Ventilation Mask with Rotatable Tube and Adjustable Membranes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ventilation masks often compromise comfort and sealing due to inflexible designs, inadequate support, and poor adjustability, leading to discomfort and ineffective treatment, especially during extended wear like sleep.
Innovation Solution
A ventilation mask with a rotatable gas delivery tube, a cushioned facial interface with adjustable membranes, and a support structure featuring deformable slides and adjustable components to enhance fit and comfort, ensuring a gas-tight seal and customizable fit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the mask is secured tightly to ensure proper sealing, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but user comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cushion incorporates adjustable membranes that can be modified by the user to change the cushion's shape and fit. This dynamic adjustment allows the cushion to adapt to different facial contours while maintaining comfort, resolving the contradiction between tight sealing and user comfort
Solution Approach 2:
The cushion's physical parameters (shape, size, membrane tension) are made changeable through user-adjustable membranes. This allows optimization of both sealing effectiveness and comfort by adjusting the membrane tension and cushion configuration to match individual facial characteristics
2Shape
If the cushion is made to follow mask contours, then mask integration is improved, but facial contour adaptation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Different portions of the cushion are designed with different properties - the overall shape follows the mask contours while specific adjustable membrane regions can be modified to adapt to facial contours. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between mask integration and facial adaptation
Solution Approach 2:
The cushion transitions from a static mask-following shape to a dynamic structure where membranes can be adjusted to create local variations that adapt to facial contours while maintaining overall mask integration
3Reliability
If multiple membranes are used throughout the cushion, then sealing coverage is improved, but membrane distortion and comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The cushion uses multiple membranes that are segmented and positioned at specific locations rather than running throughout the entire perimeter. This segmentation allows each membrane to function independently for sealing while reducing overall distortion and improving comfort
Data Source
AI summary
A ventilation mask having a cushioned facial interface and an adjustable support structure. The ventilation mask can have a gas delivery port with a gas delivery tube rotatably coupled thereto. The cushioned facial interface may have one or more interior membranes and an extended lower portion. The support structure may have an adjustable slide allowing a wearer to adjust the mask to increase comfort while maintaining a gas-tight seal between the mask and the face of the wearer.