-fitted rigid masks are used to improve seal precision, then manufacturing precision is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the mask into a rigid body and a separate flexible nose-piece. The flexible nose-piece can be manufactured as a standardized component that adapts to individual facial contours through material flexibility rather than custom fabrication, thereby achieving good fit precision while maintaining ease of manufacture.
Data Source
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AI summary
A nasal adapter for a sleep apnoea mask that is adapted to fit into an existing mask or onto an existing air-line and adapted to make a close-fitting engagement with at least part of a patient's nose, wherein said adapter is constructed from a relatively hard material.